Ron Douglas: A Self Portrait
Ron Douglas Revealed
About Ron Douglas
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. A series of visualizations that became my reality
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. Being content with life - no worries or stress and sharing good times with the people I love.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. Underachievement
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. At a five-star restaurant with my wife.
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. My grandfather
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. Barack Obama
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. No, stop, put that down
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. Starting a business partnership that went bad
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. The abilty to see into the future
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. My kids
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. Lack of patience
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. Intelligence
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. Myself
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. My size - I'm 6'3, 250 lbs
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Professor X
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. Darth Vader
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. I'd want to meet Malcolm X and I'd ask him to teach me how to motivate people through speech.
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. Arrogant people
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. Creating and marketing ecommerce websites
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. Playing for the NY Knicks
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. Dependability, honesty, sense of humor
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. A spinach salad with grilled chicken, pear slices, goat cheese, walnuts, and raspberry vinaigrette
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. If I aint got you - Alicia Keys, Knocks me off my feet - Stevie Wonder, Never felt this way - Brian McKnight, Angel - Anita Baker, Cause I love you - Lenny Williams
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. Napoleon Hill
Robert Kiyosaki
Michael Masterson
Robert B. Cialdini
Seth Godin - Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. Think and Grow Rich
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Ready, Fire, Aim
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Unleash the idea virus - Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. Believe in yourself, let your passion be felt in your writing, and create a book that you'd actually buy yourself.
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. I made this dish at home and it tasted just like the restaurant - thank you so much.
- Q. How did you come to write America's Most Wanted Recipes?
- A. I grew up in a family with Southern roots that loved to cook. As a kid, I used to be my grandmother’s “personal assistant” helping her at the grocery store and in the kitchen as we prepared dinner for the family. The best feeling was the smile on their faces and the quiet in the room as they enjoyed our food.
There is no wonder why I’m a “Foodie” today. But it wasn’t until my wife challenged me to make her KFC’s Famous Fried Chicken that I became hooked on the challenge of recreating restaurant recipes that tasted just like the original. The first place I went to research recipes was the Internet, which was a frustrating experience at the time. I found lots of recipes which were either incomplete or not even close to the original. But, I also discovered there were thousands of people who were also into “recipe cloning” and were searching the Internet everyday for new “secret recipes” to try. Having been in ecommerce at the time, I thought it would be a great idea to create a community website where these people could share their results and work together to create accurate clone recipes. “The Secret Recipe Forum” was launched and became the research hub and “virtual think tank” which inspired this cookbook. Today www.RecipeSecrets.net has over 70,000 recipe cloners, and over 179,000 newsletter subscribers.
Each week, I would try to clone a new restaurant recipe and share the results with my members. Needless to say, I became a regular at many of the restaurants and was on a first name basis with a lot of the servers. Overtime, I developed several proprietary methods for creating accurate clone recipes. For instance, oftentimes I would go to the restaurant and explain to the waitress that I needed to know all the ingredients in a particular dish because my wife has “really bad food allergies.” This was just one of the creative methods I used which was effective.
Members of the website would also try the recipes and add their feedback and recommendations. As the website grew, it became more than just a hobby. Cooking experts and even professional chefs began getting involved with our recipe cloning movement.
For many people, recreating secret restaurant recipes at home was not just a fun way to impress their family and dinner guests, it was also a great way to save money.
