About Keith Leon S.
After overcoming numerous personal obstacles, including extreme poverty, a broken home, family illnesses and deaths, severe bullying, drug addiction, and even attempting suicide, Keith Leon S. went on to become an award winning international bestselling author, book publisher, and book mentor. Now well known as “The Book Guy,” Keith and his wife, Maura, co-authored the book, The Seven Steps to Successful Relationships, acclaimed by best-selling authors, John Gray and Terry Cole-Whittaker, and Keith authored the best-selling books, Who Do You Think You Are? Discover the Purpose of Your Life and Walking With My Angels: A True Story, with forewords by Chicken Soup for The Soul’s Jack Canfield, The World’s Greatest Business Card: Share Your Story and Skyrocket Your Success, the Navigating the Clickety Clack: How to Live a Peace-Filled Life in a Seemingly Toxic World (book series), and recently he published, the INside effects: How the Body Heals Itself which was a #1 International Bestseller in 9 countries.
Keith’s writing has also been featured in Warren Henningsen’s, If I Can You Can; Jennifer McLean’s, The Big Book of You; Justin Sachs’, The Power of Persistence and Ultimate Business Mastery; Ron Prasad’s, Welcome To Your Life; and many other books, including, The Bake Your Book Program: How to Finish Your Book Fast and Serve it Up HOT, and, YOU Make a Difference: 50 Heart-Centered Entrepreneurs Share Their Stories of Inspiration and Transformation.
Keith has appeared on popular radio and television broadcasts, including, The Rolonda Watts Show, The Jenny McCarthy Show, The John Kerwin Show, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, and his work has been covered by LA Weekly, The Valley Reporter, Healthy Wealthy ‘n’ Wise, The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, The Maryland Herald-Mail, The Huffington Post, and Succeed Magazine.
As a professional speaker, life and relationship mentor, and a developer and facilitator of transformational seminars, Keith is a recognized expert at building relationships that work. He has spoken at events that included Jack Canfield, Dr. John Demartini, Bob Doyle, Dr. John Gray, Dr. John Demartini, Neale Donald Walsch, Barbara De Angelis, Lynne McTaggart, Dr. Michael Beckwith, Marie Diamond, Marci Shimoff, and Marianne Williamson.
Keith’s list of clients include: Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios Hollywood, Warner Bros., Peak Potentials Training, New Regency Productions, 20th Century Fox, Bijan Fragrances, County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, Microsoft, Mobil Oil, XEROX, NBC, CNBC, KNBC, MSNBC, CBS Press and Publicity, PBS, Fox Broadcasting, Fox Health Network, British Broadcasting Corporation, Greystone Communications, Image Associates, MEDIALINK, On the Scene Productions, Orbis Broadcast Group, West Glen Communications, John Rosas Productions, Visual Frontier, CF Entertainment, Weller-Grossman Productions, The Ronn Lucas Show, AMGEN, Bender Helper IMPACT, Fleishman-Hilliard Company, Golin/Harris Communications, Hill & Knowlton, Ketchum Public Relations, Sitrick & Company, Meals on Wheels, Special Olympics, The Century Council and The Agape International Spiritual Center.
Keith’s passion is teaching people how to go from first thought to bestseller and how to manifest the life of their dreams. He does this through personal mentoring programs, keynote speaking, teen leadership trainings, book writing programs, and providing any and all book services writers need to get their books completed and out to the world.
Keith’s story from the first YOU Make a Difference book:
What personal event or universal problem made you want to do what you do?
Since I was young, I’ve always had a plan: I would be a rock-and-roll star in my twenties and thirties, an author and motivational speaker in my forties, and a film director in my fifties and beyond. So far, it’s all come to pass. I didn’t achieve rock star status to the masses, but I’m well known in the spiritual music world.
I’m in my forties now, so I’ve been writing, publishing, and speaking. By the time I reached forty, I had been a life coach for some time. One weekend, I was coaching at a Peak Potentials event called Life Directions. During the event, the coaches, who volunteer in support of the seminar attendees, get to stand on the stage, introduce themselves, and share what type of coach they are. This allows attendees to pick and choose the coaches who can most support them with life or business advice, or with processes or assignments, during the event.
