A Brief History of Breakthrough

A Brief History of Breakthrough

Of all my books, Million Dollar Consulting is by far my best seller, having something over 400,000 readers, in its fourth edition, and on the shelves for 18 consecutive years. That is relatively rare. Its name has created perhaps the most powerful brand in solo consulting, and its use is a registered trademark, as in Million Dollar Consulting® College. I can trace probably 90 percent of current revenues directly or indirectly to it.

So how did this come about?

I wrote my first book in 1988, when a colleague asked if I’d be interested in co-authoring a work on innovation (we would both conceptualize, I would write). The resultant The Innovation Formula went from hard cover to soft cover, became part of a HarperCollins strategy series, was picked up by Wharton, Villanova, and Temple, and was translated into German and Italian.

Based on its success, I pitched and wrote my first solo book for HarperCollins, Managing for Peak Performance. That went from hard cover to soft cover, and was translated into German. Based on that success, I pitched and wrote a strategy book, Making It Work, which never made it out of hardcover for the same publisher. And that was my last book with HarperCollins to this day, having placed my first three with them. (I now own Making It Work, and have re-released it as Best Laid Plans, a far better title.)

I then set out to write Confessions of A Consultant, which would inform executives about good and poor practices, how to choose consulting help, what to reasonably expect and pay for, and so forth. I had read in a National Speakers Association magazine that an agent named Jeff Herman liked to represent speakers and consultants. I sent him my first thee books and my latest idea, and he immediately signed me. (He is today responsible for placing my three best-selling books, and is still my agent.)

Confessions was rejected 15 or 18 times. Then one day Jeff called me in my car while I was returning from speaking in Hartford. I had one of the first car phones in New England in 1991, and it was a regular phone handset hard-wired into the dash of my Mercedes 450 SLC.

“I’m at McGraw-Hill,” said Jeff.

“McGraw-Hill!” I shouted. “They like the book?!” I considered McGraw then and I do now, to be one of the great business publishers.

“No, they hate the premise, but they are interested in publishing a book on how you can make a million dollars a year in solo consulting. That part of your credentials impressed them. Can you write a book like that?”

“In six minutes,” I whispered.

“I’ll tell them six months,” he said, putting his hand obviously over the phone, and then responded, “We have a deal, I’ll work it out.”

Four months later I had finished the manuscript and had offered to meet once again the senior business editor at McGraw, Betsy Brown, in her Manhattan office. This was our third meeting.

“We’re going into production tomorrow,” she said, “and we can’t call this Confessions of a Consultant any more. What do you want to call it?”

Standing, I said, “I’ll give it some thought.”

“Sit,” she said (you tended to do what Betsy Brown ordered, a strikingly beautiful woman who took no prisoners and whom I was always chasing after in the halls despite her stilettos). “I want the title right now.”

“Betsy, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s a book about how to make a million dollars consulting.”

“Ah, and there it is!” she said.

The rest is not just history, but my present and future.

What happened during this crazy journey?
• I agreed to write a co-authored book, though I had never done a book.
• I pitched a second and third book to the publisher.
• I joined a professional association and searched it for resources.
• I found an agent, having three books to bolster my credibility.
• I did not get depressed over all the rejections.
• I readily agreed to change the premise of the book.
• I visited my editor.
• I used a spur-of-the-moment title.
• I recognized a brand when I saw one.
• I was willing to transform my business.

I’m not smart enough to tell you what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I’m agile and quick enough to jump on what’s happening today. My story is not unique. You can find these combinations of luck, accident, resilience, and talent all over.

My reaction is to always push the throttle forward. I’ll slow down only if I begin to lose control. In the meantime, I intend to take a fabulous ride.

What about you? Are you racing into the turns or riding the brake?

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.