Announcer: Are you ready for an open discussion with the best of the best and the best of what's next? Welcome to the Tony DUrso Show. Join in on a great conversation today with some of the world's great influencers as they showcase great advice and techniques that made them the game changers they are today. Now here's Tony DUrso.

Tony:

Welcome. I'm your host Tony DUrso. I interview some of the most successful people in the world, and I thank you for joining us. The show is dedicated to helping you turn your vision into reality, and here's an elite entrepreneur who provides insights and guidance you can use to move along your vision path. Listen to my shows at Tony D-U-R-S-O.com, or go to your favorite podcast platform such as Apple podcasts and search for Tony D-U-R-S-O. Hey guys, start building your better portfolio today. Get started at fundrise.com/D-U-R-S-O to have your first 90 days of advisory fees waived. More details just ahead so please stay tuned. Today's show is about a duty to remember with Steve Snyder. Let's see what we can learn today. At the end of this interview, I'm going to do a summary recap of what we went over, so stay tuned for that. Steve Snyder is a graduate of UCLA and retired from Vision Service Plan after a career working in sales and sales management. He then began his quest to learn more about the World War II experiences of his father, pilot Howard Snyder, and the crew of the B-17 bomber plane, Susan Ruth. It resulted in his book Shot Down, which has received 25 book awards and counting. Here we go. Hi, Steve. Welcome to the Tony DUrso Show. So glad to have you on with us today.

Steve:

Well, thanks Tony. It's great to be here. Appreciate it.

Tony:

Thank you. The honor is mine. It's always a pleasure to speak with another author and you've won so many awards. It is amazing. I'm very interested in talking about your book and duty to remember, and what is the duty to remember. But before we get into that, I want to follow your journey to success. Now I know you've got an extensive sales and sales management background, and you're also a very accomplished author. So I want to follow your journey to sales a little bit. How did it all start for you?

Steve:

Oh gosh. Well, as far as sales is concerned, after I graduated from UCLA, I was kind of stumbling around doing a couple of different things, which were kind of interesting actually. I went into business for about a year and a half with my brother in law with an asphalt seal coating company. So we'd lay down cold tar pitch emulsion on driveways and parking lots, which was really hard and dirty work. We did that for about a year and a half, but that really didn't go anywhere so I got out of that. And then for about a year and a half, I worked for ACRA Stamp Machine Company, installing what was called a return-a-cart. I'd call on grocery chains in Southern California to try to sell them and if they bought the device then I would install it. It was to encourage shoppers to bring their grocery carts back into the store. That's when redemption stamps were passed out. And if they brought the cart back and pushed it through this machine, they got redemption stamps. But that didn't really pan out too well either, and so I started work looking for another job and I had three requirements. I wanted a company that provided a salary, a bonus, and a company car because I didn't have a car at the time. This was in 1973. And so I sent in resumes in the LA Times to a bunch of different companies, and this one contacted me, met my requirements. It was called California Vision Service. At the time, I had no idea what they did, but they provided vision care as an employee benefit that organizations would then offer to their employees or their members. That would provide for eye exams, glasses, and contact lenses. And I decided to go with them and that turned into a 36 year career.

Tony:

All because they have a company car.

Steve:

Right. At the time, they had 35 employees when I started and after 36 years, they had 5,000 employees. When I started, they had $15 million in revenue and when I left, they had $3 billion in revenue. I kind of grew up with a company. The first 10 years. I was a regional manager in Southern California and Southern Nevada, both in direct sales and managing sales reps. And then the company went national in 1985, switch its name to Vision Service Plan VSP, and then for the next 10 years, I worked as VP of national accounts, calling on Fortune 500 companies all around the United States. For the last 15 years, I was vice president of our Eastern sales division, which was everything east of the Mississippi, even though I lived in Southern California. I was VP of our Eastern sales division. So the last 25 years I traveled a great deal all across the United States. And then I retired in 2009. So that was my career in sales management.

Tony:

Steve, that is extremely accomplished. I've written a couple of books on sales and marketing. I've gotten nowhere near that kind of success that you have. My hat's off to you. That is absolutely amazing. I am very impressed on your career. And now it's a little bit of a play on words because our audience focuses the vision path - where we're going, what's our vision for the future - and it's very interesting play on words because you've been in sales in a vision company, but a little bit different type of vision. Now, at some point you came across and you started becoming an author. You wrote an incredible book. You've won a zillion awards. How did that come about? How did that vision of, hey, I'm going to do this. I'm going to write this. What's that story?