Knowing that I’d be standing on the stage and sharing my 15 second pitch, I asked myself: Who are the people I’ve had the most fun coaching in the last year? I realized that I was really enjoying working with the clients who were writing books. At that time, I had already authored two books and during the second book, had learned about the business and marketing of books from all the greatest author mentors in the world. I had an epiphany because of my current inquiry and it was this: Until I become as famous as the people who taught me the book business, it’s my responsibility to support authors and teach the masses what I’ve learned.
When it was time for me to share my 15 second pitch, I proclaimed, “My name is Keith Leon. I am a speaker and a multiple best-selling author. They call me “The Book Guy.” They call me “The Book Guy” because I will take you from first thought to bestseller.” I had a line of people in front of me on every break for the rest of the event, and for hours after the event concluded. I was overwhelmed by the response. After the event, I did some research and discovered that eight out of every ten people want to write a book, but only .01 percent will actually do it. That is a huge market—eight out of every ten people—and reading this information motivated and inspired me to increase that number of actual authors through my personal efforts. In that moment, I chose to be a book mentor—to see aspiring authors all the way through their process, to keep them motivated while they were writing, and to teach them the business of books as they wrote. That’s what I’ve been doing ever since.
What has been the hardest part of doing what you do?
My mentor programs do a great job of getting people writing and keeping them motivated during the process, and yet, sometimes the universe puts obstacles in the way of my writers. Some of them face the obstacles head on and, using the tools I taught them, they plow through the challenge and come out on the other side, still on course and writing! Once in a while, someone will let the obstacles take them out of the process altogether, and they quit the program. The hardest part, for me, is to stay unattached to each author’s outcome. Letting them go has proven to be tough for me on some occasions. I get to know my students. I know what they are writing about and what group of people will be inspired or motivated by their book, and when they give up before completing something so powerful, it’s sometimes a challenge for me to let it go.
What keeps you going when things are tough?
What keeps me going is my inner knowing that I’m on course. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I am doing exactly what I’m here to do at this time in my life. Do I sometimes forget for a few minutes? Sure I do. But I’m blessed to have learned to notice the red flags that fly, all over the place, when I’m straying from my mission or coming from a negative space. When I find myself feeling down or being pulled in a negative direction by someone around me, I stop, close my eyes, take a breath, and ask myself: What is the truth in this situation? How can I be more loving in this moment? This pulls me back into the truth.
Prayer and meditation have been incredibly useful for me when things are tough. The times when I have thoughts of lack, negativity, or fear are the times my faith needs to be the strongest. Prayer and meditation are, for me, a powerful way to remember the truth and to remind me to be faith-filled, because I truly know that if I just hang on, no matter what is going on, it will pass. I know, from personal experience, that the worse things appear on the outside, the closer I am to a major breakthrough.
What’s been the most rewarding part of what you do?
When I see pictures of my students holding their completed books, or when they send me signed copies of their books, that is very rewarding. I have worked with some authors from the point where they just had an idea for their books, through the whole writing process, all the way to them creating best-seller status for their books, using the tools and strategies I teach. One woman bought my home study course, implemented what she learned listening to my previously recorded classes and using the provided templates, and she had an Amazon Best Seller the day her book launched.
In my Bake Your Book Group Mentor Program, I do question-and-answer calls with the writers every other week, and sometimes the students are brave enough to talk about their challenges, obstacles, or their mind chatter (in our program we call that voice “the little liar”). I have an extensive background as a relationship expert and self-growth facilitator, so I work with authors on their challenges right there on the call. There is nothing more rewarding then hearing someone have a major shift on one of those calls. You can hear when it happens. All of a sudden, they inhale deeply and you can literally hear the “aha” moment happen! That is a very rewarding part of what I do.
What is the most inspiring transformation or manifestation that you’ve witnessed in your work?
