Entrepreneur Hits On Right Mix—

Motivational Series Evolves From Entrepreneurial Pursuits

By Kendra Bobowick

Paul McManus’s persistence, a desire to help other people, and ability to adapt to setbacks all became clear as he spoke about his hard-won business success. The last several years have been a sequence of hurdles, set-backs, and even periods of doubt that have now begun to see success.

“I think I’ve got the right book,” he said, referring to his book, The 7 Great Prayers, which is a distillation of the prayers and writings of others. He also has a Prayer Power CD out.

Along the road to the CD and book — an inspirational set available online — he admits that several strategies failed on their own, but ultimately added up to his Prayer Power products and a website, PrayerPower.com, which is now gaining momentum.

The idea that at last succeeded is a message of simple inspiration, he said.

“There are so many of us going through challenges,” he explained. “We’re in a world of tension, war.”

His wife Tracey, a photographer, said, “[Prayer Power] was his challenge.”

As an entrepreneur and longtime member of the advertising world, Mr McManus pursued hopes of successfully helping others, but his struggle from the corporate world and into Prayer Power was long.

After trying, failing, and trying again, he had finally encountered a wall. “We were under major financial stress,” he said.

The McManuses grappled with the prospect of moving to California where Mr McManus could find work, but ultimately decided to remain in Newtown where they wanted to raise their children. Mr McManus eventually took a sales job, but continued to pursue his entrepreneurial interests. At last a combination of ideas occurred to Mr McManus, from which Prayer Power evolved.

“We wanted to share our story,” Mr McManus said. “I am just an entrepreneur who wants to help people.”

Through experiment, accident, and a piecing together of various business moves, Mr McManus’s Prayer Power products and website blossomed and now reach people in other countries. The Prayer Power CD is a series of hundreds of prayer concepts stemming from the book, The 7 Great Prayers.

He begins his story with the explanation, “It’s kind of like a peanut butter cup…It’s like an accident where the peanut butter and chocolate come together.”

Several strands of Mr McManus’s previously stalled business ideas had at last woven together in his mind as he sat trapped in a traffic jam. As his car idled, several pieces fell together.

“Literally, I was in traffic in Waterbury and I wondered if anyone had ever put prayer onto a CD,” he said. “My idea was spawned more by seeing all the cars and thinking there has to be a better alternative to radio commercials, is there prayer on CD I wondered?”

Smiling, Mr McManus remembers one of his earlier ideas to place affirmations on CD.

“It was a flop,” he said. His Believe & Achieve Affirmation System — a kit of cassettes, books, and other tools designed to help people build self-esteem and confidence — was a plan that he had originally designed for business, but which never succeeded.

Sympathizing with her husband, Ms McManus said, “People just didn’t get the affirmations.” Explaining another part of his peanut butter cup, he continued, “Along the way I learned that classical music reduces stress.”

The musical approach led into another earlier marketing attempt as he tried to launch ThinkSmart. He said his plan was to offer a product on CD that could help students concentrate on homework.

These unsuccessful attempts at business were not only disappointing, but costly. He and Tracey faced an uncertain future. Eventually, Mr McManus fell back on his experience in marketing and sales in the direct mail world.

“I took a job after two ventures didn’t work,” he said. Mr McManus never forgot the reasons he chose to be an entrepreneur, however.

“I chose to help people, I chose to put money in it, it’s a lot of work … I am just a marketing guy,” Mr McManus explained.

His aspirations may have produced two marketing ideas that fell short of his expectations, but the process produced other aspects that contributed to Prayer Power and the Internet played a role in his eventual success. Mr McManus had created a simple, one page website about prayers on CD.

“It was a test, of course. Nothing happened,” he said. “Then, I started testing little headlines for my Google ads.”

Not many were attracting traffic until he used the headline about the seven great prayers. “With that headline everyone started clicking,” he said. “The next thing you know is people are wanting the seven great prayers.”

Unfortunately, his headline preceded his prayers. He went immediately to work on composing the prayers, or inspirational sayings.

“For years I have been reading Emerson, Thoreau, Zen, Judaism, you name it, and I had read it.” From his research he sifted concepts down to the seven prayers.

“I didn’t know who my audience was and wanted seven prayers that would reach all faiths,” he said. “I made them as I reflected on the books I read.”

His web page had promised people a prayer a day for free.

As this was happening, Mr McManus was still struggling from the financial strain of failed business ventures, and juggling his sales job.

“While I was going through these challenges I wrote [The 7 Greatest Prayers] and connected with people,” he said. At the same time his one-page website had begun generating many requests for a prayer a day. With the help of a couple living out of state, he now answers more than 1,400 requests daily, he said.

Mr McManus began thinking that through a website offering affirmation prayers he could also sell a CD.

“I recorded them myself, and there is also [another] book — a prayer journal,” he said. Through Prayer Power, he intends to provide buyers with prayer tools.

“I am hoping to help you think more positively,” he said.

He followed up his work with a survey hoping to discern what worried people and, “I created different CDs to address the different [worries],” he said.

Among Prayer Power products are inspirational and colorfully beaded bracelets and necklaces with a small olive medallion.

“The tree represents blessings,” Mr McManus said. The beads on his bracelet each represent one of the seven prayers, he explained.

He had worked many professional angles and finally found his way to Prayer Power — a motivational series that evolved along the way. Mr McManus hopes to see his items on retail shelves soon.