Juggling a Business and Writing a Book: How Dr. Corinne Auman Made It Happen
In our latest CareCraft episode, we spoke with Dr. Corinne Auman, the powerhouse behind Choice Care Navigators, who’s also been busy writing her new book, Keenagers. Yep, she’s been running a business and writing a book—at the same time!
So, how did she do it?
First off, Dr. Auman swears by time management. She set aside specific times to write. By allocating dedicated time for writing, Dr. Auman was able to make steady progress on her book without compromising the quality of care her business provides.
Another valuable insight was her emphasis on surrounding yourself with the right support. Dr. Auman credited her team for helping maintain the business’s momentum. She also found a writing coach to help provide the accountability and guidance to turn her idea into a reality.
Lastly, Dr. Auman touched on the role of passion in her work. Her deep commitment to improving the lives of older adults kept her motivated, both in her business and in writing Keenagers. She encouraged other entrepreneurs to stay connected to their core mission, as it can be a powerful driver in overcoming challenges.
So, if you’re trying to tackle a big project while running a business, take a page from Dr. Auman’s book (pun intended!). With a little planning, a great team, and a lot of passion, you can totally make it happen.
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Transcript
[00:00:04] Ariadne: Welcome to CareCraft. We're honored to be joined today by Dr. Corinne Auman. She's the founder and CEO of Choice Care Navigators. She received her PhD from NC State University where she studied developmental psychology with a specialty in adulthood and aging. She is a nationally certified guardian and advanced professional member of the Aging Life Care Association. Dr. Auman is an experienced educator, researcher, and author of her new book, "Keenagers", telling a new story about aging. So welcome Dr. Auman. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you for having me. Happy to be here.
Well, could you start by telling us a little bit about your journey to founding Choice Care Navigators and now publishing your own book?
[00:00:49] Corinne: Okay. Those are, they're related, but it's slightly different stories. So I grew up right next door to my grandparents. And when I was in eighth grade, my grandfather passed away, not totally suddenly, but it all happened pretty quickly.
And my mom and her sister almost overnight went from giving at all to realizing that their mom had pretty significant cognitive impairment. We didn't have a dementia diagnosis at that time for her, but they realized once my grandfather passed away. All the things he had been doing to protect and to care for my grandmother so that they didn't really realize what she was like on a day to day basis.
And so then all of a sudden they need, they had to have a caregiver with her. She really could not be left alone to her own devices. They had a caregiver during the day. She was either staying with us at night or she was going to my aunt's house every single night. And. They then had to navigate that not only right when it happened, but for the next eight years, really.
So she that happened when I was in eighth grade. She actually passed away when I was a junior in college and that may be more than eight years now that I think about it, but she that kind of experience like watching them kind of get thrown into it and having a front row seat to all the stresses and the decisions they had to make and the mistakes that they made along the way really opened my eyes and I, I remember thinking, this is really stupid. Why isn't there somebody who like helps you make these decisions, like helps you find the caregivers or find the resources or whatever it is.
So fast forward I went to graduate school and got my PhD in It's actually psychology with a specialty in adult development and aging which there weren't a lot of gerontology programs around then.
So it's kind of been a growing field and now you actually see gerontology programs, but specializing in working with older adults. And I've taught at universities in the gerontology programs and in some psych programs. Looking at again, older adults and aging. And about 12 years ago, I looked at my husband and I said, you know, I've always talked about starting a business where we help people navigate.
And it's only gotten more complicated since my own family went through it. So if I'm ever going to start a business doing that, the time is now, basically I need to do it. And so I did I started my company about 12 years ago in 2012. and have been, you know, working in care management pretty much ever since. So that's how I got started.
The book is a whole separate thing. The book is a very positive book about aging, which sometimes people Think is a little incongruous. They're, you're working with families when they're really stressed out and they're trying to find resources and they, you know, all these things are happening with their aging loved ones.
And then here you've written this really positive book about aging. And my response to that is the thing that I have really seen is that people don't plan and prepare for growing older. Because they are so afraid of it, because we are in such an anti aging culture. But the people I have met along the way during my care management journey, the ones who have really planned and prepared and done all their documents and done their financial planning, they aren't afraid of growing older.
They actually have a very positive outlook about growing older and that has allowed them to face it and to make plans. And then that actually leads to a much better experience than if they were of growing older, right? It's this kind of self fulfilling prophecy. If you think it's going to be terrible, you bury your head in the sand and you're afraid of it and you don't do anything.
And so then it ends up being terrible because you didn't plan and prepare. And if you think it could be good, then you plan and prepare and then it actually is good. And so the, the book is about kind of reframing our thinking about aging so that we look forward to so that you can plan and prepare. And there's things in there about how to do that.
And then you can actually have a really good experience of growing older along the way. And, and so it, that's how I got there.
[00:05:45] Ariadne: That's incredible. And so when in your journey, did you decide, you know, that you were going to Be growing your business and also publish a book. Was it something that came fairly suddenly or you knew all along, this is what you wanted to do?
[00:05:59] Corinne: I definitely don't think I knew all along, but I would say I started talking about writing a book probably five or six years ago. And I started with blogging, right? Like writing some, some blogs to try to get some of my ideas out there and together and the, I, I thought. If I do this blogging, then maybe I'll be able to put the blogs together into a book later on.
Blogging is intense, right? Like, that's a lot of work to try to put stuff out all the time. And, you know, I, I did it for about a year and then I kind of said, no, that's not really what I want to do. And then I, I sat with my blogs that I'd written, but didn't do anything for probably another year. And then finally I, I've just said, I've got to do this.
And so I, I sat down and I actually worked with a, with a writing coach and got it done, got the book out in about a year after I started writing it. I'm great if somebody like pins me down and is like, what did you do this week? What did you do this week? I'm very coachable, but if you just leave me to my own devices, then I kind of, you know, procrastinate and don't get things done.
Probably, you know, like a lot of people, but once I got somebody to work with on it, then I got it done.
[00:07:17] Ariadne: I mean, I'm in totally the same way. It sounds like Care Choice Navigators and the book are interrelated, but not necessarily the same thing. So who did you envision as the target audience to "Keenagers"? Was it, you know, the families that were also your clients or totally different demographic of individuals?
[00:07:39] Corinne: Probably people who will be my future clients in the sense that if you're already or the adult children of the the aging parents that I'm working with right now, right?
So the people who are, the book is really aimed at the people who are approaching retirement because it's really to help you think about how you're envisioning your aging and growing older, how you're thinking about it and how you're planning or not for that future. Although it's been really interesting.
I've had some much younger people. I really think anyone who, who is aging, which is all of us, right. Should, should read the book. And. Should think about how they talk about in their own head and think about their own aging, because if you do that for very long, you will realize that we have all been kind of soaked in this negative cultural soup for so long that our thinking and our joking about aging is, is really negative in our own heads, right?
So I think anybody could read it. And I've been very, I've been very pleased that some younger people, some people in their 30s. I'll say who, who have read it and been like, oh, this is great. And then I gave it to my, you know, 50 or 60 year old parent to read too, because it really can reshape. My goal is for it to reshape how you're thinking, to make you examine how you're thinking and to reshape that and then hopefully have that impact your actions and your planning and things. I'd say the only person maybe it's not completely appropriate for is a teenager who is too young to even care about aging yet. Or maybe somebody who's already, you know, in their 90s and they, they've, they've got this aging thing down because they've made it to their 90s already.
So anybody in between, it's appropriate for you.
[00:09:43] Ariadne: That's a big range. So what steps did you take to ensure that it really resonated with the reader and, and like you were saying, really like help change that perspective for them?
[00:09:53] Corinne: Well, my, my goal with the book is for it to be I'll say a light read in the sense that it's not, I, there is a lot of research in it, but it is also very person centered.
There's a lot of interviews with "Keenagers" themselves, people who are who are aging and have health problems, have real life issues, but are also doing really interesting, purposeful things with their lives. And so I want it to be something I wanted the book to be something that you could read in a day or two.
So it's not, it's not super, you know, re it's not a big textbook kind of thing. But that would keep your attention and then be kind of inspirational slash motivational. When you got done with it,
[00:10:46] Ariadne: That makes sense. And so you mentioned, you know, your audience is maybe like future clients. Was there an intention when you were publishing to use this as leverage and also growing Choice Care Navigators?
[00:11:01] Corinne: Yes and no, in the sense that I talked very clearly in the book about the benefits of care management and having a care manager kind of on your team as you're planning for the future and the benefits of that. But also I think just, public awareness, me getting out and speaking and speaking about what, I mean, how many, there are a lot of people that just don't know what care management is and that even it even exists.
I mean, I think a lot of care managers, our biggest problem is that people don't know that our service exists until it's too late. You know, you, I get this comment all the time. Oh, I wish I knew about you when, you know, six months ago or when something had happened. And I think the more public awareness there is about this.
service in general, the better it is for my business, of course, but also for every other care manager that's out there.
[00:11:58] Ariadne: Yeah, that makes sense. And have there been specific examples since you published the book of where, you know, it attracted either new clients or opportunities that you hadn't necessarily expected?
[00:12:10] Corinne: I don't know if it's attracted new clients. I know several of my clients have read it now and they've given it to other people. But I don't know if, you know, when I, when new clients come in, I don't know if that's come up specifically to say, Oh, I read her book and found you guys that way. I mean, it certainly has brought a lot of opportunities for me in terms of speaking engagements and getting out in front of people to to talk about the book and care management in general.
I've, because I'm trying to, of course, let people know about the book I've had to do a lot more social media and podcasts and things like that, which, which gets you out in front of people, some of which I'm very comfortable with, and some of which I'm like, oh, heavens, like doing the, the social media piece feels very.
Awkward to me, right? Having to like constantly promote yourself in that way and promote the book in that way. Like I want everyone to read it. I feel very strongly that it is a book that can benefit almost anyone. So I'm passionate about getting people to read it. I just kind of really wish I could get people to read it without.
Having to promote it without having to be like, Hey, read my book. It's amazing. Right. I really do believe that it is, but also could I, I'm enough of an introvert that, could I just go hide in the corner? While we while we promote the book at the same time.
[00:13:38] Ariadne: Yeah, that I mean, I feel the same way about social media and especially like self promotion on social media.
It's very difficult for me personally. With this book, you're really establishing yourself as a thought leader and aging and how to do that. Well, so are there strategies that you do recommend for listeners who want to make themselves also a thought leader in their space?
[00:14:04] Corinne: Ooh, a thought leader in their space. I think, I do Think writing a book, even though that seems like a daunting task is a great thing to do if you're trying to establish yourself as a thought leader, because one of the things when I was writing the book, one of the things my coach actually said was.
Writing is the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about. Because it, it forces you to put your thoughts down on paper and to really realize, think about where do you have conflicts in your thinking? What do I believe? Like, what do I think about all these different topics, that sort of thing?
So it really forced, even though I've 20 plus years. It forced me to really articulate what I thought about different topics and to that process was really helpful for me. Not only in terms of now I have a book and so I can say, Hey, I wrote a book about this, but also in terms of just me clarifying.
Here's what I think is important. Here's why I think you need to know this. Here, here's the research on it. You know, all those different things that make you a thought leader in a particular area. And, and that clarity is really useful. Do you have to write a book to be a thought leader? No. I mean, I definitely think there are people who do blogs and do other things that other Yeah.
Perfect. other pieces of writing or other pieces of work that help them organize their thoughts and perspectives. But I, I definitely think it's one way to do it. And anything that, you have to have something that shows, hey, I'm doing work in this area, right? I'm not just a talking head, right? That has no experience.
and likes to hear myself talk. I really have thought about these things and I care about them because I've, you know, spent so much time working in this field, thinking about it, those kinds of things.
[00:16:21] Ariadne: You mentioned that you had started with a blog as well a couple of years before the book. Do you think that was critical in your process to getting to write?
Because a book to me seems like a daunting task, right? Like that's a lot of writing versus maybe like one article. So just curious how you thought about that process.
[00:16:39] Corinne: I don't think it's essential. I don't think it was essential for me either. I honestly, I think I wrote the blog at first because I was intimidated or a little afraid to commit myself to writing a book because writing a book is a scary thing, right?
What if, what if you write it and it's no good? What if you write it and nobody likes it? What if you, Never can get finished, you know, all those things. So I think I started with a blog to to to sort of test the waters to see if people liked what I was writing about or had interest in what I was writing about, but also again, I think I did it because I was afraid.