My life is so amazing. In my work, I get to see transformation and manifestation happen all the time. One does come to mind for me and I’ll share it with you. On one of the question-and-answer calls in my group mentor program, there was a particular student who had always participated at her 100 percent on the live calls. She would compliment the program, and my work, on every call.
We were about two months into the program when she said, “May I come clean about something with you, Keith?”
“Of course, you can,” I replied.
“Keith, I love these calls. I come on the calls and get all fired up, then you do the process to send us off to write, I hang up, and when I put the pen to the paper, nothing comes out. I, literally, have written nothing since the course started. I understand the process, you motivate me, you inspire me, and yet…I’ve got nothing!”
I asked this student if she’d like to get to the bottom of it, right then and there. She agreed, so I proceeded to ask her a series of questions. During my inquiry, she started to get in touch with what was in her way. With each new discovery, I would dig deeper to see what was underneath it.
At one point, I heard my student breathe in deeply; it was that “aha” moment I spoke of earlier. She discovered what had been in her way all along. She cried tears of happiness because I had helped her reveal a very old paradigm based on something she had long since buried and forgotten. She apologized to the group for “taking so much time.”
I opened up the line to ask if anyone felt she had wasted their time, to which the group members replied, “No way! Thanks so much. I learned so much. That’s been getting in my way, too. I’m crying over here. That was so deep and so beautiful.”
People continued to give her props for being brave and helping them see that we all have the same “stuff” that seems to take us out, and I reminded them all that we’re more alike than we are different. When we strip away all of the layers we cover ourselves with for protection, and reveal the core and essence of who we truly are, we all want the same thing—to love and be loved. No more, no less…to love and be loved. Everyone learned something that day, and it was beautiful. This is why I do what I do…for moments like that.
I’ll have you know that the woman who was willing to step up, face her fears, and burst through her “story” that day wrote her whole entire book in the two weeks that followed. She blocked out her calendar, told everyone not to call her, used the tools I taught her about how to marathon write, and wrote her book in two weeks. That is a true testament to how quickly a book can be done when you have a clear “why” and the drive to make it happen quickly.
Every three months we complete one of our courses and the last call is called a “celebration call.” This is when all of the writers come with a list of their victories (no matter how big or small they think they are) and we celebrate. I love this call, because I get to hear how much progress people have made and support them with suggestions for next steps. On the celebration call, people, whom we may not have heard from since the beginning of the course, will share that they had been listening to each of the calls after the fact (from the recordings) and have implemented what they learned. It’s amazing to hear how much writers can accomplish with focus, dedication, and a mentor teaching them. I love my work.
No matter what I’ve been doing for work, for a business, or in my everyday life, it’s always been about being of service to others. My passion is being of service to humanity, and my life has clearly been about allowing Spirit to show me all the ways I can serve. How may I serve you?
About Maura Leon
Maura Leon is an inspirational publisher and author, intuitive life coach, and vibrational artist. Her Vibrational Visioning process has been praised by transformational leaders, including bestselling authors Marci Shimoff and Maribel Jimenez.
Over twenty-four years ago, Maura succeeded in manifesting the relationship of her dreams, using a specific process to attract exactly what she wanted. She then discovered that her soul mate, Keith, had used the exact same process to attract her. Realizing that they had a common mission, Keith and Maura wrote and published their first book, The Seven Steps to Successful Relationships, and began teaching people how to communicate better, love themselves more completely, and make their dream lives a reality.
Maura’s writing has also been featured in Jennifer McLean’s, The Big Book of You; Keith Leon’s, Who Do You Think You Are? Discover the Purpose of Your Life; and Babypie Publishing’s, YOU Make a Difference: 50 Heart-Centered Entrepreneurs Share Their Stories of Inspiration and Transformation. She has appeared on popular radio and television broadcasts, including The Rolonda Watts Show and The Shelley Martin Show, and her work has been covered by newspapers such as The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune and The Maryland Herald-Mail. Maura’s articles have been featured in Succeed Magazine and The Huffington Post, and she was a featured teacher in The New Superwoman telesummit.
Maura’s passion is taking transformational leaders to their next level.
