AI Summary
5 min readThe Man Who Walked Away From $250,000 to Self-Publish
In 2017, Paul Millerd quit his high-paying consulting job in New York City with no plan. He had been dealing with Lyme disease, had just been rejected from other jobs, and one company offered him significantly less than his current salary. So he simply stopped. "It was the first time in my life that I just let life emerge," he says. The exit came with a price: because he hadn't stayed three years, he had to repay $24,000 in signing bonus and relocation expenses. With $60,000 in savings, he gave himself permission to wander.
What emerged from that wandering was a self-published book called The Pathless Path, which in its second year sold 15,000 copies in five months and generated $75,000 in royalties. By mid-2023, Millerd was on track to beat his previous year's top-line revenue of $249,000—though he says he probably won't, because he's choosing to spend time with his newborn daughter instead.
The Writing Habit That Started Everything
Millerd began writing about a year before quitting his job. He decided to come into work each morning and write on Quora for an hour before starting his actual job. He did this for a hundred days. "Something in that clicked," he says. "I think I was a writer from that moment on."
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Episode Intro & Guest Premise** - Paul quit a $250K consulting job to become a self-published author.
- 2 (02:44) **Book Revenue & Writing Origin Story** - Paul reveals his book income trajectory and how he discovered writing while still employed.
- 3 (04:18) **Quitting the Corporate Job** - Paul details the circumstances and cost of leaving his high-salary New York City consulting role.
- 4 (05:23) **Why He Rejected Penguin Random House** - Paul explains his decision to self-publish instead of taking a traditional publishing deal.
- 5 (06:07) **The Book Writing Process** - Paul describes how he wrote "The Pathless Path" from concept to publication.
- 6 (09:08) **The Core Thesis of "The Pathless Path"** - Paul defines the book's central idea and the real work of life.
- 7 (10:51) **Self-Publishing Playbook** - A step-by-step breakdown of how to self-publish a professional-quality book.
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Show Notes
I Quit My $250K Job To Become an Author
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In this video, I flew out to Austin Texas to talk to Paul Millerd - the guy who quit a cozy $250,000 corporate consulting job to write a book. When Paul first started his journey to become an author and solopreneur, he ran into a lot of problems. But, eventually he found his way using a mindset he calls "The Pathless Path". He shares how The Pathless Path help him find his passion, why he chose to self-publish his book, and exactly how much money he’s made as a self published author. Hope you guys enjoy!
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