You Gotta Have Balls Archives

There’s a huge plus to living in Oklahoma and that is … the Tulsa World. Every Sunday, there are so many interesting articles, we can hardly get through them. They keep us entertained and reading all during the week, until the next Sunday: Book reviews, author profiles, business articles, all kinds of columns.

The first issue of the Tulsa Daily World appeared on Sept. 14, 1905. The banner across the top of the front page declared: “Tulsa, Chosen Home of Prosperity and Opportunity, is a Busy City in a Busy Universe.” Back then, the paper cost 5 cents per copy. Read more about its history here.

One syndicated columnist hubby and I enjoy is Harvey Mackay . You might remember him for his best selling book, Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. I have that book at home somewhere; I’ll have to track it down and revisit. I enjoy reading books like this and applying words of wisdom to my writing life.

Mackay’s September 16^th column titled Generosity Breeds Success spoke to my heart. It was about Brandon Steiner and his new book, You Gotta Have Balls. Okay, I agree book titles are getting a little out of hand, but this one accurately describes a guy who’s in the sports memorabilia business. This is one of those wonderful rags-to-riches books we all love. Don’t we? According to Mackay, Steiner has some wonderful quotes and philosophies like:

If you want more money, don’t pay attention to the money. Pay attention to the thing that makes the money.

Isn’t it true? If writing makes us money, shouldn’t we pay more attention to our writing?

I’d love for you to read Generosity Breeds Success. Read it now–it’s short and I promise, you’ll be inspired. You may even decide to purchase You Gotta Have Balls and learn all about good customer service. You could come up with an excellent answer to the question: What else could you be doing for your customer/reader? You could come up with an original plan that would brand you in ways you can’t imagine.

I like that Steiner reminds us to focus on relationships, not transactions. To me, that’s the key. I think we should all let relationships, relationships, relationships echo through our brain when we tweet our next tweet!

Have you read Harvey Mackay? Or Brandon Steiner?

As writers, how can we improve our customer/reader service? Any ideas?