Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Secrets of the Secret Service, a book review


Secrets of the Secret Service
By Gary J. Byrne
Book Review By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, January 30, 2018


If the title had not already been used, this book could have been titled, “The Secret Service!  The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!”

If history repeats itself and for anyone over the age of 30, we all know that it does, then we could very well expect that a future president will be assassinated or injured by an attack on the president, or a member of the president’s family and/or inner circle or a dignitary being protected by the Secret Service.  The same rule that applies to combating terrorism attempts applies to protecting our president and those around him – those in the various protection details MUST be right 100% of the time; an attacker only once!

Gary Byrne, retired member of The Secret Service has written a very compelling read regarding the Secret Service.  It is NOT just about the service’s secrets, it is about its history both good, bad and outright ugly but mostly the bad and more specifically why it was and remains BAD!  I found the book hard to put down even though I have lived long enough to remember quite a few of the details in the book and knew how they turned out.  It could be equivalent to reading Titantic.  Everyone knows how it ends but few know how it got to the point where the ship was in jeopardy and why so many lost their lives when none of it should have happened in the first place.

Byrne not only identifies where the problems exist and have existed for decades, at the end of the book he outlines his recommendations to improve the service, make it far more efficient, hopefully create a service that actually does protect those they are sworn to protect all while making it far more economical do all of these things and more.  While I personally agree with his recommendations for a “fix”, being a retired military person, I can’t help but feel the people they are expected to protect and the country would be better served if the protection detail(s) were formed out of the best of the best the MILITARY has to offer.  Instead of trying to make a civilian organization operate more like a highly trained military unit, why not take a highly trained military unit and make them appear to the public as though they were civilians by having them wear something other than their military uniforms. 

As Byrne so aptly points out, there are three very different issues to be considered, the problems of the “rank and file”, the problems of mid level manage to upper management and proper financial accountability of taxpayer funds being spent.

I read the book with both interest and personal disgust.  It proves that things are never quite as they first appear.  But in this case, appearances will NOT protect our president of today or of tomorrow if changes are not forthcoming and forthcoming fast before America loses another of its leaders to a mentally deranged assassin.  In this case, “time is a wasting!”  Will Congress ever take any action on Byrne’s recommendations?  That would first depend on whether members of Congress actually read it.  If they do it would be a difficult argument to make as to why THEY WOULDN’T TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION.  If I were Byrne, I would send each active member of Congress and the White House a signed copy of the book if he hasn’t already and ask that they read and study it at least the last chapter where the recommendations appear.  Sadly, you can bring a horse to water but you can’t make it drink and that describes our Congress in a nutshell.

For those readers looking for the inner dealings with various First Families including Presidents, (or in other words the dirt) the book is very interesting.  For anyone that has either lived through the history covered in the book or have “heard” of infractions of some of our presidents, the book has enough meat in it to hold your interest.  A lot of your expectations and/or assumptions will be verified by the book.


Who should read this book?  EVERY AMERICAN!  AND THAT INCLUDES EVERY ELECTED OFFICIAL.  (This is not a partisan issue – it is an issue that if not immediately addressed could adversely affect the safety of elected officials from all political parties.)  Would I but the book as a gift? Not sure.  It is an easy to read book on a complex issue that I fear a lot of people would have no interest in reading about but should, so the answer is probably not.  Would I read it again?  I would definitely read portions of it again but not  cover to cover.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Hollywood and Washington DC

Hollywood and Washington DC
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, January 25, 2018

Hollywood, CA

By now just about everyone has heard the story of how Harvey Weinstein used the power he had created within the Hollywood film industry to take sexual advantage of the many actresses he came in contact with.  Because of his “power” and his ability to make “stars” of women who wanted to be “stars” these women said nothing about his sexual abuses for decades. 

84 women have since come forward according to:

But it is far worse.  Many of the film industry leaders, men and women, who knew what he was doing and had been doing, also said nothing about his activities and many abuses. 

