Get It Going, Not Right: Sifu Edward & Sifu Julliana Armstrong Sit Down With Mr. Kelly Cole

Adapted from the recorded conversation; the guest's words are verbatim. The questions are reconstructed and voiced by Sifu Edward and Sifu Julliana Armstrong.

🎥 Video podcast coming soon. The complete interview will play here once published. The full conversation is transcribed below, and the audio edition will be available on sifuarmstrong.tv.

In a new Sifu Armstrong interview, the dyslexic founder of Bestsellers Circle explains why the fear of getting it wrong stops more people than failure ever does.

Kelly Cole grew up in Cabrini Green, working nights at Blockbuster and days at Walmart, certain there was something more waiting for him without a shred of evidence to prove it. The breakthrough, he told Sifu Edward and Sifu Julliana Armstrong, arrived through a ten-dollar magazine he almost put back on the shelf, a cover story about a “web made millionaire” that convinced him, instantly, “this is what I was put on earth to do.”

What followed wasn’t a smooth path. Cole cold-emailed the cast of Shark Tank hoping for interviews, and only Barbara Corcoran answered, a connection that led to a second interview with Daymond John and became his first book, which hit number one on Amazon and launched his publishing company. From there he built a method he calls the grocery-store approach: make a list of topics, write five questions under each, have a friend interview you over dinner, transcribe the recording, and hand it to an editor. “You’ve overcome the biggest part, which is just writing it,” he said.

Cole is unusually blunt about the value he actually assigns to a book, and it isn’t sales. “We never throw away books,” he said, framing a book as a permanent piece of marketing infrastructure rather than a product to count. He said he doesn’t even track how many copies sell (“for me it’s a business card”), because the real return comes later, through speaking engagements and clients, not royalty statements.

That reframing of hardship as raw material runs through the entire conversation, most clearly when Cole talks about why he built a division called Books for Athletes, helping former pros translate a career built in one arena into a second one built on their story. “Sometimes the things we went through were for somebody else,” he said, a line that recasts his own gunshots-every-night childhood not as something merely survived, but as something that now gives other people permission to tell their own stories.

Underneath all of it sits the sentence Cole says stops more dreams than failure does: “You don’t have to get it right. You just got to get it going.” He’s lived it literally, a botched first edit that drew brutal reviews didn’t end his business, it got corrected and re-released. Dyslexic, without a college degree, and running a company staffed by people with master’s degrees and doctorates, Cole’s whole model rests on knowing exactly where he’s weak and building a team strong in precisely those places. It’s a standard that translates directly to any mat: your starting line never gets a vote on your finish line, and the warrior who begins imperfectly and keeps moving will always outlast the one still waiting to be ready.

In This Conversation

The ten-dollar magazine that reframed his entire future at a Books-A-Million
Cold-emailing the Sharks and landing Barbara Corcoran and Daymond John
The grocery-store method for writing a book without ever feeling like a writer
“We never throw away books,” treating a book as permanent positioning, not a product
Books for Athletes: helping former pros build a second career from their story
Where to find Kelly Cole and Bestsellers Circle

The Full Conversation

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: Kelly Cole was born in Cabrini Green (one of the most notorious housing projects in the world, gunshots every night, robbed at gunpoint), and he became a two-time number-one bestselling author who owns a publishing company. He's dyslexic, sees things backwards, was never good at English, and he built an empire around the written word anyway. Every excuse a person could have, he had, and he refused all of them. I could not wait to talk to him.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: And he handed us a line every person frozen at the starting line needs tattooed somewhere: you don't have to get it right, you just got to get it going. He also understands the book the way we do, not as a product to count, but as the ultimate positioning tool, because, as he says, we never throw away books. For anyone thinking about the Sifu Armstrong book, Kelly is required listening.

Our guest is Mr. Kelly Cole, author of over 50 titles and founder of Bestsellers Circle. Kelly, a real pleasure.

Mr. Kelly Cole: Thank you so much for having me.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: Take us back before any of it, to where you started.

