We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bradley Wright a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Bradley thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Winston Churchill once said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Few quotes have ever summed up something so perfectly. Failure is the greatest teacher in showing you what your idea really needs to succeed. That doesn’t mean you’re entire idea or business has to fail, but the small mistakes that inevitably come with any venture steer your idea into its full potential, instead of simply what you thought it should be. If . . . you can maintain that enthusiasm.
Before I wrote the first of my twenty-one published novels, I was an entrepreneur. A career path where failure is as much a part of life as eighty hour work weeks. I opened restaurants with family, I started a liquor brand with a friend, and both had varying levels of failure and success. However, the failures in life not only teach you how to better your business, they also can teach you that maybe the business you’re in isn’t the one for you.
All the while I was working like a dog, opening businesses, hustling to make something big happen, the desire to write kept whirling back around like a boomerang every time I cast it out. Ultimately, it was the failure of a business that finally pushed me into doing what I always really wanted to do. Six years after deciding it was finally time to tell stories, and a lot of little failures along the way, I’ve sold over a million copies of my novels.
Success doesn’t come when you want it to. It arrives when you are ready. Your job is to keep putting it all on the line until you are where you always wanted to be. Then clock back in every day after you’ve found that success, because someone who hasn’t found there’s yet is coming for yours.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’ve been writing espionage/thriller novels for seven years now. I grew up an athlete, grew into being an entrepreneur, but I was always felt different than other business people around me. They were into ROI, systems, profits, and all I really wanted to do was tell stories.
After a failed venture left me with too much time on my hands, I finally sat down and wrote my first book. I haven’t looked back since.
A lot of people have a difficult time self motivating to accomplish tasks, and a lot of writers find it hard to focus long enough to finish a novel. That is where being an entrepreneur really helped me. I was used to making my own hours, and doing the work it took in the right amount of time to be able to do things without a boss.
I am extremely fortunate to have family and friends around me that supported my decision to pull a 180 and completely change the trajectory of my career. Without them, I would never have had the “sticktoitiveness” to fight that uphill battle. It meant everything to me.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
To entertain. And as grandiose as it may sound, to be remembered.
As long as I have been on this earth, I have always wanted to make people feel. In school it was with laughs. I was always the class clown. I’d spend hours working on impressions just for a few laughs in the back of the classroom.
When I started opening restaurants, my creative outlet was parodying hit songs. I would write and produce the songs at home, then distribute them to friends and family just to share a laugh with them.
As I matured, I wanted more than goofy songs and fun impressions to entertain. I wrote a lot in my spare time as I worked on my various businesses. However, I think that writing novels spoke to me for more than just to entertain people. It was a way I could leave a part of myself behind so I would be remembered. The thought of my son being able to share my books with his children one day, and beyond, means something to me.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Doing what I want, when I want.
Everyone hates being told what to do, and how to do it. However, I think I loathe it more than most. I believe it has made a lot of my life very difficult. But it’s also led to the most rewarding things I’ve found in my life.
The ability to pick up and go wherever I want in the world is a massive plus to being a writer. Getting to start or quit my work when I want on a given day is great as well. But it certainly isn’t for everyone. It would be much easier to have someone tell me what needs done, and when to have it done, but I would hate every second of it. So, the tradeoff is I have always had to be highly self motivated. Which some days is easy, and others it is excruciatingly difficult.
What works for me might not work for others, but I love the freedom of being a writer. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bradleywrightauthor.com
- Instagram: @bradleywrightauthor
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BradleyThomasWright
- Twitter: @breezywright