Why is that?  I can think of many reasons:

  • The women were afraid their careers would be over before they began; maybe they were right but we will never know will we unless one or more women come forward who can verify that because they turned down his advances, they were never hired within the industry.  That would be a tremendous help to advance this horrible storyline.
  • His executive cohorts may not have wanted to rock-rock-the-boat
  • His executive cohorts may have also been involved in sexual abuses and said nothing out of fear of being caught themselves
  • It’s the way things are in Hollywood; probably the worst excuse of all


Now to Washington, DC

We have heard that

$17,000,000 (that’s 17 MILLION DOLLARS) of taxpayer dollars have been spent to cover up the abuses of our elected politicians in Washington.  Read it here:

Thus far Congress has refused to release the names of those politicians involved in this sexual abuse.  Why is that any different than the women in Hollywood not coming forward. In most people’s minds, sexual abuse is using your position and/or power to take advantage of the opposite sex or in some cases the same sex. But in both cases the sex is unwanted as compared to someone enjoined in a sexual affair created by falling in love with another person.  That situation may also become a sexual abuse situation by a jilted lover(s).

Then we come down to maybe the biggest sexual abuser in Washington history, President Bill Clinton.  Why do I bring up his name?  So glad you asked.  It is not just me that makes this claim, read it for yourself here if you are unaware of his inglorious history:

Now here is the rub.  Today the Democratic Party members, Independent Party Members, and even some Anti-Trump Republican Party members are attacking President Donald Trump daily on all sorts of issues including alleged past sexual abuses.  Yet, most of these same people, especially those Democratic women who served in the U. S. Senate and the U. S. House of Representatives SAID NOTHING about the escapes of President Clinton.  Not only did they say nothing, they came out against the few women of that time in our history who DID COME OUT and SPEAK OUT about what President Clinton had done to them – THEY WERE VILIFIED by Democratic politicians and members of the national press.

Who were some of these women you ask?  So so glad you asked:  Turns out that during President Clinton’s Presidency there were 7 Democrats and 4 Republican. (Did not research the women in the U. S. House of Representative, just too many names to look up.)

  • Senator Diane Feinstein (D)
  • Senator Barbara Kennedy (D)
  • Senator Nancy Kassebaum (R)
  • Senator Barbara Mikulski (D)
  • Senator Jocelyn Burdick (D)
  • Senator Barbara Boxer (D)
  • Senator Carol Moseley-Braun (D)
  • Senator Sheila Frahm (R)
  • Senator Olympia Snowe (R)
  • Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R)
  • Senator Patty Murray (D)
  • There was no reason for the Male Senators not to speak up as well

 Anyone who followed the sequence of events during President Clinton’s TWO terms (he was re-elected with all this going on), knows that Republicans spoke up whenever anyone would listen.  It was difficult to get the press to cover any of it UNTIL Ken Starr started his investigation that produced the story of Monika Lewinsky.  You can read about her here:

Now for the HUGE question?  Why is it, even today, January 25, 2018, everyone is on the anti-Weinstein bandwagon and no one is on the anti-Bill Clinton bandwagon?

The Answer:  POLITICS.  Ask a Republican and you will get a very negative opinion of Bill Clinton’s two terms in office.  Ask a Democrat and Bill Clinton was the best, most eloquent and liked President of all time.  Two very different opinions of the same man.  If you recall, a lot of Hollywood insiders said the same thing for years about Harvey Weinstein.  I believe the Republicans are much closer to the truth than the very silent Democrats.  Until Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016, none of the Democrats would dare speak ill of either Bill OR Hillary Clinton and let’s be honest about Hillary, she enabled Bill to do what he was doing.  Not only did she enable him, she came out with the strong arm of the White House to vilify the many women who came forth to speak out against what Bill Clinton has done to them.  Now she claims that all women should have a voice to speak out against sexual abuse but that apparently excludes her own husband.

This is a much different scenario than the one Harvey Weinstein so rightfully is facing today.  Bill Clinton AND Hillary enjoy a much brighter future than Weinstein does unless something comes from the many ongoing investigations into the 2016 election.  Then all could change for the Clintons in an instant..

Nonetheless, it boils down to POLITICS.  Is it no wonder that the word Politician has become such a dirty word in America?  They have done it to themselves.

