-jason connell

As a teenager, Jason Connell typed a phrase into Google that he assumed would return an answer: "Successful but miserable." Nothing useful came back.

He had a reason to ask. By age 18, his client roster included professional sports teams and Fortune 500 companies. His friends had none of that, and they were happier than he was. He couldn't understand it, and nothing he found could explain it.

The question followed him into adulthood. In his 20’s he built a speaking career that sold out auditoriums on multiple continents, and in September 2012, after a standing ovation in Kansas City, he ended the night feeling anxious and depleted. The search for why he felt miserable still didn’t have an answer. The resource he needed that night didn’t exist. So he set out, without quite knowing it yet, to become the person who could write it.

That took over a decade. Therapy first, with practitioners working outside the mainstream in trauma-informed, body-based methods. Then the harder move: he closed a thriving speaking business, took an unpaid internship, and went back to school. 

Today, he is a licensed psychotherapist in Denver who has worked with over 300 clients, specializing in people whose lives look impressive from the outside and feel hollow from the inside. He never marketed to them. They recognized something in him and came on their own.

The book itself stayed unwritten for years. Charlie Hoehn, a close friend and the co-founder of Author.Inc, spent years telling him to write it. What finally unlocked it was one week in November 2024, when Jason bought an engagement ring for his wife and committed to the book. Two decisions, same week, same instinct that this is the obvious next step. 

He'll also tell you plainly that he was never going to grind out a manuscript alone over five years, and that the done-with-you model is the only way this book was getting out of his head.

The result is When Success Isn’t Enough: Why High Achievers Feel Empty — And What to Do About It.

‍Writing it changed his work. His method as a therapist runs on resonance, on sensing what is happening inside another person, something he describes as nearly impossible to put into words. The book forced him to articulate it, and he says the clarity now carries into every client session and podcast interview.

Two and a half weeks after launch, four podcast invitations arrived without Jason pitching a single show, all from a few LinkedIn posts about his book. Three of the four hosts weren't even connections of his. 

His favorite outcome so far involves someone who didn't buy his book for himself. His part-time assistant bought copies for his family. His father, an old-school man who had always dismissed depression and trauma as made up, read it. It sparked the first genuine conversation about mental health he had ever had with his son.

Somewhere out there is a teenager, or a founder, or a speaker at the top of their market, typing that same search Jason typed years ago. This time, useful insights are coming back.

On working with Author.Inc, in Jason's words: "Every single person on the team has been absolutely delightful. Someone I look forward to talking to, whose work exceeds expectations. Every step of the way was incredible."

This case study reflects one author’s personal experience. Success varies widely and depends on many factors such as genre, audience size, marketing effort, and timing. While this author achieved a significant outcome, most authors experience different results, and there is no guarantee of similar outcomes.