Steve:

Well, that's interesting too. As I mentioned, I retired in 2009 and so at that time, I was a typical retiree sleeping in late, going for walks, taking naps and reading books. But at that time I also had the time to really delve into my dad's war history in more detail. Growing up, I knew the basics of his World War II history. I knew he was a B-17 pilot. He was stationed in England with the 8th Air Force. His plane was named the Susan Ruth after my oldest sister, who was one year old at the time that he went overseas. He flew bombing missions over Europe, and he was shot down over Belgium in February of '44. He was missing in action for seven months, but he evaded capture and eventually made it back to England. And so I just wanted to learn more about that. My parents had kept a lot of material about the war years, and I just wanted to go through that and organize it and learn a little bit and learn more. At that time, I had no intention at all of writing a book, but there were two items that were really significant that my parents had. One was a diary that my dad wrote while he was missing an action about his plane being shot down, which is absolutely riveting. And the other item that was really significant were all the letters that my dad wrote to my mother while he was stationed in England before he was shot down. He was very candid in those letters. He talked about what bombing missions were like, what life was like on the air base in England, what life was like in London, in England at the time, about escapades of him and his crew, and I just became fascinated with the story and it became my passion. I started reading book after book about the air war over Europe. I went on the internet and spent countless hours doing research, downloading declassified military documents. I went on a quest to find relatives of all of the members of his crew to see what information they could provide for me, any letters, pictures, articles, etcetera. I joined a number of World War II organizations, started to going to reunions and listening to veterans tell their stories. And finally, three years into it in 2012, I just came to the conclusion that the story of my dad and his crew was so unique and so compelling that people needed to know about it and read about it, so I decided to write a book.

Tony:

Steve, I'm very interested about one thing. The B-17 is called Susan Ruth. He named the plane after your sister?

Steve:

Yes. My dad was the first pilot and as such that he was the commander of the crew and of the plane, and the pilot always got kind of the final say on what his - they always called it a ship. They never called it a plane - on what his ship was called. A B-17 had a 10-man crew. My dad was one of three crew members that were married, but he was the only crew member to have a child, Susan Ruth. My mother's name was Ruth. So yeah, he got the final say on what the plane was named.

Tony:

That's very interesting. And Susan, is she still around? Is she still alive, your sister, or should I not ask about that?

Steve:

No, actually I have two sisters. Susan is my oldest sister. She's still alive. She's five years older than me. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, and my other sister, Nancy, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, she was born when my dad was a missing in action, so he didn't know whether he had a boy or a girl until he got back to England because my mother was pregnant when he went overseas and that was really hard on my mother because here she's back in the United States, back in Pasadena, California with a one year old, a little baby girl and an infant girl. And for over seven months, she never knew if she would see her husband and their father again.

Tony:

It's amazing. And the reason for you to write this book, Steve, was it to find out what happened to your dad? Was it to tell the world? You spent a lot of time I know researching, and you have a lot of facts on this. What was that overriding reason to do all that?

Steve:

Well, initially I thought it was going to be a book about my dad, but very quickly I learned that it wasn't just about my dad. It was about each member of his crew, and larger than that, it was about really all the men who fought in the 8th Air Force during World War II, and to some extent, every man and woman that participated in the armed services during World War II. In addition to them because of my dad's situation of being missing in action and being helped by the Belgian underground, it was also to honor those Belgian people that risked their lives helping downed airmen during World War II. So it just kind of evolved into a larger scope of not the incredible story of what happened to each member of my dad and his crew, because something different happened to each guy. Five of his crew members made it back home, but five of them did not, but it was just to honor the incredible courage and sacrifice what those brave men in the US military, particularly the 8th Air Force and those courageous Belgian people did during World War II.

Tony:

We're talking about a duty to remember with Steve Snyder and you can find him at www.stevesnyderauthor.com. I'm going to spell that, Steve. We know that. Snyder is S-N-Y-D-E-R author.com. www.stevevsnyderauthor.com. This is the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead, the chat continues about a duty to remember with Steve Snyder, but first it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment.

