Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to HALEY MARGUERITE. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

HALEY, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

I made several mistakes and sometimes even made those same mistakes over and over and over again. But, a one point you hit a brick wall and say to yourself, “I can no longer keep going down this path and expect to achieve nothing but the same results.” That’s when I decided to make a change. Covid-19 was a blessing in disguise. I took that time to really hone my craft, perfect my skills and become the bet at saying, “no!” Before Covid-19 I was that person that if you called to hangout I was your gal, if you called to vent I was that person and if you called because you needed a a workout buddy to help hold you accountable, I was that person, too. But, after so long of constantly accepting every single invitation it starts to weigh on you and your mental health. I decided to say, “no more… not another day!” and took complete ownership for myself and my actions.

Making a priorities list the night before has been is critical to helping me stay focused throughout the day and achieve optimal success. So often times as an entrepreneur we get so distracted by the phone calls, the texts, the social media messages and the unorthodox lifestyle that it really is tough to stay on track. But, if we want to thrive we know we must stay on the path. In addition to writing my goals out the night before I also set two separate alarms to help me wake up each morning; one is the standard obnoxious I-phone alarm and another one is a motivational alarm that spits out motivational quotes. I am a big proponent of journaling daily, reading and going to the gym. Why? Because as an entrepreneur majority of our days are spent in complete isolation. So, having an outlet to be able to let your feelings out is really key.

Listening to that inner voice within you really helps to channel where your energy should be focused. It was back in the fall of 2021 I attended the Rotary Conference in Naples, Florida and was offered to have a booth to display my children’s books. So, I did. I met some really nice people and one person in particular that really has helped to change my business exponentially. While at the event, selling my kids books, there was a gentleman next to me taking photos for the moon. “I need to introduce you to someone special” The vendor to my right said. She introduced me to David van de Velde, my now colleague and mentor. David is the founder of Ketel One and Van Gogh Vodka as well as a co-owner of an aerospace third party testing company.

Dave and I spoke about my books and his mission to decrease bullying in schools and communities all over the world. “Can you help me on my mission with Charlie” Mr. van de Velde said. “I would be honored to help with such a heart warming mission!” Author Haley Marguerite replied. Since then, the two of them have been on the path to spread the message to schools, clubs and non-profits everywhere through their anti-bullying programs. Currently they have partnerships with: Girl Scouts of Citrus, Salvation Army, Rotary International, Lighthouse of SW FL, Leesburg High School, Brewton Elementary School and in discussions with many other big companies.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Haley Marguerite is the author of the Charlie Takes an Adventure book series. She is most notably known for Charlie Takes an Adventure, Charlie Takes an Adventure to Massachusetts and Charlie Takes an Adventure to New York. In addition to being a successful author, Haley is also a motivational speaker delivering talks to elementary and middle school aged students called “Dream Big.” Haley was 11 years old when she wrote her first book, titled, Charlie Takes an Adventure as part of a language arts project. The book didn’t get published for 13 years because every-time Haley wanted to publish it she would constantly hear the discouragement from family, friends, teachers and librarians. This is what she would hear: “You’re way too young!”, “It costs too much money!” and “It’s way too hard!” She even had one boyfriend tell her, “You are not smart enough to publish a book!” Haley became a published author at age 24 despite her odds.

Just recently Haley and her colleague Dave have launched a slew of anti-bullying programs to help decrease the number of bullies we have in our schools today. The most popular program they offer is sending photos to the moon on an actual space rocket and you can get an electronic certificate in a matter of minutes in your email.

I am most proud of myself for not giving up and staying with the business this long. This November 30th will mark seven years in business. We’ve had many highs and many lows. But, the fact that I was able to hang in for that long really proves how determined I am and will not give up no matter what.

My advice for followers and/or fans that are interested in becoming an author, I would say, “make it happen!” So many people I have met over the years will tell me how they have this great idea for a book. But, never will execute and get the book published.

To learn more about my books you can check out: www.charlietakesanadventure.com

To learn more about my anti-bullying programs you can check out this link here: www.vsclunaralliance.com

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The first two years in business, as an author, I put 80,000 miles on my car. Many days I would get up early around 4:00am and drive out to an event and the event would get cancelled due to bad weather, many days I would drive four hours each way just to sell my books and not one person bought a single book. I even picked up and relocated 10 hours north from all my family and friends to give it a shot in a different location to hopefully make a name in those areas. I have high winds break my tent and I have even had my car break down hours before I am about to set up my booth. But, I got my car fixed and made it to the event on time.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

This past fall I was at the Rotary International Conference in Naples Florida. David van de Velde, who is my now mentor and advisor had a booth there taking photos to the moon that would go on an actual rocket. He had space inside of three various rocket-ships and was trying to spread the word about his programs. But, he felt if his moon programs and my books were to join efforts we might be able to attract a much wider audience together by using Charlie the penguin (who is the main character in the books I write) to be the mascot for the children to follow and look up to. I thought it was a brilliant idea.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.charlietakesanadventure.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorhaley_marguerite/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Charlesignatiusadelie
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haleymariano/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-8g8ADbMc-vzV-3nTMRO3A

Image Credits
I own the rights to all the photos I have uploaded.