"You don't have to be great to get started but you must get started to be great" ~ Les Brown
In this particular episode Chris Bell of the Writers Rebellion Podcast interview Bernard Kelvin Clive; discussing the importance of Personal Branding and Publishing on his podcast show.
Listen and be inspired:
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Interview transcript:
CB: Hi Bernard! How are you today?
BKC: Hi Chris, I’m good as gold here.
CB: Excellent. Thank you for taking the time to come on the show today.
BKC: It’s a pleasure I treasure.
CB: Awesome. Well I’ve given the listeners the back-cover version of your biography, but tell us more about yourself and what inspired you to start the journey of self-publishing.
BKC: Alright, thank you Chris. The name is Bernard Kelvin Clive and I’m inspired by a lot of things and a lot of people. My goal or vision or purpose is to really inspire others to live their God-given dreams using little means, or simple forms in every way I can, in the little things I can do. In so doing, I’m inspiring others and I’m inspiring myself to be the best version of myself I can ever be. It’s all summed up in the words “Inspiring and empowering the soul.” Those are the things I pursue.
CB: Excellent, excellent! Do you have a quote that inspires you in your craft?
BKC: I actually love quotes; I use quotes now and then and a lot of quotes really inspire me. One of them by Zig Ziglar and amplified by Les Brown: “You don’t have to be great to get started, but you must get started to be great.”
CB: SUre, absolutely! I love that quote. I think that is such an inspiration for people who maybe want to write a book or start a podcast or start speaking, but don’t necessarily believe they have what it takes. You know, I started this podcast a few weeks ago, and I feel like I’m very much learning the trade of podcasting. And, it took me a while to build up the courage to actually get started on the podcast, I think because I was struggling with that same kind of thing. But, as I’ve started doing it I’ve learned more and really been enjoying it. So, I think that’s very inspirational for a lot of authors. Well, we as authors know that writing can be so rewarding, but it’s not always easy. Can you tell us about a time where you failed or fell short of your goals.
BKC: Ok, that’s a great question. Basically, with the quote I gave you, that’s one of the ways I really live my life and my writing style, because I believe its a process and a journey and until you begin, you will never get finished or know how much you have within yourself. So, my goal has been, all these years is to always put out something genuine to inspire somebody, no matter how little or small. My greatest challenge in all these processes has been trying to be confined by certain voices or certain people saying your writing style should be like “so, so and so,” or you should write “so, so and so.” And those have been the biggest challenges I find myself in, especially for my very first book in 2010. There were some people that reviewed the book that said I should go in this form or this particular path. But I stuck to my purpose, my goals. This is how I write and how I want to communicate. So to them, I might be a failure because I did not write as lengthy as they wanted or like some other famous authors they know, but in my own way or my own voice. And, that is very challenging for every beginning author or writer that you might be forced to confine yourself to the style or method of certain people. But, when you stick to your own style and find achievement along the way, you then excel at it.
CB: Awesome! I think that is such wonderful advice for authors, especially those just starting out who have maybe read some eBooks or so...
