Episode 81: The Journey From Crappy to Happy with Randy Peyser – Transcript

Wealth On Any Income Podcast Episode 81

Rennie Gabriel  00:09
Hi folks, welcome to Episode 81 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast. This is where we talk about money tips, techniques, attitudes, information, and provide inspiration. I'm your host, Rennie Gabriel. In past episodes, we spoke about how to build an Income and Expense Report, how to measure the level of pleasure based on where you spend your money, how to track your money in 5 - 10 seconds, and what to look for on a net worth statement to see how close you are to Complete Financial Choice®. And last week, we had Chris Williams talking about how to use Masterminds to grow your income and your leads. Today, we have as our guest, Randy Peyser. Randy edits and ghostwrites books and gets authors book deals with literary agents and publishers. Her clients have been featured on Hallmark TV, and Daily Mail TV, in Oprah Magazine, Time Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal and USA bestseller lists - in airport bookstores and FedEx Offices. All over the place. Isn't that the point? She's the author of, 'Crappy to Happy'  - as featured in the movie, Eat, Pray, Love - 'The Power of Miracle Thinking', and the 'Write-A-Book program'. Randy, welcome to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast. 

Randy Peyser  01:32
Thank you, Rennie. It's really my pleasure to be here. 

Rennie Gabriel  01:35
Well, let's get right to it with some questions. Tell us a little bit about what you do and why you do it.

Randy Peyser  01:43
Okay, many years ago, I started out in the magazine world. But then I wrote my first book when everything in my life absolutely collapsed. You know, when we get to those places in life, where some people call it the "dark night of the soul", where you know, it just seems like the crises are multiplying faster than rabbits. You can't even track them all. And I say, why is it they call it a dark night of the soul when truthfully, it's never one night. It's the dark year and a half of the soul. And so during this time period of my 'dark night of the soul', I had been an Editor in Chief of a pretty prominent "New Agey" magazine back in the Bay Area, early 90s, when you could say the word New Age and people are not rolling their eyes at that point. Now you have to say mind, body, spirit, but back then it was the "new age". And all of a sudden the magazine got sold. And a relationship I was in ended. And it was like loss upon loss and all these compounded losses. So I spent a year and a half, basically, walking in the hills of Marin, California, and crying and grieving. But I did something very interesting during that time. A friend of mine, Deborah LaForest, said, whenever she's in crisis, she asks herself the question, what's the most loving thing I can do for me right now? And so where I went with that, I started asking myself that question, and I started living my life only to the answer to that question, what's the most loving thing I can do for me right now? And I would hear things like, you know, take a walk, do the dishes, whatever it was, then one day I heard sit, do nothing. Okay, so I'm sitting and doing nothing. And repeatedly, that's all I'm hearing. 

Rennie Gabriel  03:26
Hmm. 

Randy Peyser  03:27
Well, I come from a Jewish background. And my father is always giving to charities in Israel, and they're always sending him Hanukkah candles. My father sends me all these candles. So I figured, I'm going to light some candles while I'm sitting and doing nothing. And it became kind of a meditation for me to sit for, it turns out the candles were taking an hour and twenty minutes to burn out. And I would sit with the candles every single day. And within two weeks, I was so silent inside, I felt like I could hear the silence of the flame. And from that place, I just started thinking about different episodes in my life. And I started writing them down. Little did I know this is how my whole new career and my whole life was going to unfold. Because I had at that time, I don't know if you remember, Rennie, the Mac Jr. Classic. With like the little six inch screen. It's this teeny tiny screen.

Rennie Gabriel  04:19
Oh, oh, you're talking about a computer that . . . yeah, yeah.

Randy Peyser  04:24
Teeny tiny little screen. 

Rennie Gabriel  04:25
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I had one of those. Yeah.

Randy Peyser  04:28
So I started writing all these different stories from my life that just kept coming to me. Within a month I had 100 pages. And I thought, I think I'm writing a book. But if I'm writing a book, what book is this? And so I was on a journey. I didn't realize I was on a journey. We're all on a journey. And so in my journey, I realized that all of the experiences I've had I've gone through some crappy experience and here's how I transformed it. So the book became, 'Crappy to Happy'. I started pitching my book in New York, and within time, you know, found a publisher, and then I started helping other people. So the process of helping people get book deals was very organic. Again, this was the late 90s. So it was, you know, a good period of time, for the last 20 years, I've been helping people get book deals, and primarily helping first time authors. So you know, so people have that big dream. They want to be, you know, with a New York publisher, they want a great agent, maybe they want a six-figure deal. I've helped people to secure the agents to, to edit the books to ghostwrite books that have gotten six-figure deals as well. But it all started from that place of complete meltdown, from the 'dark night of the soul'. What I've learned is that whenever we're in a 'dark night of the soul', we are going through a personal death. And it's painful. You think you'll never get through it. But if you're in that place, right now, please listen, you will, you are going to be reborn in a new way.

