Meet Paul Darden of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Darden.

Hi Paul, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Okay so I started writing when I was in college in The Bronx New York when I was doing my undergrad program. minoring and education and majoring in history I wanted to create something that represented the classroom that I sat in not just mine but just about every classroom Nationwide worldwide. this is important to me because I’ve been working with non-profit organizations as well as in conjunction with New York City public schools for quite some time. with that being said students from all over the world different cultures and backgrounds that I encountered as I started to step into the educational space for me there was an important for them to hear and see themselves in history. as a product of public schools in New York City and because I traveled out of the country recognizing the cultural importance but other less than you to learn about their coaches and different cultures. and appreciation might come out of it or the disdain might come out of it either way the one thing that would remain constant is the learning about different cultures finding differences and similarities between your culture and others.

I had no Ambitions to actually start a company I just wanted to write the goal was to create something for the classroom something that my students could utilize internalize and have fun with something they could engage with. I recognize because I would have students for more over the world yeah after year from different places I might have to tweak it. so the process to begin writing really started then. and like most things that you start in college outside of the degree it fell to the Wayside I put it down I immerse myself in the Core curriculum I focus on passing test etc etc. as I stop writing and focus on my academic side in order to pass and entertain my degree or certification rather decided to search the literary world to find something that I was creating. my mindset was don’t reinvent the wheel rather find something else is out there that matches what you’re doing or want to do bring it to the classroom food around it create lessons around it and utilize that. lo and behold in the process I couldn’t find anything I was almost flabbergasted. in essence it was inconceivable or rather hard for me to Fathom that with all the literary works in the world there wasn’t a series that I took kids around the world introducing to different cultures had characters speak in their own languages. And also taught students the history.

we can fast forward to covid like many people my business started then officially with that being said the perspective of being trapped at home because the government told me I had to stay at home and the potential of job loss I thought I think about other forms of Revenue how could I bring in more funds to take care of myself and my family. we call in a multitude of books that I have read throughout the years one thing that was interwoven between them all was do what you love use the talent that you have. my talent or one of my talents outside of teaching is getting kids they care about topics that they shouldn’t care about particularly history sometimes I might be animated but I typically focus on those heart pounding elements of history that students will latch on to the themes that they care about and create lessons since it around laws sometimes it’s adding tidbits of information sometimes it’s adding a lot of information regardless of how much information is added the result is always been the same students engaged with the content. they enjoy learning about things that actually matter to them and so during covid Freedom Runner was born.

So how did I get to this point in 2021 when I started the riding the book and ultimately finished. I then kind of went down a rabbit hole I’m learning how to get my book out to Major publishers. my first thought was to go to Scholastics and then possibly Simon and and then maybe penguin house. I Was preparing that one sheet to talk about Freedom Runner to talk about Dante Elliott to explain the time travel the history connection to explain how he travels to the island of Tonga the superpowers how he can understand any language spoken why he travels to jamaica, bosnia, trinidad, Puerto Rico and so on. one late night as many riders are I was up I was on YouTube I came across a video with the rapper who had a podcast called expeditiously. in the podcast he was interviewing Tyler Perry and Tyler Perry was talking about ownership and something about that struck a cord. and short he gave it analogy and explained that if you work for somebody you can always tell somebody who needs a job that you were going to ask your boss hey do we have anything open. however if you own the company you can just simply tell that person have your son or friend come by your office tomorrow I have something for them. the analogy was short sweet and to the point but it was poignant it was potent that one simple idea of ownership from Tyler Perry poison the notion of working for somebody else or rather hand in my novel over to a major publisher. I sat back and started thinking as teachers we often tell kids to dream to go for it dream big don’t be scared and then in a moment where I should have been drinking the biggest I wasn’t I was scared. so I started doing more research I started looking up some of my favorite authors and the numbers were not enough to see people who had sold millions of books and the net worth did a match what they sold. also finding out that once you relinquish or sign over your novel or manuscript to a major publisher depending on the contract or a typical contract they can rewrite and change characters there’s a whole list of things that they can do none of that sat well with me and so I decided to start my own Publishing Company. the processing daunting and to be honest still seems daunting however sitting in my class in one day one of my students many he observed what I was doing he was intrigued by the process of inviting the book he was fascinated that I actually had the book hardcover and then he told me to finish a job. as teachers we often Inspire students and sometimes you forget they can Inspire us. Manny simply told me Mr Darden this is dope it’s amazing I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who has written the book and now you own a company go for it don’t be scared to dream date you always tell us to dream babe now I need you to do the same 5 years later I can still hear Manny voice in my head telling me to go for it and dream big. as a result of starting this company I’m going to multiple functions met a lot of interesting people sold books I’ve spoken but interesting people I’ve been in rooms at I never thought I’d be in.

