In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews award‑winning author Karla Brandenburg, known for romantic mysteries with supernatural elements. The episode opens with sponsor messages for Anchor (a podcast creation platform) and Authors Unite (a community for writers). The interview covers a personal story about a difficult boss that taught Brandenburg to see humanity in challenging people, her core advice that writing is only half of an author’s job and that aggressive book marketing is essential, and a broader business mantra that one must give their all to achieve results. She shares personal wisdom for her younger self—stop worrying about others’ opinions—along with her view of happiness as being satisfied with what you have while giving your best. Brandenburg cites Kristin Higgins as a favorite author, highlighting the lesson to embrace life’s unexpected twists with humor, and shares a favorite quote about not recognizing near‑success when you quit. Finally, she directs listeners to her website, CarlaBrandenburg.com, for more information.
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Thank you for listening to the Business Blast podcast. So for all my listeners out there that have been wanting to do your own podcast, I'd like to introduce to you Anchor. Anchor is a one-stop shop for recording, hosting, distributing, and monetizing your podcast. So before I found Anchor, I had never actually done a podcast because all the research that I had gathered made it seem very complex. Then I found Anchor, and Anchor makes podcasting extremely simple. So if you want to do your own podcast, go to anchor.fm/start. I can't wait to hear your podcast.
Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Carla Brandenburg with us and she's an award-winning author who peppers her romantic mysteries with a taste of the supernatural. So welcome to the show, Carla.
Hi, Tyler. Thanks for having me.
Of course. Happy to have you on. We'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, Carla, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Well, you know, our lives are so busy, and in this day and age, it's easy to get caught up in our own problems. I had a boss at work a few years ago who we referred to as the Reign of Terror. He was a very unpleasant man, and part of his job was to eliminate positions. Downside to that was that he really didn't know what he was doing. And in the process, he eliminated some fairly essential people. I'm the sort of person who likes to look for the best in people, and this man had no redeeming qualities that I could see. On my drive home one night after a particularly harrowing day, I heard a segment on the radio reminding me that everybody faces their own set of challenges, and even those difficult people have more going on than we know about. It gave me a different vantage point that as evil as the man was perceived to be, he had his own struggles to deal with. That somehow humanized him for me and reminded me that I wasn't the only person who had troubles.
Hmm. And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that is within your expertise or industry?
As an author, writing is only half the job. If you want to make a name for yourself, you have to get out there and sell books.
And what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
You have to give it all you've got. You get out what you put in. If you want to get ahead, you got to give it everything.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Stop worrying about what other people think of you. It's none of your business. Chances are they're worried about what you think of them. So be the kind of person you'd want to meet.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Being happy with what you have and being satisfied that you give your best to everything you do.
And what is the best book— this will be a good one for you— that you've read, and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Wow, not sure I can pick out any one book. There are so many, but one of my favorite authors is Kristin Higgins, and the underlying theme for most of her books is that life doesn't always turn out the way you plan. In fact, it often goes off the tracks in spectacular fashion. So keep a sense of humor and roll with the punches. When all is said and done, everything will work out the way it should.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote: Life's real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up. It's a reminder to me to never give up, to keep reaching for my dreams.
Thank you so much for coming on. The last question that I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for people to find you online?
My webpage, probably. CarlaBrandenburg.com has all my information and all my contact stuff.
Perfect. And I'll put that in the show notes for this show. And thanks again for joining us.
