Thrifty Thinking: From Setbacks to Greenbacks

I recently had the opportunity to interview Willie Jolley, author of Turn Setbacks into Greenbacks: 7 Secrets for Going Up in Down Times. He is an author and motivational speaker who has written several other self-improvement books as well, and is called "The Comeback King" by Success Magazine due to his work to keep Ford from needing to accept bailout money.

1) You speak from experience in how to go from struggling financially to being successful. Have you experienced setbacks along the way, or has it been a smooth climb up?
I wish it had been a smooth climb but I have literally come up the rough side of the mountain. When I started my speaking career I had been fired from my job and started my company with $200 in the bank, two kids and a wife and lots of bills. My first year I spoke only to school kids and things went okay during the school year, but when summer vacation came, I struggled to pay my bills and just barely made it through the summer and made it by begging power company not to turn off my lights and phones.

2) Tell us a little bit about how to overcome the emotional side of financial setbacks.
Financial setbacks can be especially problematic and emotionally stressful. The system I recommend in the book to overcome the emotional anxiety is first to decide not to panic! Panic is taken from the Greek word to choke, and when you panic you choke off the air to your brain and cannot think clearly. The way to overcome panic is to literally talk to yourself and say "Stay Calm! "Stay Calm!" There is something when you have positive self talk. Also if you focus on a positive experience or a winning experience you have recently had and use that moment to change your focus. Another technique is to have some inspirational or positive music to lift your spirit. If you visit my website you can actually watch and listen to some of my 1 Minute Motivational Messages to help you feel better and lift your spirit!

3) Do you have advice for people who don't feel they have an "marketable" skills or experience?
Most people feel that people are born with marketable skills or creativity, but everyone has some creativity and everyone has some marketable skills...the key is to think like they did as children, where we all used our creativity and all used our skills to get our parents to get what we want. Ask yourself the question, what did I do to get me this far. You had to use some skills to get your life to the place where you are now. Take time to celebrate some of your small successes and from there you can start to grow your future successes.

The book is an easy read, and offers nuggets of advice even for people not in a major "setback" situation, who are just struggling a little bit. For people who have recently faced a negative turn of events, it has an appropriate tone - both sympathetic and driving at the same time. The "secrets" are ones that you can apply in nearly any situation - and even if one of them doesn't seem particularly applicable, another one most likely will be.

Even if you decide not to buy the book, you should check out the website for some free articles and motivational speeches by Willie Jolley.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book to facilitate this review.