I recently read one book, License to Lie by Sidney Powell (@SidneyPowell1) and am reading another The Secrets of the Secret Service by Gary J. Byrne (@GaryByrneAuthor).  License to Lie and the first half of The Secrets of the Secret Service (that’s how far I am into it) shows a Washington DC and other locations around the country negatively influenced by POLITICS (there’s that word again).  It is doubtful that the average American would ever know about these things if he or she went about their business and failed to keep pace with the news or read about current American history as described in these two books.

There is a solution to all of the political discord that is currently ripping America apart and that is take off all of our partisan political hats and stick to FACTS and leave the OPINIONS and worst the SPECULATIONS inside those hats and BURN THEM!  What Harvey Weinstein did was wrong but so was what Bill Clinton did.  It should not take years for the truth to see the light of day regarding either one but it has.  Future stories about different people will surely surface and just like terrorist attacks, people will come forward AFTER THE FACT and say I should have said something but didn’t.  Why?

  • They are afraid of what other people will think of them
  • They are afraid no one will believe them
  • They are afraid of their neighbors
  • They are afraid of what politicians may say or do about them or to them
  • They are afraid that the full force of the U. S. Government may be a bigger threat to them than the truth (that’s the scary one)


Now America finds itself in a massive debate about President Trump Colluding with Russia.  I could be wrong but don’t think so, I do not believe there are any laws prohibiting “collusion.”  You can check that out on your own but that is my belief.  Worse still, when the Special Counsel was formed to investigate the non-illegal collusion, it was NEVER tasked with finding evidence of any specific crime being committed by anyone in the Trump Administration.  So now we have an entire team investigating a non-crime and by its very power WILL find someone to charge, otherwise THEY fear they will look bad for taking up this much time and spending this much money to prove someone innocent. 

That is precisely why I personally do not believe in assigning a Special Counsel to investigate anything.  I was in the real estate business for over 33 years.  Buyers would and should hire a home inspector to inspect the homes they are buying.  Still, it was my experience that the inspections performed by these inspectors where wrought with numerous “defects” as defined by the home inspector primarily because that is what they were hired to do.  Don’t you think that when you buy a 30 year old home there will be scratches on the wall, broken light fixtures, etc.?  It is NOT a new home.  But inspectors feel a need to justify the fact that someone hired them.  Home buyers would question any home inspection report that did not find anything of concern would they not?  It is the same with the Special Counsel.  The COST of this procedure is simply not warranted, in my mind.  It is costing taxpayers MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS for what? 

Even worse, it is my belief that this is what is going to happen in every forthcoming presidential election.  The losing party will find a reason to engage a Special Counsel to investigate the winning party’s candidate.  It’s going to make for a fabulous GEICO commercial.  “This is our new Special Counsel, he or she is digging up dirt on the winning candidate.  That is what Special Counsels do!”, but they are not going to be able to say they saved anyone any money like GEICO does.


THE POINT!  (Finally).  Just like we are being told to: “When you see something, say something!”  The same could be said about illegal and/or unethical political activities.  The world would be a different place today had someone spoke up about Bill Clinton.  The past election would be very different if someone would have spoken up about what Hillary Clinton was doing.  In fact the election may have been between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Here’s one to think about.  What if someone had spoken up about the KNOWN threats directed at President John F. Kennedy?  Do you think he may not have been killed in Dallas?  Politicians simply do not speak up against anyone within their own party – that’s a fact!  That needs to change.  Wrong is wrong and party politics should play no part in exposing it!

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

The Sales Bible, a book review

THE SALES BIBLE; NEW EDITION
By Jeffrey Gitomer (www.gitomer.com)
A Book Review By

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, January 23 , 2018


Are you in Sales?  WARNING, this may be a trick question.

Most people will say no, they are not.  They may be a homemaker (if you are still allowed to use that term), an engineer, a plumber, a doctor, or a McDonald’s employee.  They may say yes and that they are an insurance salesperson, a car dealer or a REALTOR®.

So what is the correct answer?  EVERYONE IS IN SALES!  PERIOD!  I don’t care what you think you may do for a living, it doesn’t matter; you are in SALES!  If you have ever asked for a raise, applied for a job, tried to sell a Board on a new idea, or purchase piece of equipment, you are in sales.  If you have ever tried to convince a spouse to agree to a home improvement, place to eat, movie to attend, yes, you guessed it, you are in SALES!  Maybe the BEST Salesperson of all is the 6 year old who emerges from the Supermarket with candy bar in hand that his or her parent swore they would not purchase.