I made it drive all the way to Atlanta to join earn your leisure at one of their events driving from New York overnight to Atlanta Georgia to take part in an event to distribute advertise and sell my book. and what’s the event was finished driving back home another 13 14 hours arrive just for the start of school for first period. exhausted fatigue excited confused scared still dreaming still dreaming date the idea that a simple kid from the Bronx had created something now has ownership was able to stand next to some pretty powerful people to have a conversation with billionaire Don people today talk to Steve Harvey and the list goes on to gain that confidence and to be in this position to continue to sell my novel which started in the living room in the Bronx apartment and have my book now in multiple countries worldwide to get feedback positive and negative about people who connected With the characters and who are waiting for the next installment. to have a logo as part of now a brand that’s becoming recognizable a longer merchandise that accompanies the book. I used to compare myself to other authors like JK Rowling and Harry Potter and things that I made sure it only made me feel small then I realized I have my own lane the cars out I’m phenomenal of what I do and I have a story to tell and people want to listen and read it.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
So this has been a very difficult Journey some of the biggest struggles first and foremost before we even get to the financing part is understanding exactly what I was getting myself into. the first major struggle at the start of business is realizing if nobody knows you have a business you technically don’t have a business what I mean by that is marketing how are you going to spread the news about what you do to the rest of the world how are you going to connect with your audience. I’m still in the mess I’m trying to figure that out 5 years later trying to figure out the nuances of marketing how to gain people’s attention do you use a gimmick or are you just straightforward. how and where to reach your audience has been a major Challenge and I’m still working on that and hopefully this article helps me get it done. the second major struggle that runs in tandem with marketing is finances I don’t know if people know this but teachers are not exactly drowning and pools of money or rather swimming in a pool of money regardless of where you teach or what subject you teach. with that said using my paycheck to find the business no one told me about business Capital no one told me about business credit and no one told me about loans and grants and things of that nature. you need money that’s a foreground conclusion where the money comes from that has been the challenge up until this point I use the money for my paycheck it means I run on a really tight budget it also means every decision ways on me 10 times heavier failure is very hard to deal with in The Entrepreneur Space and it keeps me up at night but again the voice of Manny in the back of my head telling me keep going dream big you’re not done yet so I keep pushing.