Maura’s story from the first YOU Make a Difference book:
What personal event or universal problem made you want to do what you do?
That’s an interesting question, because a personal event and a universal problem can be two separate things, or they can be very connected. I’ve found that when I focus on my own personal issues, which I tended to do a lot when I was younger, my life is just a mess and doesn’t work well at all. When I focus on someone else’s struggles, and how I can be there for them in a caring and compassionate way, while still taking care of myself, things always seem to work out better in my life.
Universally, what I saw, growing up, was that we humans, as a species, don’t seem to choose systems that work well for us, and it was very frustrating for me, because nobody else seemed to notice this at all. Our systems of government and finance seemed particularly dysfunctional to me and, for a while, I thought that my path was going to involve opting out of mainstream society and joining an intentional community. While I never found one that felt like a fit for me, I did, eventually, discover that there were like-minded people out there who were sharing their wisdom and experience in a way that truly resonated with me. The first one I remember being introduced to was Marianne Williamson; I received a copy of the audio version of her book, A Return to Love, and I listened to it over and over, because it made more sense to me than anything I had experienced up to that point. My internal guidance system gave me a big, giant YES to that book, and it seemed like everything I had experienced before that had been a big, giant NO.
I also resonated, deeply, with Richard Bach’s Illusions, Ruth Ross’ Prospering Woman, and Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Life. These authors were all presenting possible solutions to the universal problems I was seeing in society, and while it was wonderful to feel such a powerful connection to mentors who spoke to my heart in such a profound way, I was longing to feel a similar connection to my peers; I wanted to experience a deeper level of compassion, innovation, and inspiration with the people in my life.
What I now understand is that once you start on the path of self-growth, even if it’s just by having a new kind of conversation or reading a new kind of book, your path will continue to unfold in front of you; the way will always be shown. The beautiful way that I was shown was through the dynamic world of personal development seminars. I attended my first Insight Seminar in the fall of 1996 and, by the time it was over, I knew I was home. At the end of the follow-up event, I stuck around to help clean up, but that was just an excuse. I didn’t want to leave. I was so comfortable thereactually, no “comfortable” is not the right word, because I was nervous as heck! “Compelled” is more like it. The leader of the event had already left, and I found myself walking up to the front of the room and sitting down in his chair, just to see what it felt like. One of the team leaders saw me and gave me a knowing look, saying, “Mm-hmm…now, you remember that.” (I think he must have previously experienced exactly what I was feeling at that moment.)
So, that was it for me. I knew I had found who I really was and what I wanted to do with my life. It felt more right than anything ever had, so I kept going, and within a little over a year, I had taken all of the basic and advanced courses that the organization offered. They called me a “fast-tracker” and I definitely was one. When I got into their Leadership program and had an opportunity to identify my top life goals, I realized that my number one goal was to have the relationship of my dreams, so I embraced the process of manifesting that relationship. Guess what…it worked! Not only did I attract a man, but I found out that the man I attracted had done the exact same process, and we were an amazingly perfect match. We decided to write a book about how we did it, so we could inspire others to do the same thing. Once again, my path was unfolding before me and I had now come full circle, from being inspired by transformational authors, to becoming one myself.
By the time I discovered life coaching, as a profession, I was already an entrepreneur, a publisher, an author, and a speaker, so I was able to attract coaching clients who were a perfect match, because they resonated with what I teach. I absolutely love what I do, and it just keeps getting better and better.
What has been the hardest part of doing what you do?
Actually, the hardest part is finding enough time to do all the things I want to do. I am constantly downloading great ideas and I don’t have the time to implement all of them. Originally, I thought it was an issue of life balance but since that’s one of the main subjects that I coach in, I’ve had the opportunity to learn as much about that as I had already learned about relationships and the Law of Attraction. It’s an ongoing process of discovery, but I would say that, just as it is with most people, the thing that most gets in my way is me. When I let go of that and focus on others, then everything flows. Especially when I can be in the moment, be present, stop worrying, and just trust.
What keeps you going when things are tough?
