The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Quick business bio with no regard for protocol.
- Born in Tacoma, Washington.
- Bachelor of Science: Double major in physics and mathematics.
- Worked first job as an exploration geophysicist for Shell Oil in Denver and Houston. (fired)
- Sold computer systems and small calculators door-to-corporate door for Burroughs Corp. Results: Know how rejection feels and know what it’s like to be one of two in well-worn sport coats trying to sell against 20-deep from IBM, all dressed in black suits, crisp white shirts, and silk ties. (serious underdog experiences) Learned the secrets of selling against overpowering odds and other valuable sales tools.
- Started in Eastern Washington raw land sales and went broke. (very broke)
- Worked three jobs including starting in real estate again at Uniland Investments in Puyallup, Washington, and achieved top salesman honors in 1.5 years. (I received sincere help.)
- Sales manager position at Pioneer Land Brokers, Tacoma.
- Started Sundown Land Brokers in Tacoma with three partners. Responsible for sales training, marketing, ads, collateral material, and promotion. We (it came down to two owners) took turns (coin toss) whenever sending someone down the road was the very rare final option. We once watched (rather, woke up to an empty office) as 75 percent or so of our sales force left to start their own real estate company. (Several came back after experiencing that being an owner with many other owners wasn’t quite what it was cracked up to be.) We once calculated (we knew what our competition was doing in regard to sales and they us) and determined that our agents were making more per year individually than any other similar company of 25 agents or more in Washington state. (Part of the secret was creating verbiage, training, dialing-in, brainstorming, re-creating, more training, and lots of practice. Training to listen, really listen, together with the skills to find out what each client, couple, or family really wanted also took top priority.) Many of our original agents went on to be very successful in their lives and businesses.
- Managed partnerships, sales, and resales in the following: Large acreage, ranch, and land sales (i.e., 20 acre minimums). Left Sundown in 1983 to the one remaining partner.
- Managed and co-managed construction and sales projects, including several apartments and a condominium (22 duplexes with rear and side yards); local one to five acre minimum large-lot subdivisions; and acreage with topsoil sales eventually sold as part of a regional mall.
- Subsequently developed and owned a water system, commercial properties, apartments, and raw land.
- Currently writing, speaking, training, coaching, and managing a few remaining real estate holding partnerships.
- [In case you're wondering, keeping the forests, land, and nature intact whenever and wherever possible has always been a priority: Read “Taps” page 27, “Forests” page 117, and “Please”
page 118 in Stones Winds and Life.]