I retired from Real Estate Sales/Brokerage in 2012 – that was 5 years ago.  So why am I reading Gitomer’s The Sales Bible, New Edition? https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Bible-New-Ultimate-Resource/dp/1118985818/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1516735864&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sales+bible+jeffrey+gitomer

So glad you asked.  First and foremost because I truly enjoy reading whatever Gitomer writes; he is that good.  Second, even though I no longer sell real estate, I enjoy keeping my mind busy and the thought processes working.  Third, I wanted to see what he may have added or subtracted from the original Sales Bible published in the 90s that I read at least twice.

I was not disappointed.  Gitomer has a very unique way in presenting material.  It is as if he and I were sitting across each other at a small table sharing a cup of coffee and our ideas with each other (mostly him with me).  I could think of no better a situation than that.  Getting to pick the brain of the person who I believe to be the most knowledgeable on all things involving attitude, sales, motivation and a happy life – IT WOULD BE PRICELESS!

The Sales Bible, if picked up by a brand new person in the sales business would almost guarantee their success PROVIDED they read it, studied it and put some or all of the techniques into their business practice.  For the more experienced sales person (the one that thinks they know it all; they don’t), The Sales Bible if read and studied would lead their personal business to new heights of success.  For the Engineer trying to pitch an idea on purchasing a new machine or technique to a Board, it could mean the difference between the Board agreeing with the Engineer or not.  To a teenager, it may mean getting the family car this weekend.

It IS all about selling AND buying.  Why people sell, why people buy and why sometimes they do neither and it usually comes down to who?  YOU!  What have you done lately to improve your skills involved in selling?  I was shocked when I heard a salesman on the radio say that fewer than 5% of people involved in sales have ever read a book on sales.  For the 95% who haven’t…how would you like to have your heart operated on by a heart surgeon who has not read a book or article on heart surgery since graduating college?  If you have to think about that, you are in a lot more trouble than I can help you with.  Me?  I have read well over 1000 books (all of Gitomer’s), mostly on sales, motivation and inspiration plus have attended seminars too numerous to count not to mention the untold number of CDs I have listened to and yes even 8-Tracks (I am that old).  The Sales Bible is second only to another Gitomer book, The YES!Attitude.  Both are absolutely MUST READS for just about anyone who is actually breathing.

Who should read this book:  EVERYONE AND I DO MEAN EVERYONE.  There is something of value that everyone can take away from this book, either as a seller, a buyer or even a CEO.  Wait…that includes me!  I’m selling the benefits of reading this book am I not?  Would I give the book as a gift?  ABSOLUTELY and I have.  Would I read it again. ABSOLUTELY, this is actually the third time I have read it already.

Friday, January 19, 2018

License to Lie

LICENSE TO LIE
By Sidney Powell

A Book Review
By Jim "Gymbeaux" Brown

DISCLAIMER:  I am NOT a lawyer so a lot of the legal matter in this book were unfamiliar to me. 

I did not want to wait until I finished reading this amazing book.  To me it represents several books in one.  First it is a text book on legal matters and the US courts.  Second it is a book on legal ethics and oath of offices by attorneys.  Third it is a history book on both situations that have existed in America and the people those situations have impacted.  Fourth it also reads like a crime book by everyone involved from the defendants to the prosecutors and even to the judges involved.

My overall opinion of the book thus far is so distant to what I HAD (past tense) believed about our judicial system of justice in America.  I accepted the fact that innocent people could be found guilty in a court of law even though both the defense and the prosecution did their best in what they believed to be the law and the facts.  But what I was not prepared for was the criminal deceit, the hiding of evidence, the misleading of witnesses, the threatening of witnesses and their families, and the lackadaisical attitude by so many judges all leading to conviction of defendants who may have been innocent and probably were innocent. 

In 1965 I took an Oath to Defend the Constitution of the United States.  I took a similar oath in 1977.  In both cases the oaths I took HAD NO EXPIRATION DATES ON THEM nor did I ever sign any document that said I no longer had a responsibility to defend the Constitution.  The lawyers involved in this book also took very similar oaths of office but it was obvious from the very beginning of the book that the oaths that some of the lawyers in the book and even the judges took, had no bearing on their actions they took or failed to take.