My inner vision and my passion keep me going, and it also helps to remember my victories, both large and small. The more experiences I’ve accumulated of things going well, the easier it becomes, in the darker moments, to trust that it’s going to work out, and that, not only is it going to work out, it’s going to be awesome! So I keep my focus on that.
The other thing that keeps me going is the people I’m committed to. In my drive for success, I set myself up into a situation in which I now have a responsibility to be accountable to a large number of people, not just to myself. It’s important to me that I don’t allow my personal issues to get in the way of my commitment to the people I serve. I now know because I’ve proved it more than once that I can be there for myself and be there for others as well. That was something I really wanted to learn how to do, because I am naturally a caretaker and it had taken its toll on me for a long time. Now I don’t have to sacrifice my well-being for others, so I don’t have to be selfish in that way anymore. I learned that if I let go of resistance and embrace, with love and gratitude, whatever is present in each moment, and then make my decisions from that place of inner peace, I receive all that I need for myself perfect energy, perfect love, perfect health, perfect financial flow and I can tap into the unlimited Source of all things and give freely to others.
One of the people who continually teaches me this lesson is Keith Leon. As my husband, my best friend, and my business partner, Keith is my day in/day out accountability buddy, and I am happy to be the same for him. We hold each other to an even higher standard than each of us holds for ourselves. We remind each other who we really are. It’s such a blessing in my life. I couldn’t ask for a better support system.
What’s been the most rewarding part of what you do?
I think the most rewarding thing is seeing the growth in myself and in the people I work with. It feels so good when I see how I’ve changed for the better. It’s so rewarding to see others benefiting from what I do, when what I do comes so naturally to me and I love it so much. Seeing myself, and other people, healing from mental, emotional, and physical conditions, healing relationships, and shifting financial conditions is incredibly satisfying. It’s mind-blowing because mainstream conditioning and society would try to tell us that we couldn’t do it. My husband always talks about how we live to prove the teachings of Jesus Christ, and I’m really starting to see how that’s true. Not just Jesus, but the other prophets and spiritual leaders as well; they were all teaching the same thing. It’s not about worshiping someone or something outside of me, it’s about rediscovering, trusting, and activating the power within me. And in the moments when I’m aware of the potential of that power, within me, to make a difference in the world, there is nothing more rewarding than that.
What is the most inspiring transformation or manifestation that you’ve witnessed in your work?
I’ve seen many amazing transformations and manifestations. The ones that stand out most for me are the ones I’ve witnessed in the people closest to me.
The earliest transformation, which had a great impact on me, was my sister’s recovery from a bone marrow transplant. That was a biggie. For that procedure, they basically give you enough chemo drugs to almost kill you, and then you just do whatever you can to bring yourself back to life and hope that it works. I was living with my sister at the time, so I was with her during her recovery period, after they sent her home from the hospital. I had never seen anybody that close to death before, and I really had no idea what to do to help her heal, but that didn’t matter, because she knew exactly what to do. I think it was intuitive; she just knew. The main thing she did was make herself laugh. I’ve heard this from other people, too, who have survived similar situations. I am convinced that that is what brought her back to the excellent health she enjoys today. Her favorite thing was to read the books of the humor columnist, Dave Barry. I never knew just how hilarious he was until that experience. She would read them to herself, and she would also have me read them out loud to her, so we could both laugh together. What an awesome demonstration of the difference a book can make in someone’s life. Thanks, Dave!
I witnessed many other transformations, in myself and others, over the years: my mother-in-law bringing herself back from death’s door because she wasn’t ready to go; my stepson’s miraculously rapid and complete recovery from emergency brain surgery after a life-threatening head trauma; my husband’s journey from obesity to vibrant health; our business making it through the severe economic downturn to not only survive, but thrive; and my own healing journey from an “incurable disease” to the healthiest I’ve ever been. I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to realize that every one of these transformations was affected by me in some way. My love and support made a difference. My trust, in myself and in the process of life, made a difference. My steady vision and unwavering commitment made a difference. I am profoundly grateful, and I know that as long as I continue to believe that I can make a difference…I will.