In 1983 he applied for a sabbatical leave from teaching. He wrote in the application that he wanted to research and write about the relationship between performance and rewards in organizations. This topic interested him very much because he could see no relationship between the two at the university where he taught.

The administration rejected his application, saying that the proposal was “lacking in quality.” That bureaucratic comment ticked him off. In his words “I remember thinking to myself, ‘lacking in quality, huh? I’ll show them. I’m going to write the best book on the subject that I can.’”

The book, The Greatest Management Principle in the World, was published in 1985, translated into over a dozen languages, adapted to produce several audio and video training programs, and garnered a lot of speaking engagements. The book had a big write-up in Success Magazine, and he was interviewed on ABC- TV’s Good Morning America.

The money he made from that book enabled him to take a two-year leave of absence without pay, which was four times longer than the sabbatical that he had applied for. During that time he wrote How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life, which was extremely profitable. The success of those two books landed him in the winner’s circle and founded an early University retirement far beyond his wildest dreams.

Michael LeBoeuf‘s other book The Millionaire in You has sold millions of copies and has impacted lives across the globe. Yet this was a man who was rejected by the university authorities. A man whose proposal was said to be “lacking in quality.”

Michael Le Boeuf set out to write a book and he did. But as soon as the book became a success, he started getting invitations to speak in seminars, retreats, conferences, summits, etc.  Also, he became a toast of the television producers, granting one interview after another. Beyond the money he made from the books, he started making more money from speaking.

You can make money sharing your experience with others. Irrespective of what you are doing, one thing you must do is start early in preparing yourself. Record your experiences as you get along, one day it will be of great use. You can also attend public speaking training, where everything about making presentations, acquiring other communication skills, and making it public as a speaker is taught.

It will be difficult to run away from sharing your experience with others, except you are not planning to succeed. I’m an advocate of multiple streams of income, and speaking in public is really one of them.

 

First published in September 2012.

Uju Onyechere