"Carve Out Your Niche" TV Interview Monday

Join me Monday, January 30th between 11:00 and noon, for an interview on the Morning Blend on Channel 9 in Tucson. The hosts are Ann Lauricello and Alex Miranda.

I'll discuss the key concepts in my book "Carve Out Your Niche."

In particular, I'll be covering:

1. How easy it is to write, self-publish and market your own book;

2. What are some reasons that people are motivated to write a book;

3. Basic marketing tools that will allow you to reach a huge audience;

4. How writing a book can lead to a new direction in life, and why it's never too late to pursue your dreams;

and, probably a plethora of other remarkably interesting topics.

I hope they don't get me started on my confrontation with President Obama in the Phoenix Airport. I'm still mad at Governor Jan Brewer for trying to steal my thunder on that incident.

Frustrated Author Confronts Obama in Phoenix Airport

Just moments after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer confronted President Obama in the Phoenix Airport, I took the opportunity to confront the President as well. In fact, Governor Brewer actually crowded me out of the way to get to the President.

Jan Brewer stole my thunder. She talked to the President about her book, in hopes of boosting sales on Amazon (yes, her book went to #1 in sales).

By the time I got to talk to the President about my book (see picture), Carve Out Your Niche, it was too late. Instead of my book getting the boost it so richly deserved, it was the governor's book that got the boost.

Anyway, the President did say that he was planning to read my book, but he just hadn't gotten around to it yet. I was merely  pointing my finger and saying, "Okay, but don't forget."

He thanked me for reminding him.



Upcoming Interviews for "Carve Out Your Niche":

January 30th, sometime between 11 am and noon, I will be interviewed on "The Morning Blend," Channel 9 in Tucson, about my book "Carve Out Your Niche."

5 Rules to Avoid Being Killed by The Rifleman

Johnny Crawford and Chuck Conners

Marshal Micah Torrance: You're making a mistake.
Lucas McCain: No, this is my town and Fred was my friend. I didn't ask for it, but it came. I'll handle it.
Marshal Micah Torrance: You're way too quick with that rifle, Lucas Boy. Forget their guns. Start thinking about men. You're riding in on nothing but the word of a stranger with an easy way and a hole in his hat.
Lucas McCain: I'll keep my eye on him.
Marshal Micah Torrance: You better. You don't know who he is or where he came from.
Lucas McCain: Well, maybe you want to come along.
Marshal Micah Torrance: Somebody should.


The Rifleman was one of my favorite shows as I was growing up. Recently, network TV has started running the episodes of The Rifleman again, and the show is appealing a ever.

Beyond the action and adventure is the poignant relationship that Lucas McCain (Chuck Conners) has with his son Mark (Johnny Crawford). McCain's wife died of "the fever," so he was left to raise his young son alone on a ranch near North Fork, New Mexico.

These are violent times in the old west, and McCain has earned a reputation as being faster with his rapid-fire Winchester rifle than most men are with a six gun.

The Lesson of the Rifleman

As quick as McCain is to dispatch a bad guy with his modified rifle, he is equally adept at passing out sage fatherly advice to his boy.

I think this is the great lesson of the Rifleman, that we can be tough enough to handle life's grueling challenges, but we can also rise above the evil around us by our reflective response to all that befalls us.

While many people are killed in the show, and nearly all of them deserved it, I've gleaned out 5 rules on how to avoid that same grizzly fate, if you do run into the Rifleman. 

5 Rules to Avoid Being Killed if you Run Into the Rifleman

1. Don't threaten to kill the Rifleman.

McCain and Marshall Torrance

2. Don't threaten to kill the Rifleman's friend, Marshall Micah Torrance.

3. Don't kidnap or threaten to kill the Rifleman's son.

4. Don't try to rob the bank.

5. Don't call the Rifleman "sod buster."

The Rifleman in Action

Here is a montage of Lucas McCain explaining the 5 rules to people with his Winchester.

In a rare occurrence, western heavy Lee Van Cleef violated both rule #2 and rule #5, yet somehow managed to live to tell about it.

How many shots did the Rifleman fire at the beginning of the show?

What did Chuck Conners think about being typecast as the Rifleman?


Upcoming Interviews for "Carve Out Your Niche":

January 30th, sometime between 11 am and noon, I will be interviewed on "The Morning Blend," Channel 9 in Tucson, about my book "Carve Out Your Niche."
I will try to get a recording of the interview to post on my blog, for those of you in other states.

Tell Me Your Favorite Memory and I'll Tell You Your Future

Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.  -- Ovid


My favorite memory of all time is my Dad and I playing catch with a baseball in the backyard of our house. Even though I was only 4 or 5 years old at the time, it still gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling just to think about it.

Keeping the feelings from our best best memories in mind, as we move through life, is a good way to stay on track.  I feel that our past memories and our future memories are somehow connected, and both guide us into our future.

We get the same tingly feelings when we do certain things in the present. as we get from past memories, and these present actions generate our future favorite memories.

I know this sounds like a promo for Back to the Future, Part 4, but stick with me for a few minutes, and there's a better than average chance that this will make sense.

The Mysterious Side of Life

I intentionally try to use those warm feelings as a guide as I move through life. When we follow those feeling, we experience a fascinating and mysterious side of life, a feeling that is captured in Johnny Otis' song Harlem Nocturne.

I've had jobs, along the way, that didn't meet that sometimes didn't really give me the warm feeling, such as cleaning out cat cages, mopping floors in a dormitory, working the night shift at a 7-11 store, and many similar less-than-horizon-expanding adventures.

Yet, those types of experiences can be viewed as stepping stones, that take us closer to where our present and future memories are guiding us.

Use Your Memories

At some point, after we have experienced enough things, it starts to become clear what it is that we really want to do, and our memories and warm feelings give us the desire and power to move in the direction that we were ultimately destined to go.

What is your favorite memory of all time? Here are some other people's responses.

Why not use your past and future memories to give you guidance and strength to reach your destiny?

See also: Get Struck by a Spiritual Lightning Bolt - The Importance of Writing Everyday

Upcoming Interviews:

January 30, sometime between 11 am and noon, I will be interviewed on "The Morning Blend," KGUN Channel 9 in Tucson, about my book "Carve Out Your Niche." I will try to get a recording of the interview to post on my blog, for those of you in other states.

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The Fatal Eloquence of Newt Gingrich

Is Newt Gingrich asking the right questions to set our ship of state back on course, or is he just dazzling people with his fancy footwork?

Gingrich is able to deflect questions about his own shortcomings with outrage against the media or his opponents, and by claiming that he is being unfairly persecuted. Granted, he is brilliantly eloquent. Gingrich has such a vast pool of  knowledge to draw upon, and such a way with words, that it's almost impossible to listen to him for even a short period of time and not be drawn into his world. 

But, does his eloquence cover up the fact that he is a ship without a rudder?

Newt's Fiery Passion

He can make an air tight case for whichever side of an argument that is held by his audience. For Gingrich, what's important to him is not the position that he takes so much as it's the fiery passion and eloquence that he can bring to bear in his answer.

Is that necessarily a bad thing? In one sense, he is a great politician in that he is squaring his thoughts with those of his constituency.

On the other hand, the question has to be asked, where is his soul? What does he truly believe?

Lincoln Weighs In

Abraham Lincoln observed that Stephen Douglas, the Newt Gingrich of his era, spoke with such eloquence that, "He can make us believe that a horse chestnut is the same as a chestnut horse."

Eloquence and sensitivity to the views of his constituents may be the qualities of a good politician, but shouldn't statesmen be made of sterner stuff?

Will Gringrich's massive supernova personality implode into a black hole?  Who knows.

One thing's for sure, thanks to Gingrich, the Republican presidential nomination process has become a fascinating, if not brillant, spectacle to behold.



Upcoming Interviews for "Carve Out Your Niche":

January 30th, sometime between 11 am and noon, I will be interviewed on "The Morning Blend," Channel 9 in Tucson, about my book "Carve Out Your Niche."
I will try to get a recording of the interview to post on my blog, for those of you in other states.

Get Struck by a Spiritual Lightning Bolt - The Importance of Writing Everyday

Carve Out Your Niche with Morning Pages

In the book The Artist's Way, author Julie Cameron describes a technique designed to overcome writer's block, and to connect with the source of wisdom within (which Carl Jung refers to as the "2 Million Your Old Man").

The technique, called morning pages, is to get up an hour earlier than you normally do, and in longhand writing, write three pages using strictly stream of consciousness. Every day, just write three pages of whatever crosses your mind, and don't stop until the three pages are full. 

Overcome Writing Obstacles

The purpose of this is to get past the things that inhibit us from writing; our fears, our negativity, or our moods. It gets us past them to a place where we can hear that still, small voice. And, when we are in that place past the negativity, we can align with the creative energies of the universe. 

It's like walking through down the beach during a rainstorm, and being stuck in the head by a 10,000 volt metaphor.

It Works for Me

If you are writing your book, (and if you're not, I'd like to know why), or if you need a boost to write more great blog articles, you ought to write the morning pages. When I first read about it, I had my doubts. It may sound far fetched, or New Age-ish, but I really think that Cameron has hit on something, because it WORKS! 

I have been doing it everyday for several weeks, and my opinion is that everything she claims is true.

As Cameron says,"It is impossible to write morning pages for any extended period of time without coming into contact with an unexpected inner power." 

You Can't Lose by Trying

The bottom line is that if you are in the business of writing, and who isn't, the only way to become a good writer is by writing. 

Anyone who says otherwise is itching for a fight.

Anything that causes us to write more is, prima facie, a good thing, even without the promised benefit of connecting to a greater wisdom. 

Why do the morning pages? Because any way you look at it, you win.


Articles that I recommend:

Always Be The Underdog To Get Ahead

Let Me Taste Your Soup – The Importance of a Search Box

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Radio Interview Replay for Carve Out Your Niche book

For anyone missed my Tuesday radio interview on the Artist First radio station, here is a link to the mp3 version. Be patient, it will take a few minutes to download the interview.

The Birth of "Carve Out Your Niche"

As I mentioned in the interview, one reason that I wrote the book Carve Out Your Niche was that as I was making presentations to groups and organizations about my first two books (Fix em Up Rent em Out, and Never Sell Your Home), two distinct groups of people would be at my presentations.

One group was interested in hearing me talk about buying fixer-upper houses, and the second group was interested in learning about how I self-published and promoted my books.

Many people in the second group had good ideas to write about, but they just didn't know how to get from Point A to Point B, in terms of what to do after they finish writing. The needed a jump start!

A light bulb went on over my head and I thought to myself, "I should write a book about that." And that's how this helpful new book was born.

Thoughts on Internet Radio

This was the first interview that I have done with an intenet radio station. In comparison to my interviews on regular network radio stations, I found this interview to be much more in-depth and the overall atmosphere was much more relaxed.

Network radio, by it's nature, moves at a more frantic pace. Interviews usually only last 5 to 10 minutes (at drive to work time), and there is very little time to engage in much conversation with the host, or to delve deeper into ideas presented in the book.

I will have to revise my earlier article How to be a Guest on Radio Shows to include my new insights on internet radio.

Silent Wealth Generation with Rental Properties

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