Dhylles Victoria

I attribute my success to using writing as a form of release for any type of depression, anxiety, and panic that I've experienced in my life. As a recovering hypochondriac and survivor of child sexual abuse and domestic violence, I've had really bad panic attacks and anxiety. Being able to write all of my feelings and thought processes helped me remove the energy from my body, mind, and spirit onto the paper, which allowed me to heal when I looked back at what I wrote. I also had a near-death experience in 2011 with infected fibroids that almost killed me, and when you're on your deathbed, you get a different perspective on life and realize what you need to do. The scar from my surgery became my accountability symbol - when I'm feeling down, I look at it and tell myself I got this, it's a walk in the park. I've committed to the healing process through 10 years of therapy off and on, a lot of inner work, and empowerment training. If you really want to heal and transform, you'll commit to yourself to do the process. My resiliency and persistence to not ignore what I was called out to do, along with my values of transparency, integrity, dignity, and being relentless and resilient, have driven me forward. I'm always in a state of transformation and healing, always elevating and going to the next level, mastering self-regulation and self-soothing.

A friend told me something that really stuck with me: there's so many different things, you don't have to be one thing. I sometimes struggle with knowing how to do so many different things and wondering what my niche is, but my friend said there's so many different things I'm supposed to share because of my experiences. This is what I'm here to do. If I didn't go through those things, those things are gifts, even though they were challenges like domestic violence. They were all gifts if you see it in that way, because I'm still a person who's unconditionally loving and gives grace, compassion, and forgiveness. So that counts for something. I should continue to share with other people because I'm here to impact the world. I didn't go through those things by chance - there's a reason it happened for me and not to me. That really stuck out to me.

I would tell her not to judge herself, just to write and express what she feels. In the process, no one's perfect - it's not about perfectionism. It's about being able to convey whatever message is in her heart and her spirit that she is led to convey. The people that are going to read her writing will come to her automatically. Just block out all of the noise, and never tell people what you're doing until the finished product is done and completed and you're satisfied with it, because people have a tendency to try to persuade you not to do certain things. When I wrote my first book, my family read it and said I was talking about the family and I shouldn't do this or that, so when I wrote my second book, I didn't tell anyone, I just wrote it because I learned from that experience. Don't be afraid to put your book out there - get it edited and proofread and all that stuff, but still, we're human, you'll find a mistake or two and that's okay. Just go back to the drawing board and perfect it the way that you want it to look and be. Give yourself grace and celebrate the fact that you accomplished something that you've always wanted to accomplish.

It is both challenges and opportunities. As an author, there's a misconception that once you publish a book on Amazon, Lulu, or whatever platform you're using, that's it and people are just going to find you. Some authors don't realize that you have to consistently create types of unique marketing for your book. There are other ways of doing it, which is why I created the Author Monetization Hub to teach authors how to build an ecosystem of lucrative income streams beyond the book sales so they can be successful as an author. For instance, I offer writing services to the spiritual and health and wellness community because I've been on the spiritual journey, so I speak their language and know how to write for them. I do book signings, different workshops, and teach other authors how to build an ecosystem for themselves while offering training videos and digital products. Authors need to think outside the box - if there's a specific niche you want to write about and a specific industry, connect with those people in that industry to see if you can write for them. I do blogs, newsletters, speaker sheets for holistic entrepreneurs and wellness grants. My book gives me credibility as a writer because I've written books, so of course I know what I'm talking about when it comes to writing publications. Authors should learn how to build an ecosystem beyond the book sales and not just focus only on the book, but also focus on other things they can do to be seen as an expert in their craft as a writer.

Transparency, integrity, and dignity are most important to me. I also value being relentless and resilient, being a driven person, an innovator, a trailblazer, and pursuing excellence for myself. I always want to go to the next level, always elevate, and make sure that I'm always in a state of transformation and always in a state of healing. Healing isn't linear - you'll heal one thing and then something else pops up, so being able to sit with myself and reflect on why I'm feeling the way that I'm feeling, answering my own questions, and mastering self-regulation and self-soothing are essential. I believe in staying humble because when you're given gifts and blessings and different things, humbleness should still be a consistency. The same way that you receive those things is the same way they can be taken away from you. It's always having the passion and compassion for what you do and staying humble in it. When you start to feel like you're big-headed in life, that's when you completely lose your passion and the love for what you do, and it just becomes mundane and stagnant. It's no longer a joy because, as the saying goes, when you love what you do, it doesn't feel like work.