Tony:

We've heard for years that it's important to have a diversified portfolio - stocks, bonds, mutual funds, that kind of thing. But if you've ever looked at a breakdown of the most successful portfolios, you'll typically see a diversified set of real estate. So why isn't it one of the first asset classes you consider when you're looking to diversify? Simple! It hasn't been available to investors like you and me until now, thanks to Fundrise. They make it easy for all investors to diversify by building you a portfolio of institutional-quality real estate investments. So, whether you're just starting to invest in real estate or looking to add more, our friends at Fundrise have you covered. Here's how! Fundrise is an investing platform that makes investing in high quality, high potential real estate as easy as investing in your favorite stock or mutual fund. Whether you're looking to add stable cash flow via dividends or prefer long-term growth through appreciation, Fundrise has you covered. To date, Fundrise manages more than $1 billion in assets for 130,000 plus investors, and since 2014, the Fundrise platform has averaged 8.7 to 12.4% annual returns and investors have earned more than $79 million in dividends alone. That's $1 billion and over 130,000 investors in just six years. Amazing! Fundrise's team of real estate professionals carefully vets and actively manages all of their real estate projects. And with their easy to use website, you can track your portfolio's performance and watch as properties across the country are acquired, improved and operated via asset updates. And are you ready? You can track your investment in real time, which is great. You can watch each asset evolve over time. Also accredited and non-accredited investors are welcome. Come one, come all. Check this out. Start building your better portfolio today. Get started at fundrise.com/D-U-R-S-O to have your first 90 days of advisory fees waived. That's F-U-N-D-R-I-S-E .com/D-U-R-S-O to have your first 90 days of advisory fees waived. fundrise.com/D-U-R-S-O. All right, guys. Check it out, sign up and tell me how much you love it. Announcer: You're listening to the Tony DUrso Show with special VIP guests. Now back to Tony and his guest.

Tony:

All right. We're back on the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is about a duty to remember with Steve Snyder. At the end of this interview. I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this, and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. Steve is past president of the 306th Bomb Group Historical Association, and keeps busy making presentations and attending air shows around the country, signing copies of his book. All right. And now back to the chat with Steve. Steve, let's get a little bit into your vision path and talk more about this book. For starters, as we had mentioned earlier, you went from the life of a professional sales man, VP in management in a very prestigious corporation to write a nonfiction true account story of the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth. Now was that transition very easy in terms of writing? I don't presume you've written anything before. Let's talk about what does that take to actually go from one type of a business to now you're an author.

Steve:

You're correct. I had no formal writing training or background, but I always liked to write. I always enjoyed writing sales material, marketing material, pre-approach letters and draft strategy. So I always kind of liked to write. And as far as writing the book, it's interesting that you said that. I didn't find actually writing the book that difficult. The most challenging thing was I had so much information to include was just trying to organize everything and write it and put it down on paper or key it into the computer I should say, in a organized fashion so that it would be readable and flow for people reading the book. That was actually my biggest challenge. I was so fortunate to know so much about what happened to my father and other members of the crew in the air war over Europe that I had plenty of information to put in the book. It was just to organize it. One thing that's kind of funny. I published the book independently after I finished my manuscript, not having any background in publishing or writing. I didn't know what to really do then to get it published. And I researched a number of different avenues on how to publish the book, and I decided to publish it independently by forming my own publishing company. So I formed a one-person, limited liability company called Sea Breeze publishing, which is the name of the street that I live on in Seal Beach, California. Then I contracted with independent professionals for all the related services such as editing the book, cover design, interior layout, printing the book. I use a printer in Michigan and then fulfillment. I use a fulfillment house in Indiana, but when I submitted my manuscript to the professional editors, I thought, Oh gosh, they're just going to slice, cut and burn and rearrange everything and I won't even recognize what I sent to them, but I was shocked they got back to me and really pretty much all they did was correct a little punctuation and some spelling. I was amazed. And I said, well, gosh, you know, I thought you'd be changing sentences and rearranging them and they go, no. You're a good writer. We just left it as it is. So I guess I had some innate ability to write clearly. Also my style is ... I wrote like I talk, which is direct. My book doesn't go in a lot of flowery prose. I always kind of like to say, you know, if the sun is shining, I say that the sun was out. It doesn't take me a half a page to say it was a sunny day, but that's my writing style, to kind of get to the point. So I was surprised that the editors that pretty much just left the manuscript alone.

Tony:

That is amazing. Steve, can you take us through the book? The title is called Shot Down and tell us a little bit more about what the book is, and please we would love a synopsis of it.

