Tag: service

Back in 1988 I was still struggling.

Oh, I had had some successes along the way.

My first published writing was in the 1960s, for a magic trick I invented. I’m still proud of it. Wasn’t paid for it, though.

A one-act play I wrote was produced and performed in Houston in 1979.  It even won an award. But I was broke before it and after it.

I saw my first book published in 1984. It was a moment of celebration. But I never made a dime from it.

But 1988 was to become a different story.

I was married, broke, desperate, striving and trying. I was teaching adult education classes on writing and publishing and making gas money. I did well enough at it to be able to pay $200 a month for the one room we occupied in a run-down home in Houston. The toilet was in the same room. So was the television set. So was my typewriter.

I did my best to hide my struggle as I pursued my career as a writer.

My writing classes were becoming popular and more folks were attracted to them. I would often get clients from them who wanted consulting about writing and publishing their own book, or to hire me for writing sales letters and news releases. I met a lot of wonderful people this way, and did it for years.

Click on image to read it free

One of the people who attended my talks became a dear friend. He was a wealthy man who owned an oil company. He took a liking to me. He never gave me money, even when he saw me struggling first hand, but offered encouragement and resources.

I helped him with a little booklet he wanted to write. He paid me with my first computer, which was his old one that he was tossing away. I wrote a little booklet on it, called Turbocharge Your Writing, which became a big seller for me and led to a lot of national publicity.

But that’s another story.

This new friend also introduced me to a wealthy businessman who wanted to write a book. More accurately, he wanted to be an author without the work of actually writing. So he met with me to see if I would write his book for him as a ghostwriter.

Over the course of a few weeks, I negotiated the best deal of my entire life at that time. It was a defining moment for me. I managed to sign a deal where I would equally own the copyright to the book, would get my name on the cover as coauthor, and I would be paid, too.

Now here comes the staggering part:

How much do you think I was paid to write that book?

Think about it. It’s 1988. I’m unknown. I have no major writing or publishing bragging rights. I’m struggling. I’m desperate. My rent is two hundred bucks a month. My car broke down regularly. I need a break.

I asked one friend and he said I was probably paid five hundred dollars.

Another friend said I was probably paid two grand.

What was I paid?

Twenty-one thousand dollars.

You read it right.

$21,000.

I took the down payment I received (about six grand) and went and bought a laptop computer, a suit, and gas for my car. Back then laptops didn’t have hard drives. You used one disk for the word processing program. You used another disk to save your work. I wrote the entire book on that laptop. I loved it.

This raises an interesting question, though: How did I close a deal for $21,000?

And here’s the eye-opening answer: I read books.

I read books on negotiating. I didn’t know how to negotiate. Who’s born knowing that? I had to learn. The best way for me to learn negotiating, or most anything else, then and now, is through books. I learned it so well at least one client said, “You’re probably a better negotiator than most writers.” He may have been right. But I also learned how to write from books, too. Books rule.

My research revealed many professional ghostwriters at the time were asking for $50,000 and up to write a book. I figured I was worth about half that.

No doubt I got some coaching and encouragement from my wealthy friend on how to deal with his wealthy friend. I had also been working on my beliefs about money at the time, slowly erasing limiting ones as I also built up my self-esteem.

But that’s certainly not the whole secret.

I hope you grasp at least one of the main lessons here: Whatever you want to learn, the answer is probably in books.

Books! So simple. So obvious. Yes, you still have to apply what you learn. But it all begins with reaching out to fill your mind with what might not yet be in it.

Obviously, it helped to have someone introduce me to a person who needed and could afford my services.  But that’s another lesson: I was taking action. I was doing public speaking when I was basically shy and terrified. I did it anyway. As a result, I became a more confident speaker, and I met people who could help me.

Recently I found a 1989 copy of the book I wrote for that client. It’s titled The Joy of Service. A few copies were listed on Amazon. One copy was selling for a penny. Another copy was offered for a thousand dollars. I bought the penny one.

But you don’t have to buy anything. I had the book typed up and turned into a PDF which you can read online right now. For free. Just click right here. Or go to http://www.thejoyofservice.com

The book is all about service. It’s a quick read and contains stories you’ll love.

But the best story of all is the one you just read: How I attracted $21,000 when I was broke — but knew where the library was.

Ao Akua,

joe

PS – Just in case you missed the exciting news, you can now order my first singer-songwriter album, Strut! You can hear excerpts from my healing music albums at either Strut! or Blue Healer. The direct links are:  http://www.HealingMojoMusic.com and http://www.GetUpandStrut.com

Member BBB 2003 - 2012