Rennie Gabriel  05:57
I completely agree, because my book, Wealth On Any Income, was written at a time where I'd finished my second divorce, I'd had a business failure. While I knew a lot, nothing was really working. And what I was learning to rebuild my life is what went into that book. And, gosh, it was like, three, four years later, is when I ended up having everything turn around. I mean, I was 50 years of age. And, I mean, that's when my world turned around, and I went from flat broke, to multi-millions. So it sounds like a very similar path.

Randy Peyser  06:39
Yes, I would agree with that. And, you know, I was not a happy person in the past, I just was not. And I wanted to know, is it possible to really be happy in this lifetime? Because I've been through so much crappy, can I get to happy. So I decided for that year that I was going through that experiment called, my life, that I would only make choices every single day that I felt would lead to happiness without compromising myself. So someone invited me to dinner, I would really check in with myself. Is that something that I really want to do? And not to, of course, I'm the kind of person I never want to hurt another person's feelings, but I was willing to put myself first in these circumstances, 

Rennie Gabriel  07:21
You know, and I'm chuckling because I'm thinking of the questions I have people ask when they're spending money. It's very similar, sort of, like, am I getting the level of pleasure that I just paid for? 

Randy Peyser  07:35
Oh yeah, I love that. 

Rennie Gabriel  07:37
Yeah. And so unless you're asking yourself questions like, is this in alignment with my goals, or is this something I really want to do, or is this going to really make me happy - as opposed to crappy? It's the process of questions. That's what wealthy people do to transform the situation, is they ask questions. They don't make statements like, I don't want to do this, or I've heard of that before. That's not what they do. They ask questions. Well, an important question for my show, is because I give 100% of the profits from the work I do to charity, the people I have on as guests need to have some sort of charitable bent. So is there a charity you support? And if so what do they do?

Randy Peyser  08:20
So the main one that I support, and I love animal organizations, so I'm always . . . I'll tell you, I carry cans of dog food with fliptop lids in my car. So when I come across homeless people, to dogs, I can hand them dog food. So that's just a personal thing. But in terms of like a 501C3 nonprofit that I support, it absolutely is, WomanCARE, which is in Aptos, California - it's down near Santa Cruz - because I'm a breast cancer survivor. And that organization back in 2012, 2013, oh my god, were they there for me. They provide all free services for breast cancer, anybody on the spectrum of cancer, the women dealing with cancer or having dealt with cancer. So there were emotional support groups, there were art groups, there were, you know, creativity groups. There were writing groups. In fact, I still virtually participate. Here it is, like 12 years later, and I'm, or 10 years later, I got to do my math correctly. And I'm still participating in a monthly virtual writing group from there. Absolutely wonderful, and again, all free services for women on going through cancer.

Rennie Gabriel  09:27
Oh, thank... terrific, thank you, and bless you. Well tell me, I'm guessing, you know, because of the work that you've done, and how you supported other people who are authors, who are your target clients, how would you describe them?

Randy Peyser  09:40
First time authors are clearly my target, and primarily professionals. Anybody who's either writing about from personal growth, from business, mind, body, spirit, in those categories, very, very strong. I mean, I recently had a memoire that's been optioned for Hollywood film. But memoir is a difficult category. Although I, obviously I've sold it. So those are primary targets for me - first time authors, people who have the dream but cannot get those doors open for themselves. 

Rennie Gabriel  10:15
Got it. 

Randy Peyser  10:16
And I help with those doors.

Rennie Gabriel  10:17
Yeah, I mean, it takes experience. And if you're a first time author, you don't have the experience. What would you say your biggest fear or failure was personally or in your business? And I'm guessing it might have to do with the collapse of the New Age magazine. Would that be accurate?

Randy Peyser  10:36
I've been through many I would say birth and, you know, rebirth cycles throughout my life. My biggest fear actually is not related to my business. My business is thankfully incredibly strong. And it's something obviously, I've built over the years, where I used to be many years ago, getting a check for $300 from Mommy and Daddy to keep me on the face of the planet. You know, to go from there to where I am now. You know, it's just a lot, a lot of steps. My fears are more around health, you know, having been through such a big challenge. And you know, COVID being what it is. And two of my housemates now have COVID. And when I found that out last week, one of them first got it, you know, I got myself out to a very nice Hampton Inn. 

Rennie Gabriel  11:24
Yeah. 

Randy Peyser  11:25
I'm staying elsewhere. So I would say health is a bigger fear for me and staying healthy. 

Rennie Gabriel  11:31
Got it. Okay. 

Randy Peyser  11:32
So not related to my business.

Rennie Gabriel  11:34
Is there an insight that you've developed, based on that?

Randy Peyser  11:39
It's really a toughy for me. It seems like people are so polarized around, absolutely don't do vaccines, absolutely do, do vaccines. And so that's, it's just a real tough question for me, as to you know, what's right for me, and both sides saying, please don't do it, please do it. And I'm sitting in the middle of that debate today. 

