Local woman writes financial self-help book
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 15, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/BOBBY WILLIAMS
Lavonne Hicks holds "Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Life Lessons Learned." Her book has already been released for purchase on Amazon.com.
LaVonne C. Hicks said she was driving back to her home in Goldsboro after making a presentation in Charlotte when she was divinely inspired to turn her presentation into a book.
Her financial self-help book, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Life Lessons Learned" has just been released on Amazon.com and as an eBook.
It's a financial self-help guide for those who live from paycheck to paycheck and want to know how to get out of the rut, said Ms. Hicks, owner of Hicks and Associates Insurance and Financial Services.
An educator of 33 years, Ms. Hicks said she used her life experience as both an insurance agent and consumer to write the book.
The book grew put her presentation to other educators during a recent state Department of Public Instruction financial literacy summit in Charlotte.
"I called it 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' she said. "I put the whole PowerPoint together knowing the ends and outs of what we go through as educators. It was a very good dialogue between us. There was no compensation, but I was glad to do it."
She said she noticed that another luncheon speaker was not sharing any new information. After the presentation she asked him how she could get on the speaking circuit.
"He said, 'You need to write a book, and you can use that as a springboard to get into other places,'" she said. "I thought about that all the way back on that drive from Charlotte back home."
As a Christian, she said the Holy Ghost told her she already had the book in her.
"So I got home and I did like a shut-in from Aug. 10 until Aug. 13," she said. "I did not come out until that Wednesday."
When she finally came out, she had what would become a 30-page book.
"It may look like a thin book, but in it it's really full of information that covers those things that I was talking about -- how to get out of debt and even how to prepare for a successful retirement," Ms. Hicks said. "I wove my own life experiences in between.
"My sister is an English major and she helped me to edit it. A reading teacher at my school, Carver Elementary (in Mount Olive), also read it."
The book costs $9.99
A nationally recognized music teacher with more than 33 years as an educator, Ms. Hicks earned her bachelor of arts degree from Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, and master's in education from the University of North Carolina at at Charlotte.