Steve:

Okay. As I mentioned, the first half of the book kind of builds up to the day that the plane was shot down and the second half of the book is all about what happened afterwards, and as I mentioned, it's just not about my dad, but it's about what happened to each member of the crew and all those Belgian people that risked their lives to help them. It was on a bombing mission on February 8th of 1944 to Frankfurt, Germany where my dad's plane, they dropped their bombs successfully, but their bomb bay doors got hit by anti-aircraft fire called flak. Flak was an abbreviation for the German word for aircraft defense cannon, and they couldn't get the doors back up. As a result, that caused a drag on the plane and they lost airspeed and they fell behind the formation, which was heading back to England to their bases. They were singled out by two German Focke-Wulf fighters, who like lions or wolves coming in on prey, swooped in for the kill, and they shot the Susan Ruth down. Two of the crew members were killed in the plane and the other eight bailed out successfully, but both those German fighters were shot down as well. One was piloted by Siegfried Merrick. His plane crashed and he died in the plane, and the other was piloted by Hans Berger who was able to bail out and made it through the war. When I was doing my research one day my wife Glenda asked me, well, why don't you try to find the German pilot that shot down your dad's plane, which at the time I thought, well, that's kind of a ridiculous idea. She's naive. She doesn't know what she's talking about. It would be impossible to do that, but like a good husband, I did what she told me to do and I found Hans Berger. Fortunately for me, he became a translator after the war so he speaks English and he gave me some wonderful insight that's in the book about what it was like to go up against the 8th Air Force. Hans is the only person in the Shot Down story who's still alive. He's 96 years old now; lives in Munich, Germany. My wife and I went to visit him again this last fall in September, and we become good friends. That's kind of a whole story in itself.

Tony:

That is absolutely amazing.

Steve:

It is absolutely amazing. Actually, the gunners on my dad's plane shot Hans down at the same time he was shooting them down. So they shot each other down at the same time. But to continue with the story though, after my dad bailed out, his parachute came down and he was right near the French border in the little village of Machenwacht, and his parachute got hung up in these trees and he couldn't get down. He was dangling 20 feet off the ground, but fortunately for him, a couple of young Belgian men came to his rescue before the Germans got to him because Belgium was occupied by the Nazis at that time. So they helped them down out of the tree. They told them to stay put because it was daylight, and they thought it was too dangerous for him to try to move him during the daytime. But that night they came back and got him, took him to one of the men's farmhouse, where he stayed one night because he thought it was too dangerous for him to stay there any longer than that with these German patrols combing the area looking for him. So the second night, a Belgian customs officer Paul Tillcan (?) came and got him on a tandem bicycle, moved him to another location, and after that he was moved from place to place to place. How long he stayed at any given house or farm depended on how brave the people were who lived there and how dangerous the Belgian underground thought it was for him to stay there. He might spend one night at one house. He might spend six weeks at another house. And the people who hid my dad were unbelievably brave people. Not only did they risk their lives, but they risked the lives of their family and friends because if the German secret police found out about it, the German secret police called the Gestapo, those Belgian people would be arrested, sent to a concentration camp. And some of the people who helped my dad and other members of his crew did meet that fate during his time, the seven months he was missing in action. He finally got tired of hiding. It was pretty stressful for him hiding too. There was several instances in the book that are described. He was almost discovered by the Gestapo. Word came that the allies had landed at Normandy on June 6th of '44, and he decided to get back into the fight and decided to join the French resistance. They were called the Maquis. So he crossed over the border into Belgium and joined a Maquis unit. The Maquis were independent ragtag guerrilla fighters. There were little small cells located all over France. There were about 20 men in his group, led by a French Lieutenant who had escaped from a German prisoner of war camp, and their job was basically to harass the Germans. They would disrupt communications, sabotage railroad lines, attack German convoys, assassinate German officers, and they got their instructions from the British over the BBC through coded messages. They would also be supplied by the British through airdrops. And so he fought with the Maquis and there were several instances discussed in the book about that. And then finally, seven months after his plane was shot down, word came that they were allied troops in a nearby village of Trelonge, France. So he walked into the village into the town square, went up to an army major. Actually, it was an element of Patton's Third Army which had come up through France after D-day, and he identified himself. They interrogated to make sure that he was who he said he was, and then he hopped on a convoy to Paris and then a transport back to England, where he sent a telegram to my mother saying he was fit as a fiddle, and to bank the money, honey. Get all that back pay.

