author q & a

home

free excerpts!

buy The Loser Syndrome

free companion workbook

►interview with the author

about the author

tell a friend
about this site

contact us

Our Sponsors:

For temp and perm jobs in Marketing & Communications, visit the recruiting firm of marketingproresources.com

Boost your career!
Professional resume editing and consulting services
click here

Click on this
button to begin!

Here are some candid answers from the candid author of the candid self-help, self-motivation eBook, The Loser Syndrome:  Prevention, Detection, Cure.
 

Cliff, why did you write The Loser Syndrome?

This book was the culmination of over 15 years of coaching people to help boost their confidence level, develop a more positive attitude, and improve the way they express themselves.  

I found that so many of the people I have interviewed, either as subjects in front of the camera lens, or more recently, as job candidates that I send to our corporate clients, have what I would call a "defeatist" mentality.  That is, they think that everything they try in their lives will ultimately fail -- that they cannot win. So I wrote The Loser Syndrome to help people understand this problem a bit better, and to suggest strategies for overcoming it.

Who is your audience for this self-improvement book?

I believe this eBook is for anyone with a confidence problem -- even just a little one.  It's for anyone who thinks he or she can't win.  Anyone with self-doubt.  But I should also mention that it is written to entertain as well as to motivate, so almost anyone who craves a short, entertaining book is a strong candidate to buy The Loser Syndrome.

Have you ever suffered from The Loser Syndrome, yourself?

Absolutely. By way of background, I have been in business for myself for the past fifteen years, first as head of my own corporate communications production company, then as a partner and co-founder of a management recruiting firm. 

Just before 9/11, my production company took a turn for the worse -- there was a recession going on in New York and the kind of projects that we normally got hired to do were being cut back or cancelled.  I was hard pressed to make a living at that point, and it was really scary.

And then, of course, we had this nightmarish attack on our country -- I had been very close to the location of the Twin Towers when they came down -- and that took away a lot of the optimism I had left in me, just like everybody else. 

To top it off, later that same month, in September, my father and I were held up at knifepoint in our own offices.  So a lot of really bad things were hitting me all at once.  Perhaps the worst part of all this was the way I started to feel about myself.  I began to believe that I could never win -- that I was a jinx -- that all of this misfortune was somehow my fault - I'm not talking of the terrorism part, of course, but the rest of it, definitely. 

In my book, I point out that one of the most serious symptoms of The Loser Syndrome is when you start letting other people know how badly you feel about yourself.  Once you do that, you're sunk.  And I became very adept at "sharing my misery" with other people.  I complained to other people and whined to other people -- I really felt myself riding this downward spiral and I was hard pressed to "get off the ride."

Over a period of time, I regained my confidence and was able to put a stop to this insanity, and figure out ways to help myself shake off these terrible feelings.  And I developed a simplified model of the world which forms the basis for dealing more effectively with people. And I got very excited because I realized that others like me would benefit from knowing about it.

What is the cover of your book all about?  Is that just some meaningless graphic design?

The red, yellow and blue rings on the cover are really the core of the model I was just describing.  In fact, I call this model The Three Rings and, again, it forms the basis of the book. 

Why did you write an eBook versus publishing a book in print?

That's an interesting question.  I think that people who want advice about their lives want it fast -- they want it now.  They need to be able to succeed quickly, too.  Downloading an eBook is the fastest way I know to get people going on the material. 

The book itself is very short -- just over 100 pages.  So you download it quickly, you read it quickly right on your computer screen, and you're ready to go. We even give people the option to purchase the core parts of the book at a lower price if they like.

You say that humor is a big part of the book.  Why would you think that people suffering from a condition like The Loser Syndrome would want to laugh about their problems?

One of the best ways to boost your confidence -- and not feel so bad about your situation -- is to be able to step back and look at things from a distance.  I use humor in the book to get the reader's mind working and motivated.  By no means am I trying to make fun of the reader.  I want to provide a voice that people can trust and laugh with.

Your book also claims to use "tough love" as a vehicle for delivering your advice.  What do you mean by "tough love"? 

If readers are looking for an author to tell them what they want to hear, that is not me.  My job, as far as I am concerned, is to beat the reader up a bit -- to tease a bit -- to joke a bit. That is, I want to stir up the pot -- I want to break the ice.  That's just my style, and I find from people who have read The Loser Syndrome that this kind of approach keeps you up and interested and entertained.  There's nothing worse than a big, boring self-help book that takes itself too seriously.  I try to keep the reader awake without the use of toothpicks to keep the eyelids open.

Lots of doctors and PhD's. write self-help books.  Why should people listen to your ideas when you don't hold a doctorate?

While I do have a Bachelor's and a Master's from two top ten universities, alas, I am not a psychiatrist or an expert researcher, and I am quite certain I never received a PhD of any kind.  However, the question is, do you really need a doctorate to advise people effectively about their lives and their problems?  Do people think that the Dear Abby column is written by someone with a doctorate?  No.  People write to Dear Abby to get advice from someone with a great talent for understanding and helping people.

For most of my career, my job has been to help others be their best and to do their best with what they've got. And people say I'm great at it. In fact, a lot of the job candidates I've coached begged me to write a book like this. 

If you could summarize in a nutshell, what would be your message for people thinking about buying your book?

My message would surely be to read the samples of the book on this site and get a feel for what it's all about. Download the Official Workbook I hope readers will find it to be extremely helpful, humorous and I would hope that the money they spend on the The Loser Syndrome will more than pay for itself in enjoyment and an improved way of life.

***

Copyright © 2006  Clifford S. Yurman. All rights reserved.

home  free excerpts!  buy The Loser Syndrome   free companion workbook  interview with the author  about the author  tell a friend  contact us