Mr. Kelly Cole: I was working at Blockbuster at night, Walmart during the day, and it was very miserable. I hated my job because I knew I was called to more. I just knew I was meant for more. So I'd spend my days daydreaming, reading magazines, praying for a day I could get out of that rat race. My breakthrough came one Sunday when my family went to Books-A-Million after church. In the magazine section I came across a magazine called Millionaire Blueprints. Yanik Silver was on the cover in a drop-top Mercedes, and the caption read "Web Made Millionaire." I picked it up, started reading how he created eBooks and websites that made him passive money while he slept, and I thought, "This is what I was put on earth to do." It was like the heavens opened up. Normally I read a magazine in the store and put it back, but this day I bought that $10 magazine, and it became the foundation of me knowing exactly what I wanted to do. And I grew up in the projects, Cabrini Green, gunshots every night, I've been robbed at gunpoint. That was where I started.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: Gunshots every night, robbed at gunpoint, working two jobs you hated, and a ten-dollar magazine cracked the whole thing open, because you were ready to see it. That "I was called to more" you felt at Walmart is the exact thing I see in a young fighter who doesn't fit their environment yet, a certainty that there's a bigger version of your life waiting, before you have a single piece of evidence for it. Your starting line was as hard as they come, and it did not get to vote on your finish line. That's the truth I want every warrior to hold onto.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: Your first book came from real tenacity. You cold-emailed the sharks. Tell our operators.

Mr. Kelly Cole: I got into internet marketing, tried to find my niche, and started making money flipping websites, until that market got saturated and I had to find something else. Right around then, ABC introduced Shark Tank. I fell in love with the show, took notes from every episode, and a friend who borrowed my notes said, "This would make a great book. You should interview the Sharks." So I emailed all of them. Barbara Corcoran was the only one to give me an interview. Mark Cuban emailed back but said he didn't have time. Barbara and I hit it off so well I asked her to help me get an interview with Daymond John, and she did. I took my notes and transcribed both interviews into my first book, Conversations With Sharks. It hit number one on Amazon, and that was the beginning of my publishing company.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: And you demystified the hardest part, actually writing the book. Give us the method.

Mr. Kelly Cole: I call it the grocery store method. A smart shopper makes a list before going to the store. So it starts with a list: Friday, make a list of the things you want to cover in your book. Saturday morning, write five questions under each item, questions someone would have about that thing. Saturday evening, call up a friend, have them over for dinner, and have them interview you, asking those questions, and record it. Sunday morning, upload it to rev.com, and for about a dollar a minute they transcribe it in 48 hours. Congratulations, you just wrote your book. Then you contact a publisher like me for editing, formatting, cover, and distribution. You've overcome the biggest part, which is just writing it. And I write my books as a marketer, package your story in a way that solves a problem, and tie it to something already big in the market. My second book, Solomon Wealth Formula, came from realizing that Solomon, the wisest king, was basically a consultant (people came to pick his brain and brought gifts), and that his 12 officers bringing back resources each month was passive income.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: You say everyone has a book in them. Do you really believe that, even people whose lives look nothing like yours?

Mr. Kelly Cole: Very true. We all have a story, we've all gone through something. Even if your story isn't like mine, coming from the projects with gunshots every night. Even if everything in your life was perfect, you have something that can help somebody else overcome. Somebody might think, "My life is too perfect," but you can help someone by drawing out why it's great to tell their story. We're all inspired by each other, and sometimes the things we went through were for somebody else. So I do believe we all have a story and something we can share to help someone.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: "Sometimes the things we went through were for somebody else." That's a profound way to look at your own hardship, that the gunshots and the getting robbed weren't just survived, they were transmuted into something that gives another person courage. Everyone has a warrior in them, the same way everyone has a story in them. Most people just never get the permission, or the method, to let it out. You give them both, and that's a genuine service.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: You call a book the ultimate business card. Explain why, and the pitfall that taught you.

Mr. Kelly Cole: The book is the new business card, but here's the difference: people throw away business cards, but we never throw away books. No matter how many times you move, you pack up all your books, including the ones you never opened, and take them to your next place. Even if you donate them to Goodwill, you don't throw them away. And every time someone looks at that book, they think about you, your company, your service. So it's far greater than a business card. My biggest pitfall was my first book. I hired the wrong editor, an English professor, and blindly trusted them because I figured they knew more than me, and they messed it up with errors. So number one: get an expert. Don't try to do it all yourself. And write the book as a marketer, so it solves a problem and ties to something big in the market.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: You've created a whole division, Books for Athletes. That's my world. Tell me about it.