Tony:

This is the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead, the chat continues about a duty to remember with Steve Snyder, but first it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment. Anyone in my audience that's ever read a good book or is an author will really understand the following. I am announcing a book that I've worked with on years with my coauthor SKR, and the title of the book is Imen of Atlantis: The Pursuit is the first book, volume one. We've spent years on this. It's been a labor of love. It's a trilogy. We have three books out. The first two books are going to be released back to back very, very soon. Just go to TonyD-U-R-S-O.com and you'll see it there. We're just finalizing the book cover. So as of the second, this commercial hits, this is a pre-commercial, but very, very soon the book will actually be out there. It's a fiction story of what happened in Atlantis once upon a time, and there are multiple story lines that merge and converge together. Some of the key players are Bomo, Roni, Eyvind, Raidon, Korin, King Audun, Queen Tara and there's so many others. What is the Imen? Who are they? Well, the world of Imen-Hera was home to the Imen who possessed great powers. Once a powerful race, the Imen captured and dominated every nation and territory on the 4 land masses of Atlantis until none were left. War was a form of sport and no one presented a challenge great enough for them. It wasn't until they had reached the final conquest when the divine intervention personified as a messenger was sent by the Creator to offer an ultimatum. The Imen were given a choice to set down their weapons forever in exchange for the gifts of healing and regain their spiritual powers. Most accepted this ultimatum, and those who refused perished as predicted. Stay tuned to Tony D-U-R-S-O.com. Look for my books. This will be there shortly, if not there already. Thanks. Happy reading. Announcer: You're listening to the Tony DUrso Show with special VIP guests. Now back to Tony and his guest.

Tony:

All right. We're back on the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is about a duty to remember with Steve Snyder. At the end of this interview. I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this, and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. And now back to the chat with Steve.

Steve:

It's quite a story again, but it goes into detail about what happened to each other member of the crew as well. Some happy endings and some very tragic endings.

Tony:

I'm astounded at this story, and while this is a business show aimed at entrepreneurs and business owners, you know, I love this story and I love the fact that your father persisted, no matter what to stay alive, to make it and he succeeded, which of course here I am speaking to his son. But we always like to know what can we learn from where we are. World War II for some of us is far away. We have no family; some don't have any family members that were in it. My father was actually in a German prisoner of war camp in Czechoslovakia in World War II which is a different story. You'll actually find a snippet on my YouTube. I sent you the little video speech on that. It's been... gosh, 60-something plus years now. It's been quite a long time. What? 45 to now? Yeah, something like that. So it's ...

Steve:

Actually, this Saturday, it will be 76 years since my dad was shot down.

Tony:

Yeah. 76!! That's quite something. So now other wars are recent and we are more familiar in the audience with other wars, but a war is still a war. Not good. People hurt each other and not good, no bueno. What can we learn from this? Is there any kind of lesson that we can learn to help us in our business? What can we learn to be better?

Steve:

Well, as far as my dad I think and you know, to me, they were and are the greatest generation. They were such strong people, that age group, they went through the depression. They really knew hard times back then. They were strong people. They were hard workers. They had a lot of courage and honor and duty. When World War II broke out, all these young guys who were in their late teens, early twenties, they were anxious and determined to get into the fight and defend their country. So their duty and commitment and dedication, I think, are something we can all learn from in everything that we do. Their moral fiber, their character, honest, hardworking people. My dad again was a pilot so he was a leader. He was kind of a leader his whole life. Actually, he was the captain of his basketball team in high school. He didn't go to college after he graduated. He worked for Desmond's clothing company in Los Angeles, but became an assistant manager before he went into the military. And also, he demonstrated that after being shot down and being hidden by these Belgian people, he could have just stayed hidden and played it safe and waited until the US forces came up from France after D-Day to liberate that area. But again, his sense of duty and commitment to get back into the fight, he felt that other US servicemen were there fighting for their country, trying to win the war and dying for their country, and he didn't feel like he should just stay hidden, that it was his duty to get back in the fight and to help the effort. Again, that just shows the commitment and loyalty and determination and courage and bravery to do that. So it's just all the traits of just strong men that can help you in whatever endeavor you were involved in life, whether it's business or your personal life.

Tony:

Steve, did your dad see combat again after he was saved and rescued?

