Without a doubt, the biggest obstacle that I ever had to overcome was the mental block which I had created in my own mind in which I had convinced myself that I could never earn over $60,000 per year, tops.  "Who," I said to myself, "would be willing to pay me more than that?"  After all, I thought, my university degree was in drawing and painting, not in sales and marketing.  Thank God for my loving wife, Lisa, who had for years encouraged me to get my real estate license - and who patiently waited and put up with me until finally (at my landlord's suggestion) I did.

It was after 9 years of marriage, when with both a corporate and personal bankruptcy to my name - when I had also lost the home we owned and voluntarily surrendered one of our two vehicles to the lender prior to repossession - when I had been right-sized out of a $60,000 a year salaried position to half-time and half pay and had hit rock bottom that I finally said to myself, "enough is enough!" 

I believe that God causes people to cross our path.  For 9 years of marriage to my wonderful wife I had failed to act on her numerous urgings to pursue a career in real estate sales.  We met in California at a time when the economy there was booming and so were real estate sales.  Did I seize the day then?  NO!! I had to make us suffer through 9 years of my own folly.  After I had hit the skids financially and taken her down with me I finally saw first hand just how well a person could prosper in real estate.  Here's how it happened . . .

After I had lost our home, I happened to rent a house from Andrew and Debbie Schmidt.  Andrew, a bright and upright young Christian man (who was several years my junior), had a successful position in new home sales.  Business was going so well for him that he and his wife had purchased several new homes that they used as rental income properties.  I admired the new luxury automobile he owned and was secretly envious of the success he was enjoying in real estate.  My wife, Lisa, was also intimidated by Debbie - who was able to stay at home and manage their rental homes. 

Andrew, I came to find out, had come only a few years earlier into real estate new home sales from a position as a grade school teacher!  Wow!!  That fact, once I discovered it, hit me between the eyes like a ton of bricks!!  If he could come from that background and earn such  an exceptional income in new home sales - what was stopping me?  It was at Andrew's suggestion that I went to real estate school and got my license.  Then he guided me to the Hyland Bay Company where I took an intensive week-long training program in new home sales.  With my newly acquired education and enthusiasm, I "graduated" from the training with "Top Gun" honors.  (I was voted best of our class by my peers at the Hyland Bay program.)

I have to say that real estate sales provides for me continuing satisfaction every day I go to work.  Each day holds for me unique challenges and opportunities.  Each work day seems to fly by!  I really enjoy the mental stimulation that I get by working with all of the different personality types that I come in contact with.  I like the fact that with real estate no two homes are alike - each has it's own unique characteristics.  It's rewarding to me, also, to build rapport with my prospects and to develop ongoing relationships with them after the initial sale (and it's also financially rewarding to sell them again when they're ready, and to receive their valued referrals).  Wow!  All that and a six-figure income!!  I'm truly a blessed man.    

My hope with this book is to impart to you some general principles for success and some of the specific techniques that enabled me to earn in excess of $100,000 in my first year of real estate sales.  Do I have all of the answers to help you do the same?  I believe so, but if you can keep an open mind and glean just a single good idea from this book and put it into practice in your life, it will change your life and it will increase your income.  And that's the real reason you're investing in this book, isn't it?