In this rapid‑fire "6 questions in 7 minutes" interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Russell Nolte, a USA Today bestselling author and creative entrepreneur who runs Wannabe Press (publishing magic, mythology, and monster books, comics, and novels) and The Complete Creative (a training platform for creative professionals). Nolte shares why he loves being surrounded by creative people, emphasizes the importance of treating people as more than a transaction, and advises business leaders to separate their self‑worth from the success or failure of individual projects. He recounts a personal low point after a string of failed releases and how refocusing on first‑principles led to three of his best launches. Nolte also gives a shout‑out to fellow author Sherri Fink of Whimsical World, describes his first job as a Capitol Hill photographer/videographer covering major events, and directs listeners to his websites (russellnolte.com and thecompletecreative.com) for free stories, courses, and resources for creative entrepreneurs.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
I am Russell Nolte. I am a USA Today bestselling author, uh, and a creative entrepreneur. So I own a publishing company called Wannabe Press that publishes magic, mythology, and monster books, comics, and novels. I also have a company called The Complete Creative, which trains creatives how to build and sustain their own creative careers.
Russell, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
The creativity that I use. Everybody is full of creativity. They're not very business-oriented, but they really, really, really have this creative spark and this creative energy. And for me, as at the core, I'm a creative human. The business side is just like the what I have to do. So being able to be surrounded by creatives all of the time, whether it's working with them on anthology projects or collaborating with them on book promotions or all of that stuff is just wonderful to be around all of that energy.
Oh, I love it. Question number 3: I have a book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
How to Treat People Like More Than a $20 Bill.
Mm, I love that. So not a number. It's, it's so powerful. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a a great attitude and care for customers. What advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
Learn how to separate your self-worth from your success or failure. Last year I had a long string of bad releases to the point where I was around this time last year was suicidal. And it was not all, but a lot of it was about me tying myself to the success or failure that I was having. So I've had to really learn how to, uh, say that I am a human who has failed or a human who has success, but I am also a human who has done dozens of other things, hundreds of other things, and they all have to prop me up together. It can't just be whether a book or a launch did well.
Mm-hmm. It's so powerful that you're saying that. And is it my assumption that, you know, you learn from your failures so that you can have more successes in the future? Would you agree?
Well, it doesn't really matter whether you're having the success or failure. It has to be separated. But yes, I would say that after those bad failures, we had 3 of our best launches ever with books after that because we went back to first principles. We brought projects to bear that we know our audience clients really wanted, and we started doing things that were more in line with how we had had success in the past. But regardless of that, it's really fun to ride the wave of tacking your self-worth onto your success on the ride up, but there will always be a down because you will always in business have a cap and you will have a height. And it will go down from there, at least for a little while. And so you've got to learn to say, I am a person who succeeds or a person who succeeded at this thing instead of I am a success or a failure.
I love that. That is so powerful. Thank you for sharing that. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Okay, so one like myself who's the most like me is an author named Sherri Fink. Yes, Sherri Fink. She runs a company with her husband Derek Kent called Whimsical World. They are like two balls of motivation and also incredibly successful authors in their own right.
Oh, I love it. I can't wait to reach out to them. Thank you for that referral. And our final question, question number 6: please tell me about your first job.
All right, you told me to pick one that would make my face light up, so I don't think I've ever had a first job that made my face light up, but the one that was the closest to the industry that I ended up working in, I worked for a— on Capitol Hill right after graduation at a— as a photographer videographer for this company that did live shots for like Fox News and MSNBC and The Daily Show. We were basically like their Washington, uh, their Washington arm, and they would— so they would hire out us to go to do all sorts of press things. And I covered State of the Unions and Easter Egg Rolls and all sorts of stuff. And it was more fun than it seemed, but it was a great job right out of college because you really got to be in the Capitol. You got to meet like, also I met like John McCain, and I was at the State of the Union, two of the State of the Unions, and I got to like have all access to pretty much to Congress and a whole bunch of places. And it was a ton of fun. But it was a first job. So it was not enough fun for me to last there more than 6 months.
Wow, but talk about what you got to do in that 6 months. That was really impressive.
Yeah, it was awesome. I mean, I think as far as a first job goes, it was about as good as you could hope for. I just wanted to make films and like tell stories. And being in a newsroom all day is very depressing.
Yeah, I can see that. Thank you so much. And Russell, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
Sure, so if you like magic, mythology, and monsters, head on over to russellnolte.com, sign up for our mailing list, and you get a bunch of, uh, our free stories, comics, and such. If you are a creative entrepreneur or an entrepreneur at all, and you should go to thecompletecreative.com because it's pretty much my unbroken 10-year, uh, uh, uh, uh, memoir I guess, of how to build a creative business. You've got courses, free courses about how to build a creative business, how to build an audience from scratch, how to write a great novel, epic blog posts about how to build an audience, how to run virtual summits, how to run Kickstarters, and a whole lot more.
Wow, lots there. So thank you. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