finally the third struggle and this is the biggest one scammers there’s so many people who advertise that they can contribute and help your business grow and they have no shame and taking your heart on money businesses don’t grow overnight it’s hard work I would like to think that somebody built a business and didn’t get scammed but at the same time I feel like the reality is somebody somewhere cheated somebody out of something unfortunately I’m no different I’ve had people promise me advertising spots they seem legit they look legit they took my heart on money and it ran away the worst case scenario I had someone who said that they were connected to a famous rapper in New York City at first I was apprehensive I didn’t believe him they were talking about an astronomical amount of money the money for the advertising the marketing for the platform made sense but I don’t think that they can actually come through I didn’t think they knew this person. and then lo and behold one day after talking to this person they said they could prove it a blue check for a prominent rapper popped up and my DM on Instagram I was so excited I was like wow they actually do know this person then the messages excitement I had to decide is it worth it and the answer was yes until I gave him his money I was talking to this prominent rapper from New York City they had the blue check it was verified we had conversations about me joining their platform And doing it live it would have kind of been similar to an interview and talk to me about the book to the millions of followers and the excitement was there the conversations were there and then once they got the money conversation stop. getting scammed is difficult it’s so crushing. what made it even more worse was realizing I don’t have money to lose and now I have to come home I look my family in the face and my children and realize as I’m pursuing this dream I got to tell them I took a loss a really bad one I’m not really sure how to recover but also realizing I have to keep going. I kept the screen shots to remind myself of what happens when you get scammed.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m an author all right educational novels novels to help kids learn because I’m a teacher at heart it’s my profession I love it. what I specialize in is bringing folks together using his literary works uplifting and inspiring through writing helping people fall in love with different cultures inspiring those to learn new words just like I was inspired when I was younger and having kids fall in love or rather have a young adults and adults fall in love with great stories and great writing great characters characters that they can see themselves in that as they turn the page they can take a moment and reflect and they can relate to a character maybe not all of them but some of them. the one thing I’m definitely going to be known for is it creativity and a unique approach that I take to writing and creating these characters the fact that you can see your flag from whatever country you’re from represented in the story you will hear your dialect and language your cultural idioms and so on reflected in the characters the fact that I’m not scared to tackle a tough topic and allow the characters to explore different points of view I’ll be known for creating a body of work that wasn’t dumbed down that require people to elevate themselves when they read I feel good about it. what sets me apart and what sets my work apart I genuinely want people to learn especially now when I see viral videos of high school students who are about to graduate struggle well can’t pronounce the word silhouette then I think about the multitude of words the indiscriminate characters and so on within the novels I’m proud of that I’m proud that I’m asking young adults and adults alike to expand the vocabulary fall in love with reading and to also chase their dreams. I’m proud that I have a logo that is now becoming a brand it’s been recognized worldwide something that was created inside my small Bronx apartment. I’m proud that I have characters that look like the classrooms and reflect the many faces that we see on a daily basis and the body shapes as well. and finally another aspect that sets us apart is our ability to be creative think outside the box really try to bring fresh and new ideas where people are just typically copycat.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
There’s quite a few people that deserve credit that helped me get to this point my family I’ve been made to cheerleaders they have supported me every step of the way it hasn’t been easy. I owe credit to my wife who told me you want to write a novel that’s fine just make sure the girls Have a bath and then take out the trash when you’re done .the support and belief that I can and trusting I was making a right decision especially after I made so many wrong ones was so important. .my daughters when they were younger really didn’t care too much about me writing they reminded me that how precious time is I remember my youngest daughter walking out to me one day when I was writing I was in a mess of really knocking on a chapter and she just simply closed my laptop because I miss it there all day she grabbed my hand and said come play. it was a reminder to have balance everything requires balance all right. and I’m part of a group called the real dad’s Network it’s a group of followers we meet every Thursday via zoom and we talk about things that are going on and the level of love and support I’ve gotten from these brothers help me get to this point I can always run ideas by them sometimes you like them sometimes they don’t they give me honest feedback they push me to challenge myself to step out of my comfort zone and the always remind me that the story I’m trying to tell is a story worth telling. and finally I joined the group called The Master connectors group or rather at the master connectors agency it’s a group for networking started Nichole Harmon – Pointdujour and it’s a group designed to help young entrepreneurs and areas that they don’t know they need help in. besides a coaching advice of how to run and start a business what to do and what not to do being part of a community of like-minded people who are also pursuing the same entrepreneur goals that can help you avoid the pitfalls that most entrepreneurs fall into and people who generally care headed by someone who genuinely cares about seeing other people succeed has really helped me get to this point.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.seriouspenspublishing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seriouspenspublishing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspens/