Writer focuses on unsung cowboy heroes

Many young boys grow up idolizing cowboys, but one local rancher is still inspired by them and uses his writing to motivate others through their stories. Jim Olson is a cowboy, author, promoter and poet. Born in Buckeye, he moved to New Mexico at age 6 and lived there until he moved back to Arizona in 1993. He currently resides in Stanfield. As a youth, he learned to ride young colts, tend to cattle and drive heavy farm equipment. After many years, he opened a welding business, building horse corrals and other livestock handling equipment in New Mexico. Upon selling the welding business, he moved into real estate where he sold ranches and horse property across Arizona. Along the way he evolved into real estate development where he bought, fixed up and ran several working cattle ranches and horse properties. He also started a real estate brokerage company, which specialized in Arizona ranch properties. It was during the real estate recession that Olson discovered his hidden passion for writing. A friend of Olson’s owned a magazine and requested he do an article on real estate. Never having written anything before, Olson cautiously agreed, but had his own ideas about the article’s subject. “I didn’t want to write a real estate article. Instead, I had an idea to write a little biography on rodeo legend, Dale Smith,” Olson said. “After it was finished, I just set it on my friend’s desk, didn’t say a word and left. Three weeks later, the article was published.” To his surprise, Olson received several encouraging calls about the article, as did his friend. From that single story, an entire career and way of life was born for the author. Olson began writing a monthly cowboy column in exchange for ad space for his real estate business. Soon, he was approached by another publication to run the same articles in their magazine. Currently, his monthly column appears in more than 25 Southwestern publications and some national publications. Jim has three books published and is constantly working on new projects...more