This has been one of the most interesting books I have ever read even though a lot of the legal matters discussed were over my head and hard to follow.  Still, I had no difficulty in understanding how government lawyers you would have thought would have followed the law,  but instead used whatever methods they thought were right, ethics be damned, to win a case.  Their activities destroyed not just one life but the lives of families, friends, businesses and in the case of the Arthur Anderson case that was reversed, the loss of over 85,000 jobs and Arthur Anderson itself.

While this has been an extremely interesting read, it has also been one of the most disgusting books I have ever read and that is no reflection on the author or the writing.  It puts politics into our government and in this case, THAT IS NOT A GOOD THING. 

Who should read this book?  EVERY AMERICAN!  Would I give the book as a gift?  Not sure that if I did the recipients would take the time to read it but I would still give it as a gift.  Will I read it again?  Probably not.  I know what it says and I don't like what I have read but that doesn't mean you should not read it.  On the contrary, if you are a dedicated American (not everyone is). then you SHOULD read it.  You will see a side of government that you may have suspected existed but this confirms it.  SICKENING to say the least.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

What Can We Learn From Tinnitus?

What Can We Learn From Tinnitus?
Not What You Might Think
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, January 18, 2018

This will mean very little if you do not know what Tinnitus is or how it affects those people who have it.  This is what the Internet says about Tinnitus:

Tinnitus is a physical condition, experienced as noises or ringing (or as in my case, constant buzzing) in the ears or head when no such external physical noise is present. Tinnitus is usually caused by a fault in the hearing system; it is a symptom, not a disease in itself.

I have had Tinnitus (two pronunciations, Te-ne-tus and Ti-ni-tus, I have become accustomed to the long “i”).  Either way, it is a most annoying and even depressing malady that people experience.  The problem is that there is no known cure that gives everyone relief.  Some people go their entire life without relief.  Try to imagine what it would be like to have a constant ringing or buzzing in your head every minute of every day.  It truly is depressing.

So what have I learned from having Tinnitus? 

  • There are a lot of books on the subject.  I have read many of them.
  • There are some over-the-counter medications available.  I checked the Internet and it appears that people who have taken such medications are very unhappy with the results or lack thereof.
  • There are CDs available.  These are more like guided meditation CDs.  What I like about the CDs is that they tend to put you to sleep as you listen.  That may not sound like a big deal to people reading this but trust me, trying to fall asleep with a constant ringing or buzzing in your ear is not easy.  Plus, I discovered that the noise in my head, the buzzing, is louder for some reason at night.
  • There are even hearing devices available.  Way too soon to tell you that these work.  I was fitted for them just a week before I wrote this Nugget.  The very first day, the buzzing was gone.  But the next day it was back.  Since I have had them inserted, the noise seems to come and go.  Believe me when I tell you that have come to treasure those times when the noise is gone.  I even have a “sound pillow” that is connected to an iPod looking device that plays 9 different sounds I can hear through my pillow.  It actually does help me fall asleep.  Very cool.
  • None of these treatments are guaranteed to be effective.

It is not my intention to write this Nugget for the sole purpose of informing the public about a health issue that affects millions of people around the world.  Nor is it to garner sympathy for the Tinnitus that I suffer with.  Neither of these reasons applies.  There is another that has come from reading the books and talking with doctors.

We all go through life with fears of one sort or another.  Fear of rejection.  Fear of speaking in public. Fear of heights.  Fear of flying. Fear of loss.  Fear of gain. Even fear of success.  This Nugget marries a potential remedy for Tinnitus with various types of fear you may be experiencing.

How can that be you might ask, or if you are into this Nugget, you should be asking?  Example, what has Tinnitus got to do with the Fear of heights or flying?  EVERYTHING!

This is what I have come to understand about treating Tinnitus.  It is NOT a dysfunction in the actual hearing parts of your body.  In fact if you believe what has been printed, no one is certain from where the noise originates or why; thus no known cure.  But is that true.  If there was no known cure, how can I go for an entire day and NOT hear the buzzing in my head.  How can I go for a week or weeks and the buzzing never stops? There is a reason there is no noise for just that one day or even just an hour or two on any given day because the noise is gone.  Why?  So glad you asked.