Mr. Kelly Cole: We're getting a lot of professional athletes now. We created a division called Books for Athletes, working with former pro athletes, college athletes, and sports coaches. Because a lot of them don't know how to transition from being in the limelight to "what am I going to do now?" You can use your story now. Let's get the book, line you up some speaking engagements, create your coaching program or course. Here's a whole other career you can transition into, where you continue to take care of your family and still get that limelight.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: That is a mission close to my heart, because the hardest fight of an athlete's life is often the one after the last whistle. You train your whole life for one arena, and then one day it's over and no one prepared you for the silence. What you're doing is handing them a way to convert everything they earned in the arena (the discipline, the story, the name) into a second life of impact. The warrior's edge doesn't have to retire when the body does. It just needs a new arena, and you're building the door.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: You're dyslexic, you built a word business, and you're clear-eyed about the real barrier people face. Walk me through it.

Mr. Kelly Cole: I'm dyslexic. I see things backward, I was never great at English or reading. And here I am, owning a successful publishing company for over 15 years, didn't finish college. But everybody on my team finished college. They have bachelor's, master's, even doctorates. I'm a high school graduate, and all the people who work with me are the smart ones. Because guess what? I can hire somebody who was top of the class to edit my book and make me sound better than I am. And the thing that stops most people from starting is fear, fear of judgment, fear of what people will say. I live by this quote: you don't have to get it right, you just got to get it going. Once you get it going, you can always improve. My first book, the editors screwed up, and people ripped me to shreds in the reviews, but it stayed number one, people kept buying it, so I just had it re-edited and uploaded a revised edition. And guess what? I'm still alive. Nothing happened. I didn't die. So get out of your own way and just do it.

Sifu Julliana Armstrong: "You don't have to get it right, you just got to get it going." That is the antidote to the thing that paralyzes almost everyone. The fear of being judged, of not being ready. You built a word empire while being dyslexic, which means you refused to let your single biggest weakness write your story, and you surrounded yourself with people strong exactly where you're weak. That's not a workaround; that's mastery of self-knowledge. And "I got ripped in the reviews and I'm still alive," the imagined catastrophe of stepping onto the mat and failing almost never arrives. You survive it, you fix it, you continue. Fear lies about the size of the danger.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: You've said you don't even count book sales. That tells me everything about how you see this. And your new book?

Mr. Kelly Cole: I don't care how many books I've sold. For me it's a business card, so I'll give away more than I sell, and the royalties I get, I put right back into marketing. It's a marketing tool, a brochure. We don't count how many business cards we give away. Once a book launches, I never look at the sales again, because it's not about that. It's about turning the book into speaking engagements and clients. My new book is called From Walmart Associate to Christmade Millionaire. It's how I went from working at Walmart to becoming a millionaire. And my goal for the future is to help more people tell their stories, especially those athletes and coaches. You can find us at bestsellerscircle.com, with a free masterclass, and I'm @mrkellycole on all social media.

Sifu Edward Armstrong: Kelly, this has been genuinely inspiring, thank you for your time.

Mr. Kelly Cole: Sure, man. Thank you, too.

Sifu Julliana's closing word: Gunshots every night, robbed at gunpoint, dyslexic, two jobs he hated, and Kelly Cole became the very definition of an author. Your starting line does not get a vote on your finish line. He felt "called to more" before he had any evidence, refused every excuse, surrounded himself with people strong where he's weak, and turned his own hardship into a door for other people. And for the athletes he serves: the warrior's edge doesn't retire when the body does. It just needs a new arena.

Sifu Edward's closing word: Kelly hands our operators the cure for the paralysis that kills more dreams than failure ever does: you don't have to get it right, you just got to get it going. And he understands the book the way a federation must, not a product to count, but a positioning weapon nobody throws away, that makes people think of you every time they see it. Get it going, build your authority in print, and put your story to work for the people coming up behind you. We don't entertain warriors. We create them.

Mr. Kelly Cole, two-time #1 bestselling author of 50+ titles, speaker, and founder of Bestsellers Circle (bestsellerscircle.com). Raised in Cabrini Green, Chicago. @mrkellycole on all platforms.

ILLUSTRATIVE RESULTS. Any revenue, enrollment, margin or retention figure in this conversation is either a documented result from one of our own operations, a figure the guest reports about their own business, or an illustrative example, never a projection of your results.

Nothing here is financial, legal or tax advice.

Stay in the Fight

This conversation is part of the Sifu Armstrong Warrior Intelligence Series: interviews with world-class performers, builders, and thinkers, filtered through the lens of the warrior's path.

Subscribe at sifuarmstrong.news for every new interview, delivered to you.

Join Club Sabernet, the member community of the whole Sifu Armstrong ecosystem, where warriors train, connect, and hold each other to the standard.

Ready to build your own floor? Find your path at sifuarmstrong.com/which-path.