Tony:

Oh, that's an interesting question, Tony. No, he was sent back to the US to become a B-17 flight instructor. The Air Force had a rule at the time that if you were shot down over occupied territory and helped by the underground, that you could not go back into combat, cause they were concerned that if you did and you were shot down again and captured by the Germans the second time and tortured, that you'd give up the identity of the people who helped you the first time you were shot down. And so they had that rule in place, and the only exception to that that I'm aware of is Chuck Yeager, the fighter pilot, who personally met with General Dwight Eisenhower and talked him into letting them go back into combat. So he did not go back into combat. He wasn't allowed to go back in combat.

Tony:

Just so I understand the rest of the story. After the war, what did your father do for business?

Steve:

Oh, he did a number of different things. After he got out, he was an air traffic controller for a little while, and then he started a restaurant. He owned a restaurant in Pasadena for 10 years where he was also the chef, but being on your feet all day, because they served breakfast, lunch and dinner, he decided to sell the restaurant and then he got into sales, but he had a real tough time of it. He sold encyclopedias going door to door. He sold orthopedic mattress pads to the VA hospitals. He sold a couple of different kind of products that were startups. One was called a cravat. You would spray it on your tie as a tie cleaner. He tried that. He sold what's called a speaker's aid. That's before today where you had your speech up in front of you on a screen. That was a little device you would put on a podium where your speech would be on it. But none of those really panned out too well until he went to work for a company in sales, selling redemption stamp machines. Again, I mentioned earlier redemption stamps. Unless you're a certain age, you don't remember those, but back in the '60s, they had SNH green stamps and that was a national one. But if you went to a grocery store and bought groceries or a gas station and bought gas, depending on how much you bought, you'd get these redemption stamps, which you'd paste in a book and then you could redeem for merchandise. So the company my dad worked for manufactured these machines that dispensed the stamps. It kind of had a telephone-like dial, a rotary dial that the checker at a grocery store would turn and then give you your stamps. And so he traveled a lot. He called on grocery chains and gas station chains throughout the United States and even went over to Europe and Japan selling those. So in a sense, I kind of took after my dad in the sales aspect of it and in traveling.

Tony:

I remember those stamps as a kid when my parents would go shopping to the grocery store and they would collect those stamps and put them in a book. I remember that. It was very interesting. I had forgotten all about that.

Steve:

Yeah, they were real big at the time.

Tony:

So now I know it's your dad's fault.

Steve:

I kind of followed in his footsteps, but my dad was a rugged guy. He was six foot three, a big guy, a no-nonsense guy. My sisters and I all always kind of compared him to John Wayne or again, if you're old enough to James Arness who was the Marshall in Gunsmoke, the TV series Gunsmoke. But he was a loving father, just like most of the guys growing up of the greatest generation. They were disciplinarians and had a strong, straight faith, strong Christian. And that's the way he raised his family.

Tony:

He's a good man. Good man. Steve, do you teach how to write because your book Shot Down won 25 awards. That is so impressive. And I want to talk a little bit about writing. Do you teach it or do you plan to teach how to write?

Steve:

No. I don't plan on doing that cause I'm an author, but I really don't consider myself a writer, a professional writer. It's not my occupation that I am just going to write book after book after book. My wife tells me what I should write a book is how to publish and market a book. Unlike most people who write a book, I had the fortune of having a 40-year career in sales and sales management. Most people write a book and it's like, okay, now what do I do? Because they're writers. I'm basically a salesman and I'm basically doing the same thing now that I did during my career job. Even though I retired in 2009, since I wrote this book, I basically work full time promoting the book. I do lots of speaking, PowerPoint presentations to all sorts of different organizations. I travel around all over the United States, attending air shows, signing copies of my book. This weekend, I'll be in Savannah, Georgia signing my copies at the National Museum with the mighty 8th Air Force, and I spend hours every day on the internet involved in social media. So I'm doing the same thing I did during my career, although now it's for myself and for my passion. And as I said, you mentioned earlier it's our duty to remember, and that's why I do what I do. So I really don't look at myself as a writer is more as I look as myself as I'm still a salesman.

Tony:

I get it. You're a marketer also, and I get it. You're full time promoting your book. No wonder you've won 25 awards. You've got such distinction for someone with a first-time book. It's really, really absolutely amazing. Is there a movie plan by any chance and what are you looking to accomplish in the next few years?