My explanation will not be scientific but will be based upon what I understand happens.  Our ears are not our hearing.  Our ears are canals that trigger other things to happen and then our brain hears the noises that enter through the ear canals.  There is no way that is an a scientific explanation; it is my explanation.  There is no external ringing or buzzing to enter the ears so where does that noise come from?  No one knows for sure.

Yet as I have said, there are times, short as they have been where I did not hear the buzzing in my head.  But why?  Somehow I have managed to trick my brain to where it does not hear or recognize the noise.  What a pleasant period of time that is for me and others who experience it.  How does that happen?  Honestly, I’m not sure but I am definitely working at making it happen more often than not.  Therein is the “trick”, learning how to extend those quiet periods.

The brain, yours and mine, can be very tricky and deceptive at time.  I will be engaged in an activity.  It may be reading, writing, listening to music, working around the house, or whatever. I will be doing something and my brain is being occupied.  It is thinking consciously AND subconsciously about the task(s) at hand.  For example, when I am writing, I am focused on what I am writing, what should come next, or what may have I written that I now contradict?  You can see, the brain, my brain is busy, busy, busy.  When it is busy doing one thing, it is almost impossible for it to be doing another.  Multi-tasking is a myth.  You cannot do two things at the same time that requires thought to do each, to be able to do them both equally as well.  They both WILL suffer.

Here is the brutal truth.  I will enjoy some quiet minutes, hours or even a day UNTIL the time my brain asks the question, WHERE IS THE BUZZING?  That is when it returns! But in fact, it had never left!  I have managed to distract it from hearing the buzzing that was always there, just not front and present.  Don’t believe me?  That’s okay I might not have believed it myself if I were not experiencing it firsthand.

Ah, but then I realized something very important.  The loud noise of a passing train is nothing that you can ignore is it?  Still, there are hundreds, if not thousands of homeowners that live adjacent to or very near railroad tracks.  In all my years in the real estate business I can tell you that I heard the same answer to a question I would pose to them which was, how do you put up with the noise from a passing train?  Their answer?  What train?  They have managed to teach their brain to just ignore the train noise.  Just as I must now train my brain to ignore the buzzing that is actually emanating from within my head, not outside like the train.

You say you fear speaking in public.  If you are told that you must make a speech, what are your first thoughts?  Do you think about the speech or the fact that you fear speaking in public?  It is the same with any fear.  Let’s take public speaking.  The trick about speaking in public is to absolutely KNOW the material you are going to talk about.  KNOW THE MATERIAL – PERIOD!  Most people fear public speaking because they fear looking silly.  So it is NOT a fear of public speaking, it is a fear of looking silly.  If you KNOW the material, explain to me how you will look silly?  You won’t.  My advice would then be to trick your brain.  Make the brain think ONLY about the material – period! When you find the brain wandering back to the fear of public speaking, distract it; give it a problem to solve about the material you are to cover.  For example, ask it to think about all the questions that the audience might have about the material being covered. Task the brain with finding the answers to the question.  It’s all about distraction.  It’s all about keeping the brain busy. You are TRICKING YOUR BRAIN.  A better way of thinking about this procedure is that you are re-routing the thoughts the brain thinks about and in fact you are overloading the brain with thoughts OTHER THAN the buzzing in my year or the fear of public speaking.

The BIG QUESTION:  Does it work?  Eliminating the buzzing has worked for me for short periods of time.  I have to work on making it happen more often than not.  One way is that I listen to a lot of music as I am as I write this Nugget.  I am giving my brain two jobs, focusing on what I am writing AND listening to good music.  If the brain had to also listen to the buzzing that would be a third task. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much.  Still what have you got to lose or gain by trying to distract the brain? For me – peace.  For you, a good speech.

