- Hi, this Lea Woodford with Between the Lines,
and I'm in beautiful Las Vegas with Kim Eley.
How are you, Kim?
- I'm great.
How are you?
- I am so good.
Let's talk about your book.
- Love to.
- Now this was your first book.
- Yes.
- So, what was your inspiration for this book?
- My inspiration was actually what seemed
like a bad thing at first.
We had layoffs at work that challenged me to figure out,
what do I want to do with my life?
What makes me passionate?
What makes me joyful?
So, I wanted to talk to other people and figure out
what made them excited and joyful
and pursue a career that they love,
and so I decided, huh, why don't I write a book about that?
I interviewed ten individuals and one couple,
all different walks of life.
The main thing they have in common
is that they absolutely love what they do.
- Now, that's amazing.
We're seeing a lot more layoffs
and a lot more downsizing,
so how did you feel about writing this book?
- I felt really excited and interested.
I figured out a lot of questions I had.
I wanted to know what makes someone tick.
What makes them excited about what they do?
What makes them say, you know what, I don't care
what anybody else is telling me to do.
I'm doing what I want to do,
and the more I talked to people,
the more excited I became myself,
and the more confident I became to pursue my own path.
- Now, as you and I were talking about this show,
you left your career.
- Yes, I did.
- How scary was that?
- Very scary, very, but so exhilarating,
and absolutely joyful.
I feel like I've sprouted wings, and I'm just taking off.
It's been extremely gratifying.
I love what I'm doing.
I hop out of bed excited,
and I can't wait to get up in the morning.
- Now, what advice would you give somebody
who's thinking about quitting their job?
Is there anything, any bumps in the road
that you had that you kind of wish,
oh, I wish I would have thought about this?
- Oh, definitely!
Well, I'm so glad that I spoke to so many entrepreneurs
for my book because they prepared me.
They said, well yes, you know, leap and the net will appear,
but you might want to take six months or a year or so
and save up for some money for the net (laughs).
- Right? Well, and fortunately you, of course,
made the decision.
So many people don't have that option.
- Very true, very true, so--
- And I notice that there's some information in your book
that can help some of those people
that are unfortunately faced with that unwanted transition.
- Oh, most definitely, so people can prepare themselves.
They can figure out, you know,
what is it that really moves me?
What makes me tick?
What is it that I absolutely love to do?
And people can prepare ahead of time.
They can even make it their side hustle,
or something that they--
- See, now, I love the side hustle (laughs).
- Yes (laughs).
- I love it, and you were doing that.
- I was. I was working full-time and also writing
and interviewing the people for my book at the same time,
and I also started working with clients.
I helped people to publish their own book,
and so I was doing that as my side hustle
until I was able to make that transition.
- Now, how long did it take you
from thought process to execution?
- Oh, for the book, I started in 2014,
and it took me about a year and a half to write the book,
and then I published it.
My dad became ill in between.
- Life gets in the way, doesn't it?
- It does.
It's tough, and so, keeping that spirit going,
keeping your passion going is something
that's so important because it's one thing to be passionate
in the moment and feel excited about something.
This is like a long-burning passion.
This is like an ember that continues going,
and you feel so excited about it, even though life happens,
and things get in the way, you still feel so excited.
You want to keep it going.
- Well, one of the things that stood out,
for me, was the packaging.
When you sent me the book...
If you want somebody's attention...
Kim had it beautifully packaged.
- Oh, thank you.
- It had a personalized note.
I just don't see that.
I usually have book authors just shoving me
their book, you know?
It was so fun to have something personalized
and written and so beautiful.
- Oh, thank you. That means a lot,
and it meant so much to me
to be able to share my book with you,
and so I did want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
So, I believe in hand-written notes.
I think there's nothing more personal or lovely,
especially in this world of technology.
- Right, y'all? And being a Southern girl,
I'm used to thank-you notes,
so that really kind of stood out, and I just thought,
you know, any of you that are book authors,
if you're going to send it to anybody,
have the personal touch, and make it fun
for the person reading the book,
but also opening the package. - Wonderful.
- Because we get a ton of packages.
- Oh, absolutely.
- Now, what was the biggest challenge writing the book?
- Probably the biggest challenge was finding the time
because I was working full-time,
and I would schedule interviews
with the people with whom I was speaking,
and so just finding the time and nailing it down.
That was probably the toughest part.
- Now, how did writing this book change your life?
- You know what?
It absolutely transformed my life.
- I know, right? (laughs)
- (laughing) It's fantastic.
I realized
when I interviewed the people,
I call them tickers because they follow
what makes them tick.
I was trying to figure out how many tickers to include,
and I thought,
10, 11, 12, like a clock,
and I realized I was the twelfth ticker.
I realized that I was becoming the person
that I wanted to be.
I love writing, I love interviewing people,
so I understand why you love what you do (laughs).
