Success Story

from Able Leader, April 2010

by Steve Kaye

Actually, this is Chapter 6.

So, we're in the middle of the story.

Lesson: Every day is a chapter in the larger story of your life. You always have another chance to do something amazing.

Chapter 6 began on July 20, 2009, when a representative from Barnes & Noble called to ask if I could provide e-Books for their new e-Book store.

Lesson: Happy surprises (like this one) don't just happen. For example, I bought 100 ISBNs in 1995, self published a book using one of them, and then registered that book with Books in Print.

Lesson: Successful people invest in activities that can combine to produce favorable outcomes in the future -- without knowing which ones will matter.

So, I went to work making e-Books.

First, I researched e-Books. From this I decided to design a special layout that would read well on an iPhone, Nook, iPad, personal computer, or other such machines.

Then I began by converting the five collections of poetry that I published in 2006.

Lesson: Starting with an easy task can facilitate the rest of a new project. Here, I was able to design a work flow for converting print versions of my books into the e-Book layout. That made it easier to convert larger, more complex books.

Next I started converting a Career Management workbook that I published in 2002. After two days, I abandoned this because improving the text and converting the planning tables was taking too much time.

Lesson: We must be willing to: a) Discontinue projects that no longer seem profitable with available resources, and b) Change directions as soon as we find a better way.

Then I converted my first book on meetings (Meetings in an Hour or Less). This took a few days.

It is now July 30.

During the next three weeks I completed the following:

1) Rewrote and converted a booklet (119 Tips for Effective Meetings).

2) Rewrote and converted my third book on meetings (One Great Meeting). Note: I wrote this book a few years ago and then sent it to agents with no success.

3) Compiled, rewrote, and converted 66 articles into a book on leadership (Create Success).

4) Compiled 130 photos into a book (Garden Photos).

5) Continued to run my business, publish my August 2009 newsletter, and post a blog every day.

Lesson: We can accomplish incredible things if we: a) Begin with a vision, b) Set goals, and c) Work with relentless persistence.

Lesson: Writing is the easy part of creating a book. The real work involves rewriting, rewriting, and rewriting.

There's one more thing, which appears earlier, in Chapter 2.

English was my worst subject in school: I was fortunate to earn Cs. Yet, I was able to revise, rewrite, and edit almost 100,000 words of text in a few weeks.

Lesson: We can learn how to do anything, if we give ourselves permission to do so.

On August 21, I uploaded ten e-Books to Barnes & Noble. I had worked so hard, with such intensity, that I was exhausted for the following week.

Seven months later, on March 19, seven of my ten e-Books appeared in the Barnes & Noble e-Book store. On April 6, two more appeared.

Lesson: Business runs at the speed of business. Once you finish your part of a project, it may take a while for others complete their parts.

So what's next?

1) One more e-Book (Garden Photos) has yet to appear.

2) I plan to make more e-Books. So far, I've written over 1,000 articles and over 1,650 poems, which could fill many excellent books.

3) I hope people buy these books. They are really very good.

4) I hope these books lead to speaking engagements. As one client said, "Someone who wrote all of that must have something useful to say."

So why would I share this story?

First, to showcase an achievement that I'm proud of.

Second, to convey that you can accomplish incredible things, too. I'm an ordinary fellow who did two simple things: a) Worked hard, and b) Invested time in small successes. You can do the same.

Lesson: Small things done consistently over long time become huge results.

Finally, realize there is more. After all, this is Chapter 6.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

Call if I can help: 714-528-1300

P.S. Find my books here: Steve Kaye's Books.