Steve:

Okay. Well, I don't know how long I'll feel like traveling all over the US. We'll have to see about that and take it one year at a time. But I still love what I do, which really is a reason why I like sales. I liked traveling around the country. I liked seeing new places. I like meeting new people, interacting with people. I like the challenge of sales, whether it was Vision Care or promoting my book. And I think that's why I was successful and some of the traits that I developed resulted in my success, both at VSP and now with the book, Shot down.

Tony:

This is the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead, the chat continues about a duty to remember with Steve Snyder, but first it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment. As you just heard in the prior commercial, some of you authors out there, you know what it's like to take a long time to write a book and put it out, and how happy and proud you are to produce such a work of art, and you really want other people to experience that joy and that knowledge or that story that you provide. Well, that's how it is with myself and my coauthor SKR about our new book, Imen of Atlantis: Volume one, The Pursuit, and you will see it at tonyD-U-R-SO.com, and if it's not there now, it will be there momentarily. We're just finalizing the actual cover. Everything is ready to go and book 2, same is ready to go. I'm going to read a little short section of it. "They were thought to dwell in the forest, but their world remained secretly hidden from everyone. Unbeknownst to the hunters, an ancient civilization existed beneath the forest floor. This was the magical world of Imen-Hera, a subterranean land bustling with life. It was home to the Imen who were magical beings. Still they were not truly magicians, per se. Instead they possessed great spiritual powers. The Imen were also known to possess the gift of healing and magical potions and were rarely seen by anyone. They were summoned from Imen-Hera by signals sent below to their world by unique trees. The trees communicated by signals when any injured being - man, animal or bird - was sensed in the forest. It was the duty of the Imen to aid those in need of help. They were bound to this duty as penance for their once-evil ways in the past, having long abandoned them in exchange for a chance to redeem themselves and eventually rejoin the Creator." I hope you check it out. It's a good book. Volume one is The Pursuit. Volume two coming shortly after that is called Dark Horizons. You'll find it at TonyD-U-R-SO.com. Happy reading. Announcer: You're listening to the Tony DUrso Show with special VIP guests. Now back to Tony and his guest.

Tony:

All right. We're back on the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is about a duty to remember with Steve Snyder. At the end of this interview. I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this, and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. Steve has been to Belgium five times and as mentioned, he interviewed 95-year-old Hans Berger, the German Luftwaffe pilot who shut down his own dad's plane for the book. All right. And now back to the chat with Steve.

Steve:

But the ultimate goal I guess would be get the book made into a movie, or maybe even better yet, a miniseries because it's so involved with so many characters. I have just recently completed a little documentary short, a little 12 documentary short that I've entered into a number of film festivals around the country, so we'll see what happens there. I've just submitted to a lot of different film festivals. It's beginning to be accepted into some, so we'll see what kind of a reception it gets there, and then maybe that'll create some interest with somebody in the theatrical industry that might be interested in expanding it.

Tony:

You know, I believe that that's going to happen for you because you market so well, you push to so much, and it's such a great story. It's part of you. This is your dad. So I see success there in your future on this.

Steve:

Well, thank you. I hope you're right.

Tony:

And we do like to leave our audience with resources, with tips, with things to remember, things to put in. And this is a little bit different because we're talking about a non-fiction, a real-life story where we're looking at it for any lessons to learn, but also just any resources that you'd like to share with our audience, because we do have authors in our audience. We have coaches that write books. We have people that are experts in all number of fields and they're writing books. What kind of resources do you think you could share with our audience success squad?

Steve:

Well, I kind of feel that my success is based on, well, one, hard work being in sales previously. Yeah. I'm very persistent. I basically contact anyone who might be interested in reading the book or promoting the book and how I got a lot of reviews. I reached out to reviewers and ask them if they'd be interested. I'm basically very proactive, reaching out either with emails or letters to reviewers who might review the book. I reached out to air museums, who might want to carry the book in their gift stores. My book is carried in all the major air museums in the US such as the World War II museum in New Orleans, the mighty 8th Museum in Georgia and the National Museum with the US Air Force in Dayton, among others. Magazines that might do articles or reviews. I just searched the internet. I reached out to podcasters, to radio shows, just anyone that might be able to provide exposure, alerting them, or informing them about my book and to see if they have interest. And if they say no, that's fine. That doesn't bother me at all. I just go onto the next person or the next organization or the next opportunity. And really how I got all those book awards is I just submitted my book to all these different contests that are out there. Some require a small entry fee; others don't, but I had confidence in the book that it was worthwhile spending that money to do so. It's just being proactive and never giving up, and whenever you get NOs, just don't let it bother you. Just because there's other people that are going to be interested and trying to find organizations that would be interested. With me, it could be Veterans' organizations or World War II organizations, but I contact service groups like Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs who might be interested in the story, cause there's always lots of organizations out there that are looking for speakers. They have monthly meetings or weekly meetings or what have you, and so they always are looking for people to come talk about something that they might feel is interesting. And then also it's something that you need to be passionate about. I think you can probably tell the way I talk about this that I'm passionate about it, and it's just that perseverance and dedication that you need in anything you do, no matter what business that you're in.

