Jay Papasan  Jay Papasan is an American writer and business executive. He is best known for co-authoring, with Gary Keller, books such as "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor", which both became a New York Times best-seller and a BusinessWeek best-seller, and "The ONE Thing", which reached #1 on the Wall Street Journal business best-seller list. Papasan is the vice president of publishing and executive editor at KellerINK, the publishing arm of Keller Williams Realty. He and his wife Wendy are owners of "The Papasan Real Estate Team". In 2014 he was named one of the "Most Powerful People in Real Estate" by Swanepoel Power 200. In an interview Papasan recalled typing on an old manual typewriter when he was 12 years old. He attended the Harding Academy in Memphis, Tennessee, graduating in 1987. Papasan attended the University of Memphis where his roommate encouraged him to expand his vocabulary using word habits. After earning his degree in English and French, he traveled to France where he worked as a translator for two and a half years. Papasan was only allowed to work 20 hours a week which was the maximum allowed in the country for the visa he was on, and used his free time to write short stories. He returned from France to attend New York University, earning a Master's degree from its graduate writing program. After graduating from NYU, Papasan took a job as an editorial assistant at New Market Press. He then moved on to HarperCollins where he worked several years as an associate editor. While at HarperCollins, he started working with David Hirshey, a 10 year deputy editor at Esquire. It was with Hirshey that Papasan published his first best-seller, "Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life" by Mia Hamm. Papasan moved from New York to Austin, Texas with his wife Wendy in February 2000. He freelanced while looking for work, eventually landing as a newsletter writer for Keller Williams Realty. He worked in various positions within the company, learning about the real estate industry and eventually learning that co-founder Gary Keller was planning to write a book. Papasan ran into Keller and asked him if he was aware that he had previously worked in publishing. He spoke with Keller about Keller's plans to write 14 books, showing him two books that he wanted to model on. After Papasan pointed out to Keller that he in fact edited those books during his days at HarperCollins, Keller hired him to help write and edit their first book together.