The Backstory Behind Today’s MondayMorningMemo

My first 20 years were spent just trying to survive.

I made enough money during my 13th summer to buy a small motorcycle. This gave me a way to get to my after-school job in a steel-fabrication shop at the edge of town. We built radiators to cool the petroleum from oil wells. I was still working there when Pennie and I got married.

I also read a lot of poetry.

At 20, I got into ad writing. Who knew that reading poetry would be the key to writing great ads?

At 40, I had enough scars to write my Wizard of Ads trilogy of business books. Published by the brilliant Ray Bard of Bard Press, they became New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers. Then, Princess Pennie created Wizard Academy, a 501c3 educational organization where people learn the skills they need to accomplish their hopes and dreams.

At 60, I’m reaching out to all the scarred friends I’ve met who have used unconventional methods to achieve things that were previously thought to be impossible. I’m offering to pull their books out of them and to help put those books on paper, free of charge. My goals are to capture, distill, and disseminate the hard-won insights of these brilliant men and women so that the rest of us can benefit from the painful but exciting lessons they’ve learned on their way to the top of the mountain.

In other words, I’m continuing to gather and share the most useful business advice I can find. Pretty much the same thing I’ve been doing since I was 20.

I make my living as an ad writer. It’s also how I made my name.

But I make a difference by gathering and sharing the insights of highly successful people.

People like you.

Roy H. Williams