Kallen Diggs is an international bestselling author, career strategist, and contributor to major publications like Entrepreneur Magazine and The Huffington Post. He is the founder of Reaching the Finish Line, and has both a book & internationally syndicated radio show by the same name. Kallen has helped over 2,000 people reach the finish line in their careers.

In this interview, Kallen shares the mission behind Reaching the Finish Line, how he got started in entrepreneurship, and the habits he practices as well as the tools he uses in his business. Kallen also gives his insight on what it was like to publish his first book through traditional publishing, and why writing for smaller publications actually produced more sales for him than his exposure from larger publications.

In This Interview I Ask:

1:54 - What is the purpose of Reaching the Finish Line? How do you help folks?

2:38 - Who is the avatar for Reaching the Finish Line book/radio show? Who do you see as your target audience?

4:25 - How long have you been doing this? Give us a timeline [between] the book, the website and the radio show?

9:10 - So what happened right after college? Did you dive right into the path of becoming an entrepreneur? What did that look like for you?

9:29 - What was the job that you got out of college? What did you do initially that kind of gave you the taste of what normal employment might look like?

11:02 - When somebody comes to you, what are the types of things that you put them through to help them essentially get more fulfillment out of what they’re doing? What process do you put them through?

13:13 - Give us an example of some of the questions that you ask [clients] when they come to work with you?

17:23 - What are some of the things that people believe are stopping them from getting what they want, but doesn’t actually matter in the grand scheme of things?

21:07 - How was your book published?

23:09 - When you first thought about writing a book, did you consider all options from self-publishing to traditional publishing? Tell us about the process about how you went about publishing a book.

24:02 - What was it like for you to actually start reaching out to other publishers? How did you actually start connecting with [publishers]?

30:16 - From that interview you did, what is one of the biggest takeaways you got from talking to [Robert Kiyosaki]?

32:27 - How do you plan, set goals, and execute [all the work that you do]?

36:11 - Do you write every day?

41:51 - How do you define success? What does success mean to you?

How to Reach the Finish Line in Your Career

1. You need to be willing to be open, humble and receptive to considering things that you may not have considered previously.
2. You need to determine if you are happy by defining what happiness means to you.
3. The most common mental block that people have is the belief “I don’t have time”. You have two options: you can continue to believe you don’t have enough time OR you can look at things that are not getting you to your finish line and cut those things out of your life in order to create the time you need to get you to your finish line. If you want to create more time, what are things you’re willing to sacrifice?

Getting Your Book Published the Traditional Way

Books are a great way to earn passive income. Although self-publishing has become popular amongst online writers and entrepreneurs, you may prefer to publish your book through traditional publishing companies.

It is important to have a book proposal for your nonfiction book (publishers will ignore your manuscript alone). You will need to answer the following questions for publishers:

1. Why is your book project a good idea?
2. What is your following (what type of people and how many)?
3. What are your marketing plants to help the book become a bestseller?

Tips for Writing for Publications

1. When you write content, try to repurpose the content so you’re not reinventing the wheel over and over.
2. It may seem counterintuitive to write for a smaller publications versus a larger, more popular one; however smaller publications have more targeted audiences. (ie: The Huffington Post publishes content for all types of people and interests, while The Good Men Project publishes topics that interest men specifically)
3. The amount of shares your content receives is the primary metric you should focus on. Shares indicate the amount of people who actually enjoyed your content and those people become part of your Also keep in mind that the audience size of the publication you’re writing for doesn’t always produce greater results or shares. Sometimes a smaller more target publication may produce better results and shares.

Show Links:

Reaching the Finish Line, website

Reaching the Finish Line, book

Kallen’s Robert Kiyosaki Interview, podcast

Zoho: business management tool, website

Trello: project/task management tool, website

Calendly: appointment scheduling tool, website