Rachel A. Williamson Spent 30 Years Running Stores at $4 Billion Brands — Now a CEO Skipped Her Book-Signing Line to Hire Her

★ Scribe Media · Author Case Study

Rachel A. Williamson

Author of 30 Days to Running Great Stores

A Scribe-published author success story

Rachel A. Williamson spent thirty years inside America's largest retailers, the last of those years running transformation for a four-billion-dollar brand with a thousand stores. In 2019 she asked for her own layoff because she didn't want to keep firing people, hung a shingle as Running Great Stores, and started getting the same question from every client: where's the book? She wrote 30 Days to Running Great Stores heads-down in her home office in two months. It launched in 2026 and hit number one on Amazon in its categories by day three. Six weeks later, the CEO of a well-known retail brand cut to the front of her book-signing line, handed her his business card, and said, "I need to hire you." His assistant called two days later.

Two months heads down

Rachel had attempted a book in 2020. She gave a three-chapter manuscript to a traditional publisher, they told her the audience was too narrow, and she discarded everything. No saved file. In 2025, she found herself between a four-year client engagement and a major new client with a two-month gap on her calendar. She had advice from John Gordon (now author of more than thirty books) ringing in her head: you can't write a book in between client meetings. You have to sit down and write it. She briefly considered Provence. Provence turned out to be too distracting. So she stayed in her home office, wrote longhand for the first half of the manuscript until her wrist gave out, and typed the rest. She did not write it in narrative order. She wrote whichever section had energy that day and organized later.

"I was forcing myself to think too linearly. So I told myself: just write the information, worry about organizing it later. That was the unlock."

— Rachel A. Williamson

The Mini Cooper, the Rachelisms, and a brand built for retail

Her company car is a Mini Cooper. The book is a thirty-day field manual, so a tiny illustrated Mini Cooper sits on the corner of each day's "time to take action" page. Day one the car is on the left. Day thirty the car is on the right. Don't read the book? The car doesn't move. Don't drive the car? You never get anywhere. Throughout the book, "Rachelisms" appear as New York Times sketch-style cartoons of her, things she's known for saying that have followed her across Gap, Ann Taylor, Bath & Body Works, and every retail leadership role since. The publishing partner at Scribe came up with the cartoon concept on a call. Rachel said yes immediately.

The marketing kit that turns every shipped book into a brand moment

Rachel did not just write the book. She designed an entire physical brand around it. Every shipped book travels in a custom Sticker Mule envelope with the full cover printed on the outside. Inside: the book itself, vinyl die-cut stickers (the Mini Cooper, "powered by coffee and customers," and others people stick on their Yeti water bottles), an acrylic Mini Cooper keychain that doubles as a bookmark, a thank-you card, and on event orders, a debossed journal with her caricature on the front, a green-ink pen, all tied together with custom "Let's start running great stores" ribbon. When district managers open the box, the first thing they see is brand discipline, which is exactly the thing she's about to teach them.

"Reading a book does not change anything. Applying the book is where real change happens. If you don't drive the car, you never move."

— Rachel A. Williamson

The CEO who skipped the line at Ohio State

Rachel was the headlining speaker at a Lead Like Her event at Ohio State University. The host had pre-bought a couple hundred books for the attendees. After the keynote, Rachel sat at the signing table. She couldn't see the back of the line. Halfway through, one well-dressed man walked up to the front. The student in front of him said, "Go ahead, it's fine." He handed Rachel his business card, said, "I can't wait in this line, but I need to hire you. Thank you for my book," and left. Two days later, his assistant emailed Rachel. They had a call on the calendar two weeks out about a consulting engagement.

The 25-page implementation guide, the e-commerce store, and the international next move

After launch, Rachel realized that buyers assumed they were inside her head. They weren't. So she wrote a 25-page implementation guide in two versions, one for business owners and one for multi-unit leaders like district and regional managers, and bundles it free with every direct order. She sells autographed and personalized copies through her own online shop at runninggreatstores.com (which also gives her customer data Amazon doesn't), in addition to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. She has clients in England already. Her stated next move is international expansion: same retail problems, fewer resources, more opportunity to help. She is doing it one book signing at a time, one CEO at the front of the line at a time, one district manager who reads it and orders twenty more for his team at a time.

Her advice for first-time authors

Rachel's playbook is more concrete than most. Get the list of reviewers Scribe asks for, then double it. Have a strategy for who you mail free books to. Custom envelopes are not expensive. Stickers, keychains, and ribbon make every recipient feel like the book was hand-delivered. But none of that matters if the book inside isn't worth reading. Get the inside right first, then the cover, then the marketing. And don't listen to the voice in your head telling you your idea isn't good enough.

"The voices in our heads are usually just full of lies. Don't listen to those. Believe what you want to say, the message you want to get out there. Find the right publisher. Find wise counsel. And once you commit, follow what they tell you. Do it to the letter."

— Rachel A. Williamson