Shake a hand, get a customer. Celebrate National Handshake Day.

Today is National Handshake day.  As I explain in my book, a handshake is a simple, but still a powerful tool in personal and business relationships. 

And listening to all the hype on TV, it made me think of how important my theory of the importance of that handshake was to my success. It is also something that I try to teach in my book Riding The Bull. I mention this technique in several chapters of my book.

For many years, "I want to earn the right to be your builder " was printed on all my literature and in all my ads. Also, after spending time with a customer, my favorite technique was to close the deal by giving them a firm and slow handshake while looking them in the eye and saying with conviction, "I want to earn the right to be your builder."  

This technique worked and it created a memorable bond between me and my customers. 

This approach can apply to anything you are doing in life and it is among the many things I teach in Riding The Bull for people who want to be "Winners." 

And now, I want to earn the right to be your favorite Texas author. Let me personalize a copy for you or for your friends.

Mickey

It's a blast to own your own jet.

I did not have a jet when I was first married, but I was still in a hurry. The following is taken directly from the book and I can assure that a jet is better than the 57 Ford I had.

"After six weeks of dating, Joy and I decided to sneak off and get married. I was really ready. I had learned the lesson: if a girl wants to marry you, they just don’t give it up. No marriage, no sex. On a Friday, we drove 32 miles north to Hillsboro, had lunch and then got the nerve to go to the courthouse and apply for a marriage license. They practically threw us out because of our age. But someone there told us that they would not make us show any proof of age in Bell County, so we got back in the car. Bell County was over 100 miles away, and we had about an hour and a half to get there before the courthouse closed for the day. I had a brand new 1957 Ford, and we drove over 100 mph, to just make it at the last moment. They asked our age, and we lied and they said nothing. We were married, way too young to make those kinds of decisions."

If you wish to read more about my jet setting days, buy the book. I would love to personalize a copy for you.

Mickey

I built dreams for a living. I called them homes.

  

Dolores and Me. I am on the right. We won so many awards it was embarrassing, not really.  Our six years in Oklahoma was a great story in itself. When we arrived in Broken Arrow and opened our model, sales exploded. When we left six years later, sales almost stopped.  We made a difference. 

We hired, trained and motivated several young men who are now successful builders. We created much success for the developers of Battle Creek and the community by building close to one billion dollars in homes. 

We won over fifty awards including six national awards. We won the big prize twice "The Peoples Choice." We put together a team of winners who had fun and success.  On the surface things were great, but behind the scenes we were struggling for survival. Our parent company never delivered the promised capital. 

You have to read the book to try and understand this unbelievable story of intrigue and deception.

Order your personalized copy. The scheduled release date is July 15, 2015

I was kidnapped by a 7' tall giant.

I was kidnapped.

That's right, I was kidnapped, or man-napped in my case, and it is a part of my story that you will not wish to miss. A large, burly, muscular bad-guy barged into my office, picked me up in the air - no easy task -  and hauled me off to a waiting limousine parked in front of my office in Plano. The rest of the story is hilarious and has a surprise ending, unless you were there. I can tell you I did not think it was funny at the time. The background is I owed a guy a few bucks, but he said I never had to pay him back. I guess he had a change of heart and sent a representative to collect.

Jackie was there in the office and saw it all. She confirms my description of the story, however, her description of the kidnapping event is even more fascinating. She claims the culprit was 7' tall and weighed more than 350 pounds.

Riding the Bull is my story and I have tried to tell it with candor, humility and pride.

It's the life I lived, Texas style.

The release date is still set for July 15 and I am waiting to personalize a copy for you and your friends.

Love to personalize a copy just for you.

It is happening. More than 50 years in the making, 8 months in the writing and the finish line is in sight. If you have not ordered your limited edition autographed copy, then you need to do it now.

The image on the left is the book cover from my story. The jet, the classic car and the home were all symbols of a successful career.  I lived it, you can read about it.

The corner of the house pictured in the background was the Castle as described in the book. It was the first house built in Willowbend Estates in Plano, Texas before Plano was even on the national map, as it is today.

I would love to personalize a copy for you and for your friends.

What I did, with the help of my friends, in Plano is a part of Texas history. I tell all about it in the book.

Mickey Murry.

No job is too small for the president too do.

I was mowing the lots in Brooks Farm, mainly because our septic tank man had brought over a big 50-year-old John Deere tractor and was leaving it there. I had always wanted to run one, so he let me use it to mow. Thirty-five one and two acre lots still needed mowing every two weeks during the summer. If the people that owned them were prospects for a building job, I did it for free. That was part of my “earn the right to be their builder” service. If the lot owners did not seem interested in us, I charged them $25 per acre. It was fun and dirty. When I got done, I would be black from head to toe. People appreciated and respected me for doing it, and it helped us get some business. It proved I really would do anything to earn the right to be their builder.

 From Riding the Bull, by Mickey Murry. Available July, 2015.  Buy your limited edition autographed copy now for  delivery in July. 

The Midas Touch

 The Castle

After we had moved into the Castle, we produced color photos that I autographed, to hand out at events. Even I felt uncomfortable doing that, but so many people toured The Castle that the photo souvenirs were popular items. The papers wrote stories about me and my success. One of them said that everything I touched turned to gold.—Mickey Murry

The above text is from the soon to be released book Riding the Bull by Mickey Murry.

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