True to form, he suggested two books, both of which I'm sure I'll pick up:
Mictrotrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes by Mark Penn. As a writer and a watcher of culture, I'm always interested in trends. Here's a little blurb about the book from Publishers Weekly on Amazon.com: "Penn delves into the ever-splintering societal subsets with which Americans are increasingly identifying, and what they mean...In a chapter titled 'Archery Moms?,' Penn reports on the 'Niching of Sports': much to the consternation of Major League Baseball, 'we don't like sports less, we just like little sports more.'" This phenomenon intrigues me. Are we really splintering into societal subsets? If we are, what are the ramifications?
Focus on the Good Stuff: The Power of Appreciation by Mike Robbins. This book doesn't hold as much appeal to me as the first one, but in one section, Robbins "analyzes the effects of living in a culture of negativity and fear, which keeps individuals from connecting with others" (this quote comes from Publishers Weekly on Amazon.com as well). I've been interested in this topic for a long time. How much do we allow fear to determine the way we live our lives? And what about the "culture of negativity"? Is that a myth or is it a fact? If it is true, how it it changing the way we interact with others?
My friend also recommend that I take a look at the Entrepreneur website. I took his advice and quickly found several articles that interested me. 10 Ways to to Improve Your Business Now caught my eye because my writing business could always use some adjustments. I particularly liked point number two about charging more for premium services. I already do that, but it affirmed what I'm doing. I read another article on the site called Stepping Into a Reporter's Shoes about how to understand a reporter's needs and schedule so that you (as the business owner) will have a better chance of getting the reporter to write about your business. Since I am often a reporter, I knocked myself in the head V-8 style and said, "Why Didn't I Write This Article?" So, I'm already thinking about ways to expand into new writing markets.
All of this came from one phone call. Beyond all of the great stimulation it gave my brain, it made me think that I need to be more like this friend--who is constantly thinking about other people and how he might connect with them by tapping into the things they enjoy. How much more interesting would our conversations with friends be if we were more focused on ways we could serve and help them rather than on just unloading all our troubles every time we see them? Of course, there's a time for unloading, but there's also a time for building up.