- I love it.
- It absolutely made me so excited and joyful,
and that's really what I want to do for the world
is I love helping people to find their joy,
and that helps me find my joy,
so that absolutely opened up my life.
- Well, I can see the transition from when you were working
and had a j-o-b (laughs)
- (laughing) Yes!
- Now, although it is fun, and I love being an entrepreneur,
let's talk about the not-so-fun parts.
- Absolutely, and it is tough.
I mean, my goodness, it's...
I like to use the analogy that when you're on a j-o-b
you pop off on the train station here,
and you get off on hopefully Retirement Station here.
This is like being in a kayak on a ocean of water,
and you don't know where to go.
It's exhilarating.
Sometimes you're like,
oh, I shouldn't have taken the kayak here (laughs),
bad idea.
There's always decisions that you have to make.
There's constantly, you know,
options that you have to decide on, on a constant basis,
and stay fresh in your field.
I always feel I need to be competitive,
read up on publishing and the new trends,
and to talk with other people who are mentors of mine.
That's really important, to make sure that you have somebody
who's been there and done that.
I always like to say I like to play tennis with someone
who's a better tennis player than I am because you learn.
I like to talk publishing with other people
who have been there, and they understand,
and they have better insights than I do.
- Absolutely, and it's changing.
- Yes!
- Publishing is changing faster
than we can put this information out.
- Absolutely. It's incredible.
- CreateSpace is going away.
- CreateSpace is going away, which is huge.
- I think it's going to be good, though.
- I think so too.
I think there's a lot of pluses,
but there's also some minuses to it.
- I think it will force people
to actually hire an editor (laughs).
- Yes. I'm all for that (laughs).
- Right?
Now, Kim, what was your process for writing the book?
- Absolutely. I like to call it a rolling wave process,
which meant I would talk to a couple of people for my book,
and then I would follow up and ask other people,
"Do you know someone who's really passionate
"about what they do?"
So, it was sort of like a hide-and-seek adventure,
finding people who I could interview with next.
And then I would sit down,
schedule an hour interview with them, record what they said,
and then I would go back and transcribe it,
and then I would write intros
for each of the chapters before them.
- Now, don't you find the interview style,
the journalistic journey...
Personally, I wrote my story,
but it's so much more fun to write other people's stories.
- It really is because you never know
what you're going to discover.
I had that happen with several of my interviews.
I interviewed a young woman whom I met
at the Vail, Colorado, Farmer's Market,
who was doing juicing, and come to find out,
her reasons for it was that her mother had MS
and had tried so many different medications
and almost overdosed,
and realized that she wanted to try
to take a more healthy approach.
I never knew all that at the Farmer's Market.
You just get the tip of the iceberg
when you just talk to someone briefly.
- Now, what was your favorite chapter in the book?
- My favorite chapter...
Okay, I have to say I loved all the people
with whom I spoke,
but there was a place in Washington, D.C.,
it's called The Mansion on O Street,
and there's a woman there named H.
Her name is literally H, just an initial.
I thought, how very James Bond-like,
and she runs this place.
It's part mansion, part museum, part bed and breakfast.
It's like The Addams Family crossed
with Willy Wonka's Factory.
It's like nothing you've ever seen before.
They have over 70 hidden doors,
and so when you go there,
it's like going to the Scooby-Doo Mansion.
You never know which room
you're going to end up in (laughs).
And H was the most laid back,
down-to-earth person I'd ever met.
She's on the board of The Rock and Roll Hall and Fame.
She actually was sort of unofficially adopted by Rosa Parks.
Rosa Parks lived in her house with her,
and Rosa Parks actually took her with her
when she met John Paul II, but you'd never know it.
She was the most laid back, unassuming person,
and she was so full of love,
and I was so inspired to write after I met her,
so that's absolutely my favorite chapter.
- Now, what's a piece of advice that you give
to an aspiring writer?
- Oh, absolutely.
The most important part is to start.
So many people think about it, and they want to do it,
and they've started a book,
and they've tucked it away in the drawer,
or it's stuck on a thumb drive somewhere.
The most important thing I tell them is take some action.
It's scary, yes.
It's exhilarating,
and sometimes you feel like it's my baby,
I can't give it to someone else,
but take that leap of faith.
It's so worth it.
- Now, Kim, how can people find out
about your book and order it?
Can you show our viewing audience your book?
- Oh, I'd be glad to. Here it is.
Tickers: What Makes People...Tick!
And Pursue a Career They Love!
And I have it on my website, which is www.kwepub.com,
and I also have it available on Amazon,
both as an eBook and as a paperback book.
- Wonderful. Well, thank you so much.
- Thank you, Lea.
- This was wonderful, and thank you again.
- Oh, thank you.
I'm so inspired by you.
- Thank you.
This has been Lea Woodford with Between the Lines.
Thanks for watching.