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On Day 1 of the HRPA 2012 Conference, I attended the afternoon supersession with David Chilton.  David talked about his journey to success with his first book - ”The Wealthy Barber,” and introduced his new book, “The Wealthy Barber Returns.” David spent two hours speaking to a full audience without the help of visuals or PowerPoint. He is an amazing story teller and the audience was engaged throughout the session. 

I loved his sense of family and that his sister, father, and mother were involved and supporting him through his journey to get his first book published.  He was originally going to call his book “The Wealthy Bartender” which was inspired by the television show “Cheers.” I liked that he didn’t listen to the financial and banking experts who told him the concept for the book would not work.  Instead he asked his beer drinking hockey buddies (the every day person) to review what he had written so far. They loved it and they asked questions which helped him clarify and improve the book.

He told us about the story of Greta and Janet Podleski, authors of the highly successful cookbook series (and products) Looneyspoons.  Through their energy, perseverence, courage, and by taking a train (not flying) to meet with David in Ottawa, they won him over.  That, and the fact that David’s mother tested some of the recipes and told him – “Publish that cookbook…”  I loved that through the power of Twitter, Greta Podleski, replied back. 

Mom tests recipes and says to David “publish that cookbook LooneySpoons” David says always trust ur Mom. @wealthy_barber #HRPA2012

— Joanne Royce (@JoanneRoyce) February 1, 2012

@gretapodleski I loved the story of your successAnd I loved the sense of family in both@wealthy_barber and looney spoons. #HRPA2012 — Joanne Royce (@JoanneRoyce) February 1, 2012

Finally, David talked about financial statistics and products, and that the world is carrying too much debt. He told the story of a homeowner who apologized to him for not having ”granite countertops” and a big house, to which he replied, ”Who needs granite countertops and I live in a 1300 s.f. bungalow.”  David noted that people have too much stuff and that gets them into money and debt trouble.  Granite countertops and too much stuff are not worth going into debt for.  While David didn’t mention this, the video called The Story of Stuff also highlights how our need for so much STUFF negatively impacts the world in which we live.  I think we might have our “wants” mixed up with our “needs” and this contributes to living beyond our means. 

In any case, it was two hours well spent. Lots of insight into how to get a book published with the the power of perservance, courage, and support of family and friends and the benefits of not living beyond our means. You can read my actual tweets during David Chilton’s session – The Wealthy Barber Returns – through Storify below. 

Posted by Joanne Royce

Timeline of my tweets through Storify: