What is your Half Dome?

Since my last newsletter, so many things have happened: I finished my book—Fortune is in the Follow Up®, traveled to Yosemite to celebrate a cousin’s 50^th birthday, lost 25 lbs, went east to New York, New England and Niagara Falls, and my son turned 21. Whew! Lots of things, some of which were easy and fun, some of which required more concentrated thought and effort.

Watching some of my husband’s family members climb Half Dome in Yosemite—all in one day—made me think about the milestones we reach for in our lives. Last winter, writing the book stretched me—it was my winter Half Dome. After I got done, my publisher tasked me with identifying people who could add to the book and/or help promote it because of their work and reputation.

I created a list of entrepreneurs with experience running successful businesses—a key topic of my book. Most of the names on my list were people I knew, but one was a big stretch— Jay Conrad Levinson, the Father of Guerrilla Marketing, author of the “Guerrilla Marketing” series of books, the best known marketing brand in history. Our only connection was that I had read his books and been a fan for decades. How in the world would I be able to reach him, much less have him give me an hour of his time for an interview AND have him read and review the book? This was my spring Half Dome.

What to do? How to make this happen? How ‘realistic’ was it to think Jay Conrad Levinson would be interested or available to help me out? It took me several weeks of thought before I rolled up my sleeves and tackled this Half Dome. I needed to get comfortable with being uncomfortable (Page 149 of the book). It was hard to think about contacting Jay. But with a deep breath and some strategic thinking, I made the contact.  And my story has a happy ending: Jay agreed to the interview and agreed to read and review my book!

Readers who buy my book will have access to the transcript of my interview with Jay, as well as the ones I conducted with Ann Evanston, Nancy Duarte, Sanyika Calloway-Boyce and Alicia Dunams – all interesting and successful entrepreneurs.

Yours,
Heidi

PS: Those who want to know how I lost 25 lbs, shoot me an email and I will share with you. But a special thanks goes out to Dr. Julia Mason of New Life Chiropractic in San Carlos, CA for your help and support!