Of committing to a book. And then once I kind of, I got some feedback that people did enjoy the blog and did enjoy what I was writing about, but that was too much work, right? Continuing the idea of doing that for years and years was not what I wanted to do. Then I had to stop and go, okay, you know, am I going to keep doing this that I'm not really enjoying, or am I going to just commit to, to writing the book?
One of the things that really helped me when I started working with a writing coach. Was, and I won't, I won't give bad language, but they told me that my first draft, you're just writing your really S word first draft, right? It can be crap. It can be, we are writing just dog piles of a draft. And that was actually super helpful because it took the pressure off being a perfectionist, right?
The first draft. to be bad. And the point
That we can edit anything. We can work with anything, but what we can't work with is a blank page. So you've got to write the really crappy first draft so that then we have something to work with. Then we have something to edit. And that was so freeing. It was so freeing to be like, this is going to be total crap.
And we all know that. But then we're gonna work on making it better, and, and that allowed me to get the words on the page.
[00:19:03] Ariadne: So what was your process to really developing your voice and perspective and taking maybe that very rough first draft and turning it into where it ended up.
[00:19:14] Corinne: So I had a, I had a coach an editor who basically every week I wrote whatever I wrote and sent it to her and she would give me feedback and say.
This is good, or this is not good, or this seems totally unrelated to anything else we're talking about here, you know, whatever it was. And then we basically went through a process of that for about six months where all I did was write. I didn't I didn't edit it at all. I just wrote. And every week she read it and she would give me feedback about how we could make it better, but I was not allowed to revise it.
I just had to keep writing. And then after about six months, we had enough material that then it was. Okay, now, now we're gonna go back and you can kind of think about it like a puzzle. We have all these puzzle pieces that you've written. How do they go together? Right? Like what goes in a chapter together?
How do they fit? How do we what ideas go together? And that's, The second six months was basically just putting the puzzle pieces together. This interview that you did with this person is a great example of this idea that you had written about, and so how do we put the interview with the ideas and just putting the puzzle pieces together to make it all fit.
[00:20:33] Ariadne: And what is your experience been now that it's published? Do you think you'll write another book anytime soon?
[00:20:42] Corinne: You know, it's I don't know if, if you have kids, but when you have a baby, the first thing people ask you is, well, when do you think you'll have another one? Right? And this experience has been so much like that because the minute you write a book, it's like, People start asking you, well, do you think you'll write another one?
What's the next thing? What's going to be your next? And I, and, I had to say to my own mother, you know, I, I just birthed this one. Let's get this one out there into the world and on its own and independent, you know, like, let's raise this book. We've birthed it. Now let's raise it up before we start thinking about birthing another one.
So I don't, I think what I may do. In the not too distant future is a workbook or something to go with it. Because, you know, I talked about how important planning is. And if we have a positive outlook, then we are willing to plan. And I've had a few people who read the book say, I am with you. I believe this a hundred percent.
This has been great, but I wish there was a workbook that went with it that said, okay, you're on board. Now do this, right? Like here's the, here are the things, the checklists or the things you need to get done next so that you can do all the planning and all the things to look forward to growing older.
So that seems like a natural next step because people have asked me for that. I haven't started working on it yet, but that is probably the next thing I'll do.
[00:22:17] Ariadne: That's really interesting. I know a fair number of care managers who have some sort of, you know, planning class or planning component as a service line in their business.
Is that something that you do at Choice Care Navigators or are thinking about doing in conjunction with the book?
[00:22:35] Corinne: It is not something we do, but that is a great idea. Thank you. That does seem like a very, a very natural sort of fit because I do a lot of speaking about, you know, the importance of it.
And I can give you lots of examples of what goes wrong when you don't do it, but it's not something we necessarily offer right this minute, but what a great idea. Thank you for that.
[00:22:59] Ariadne: Well, I look forward to seeing that if you do launch it. So where can listeners learn more about "Keenagers" or find it and purchase it for themselves?
[00:23:08] Corinne: So I have a website it's corinneauman.Com, and there you can learn more about me. There's a link to the there's stuff about the book, there's a link to the book and then there's, it's of course on Amazon and places like that too. And then there's also like a media page where this podcast and other appearances and speaking engagements are put up as well.
[00:23:30] Ariadne: That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. It was super exciting to learn about your journey and I can't wait to see what's next.
[00:23:38] Corinne: Thank you so much for having me.