Mark Victor Hansen was told “You can’t do it” 24 times. And 24 times he produced a best-selling book.

Now, with the help of colleagues Jack Canfield, Kimberly Kirberger and Dan Clark, Hansen has once again pulled off the impossible.

“Chicken Soup for the College Soul” recently hit the New York Times Bestseller List as the 26th success in the “Chicken Soup” series.

Hansen calls “College Soul” his “baby.” The idea of making a dose of chicken soup for college students dawned on Hansen while he was speaking to students at Ball State University.

After his lecture, three freshman girls approached him, telling him that he was the reason they were surviving college. The girls owned some other “Chicken Soup” titles and read the stories to each other at night.

After this experience, Hansen realized that college students needed a “Chicken Soup” for themselves, to help them reach their goals during school. Hansen believes “everyone has to have goals” and defines goals as “dreamy destinations with deadlines.”

He went on to say that the most likely reason that kids don’t finish school is not because of lack of finances or intelligence. If college students have the money and the test scores to start college, then they probably have the resources to finish. Hansen believes it is the emotional needs of students that are not being met.

With “Chicken Soup for the College Soul,” Hansen hopes to make everyone “feel better, greater and grander and help them move forward.”

“My dream is to sell 15 million books — for the college students,” he said. “College is an admission into the good life, with more options and more wealth.”

Hansen hopes that with “College Soul” he has found the golden key to helping kids make it through school.

“The three things that make a country great are education, inculturation and spiritual grounding,” Hansen said.

As a successful author, businessman and entrepreneur, Hansen calls his greatest accomplishments his family: his wife, also a writer, and his “superb” kids.

Hansen is currently working on some audio tapes that advise students how to graduate debt free.

In addition to the 26 “Chicken Soup” titles, Hansen’s work can also be seen at the “world’s biggest Web site,” www.soupserver.com, where a free chicken soup story is printed each day, and at www.chickensoup.com.