We recently connected with Kalen Doleman and have shared our conversation below.

Kalen , appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Yes,

When I first started my writing career I made what was perhaps the most risky choice I had made in my life at that time. At the time I was living in Asheville NC, and I had a decent sales job as a furniture salesman. This was an excellent place to work because the earning potential for the job was high. I was doing very well at the job and was improving my ability to sale high value items at the store which would help my commission. I’ve never told the full details but I was offered an opportunity to leave the USA and go travel abroad and speak in Nigeria for a writers conference. I was told that I would have my accommodation paid for and that I would be able to sell my books at the event.

It was about 8 months before the event that I was offered to do this. To me I was not fully financially stable at this time and my books were just released shortly before this. I also had many expenses to take care of. Even though I had these types of issues and more I decided that I would accept the invitation to go.

They told me I would need to pay for the flight to go to Nigeria but one I was there my expenses would be taken care of. I did not know how much the tickets would cost to go but I knew it would be expensive since I would have to catch a flight across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa. For some reason flying to Africa from anywhere is always more expensive than most places.

So I decided I would start saving money so I would reach my goal. I don’t remember how much a flight was at that time but I do remember confirming that It was in fact very expensive. Not only that but the visa fees and other fees associated with traveling there was quite high for me at the time.

Months passed and I continued to save and eventually It was just a couple months away. At this time I knew I had to make a very risky decision. That risk was to take a vacation from my job even though I did not have vacation time and go to Nigeria for at least 2 weeks maybe more. I knew this was an excellent job and that I would easily be able to scale my sales skills and earn over six figures if I kept improving and worked consistently over the next few years. I also knew that the amazing opportunity that was presented before me would not come again in this form. The opportunity to go to another country and speak to people who were actually interested in me and my writing. I had never been to Africa in my entire life. I knew it would be a great chance to spread my message, and increase my network overseas. I also knew there was no promise of pay and no promise that I would sale many books. I also knew that I needed to work at least two weeks so I would have money to pay my bills at home and have food. In the end I took decisive action and decided to go and that decision changed my life forever. I made amazing connections, had other people reach out to me for future events, gained fans and good friends, I got to experience Ethiopia and Nigeria, and I gained new opportunities. It entirely changed the path I was on and it solidified my role and career as a author.

The reason I chose this story is because it was a great risk. I ended up staying in Nigeria longer than I thought and because of what was happening around me and what I accomplished I was not afraid to lose that high paying position. I was actually living my life the way I wanted to live and doing the things I wanted to do. In the long-term this very risky decision helped me expand to a level I would not have otherwise.

One thing I always say is that ” Lady Luck does not come often, and when she does visit she doesn’t stay for long.”

Kalen , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Firstly I do want to say I am an author and I do have a new book releasing on May 31st titled “Super Sayings to a Peaceful Life”

What I do is provide a positive and unique way of living and working in the world. When I was a kid I never liked the idea that we had to be stuck in one type of thing our whole lives. I just did not believe in that and at times it actually made me depressed to think we had to live in a way that a society we did not build predestined for us. When people look at my social media they usually see the life of a real person, not something fake and for show. They see someone who is busy living life, traveling, working, joking and sharing thoughtful insight into our ever changing world. This is also what I did on my former radio show called “Mental Liberation Radio” on here I had many guest of various backgrounds come on and the topics revolved around motivation/inspiration, cryptocurrency, history and politics. In do not bind myself or the people who follow my work to any type of ideology I share my insights and allow people to share what they think as well. That is why I think people like my work. Even in my books it is not really a reading experience, it is more like a conversation with me and whoever is reading and I think people like that. Im not talking to you I’m talking with you.

I always tell people that my primary work for now is writing. I write book and I travel the world working on positive innovative, world changing projects. I helped start Ann online film school which I am the advisor for, I am currently working with one of my business partners on the development of a new revolutionary app. There will be more details in the near future and I am currently working in Saudi Arabia and working to bring new innovation there. For my personal work I am front and center and for other projects I am behind the scenes. I’ve written three books with the third book coming out on May 31st. So Just a couple weeks away. This book is titled “Super Saying to a Peaceful Life” it is a short book of modern style parables and sayings that I created based on many things I have experienced and learned in my world travels. I also act and speak. Besides this I also teach a cryptocurrency course on my official website kalendoleman.com

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

For those who we call non-creatives I think what you may struggle to realize is that a creative person I the same as you they just took all of their effort and energy into creating what it is they were trying to create.

To go in more detail what I mean is that I think every person alive does not want to be constrained by the society they live in. They do not want to live an unfulfilled life. The people we call creative and the people we call non-creatives all have the same basic potential to be a creator of something. The difference I think has to do with the heart. The her of the creative will eventually not be able to take sitting and not creating the thing they want to create. It almost becomes an insatiable desire to change our circumstances and create the world or life we envision. It becomes so insatiable that it is unbearable. So unbearable that everyday is almost like torture if you are not creating. So great is this feeling inside to the creative type that it feels like a life or death choice when we decide to actually go all out and pursue our entrepreneurial goal. We feel that if we don’t do it then it is like dying our spirit is slowly dying it is a true pain and it is something that truly is felt. However, when we are in a state of creating it is like we are feeding our soul. Maybe we are because we are doing what God put us to do. At least those of us who use our creative intentions in a way that pleases God.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There is one great book that I read and it changed my life. It was the first mindset book I ever read. Before that I read all types of books on philosophy, great generals, emperors, history, science, the ancient sciences and political theory from many different time periods.

This one book was very different though. This book Is “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. For those who don’t know this book was first published in the 1930s either during, or right after the Great Depression. There are many concepts in this book I that I knew about because it has similar ideas to the ancient sciences. Even so there is much I learned from this book and I applied many techniques and exercises that I learned from this book into my life. I believe this book helped me strengthen my ability to persevere and to use my mind in a way that can solve problems. To be a creative or entrepreneur solving problems is a very important skill. It is the skill that you cannot go without. I highly recommend anyone who has not read this book to give it a try. “Think and Grow Rich” is not as the tile suggests, there is a lot more to it for the one who pays attention.

Contact Info:

• Website: kalendoleman.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kalen_doleman/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DolemanKalen