I recently watched HBO’s Inside Sports with Bryant Gumble.  They had a special on Lenny Dykstra, the former baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies.  Great story!!

Here is a guy who had an epiphany.  When he retired from baseball in the 90’s, he found out most of the millions he made had dwindled down to 400K.  No, nothing illegal; just bad investments by an investment broker.  He then walked out of the meeting and said, “I will never have that happen to me again.”  He took a year to study the market, read everything he could on investing and began to build an empire which is now worth millions.  Example: He just sold three car washes for $55 Million!  The point is - and he makes this claim as well -  you can do ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING if you have the desire and you love what you do.  Ask yourself…do you LOVE what you do?  Not just like it…I mean flat out LOVE what you do?  What do you love?  Speaking, writing, art, driving, travel, selling, making money, investing, managing people, numbers, recognition, animals, deep sea diving, geology…we all love something.  You just have to dig deep within yourself and figure it out!  When you do, you have to be obsessed by it!  For example, a friend of mine is a marketing genius.  He can’t look at a gum wrapper without thinking about how he can make that a marketing message.  He’s the kind of guy that fast forwards TO the commercials, not past them, with his TiVo.  You gotta love what you do!!!

In Chicago at the Bob Panzino Memorial Golf Outing. Bob was a dear friend of ours who died 9 years ago from brain cancer at the young age of 44.

He lived life to the fullest and his friends have carried on his legacy by holding a golf tournament each year to raise money for cancer research. It still amazes me how much people want to help out.

This Friday, we had 72 foursomes. That’s 288 golfers all raising money in the memory of one man. Pretty special. Quick question: What do you want your legacy to be?

Tim Russert reminded all of us how fragile life is.

Off to Dayton, OH.  While driving to the airport, needed gas.  At $4 plus for a gallon of gas, thought I had to give them my mother’s maiden name and fill out a credit application just to get to 3/4 of a tank.

Leaving Raleigh where it’s 102.  Landing in Cincinnati where it’s 91.  Where’s my scarf!

Friday, June 6th - 99 Degrees.   New Record.

Saturday, June 7th - 100 Degrees.  New Record.

Sunday, June 8th - 101 Degrees.  New Record.

Monday, June 9th - 102 Degrees.  New Record.

Tuesday, June 10th - We’re all going to evaporate.

Didn’t get my mail until 9 pm.  Still put on sun block!

SAS, the world’s largest privately held software company, recently hosted a speaking engagement at their World Headquarters in Cary, NC.

Roger Staubach and Jim Goodnight were speaking because they were one of the nine companies written about in Keith R. McFarland’s book called, The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers

Roger has a great sense of humor.  When asked, “What do you think about your competition,” he eloquently said, “I have no problems whatsoever with my competition.  They all support the Taliban, so it’s pretty easy for us to set ourselves apart.”

Jim Goodnight was just as funny.  When asked about taking risks, he said, “We did take some risks.  We decided to get into the 3D Gaming Business for a while, and we grew it to become one of the largest in the U.S., up to $55 million annually.  Problem was, it was costing us $88 million to get there.  Sometimes when you dig yourself a hole, it’s easy to just stop digging and go dig yourself a new hole.”

I saw a parent going crazy on one of his kids while at O’Hare Airport recently.  WOW, is that tough to watch.  I realized…everyone says “it’s about the kids.”  BS.  It’s not about the kids.  It’s about the parents.  The kids are fine.  We’re the ones who mess ‘em up.  Don’t believe me?  Go to a little league baseball game and watch the parents abuse the umpire.

Kids are great!!!!  Too bad we all have to grow up!

Flying back home from Chicago, listening to Phil Collins “Face Value” CD. Man, what a great album. Then again, when you have these BOSE headsets on, dogs howling even sound great. Turbulence on the flight home. Another delay at O’Hare. Guy next to me hasn’t bathed in weeks. It’s beyond B.O. God, I wish I could open a window!  Note to self: BOSE head phones need a nose piece attachment.

P.S. - Drinking beer doesn’t help rid of the smell.

Hey Gang.  I know most of you who have had my training.. (over 10,000 now…WOW and thank you..) have heard me speak about the latest and greatest book recommendations.  Never Eat Alone is the goods!  It’s a wonderful read on how to build an incredible network of friends and associates without coming across like you have a cup in your hand.  And from a networking perspective, most of you know cold calling is less than 2 percent success. Networking is 20 times the success rate.  Have fun and go out and just help people.  Don’t “sell” anything. Help people get what they want, and you’ll find success much faster!

The tragedy at Northern Illinois University makes us all realize how fragile life can be.  Being an alumni of NIU, I can only hope and pray for their resilience and god speed in their recovery.

Spoke at the RBC Center February 14th.  Great fun helping the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce kick off their annual event as they prepare for 08.  Always fun speaking at the RBC Center where the NHL Carolina Hurricanes play. After speaking, the Pittsburgh Penquins had practice.  Still amazes me on how much they practice the fundamentals. Simple skating drills that I am sure they did when they were kids.  But they are soooooo good at the basics, they make the hard stuff look easy. Just like in sales. Mastering the funadamentals like overcoming objections, presentation skills, getting to the right levels, makes closing look easy!!   That’s all for now.