I never feared flying.  In fact at one time I wanted to be a pilot. Instead, I fear who may be sitting next to me on the plane.  Ever hear that 2 out of every 3 people have some form of mental illness?  Well…you are sitting on a plane in a row of three seats.  If the “saying” is correct and you are certain that you are not mentally ill…surprise, the persons on either side of you ARE!  If you want to fear something, fear that!  Just kidding of course.  The trick again on the plane is to give your brain something else to think about other than the actual flight of the plane.  Read something.  Better yet, STUDY the material you are going to give a speech on.  Make it think.  Make it solve problems.  Do not let it dwell on what you don’t want to think about.

One more thing.  I retired from being a real estate broker after 33 years.  It was my experience that brand new real estate agents had a fear of not making the sale.  I cannot say why I did it only that I did and it happened within the first 2 weeks of first becoming a license real estate agent.  When I went on a listing or sales presentation, I would sit outside in my car and try to clear my brain of everything.  I would literally create a blank screen and focus on that screen. 

I would then start the film rolling where I could actually see myself with the customers sitting at their kitchen table and the customers signing the necessary contracts.  When I would get that image in my head and only then would I approach the front door.  I do not believe I was arrogant but I knew I was confident and more importantly that I was going to get the sale.  There was no way I would ever lose the sale except for when a customer had unrealistic expectations like a price that was so out of the proper range and it was I that chose not to complete the sale.  I just did not lose customers unless I wanted to lose them. 

I also self-studied my ass off so I knew as much as I could possibly know about sales, relationships, real estate law, ethics and real estate in general.  In other words, I KNEW MY STUFF!  Therefore looking silly never entered my mind.  Fear of losing the sale never entered my mind.  I knew the customer needed ME far more than I needed the customer.  Why because I KNEW MY STUFF! 


Does that mean I am/was arrogant?  Hell no!  It meant I was confident.  There is a big difference between arrogant and confidence. If you do not understand what the difference is, my suggestion would be for you to hit books about your profession.  Confidence beats Luck EVERY TIME!  Was I really that good?  Heck no but my brain thought I was and therein lies the entire message of this Nugget.  Your brain can be had!  Learn to teach your brain what it needs to know for when it needs to know it!

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Review of Jeffrey Gitomer's book, Win Now

Win Now
How to gain a greater share of sales in a leaner, meaner marketplace...NOW!

Disclaimer:  I have read most of what Jeffrey Gitomer (www.gitomer.com) has written and some of them more than once and one more than 12 times, The YES!Attitude (new edition on sale as of January 16 2018).  So with that said:

I have NEVER read any of Gitomer's books where I came away dissatisfied; they are all GREAT!  This one is no exception.  Jeffrey Gitomer has to be the worlds second happiest man.  I am sure there is someone better but I have not found him as yet.  This book is written primarily for people in sales. The problem with that definition is that it fails to understand that everyone is in sales of one type or another.  Trying to sell yourself to a potential employer.  Trying to sell your parents on something you want to do.  You get the point.  This book shows you how to set yourself up for success whether is be in a down market or an up market. 

Gitomer suggests you read one book every two months.  He further suggests you read a couple of pages from a book that has something to do with creating/building your positive attitude.  I suggest that you can get this from reading any of the many books Gitomer has already written for this purpose and this book is no exception.

Who should read this book?  Anyone and everyone in Sales.  Anyone who wants to have a more positive attitude.  Your kids should read it. Your parents should read it.  In fact I can think of no one type of person that could not get something important to their attitude and happiness from this book.  So I guess that would include you, the reader of this post.  Keep in mind, the book was published prior to 2017 when the economy did a complete turnabout.

Friday, January 5, 2018

Tinnitus STOP!

TINNITUS STOP!

The following is a review of the book Tinnitus STOP!  Written by Annette P. Price.  I posted this on www.Goodreads.com on Jan 5 2018.

Millions upon millions of people suffer from Tinnitus and I am one of them. I have a buzzing in my ears (both of them) 24/7. At times it gets very depressing. I am currently going through a couple of therapies described in this wonderful book. The book is not a remedy but rather a thorough explanation of how the ear works, what Tinnitus may or may not be and the multitude of remedies that are available to the Tinnitus sufferer. If you have Tinnitus or know of someone who does, especially someone in your immediate family, I would encourage you to read the book and then give the book to them or buy them their own copy. It is a very instructional book to include in your library. I am certainly very glad I purchased it and have read it; I think you will as well.