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Editor:
I’m really pleased today to be chatting to a man known as the publisher. Mr. Kelly Cole is a two times number one best selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur. Born into the most notorious housing project in the world, Cabrini Green in Chicago. He went from working at Walmart and Blockbuster to owning one of the fastest growing book publishing companies in the US.
Now, Kelly’s authored over 50 paperback, audio and eBooks to date and has been seen on NBC, Fox, ABC, Yahoo! Finance, just about everywhere. It’s a real pleasure to welcome Mr. Kelly Cole.
Mr Kelly Cole:
Thank you so much for having me.
Editor:
Could I start by taking you back to maybe before you started your publishing company? So, you could just tell me about your life before moving into the online space.
Mr Kelly Cole:
Yeah, so I was working at Blockbuster at night, Walmart during the day. And it was very miserable. I hated my job because I knew I was called to more. I just knew I was meant for more. So, I would spend most of my days daydreaming, magazines and writing and reading, and just praying for a day where I can learn something new or just get out of that rat race.
And my breakthrough didn’t come until one Sunday, me and my family, we went to Books A Million after church, and I went to the magazine section like I always do, and I came across this magazine called Millionaire Blueprints.
And if people are familiar with the digital world, back then, it was called internet marketing, Yanik Silver was on the cover in a drop top Mercedes, and the caption read, Web Made Millionaire.
And I immediately picked it up. I started reading about his story, how he was creating these eBooks and these websites that made him passive money while he was sleeping. And I was like, “This is what I was put on earth to do.” And it was like the heavens opened up, and just from reading his story, I was captivated.
Mr Kelly Cole:
Now, I don’t know if most people are like me, but when I read a magazine in a store or a book store, I read it and then I put it back. But this day, I bought that magazine. And it was a $10 magazine and it just became the foundation to me dreaming and knowing exactly what I wanted to do when I left my job. But yeah, that was my introduction and what I was doing before.
Editor:
Wow. The best $10 you’ve ever spent, I guess.
Mr Kelly Cole:
Yes. Man, I’m telling you the best $10. Because not only was Yanik in that one. I think the following month, I went back. So, it became an addiction, going every month to go get this magazine. The next one I was introduced to Matt Bacak and then who don’t love Matt Bacak?
Editor:
Oh, absolutely. I mean, it sounds to me like that process that you went through rings true with a lot of people who are either reading this or listening to this. That there’s something burning away inside you, which says, “I want to do something. I want to make a difference. Not only to my own life, but to other people’s lives as well.” We mentioned the book publishing. You’ve written books yourself. Can you tell me a little bit about the process and the books themselves?
Mr Kelly Cole:
Yeah, so believe it or not, like I said, I got started in internet marketing, which is what it was called then, and just trying to find my niche, trying to find what I wanted to do. And I got introduced to website flipping, and that’s the thing that I started making money online, flipping websites. And before I knew it, the market got saturated. So, I had to find something else.
And right around that time, ABC introduced the TV show, Shark Tank. I fell in love with the show, started taking notes from the show.
One of my friends asked to borrow my notes, and they said, “Hey, this would make a great book.”
And I was like, “I never thought about that.” And they said, “You should actually interview the Sharks.” And I was like, “That’s a great idea too.”
Mr Kelly Cole:
So, I emailed all of the Sharks on Shark Tank. Barbara
Corkin was the only one to email me back.
And I take that back. Mark Cuban emailed me back, but just said that he didn’t have time to do an interview. But Barbara was the only one to give me an interview.
We hit it off so well, I asked her to help me get an interview with Damon John…. She did.
I took my notes from the show, transcribed both of those interviews, and I turned that into my first book called Conversations With Sharks.
That hit number one on Amazon, and that was the beginning of my book writing process and the beginning of my publishing company.
And as you say, you didn’t get the break with all of them, only one of them, but you were able to turn that into something so much greater.
Who was your favourite Shark to interview?
Editor:
Fantastic. I mean, that shows real tenacity, as well, to be able to get in front of a Shark, right from the very start.
Mr Kelly Cole:
Barbara was my favourite Shark to interview because she was just so cool and so down to earth.
And like I said, we just hit it off and I felt so comfortable to ask her to get me an interview with Damon.
And Damon was special to me because we had similar backgrounds, him growing up in Brooklyn.
No, he grew up in Queens. But when he introduced his clothing line FUBU, that’s all I wore.
So, I was a huge Damon John fan even before Shark Tank.
And so, he was my favourite Shark on TV, but after speaking to them both, Barbara is my favourite Shark.
Don’t tell Damon, though.
Editor:
Yeah, Barbara’s close to your heart. I can tell.
One thing that I guess everybody thinks about when they think about writing a book, is that it’s really difficult.
Did you ever think the same before you got into this?
Mr Kelly Cole:
I really didn’t. I kind of just did it, and in mind, me just doing it, I was able to help a lot of other people overcome that barrier of thinking that it’s something hard to do.
And it’s really not.
I’ve created a simple formula on how people can write a book in literally a weekend. You want me to share it?
Editor:
Yeah, that’d be great
Mr Kelly Cole:
Okay, cool. I call this the grocery store method. If you’re a smart grocery store shopper, you create a list before you actually go to the store, correct? So you don’t overspend and you know what you’re going to the store to buy.
So, it starts with a list. Just make a list of the things that you want to cover in your book. That’s all you need to do first.
So, we’ll call that Friday. Friday, you make your list…
Note from the Editor:
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