
He Lost Everything—Then Wrote the Book That Rebuilt His Authority
From Behind the Book Cover by Anna David
March 3, 2026 · 41 min · Season 2 · Episode 7
About this episode
Walter Clarke discusses how losing his investment firm led him to write books that transformed his authority in financial consulting.
If you're thinking about writing an authority building book, and I really hope you are, and you don't want to be counting pennies or checking your book sales all the time, you actually want a book that's going to change your life, I can tell you how. Just go to sevenfigurebooks.com. I'm not trying to capture your email or anything. You can just download this PDF that's going to tell you exactly how to turn an authority building book into revenue, speaking, authority, and no exaggeration, a whole new life. Walter Clarke lost his investment management firm after a catastrophic business failure involving regulatory action and bad advice, and then did the thing most people in finance would never do: he wrote a book about it. The Big Risk told the whole story—the painful parts, the parts that could have stayed buried—and it turned what could have been a career-ending chapter into the reason people started hiring him. Writing the book transformed shame into authority because he was teaching from experience, not theory, and that distinction is the difference between a consultant people tolerate and one they actually trust. What I wanted to get into with Walter is what happened next…
People in this episode
Host: Anna David
Guest: Walter Clarke
Topics covered
- business failure
- financial education
- authority building
- consulting
- wealth management
Keywords
- business failure
- financial education
- authority
- consulting
- wealth management
- parenting
- money
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: investment management firm
Books & works: The Big Risk, 401Kid
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