Tony:

Once again, this is duty to remember with Steve Snyder. You can find him at www.stevesnyderauthor.com. Steve, fascinating story. I really love it. Again, your success is just great. I just love it and hope that this inspires others that have books and periodicals or anything to produce. It's not just writing it and letting it sit there. You've got to put it out there, put it out there or somebody does, and you've really shown that it can be done, and how great for you to write such a great book on your dad. Great. So glad to have you on with us today.

Steve:

Well, thanks a lot. It's changed my life. You know, when I retired, I had no idea that I would be where I am today, writing a book and getting involved and traveling all over and doing what I do. As I said, it's changed my life and it's basically a new career. I say it's our duty to remember. It's our duty to remember. My focus is the air war over Europe. Remember the men who fought it and to educate the public about it, and that's why I do what I do to educate the public about what those men went through to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy today. Hey, fellow entrepreneurs, thanks for hanging out with me while I featured an elite entrepreneur who took his vision to reality. I hope this was as inspiring for you as it was for me to do this interview. I learned quite a bit about how to really get a book out there and what it takes. The insights are so valuable. So how did you like it? Duty to remember with Steve Snyder. Now it's probably out of everyone's reality to hear that way back when, Steve searched for a company to hire him that would provide a company car. He found one and stayed with them for 36 years. Does that happen anymore? While that's impressive, I think that what Steve did after retirement is even more impressive with 25 awards and counting. Steve is making quite the statement on his true account story, book titled Shot Down, of the World War II B-17 bomber, Susan Ruth named after his oldest sister. His dad was one of the three pilots on board, and Steve is getting a lot of fanfare about that story. As an executive, he had lots of practice writing company documents, which showed as he put his first book together. Have you written a book and published it yet? I understand Steve's dilemma of what to put in the book as he had so much information. And it's quite the decision of what to include or not. The end result of course, is an outstanding job with 25 awards and counting. I clearly see that Steve's success with his book, as well as his prior impressive 36-year career at VSP is that he is very strong in following through and being meticulous with details. I'm sure he has other great qualities, but those are two key points that stand out right away. What qualities do you see with Steve's success? What did you learn from it? What's your takeaway? I love this story as it reminds me of my own dad in World War II and his story. I thought about researching it, but I never got to it. I did give a speech about it called the Long Walk Home, which you can find on my YouTube, which I don't use too much, but it's still there. I think if you have some time on your hands, that you might just surprise the world about a story from your family's past. I think working on that is better than watching the sad news on TV these days, don't you think? And that's why I got back into nonfiction writing and have come out with a trilogy called Imen of Atlantis. You'll find more on that at Tony D-U-R-S-O.com. There's so much more I got out of this interview. What did you get? I'd love to know how you use this information to help you in your business or career. All right, guys, now grab hold of your vision. Decide you're either going to start something great or take it to the next level. You have to decide first. It always starts with a decision and you can get my Vision Map to help you along the process. The free eBook is at Tony D-U-R-S-O.com. You can pick up the audio version and the training class too. Highly recommended! I created my empire just a few years. That's all it took. I had the Vision Map as my guide. You can do it too. Let's help you move on your journey to success. And if you have any Apple device or access to Apple podcasts, please look up my name, Tony D-U-R-S-O and subscribe to my show. A kind review there will get you tremendous appreciation back in return. Thanks guys. And remember: just take action. Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds and join me on the next episode of the Tony DUrso Show. Announcer: We hope you've enjoyed this week's edition of the Tony DUrso Show with his key influencers. Be sure to tune in again next Friday at 5:00 PM Eastern time, 2:00 PM. Pacific time on the Voice America INFLUENCERS channel.