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Teaser: Author Tamika Newhouse discusses the importance of having a business obsession. She is a four-time African-American literary award winner, the CEO and founder of Delphine Publications, a life-style blogger, radio host and is currently working on her eighth book, Cookie Too.

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Recap: At 15 years old Tamika Newhouse became a single mother.  Even at a young age she knew she was naturally mature at her age and she made a decision to not let being a single mother at her young age hinder her for the rest of her life.  She knew it would be an obstacle, but also knew it was something she could overcome.

Tamika had an affinity for writing at a very young age and experimented with her writing.  When her mother passed away it really inspired Tamika to turn to writing.  She started an online book club and came across many people who had self-published their own books and realized she could do it herself.  Within four months of learning she could self publish her own book, Tamika held her first book in her hand.

To Tamika, obsession is critical toward building a business.  If you have an obsession you’ll do everything you can to make your dreams come to and she found that to be very critical to her own success.

One of Tamika’s idols is author, Terry McMillan, Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, but she also finds motivation from people who have told her that she has inspired them.  She embraces the role of someone who has worked hard to achieve her success and finds motivation in the fact that others have found her inspiring as well.  She feels personally responsible for her own success.

Her greatest skill is that she’s a dreamer, artistic and a visionary and she feels she has the ability to be more creative than others in the business because of her business obsession.  She often dreams about fairy tales and develops movies in her head and puts those movies onto paper.

She is most proud of her book, Cookie, because it was based on her life and she nailed it.  And publishing her first book is also a great source of pride for her.  Holding her first book in her hands was something she will never forget.

Tamika has encountered lots of problems with fellow authors and from her readers because not everyone is happy with the work that she has done.  She never regrets anything, but she did learn she needed to grow thicker skin.

Her advice was that you have to learn about the business and the basics of publishing and then learn about the marketing.  You have to know how to brand, budget, market, your audience.  Start meeting people who are already doing what you want them to do.  In today’s environment, there really is no excuse to not get your book published.  There are so many resources and publication out there that can teach you everything you need to know about publishing. Learn the business and set a budget.

To her success is not monetary, it is someone who is satisfied and happy in their job or business means they are a success.  If they are pursuing a dream they never thought they could live would be a success.

She would tell people to make a difference and have a business obsession and you can not fail.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

• What are you obsessed about?
• If you could be obsessed with anything what would it be?
• What obstacles do you have to overcome to achieve success?

Links to Great Stuff:

• TamikaNewhouse.com – “Tamika Newhouse is a self-published bestselling author who founded Delphine Publications, at the age of 21; Tamika appeared on various bestseller lists and won Self Published Author of the Year at the 2009 African American Literary Awards only 9 months after her debut novel. In 2010 she was inducted into Who’s who in Black San Antonio and she landed a major publishing deal without an agent and still continues to write independent projects. In 2011 her company Delphine Publications won an African American Literary Award for Best Anthology as well as Tamika won for the second time Self Published Author of the Year. She was also nominated by the National Women in Business Association for the 2011 Entrepreneurial Spirit Award.”   You can follow her on Twitter @TamikaNewhouse, Instagram BossLadyTamika and Facebook.com/TamikaNewhouse
• Delphine Publications – “Launched in 2008 by Award Winning author Tamika Newhouse, Our mission is to publish quality books that women and men can relate to. When reading a novel, the feeling you get when you know how it feels to be that person in the story is unforgettable. Here we strive to give you realistic, unforgettable, and we hope to send messages through our stories by creating novels you can say you truly understand.”
• Welborn Media –

Success Quotes:

• “If you really want your dreams to come true . . . if you’re not obsessed about your dreams they won’t come true.”
• “When you obsess over something you think about it, you eat it, breath it, live it and every thing you do is that obsession and it’s great to obsess over a dream that is going to benefit and enhance your life.”
• “At the end of the day, when you don’t pursue your dreams and aspirations, there is no one to blame but yourself.”
• “If dreams were easy, everyone would be living them.”
• “Success is actively pursuing living out your dream”
• “My proudest moment was holding that book and saying hey, I did it, in spite of the pain, in spite of the fears, in spite of the struggle and inspite of the doubt.”

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