Rennie Gabriel  12:03
Oh, okay. 

Randy Peyser  12:05
Two housemates and COVID going, Oh, my God, I think I really need to get the vaccine. And I know, I'm going to get repercussions for not doing it and repercussions from people who hear that I haven't done it. And so that's, that's kind of a tough place to be. 

Rennie Gabriel  12:18
I get it. That makes sense. 

Randy Peyser  12:20
It's not about my business. Just isn't.

Rennie Gabriel  12:24
Yeah, no, it's personal. That's why I phrased the question that way because it doesn't have to be business. Back to the business thing. What are the typical feelings, your prospects experience?

Randy Peyser  12:35
I would say, excitement and elation. Because I love getting people book deals. I absolutely love it. And I will never waste anyone's time or their money. So you know, normally we start with just a 15-minute conversation. Let me have a brief conversation. Let me ask you the questions. Let me guide the conversation because I know what to ask. And within 15 minutes, I can tell someone, typically, this is the plan for your book, and this is where I think it's best going to be placed. Because not everybody is positioned correctly for a traditional publisher. 

Rennie Gabriel  13:07
Yes. 

Randy Peyser  13:08
I'm never attached as to which way people need or want to publish. I just really want what's highest and best for each person. And I am very honest with people to say, yes, okay, your book right now is positioned for self-publishing. If you want it to go to traditional publisher, X, Y, and Z need to happen. But I'm not attached, you know, I'll have the referral partner for them if they want to self-publish. And if they want to go for a traditional publisher, I'm really there to support them. And to guide them.

Rennie Gabriel  13:38
Got it. Oh, thank you. Yeah, that's what I looked at on my own situation. And I chose to ... I  have control issues. And that's how I ended up creating a book publishing company with 80 titles. It was, the point was, I was going to publish my own book. Turns out my own book came second. And, you know, there are 79 other titles that we published. Is there a common mistake that your prospects make?

Randy Peyser  14:06
Yes, there, there are a few very, very common mistakes. One is to self-publish first, because a lot of time they'll self-publish a book, and then they'll say, and then like, even yesterday, somebody contacted me, you know, my books really not doing well, I want a publisher to take it over. Well, guess what? They're not going to because you don't have a good track record of sales. It's so much easier for me to get a book deal for first time author who has no track record of sales, than someone has a track record of sales that doesn't meet their requirements.

Rennie Gabriel  14:36
That makes, that makes perfect sense. Yeah. If it's not doing well, then yeah, why would the book publisher want it?

Randy Peyser  14:44
They're not going to touch that book. And they're not going to touch the authors next book, because the track record of sales, if they can track it on Amazon, and they can look up your sales numbers in one second on Amazon, because they have the software to do it, and if those numbers aren't meeting their requirements, different publishers have different requirements. That's something I can go into depth with, you know, with authors when I'm speaking with them, you know, depending on where I think their book is probably best going to be placed. So, you know, I have that kind of data, but we don't need to go there now.

Rennie Gabriel  15:14
Yeah, yeah. So for our listeners, what is the best way for them to get a hold of you, so that they can learn more?

Randy Peyser  15:23
Well, my company and website is authoronestop.com. And the one is spelled out o - n - e. So www.authoronestop. There's a "contact" button there. And that just makes it just super simple.

Rennie Gabriel  15:38
Perfect, because what I'll do is I'll put that in the show notes, so that when this gets distributed, they can just click on the link. Is there a question that I should have asked you, that would also give great value to my listeners?

Randy Peyser  15:51
Well, it's not so much a question, but it's a way that you know... I've given over 400 talks, seminars, keynotes, how to get a book deal with the publisher, you know, conferences, podcasts, all kinds of things. But one way I really like to end a call if that's where we're headed.

Rennie Gabriel  16:04
Yeah, we are. Yeah.

Randy Peyser  16:06
I like to ask the question of people, which is - is a book or frankly, anything you're doing in your life, is it your priority? Or is it an option? Because if it's an option, it'll never get done. If it's your priority, you will make it happen, and nothing's going to stop you. So just notice, whether it's a book or anything that you're doing, any goal you've set for yourself, is it really your priority? Because if it's your priority, you will make it happen.

Rennie Gabriel  16:36
Oh, thank you. That's a great question to ask. Thank you, Randy. And thank you for being on the show. 

Randy Peyser  16:43
Well, thank you, Rennie. It's a blast. 

Rennie Gabriel  16:45
And to my listeners, thank you for tuning in. Next week, we're going to have Nancy Giere speaking on how to create relevant, content rich training that sticks. And you can listen to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast, on your favorite platform. And please rate, review and subscribe. And if you'd like to know how books, movies and Society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is, then log on to, wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. You'll hear my TEDx talk, and can request a free 27-page Roadmap to Complete Financial Choice® and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, inspiration around your business or money. Again, that's, wealthonanyincome.com /TEDx. Until next week. be prosperous. Bye bye for now.


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