Sheila Slick hit record on her very first podcast episode, pressed play to review it, and almost stopped right there.
Her voice sounded different than she expected. She could hear every um, every pause, every awkward moment. The editing felt endless. And the self doubt was immediate.
She kept going anyway. Not because she had a plan, but because her years as a developer had taught her something about limiting beliefs: you push through them one step at a time.
Nearly 100 episodes later, Sheila is the host of Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership, the creator of PodToBook.ai, and the founder of Bright Era Publishing. She has helped more than 100 authors move from spoken content to published books. And the whole thing traces back to a single conversation that happened after she stopped recording.
A 13-Year-Old Boy, an iPod Touch, and Learning to Code at 36
Before there was a podcast or a publishing company, there was a mother of three small children living overseas in a third world country, watching her kids line up to play with a gadget she could not even understand: the iPod Touch.
She did not have a technology background. But she saw something no one around her was talking about yet. This device was the future, and somebody needed to teach her children how to build for it.
So she taught herself to code at 36 years old.
The spark came from a story she saw on TV about a 13 year old boy who had built a game and received a million downloads. That story was what led her to code. And that decision led to a software development company, a career in STEM advocacy, and eventually a role as SCORE Chair for Volusia and Flagler County, where she had daily conversations with aspiring and existing entrepreneurs about their businesses, their pain points, and their growth.
When her term as chair ended, she felt a void. She wanted to continue those conversations. And she thought: what better way to meet people than to invite them on a podcast?
That is how Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership was born.
The Conversation After the Recording Stopped
During one of her early seasons, Sheila interviewed a guest who was a professor and expert in AI and innovation. The interview itself was good. But the conversation that happened after they stopped recording is the one that changed everything.
He asked her a direct question: “Sheila, why aren’t you programming with AI?”
Her honest answer: “I’m afraid of AI. I don’t know where it’s going.”
He pushed back gently. He suggested she take one of the apps she had built years ago and see how she could take it to a different level using the new tools available.
And then a different thought emerged. She did not need to rebuild a children’s app. She needed to solve a problem she was living with right now: all of these beautiful podcast conversations were reaching listeners for a week and then disappearing into a feed. Not everyone listens to podcasts. But everyone can read a book.
What if she could take those same conversations and turn them into something a reader could hold?
That idea became PodToBook.ai.
10 Recordings Became Her First Book
The first test was her own content. Sheila selected 10 of her podcast recordings and ran them through the platform she was building. The result was Momentum: Daily Practices to Build Your Business and Thrive, now available on Amazon.
Ten recordings. Not a hundred. Not years of writing. Ten conversations she had already had, transformed into a professionally written book.
That proof of concept changed everything. It proved the technology worked. It proved a podcaster’s spoken content could become a real, publishable manuscript. And it opened the door to publishing books for other creators.
Donna Kunde’s Your Message Is the Business was built from podcast conversations and became an international bestseller. Adrienne Barker’s Unscripted Brilliance was built entirely from podcast content. Each book proved the same thing: the content already exists. It just needs to be transformed.
The 38 Booking Mistake
Sheila is a programmer at heart, and programmers automate everything. So when she set up her podcast booking system, she automated the entire flow: invitations, scheduling, information gathering, everything.
Then she went out of town for a week.
She came back to find 38 people had booked interviews.
“What have I just done?” she thought. She was not monetizing the podcast. Every interview cost her time and money to edit, clean up, and publish. Thirty-eight episodes worth of work were now stacked in front of her.
She turned the system off immediately. But the experience taught her something she now considers essential for every podcaster: time blocking.
Instead of scheduling interviews whenever guests were available, she began reserving specific blocks of time each week for recording. Two to three episodes back to back on a given day. Her best energy hours, not scattered appointments across the week. And she discovered that the time of day matters: some people are sharpest at 9 a.m., others come alive at 8 p.m. Knowing your own rhythm and protecting that window is the difference between showing up as yourself and showing up on autopilot.
Why Podcasters Make Great Authors
Podcasters have three advantages that most first time authors do not.
First, they already know how to communicate. They have been explaining ideas, telling stories, and engaging audiences episode after episode. The voice is already developed.
Second, they already have the content. As Sheila puts it: “You’ve already spent a lot of time meeting, recording, gathering the information, everything that you need to know about the guest. You already have a lot of time and energy invested in that one medium.” Turning that investment into a book is not starting over. It is multiplying what already exists.
Third, they already have an audience. The listeners who follow the podcast become the first readers of the book. And the book reaches audiences the podcast alone will never touch: people who do not listen to podcasts, people who prefer to read, people who discover the book on Amazon and work backward to the show.
If You Change One Person’s Life, That Is Enough
Near the end of her conversation with Donna, Sheila was asked what message she would leave with a podcaster who was listening and waiting to hear something they needed.
Her answer was simple:
“We all have a story and your story matters. Sometimes we doubt ourselves or we limit ourselves. We’re faced with that fear. I’m not important enough. Am I going to have listeners? And if you put on the mindset that if you change one person’s life with that conversation or that message, that’s good enough. Then you should be unstoppable sharing that message and that voice.”
That belief is what drives everything at Five Milestones and Bright Era Publishing. Not download numbers or bestseller lists or business metrics. The belief that one person’s message can be someone else’s breakthrough.
Watch the Full Conversation
Episode: Your Story Matters — Loving the Journey, Episode 6
Blog: www.donnakunde.com/blog/sheila-slick-your-story-matters
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/oJxW6jQ99S0
About Donna Kunde
Donna Kunde is a podcast host, radio personality (in 184 countries), and founder of 365 Business Maker™ Network. She’s the co-author of THE INFLUENCERS FORMULA and has produced over 15,000 podcasts (with 1.6M+ downloads), several in the top 100. Donna is also a public speaker, one of Virginia’s top 50 Women Leaders, and received the Lead and Lift Others Culture award from John Maxwell. From stages around the world, Donna has reached the ears of millions. Learn more about Donna Kunde: www.donnakunde.com/llm
