It has been six years since Barbara Babbit Kaufman left her high-profile perch as one of the area's most-visible female entrepreneurs.

Since then, she hasn't stood still. That's because you can't stand still while running a 10K race or biking, running and swimming in a triathlon.

Elissa Eubanks/eeubanks@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Former Chapter 11 books founder Barbara Babbit Kaufman (right) watches as her daughter Betsy Perkel fixes her flat tire and her friend Ruth Rosenberg laughs ouside Kaufman's Sandy Springs home.

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To prepare, she works out six days a week, she said. "I am very goal-oriented, and I like challenges."

As co-owner of Chapter 11 Bookstores, founded in 1990, Kaufman was the face of a well-known local chain that played host to famous authors — many of them members of the political and media elite: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, John McCain, Tom Wolfe, George Stephanopoulos, Ted Koppel and Larry King, to name a few.

Her Web site is adorned with photos of her alongside these famous folks in some of the 13 Chapter 11 stores.

Since selling the chain in 2002, the Atlanta native has tried out being on their side of the keyboard — and podium.

When she was running Chapter 11, Kaufman had enjoyed motivational speaking but found herself crimped by the demands of running a company.

She thought selling the chain would allow her to spend more time as a motivational speaker. Yet, when she left the company, suddenly the invitations dried up.

Something was missing, she realized. "To be a speaker, you need a platform."

Her platform is her attitude — that is, her "Attitude."

The book, published in 2004 by Longstreet Press, is a guide to shaping your fate by improving your approach to life's challenges.

"With what is going on in the world, there is nothing we need more than good attitude," she said. "People are afraid. I think what I do is motivate you to know the things that are important, the things that you need to be successful."

"You can learn to have a great attitude," she said.

Kaufman, who was trained as a tax accountant, takes that advice to businesses that ask for her consulting help. She argues that struggling entrepreneurs often must first recast their outlook.

"I love what I am doing, and I like hearing people say that I have changed their lives," she said.

One way that she changed her own, she said, was turning to athletics relatively late in life.

On something of a whim, she decided to compete in a duathalon — a combination of running and riding — in Big Canoe.

"I borrowed the bike. I borrowed the bike shorts. Lo and behold, I placed — and I was hooked."

Last fall, she decided to try a triathlon in Peachtree City. That meant adding something she was less confident about: swimming.

"I was last out of the water in my age group," recalled the 53-year-old. "I was so happy to be on land that I biked and ran the best I ever had."

It has become something of a family affair.

She recently took both her adult daughters to a triathlon in Austin. (And beat them.)

She ran with one daughter in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race. And she is looking forward to a triathlon Sunday in New York City — a contest that will include a swim in the Hudson River.

Kaufman, who in 2005 briefly explored — but ultimately didn't pursue — a run for Sandy Springs mayor, is also a board member for MARTA and Omni National Bank. She is a partner in World Import, her father's business importing umbrellas, calculators and other small items for various retailers.

"He thinks nothing of flying off to China," she said of her father. "He is 83, and his favorite thing is to work. That's where I get it from."

— "Whatever happened to ..." is a weekly feature catching up with people and issues in the news. Are you wondering about the fate or fortune of former newsmakers? Tell us who and e-mail dgibson@ajc.com. Please put "whatever happened to" in the reference line.