All posts by Keith Thompson

Ohio Class Submarines

Uncategorized

I will tell you something that will either make you feel safe or make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

I was in the Navy and therefore ships and submarines have always interested me. There is probably only a hand full out of a thousand people that have even heard of an Ohio Class Submarine. The United States has 18 Ohio Class subs of which 14 carry the Trident ballistic nuclear missiles. Every sub always has two complete crews (14 officers & 120 enlisted) and each patrol lasts 70-90 days. Four subs are always on patrol, four are always stand-by ready and the balance are being resupplied and waiting for their rotation turn. Each Sub carries 24 Trident missiles with a range of seven thousand miles and each missile has eight separate nuclear war heads that split off and are set to different targets. Therefore, each Ohio Class sub has the capability to launch a nuclear attack on 192 different targets at the same time. Multiply that times four and you have the US nuclear capacity 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Now, the nuclear bomb that the US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 at the end of WWII was a 15-Kiloton atomic/nuclear bomb.  The 192 nuclear war heads on each sub are approximately 475 kilotons each. Meaning that each one is 31 times the power of the original atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. To put this in context, should one of these nuclear war heads detonate on Atlanta, it would take out 1/3 – 1/2 of the state of Georgia.

These Ohio Class Subs have never been called to deploy these nuclear missiles and hopefully they never will. Ronald Reagan said, “the greatest cold war strategy is peace through strength.” These Ohio class submarines are the front-line defense of the world that not only protects the interest of the United States but that of other allied countries as well.

So, any given night that you are asleep safe in your bed, know that four Navy Ohio Class Subs are always on patrol all over the world because it is the show of strength that keeps peace in a radical world. KT

29 years ago, today

Career

On this day 29 years ago, I started selling hotels. We were financially broke because I had invested in some fast food restaurants that were in a slow downward financial spiral. The group we bought the restaurants from, also owned and sold hotels. I needed to earn money, so I got my real estate licenses and showed up at their office to learn how to sell restaurants. I thought since my work history was in restaurants, I ought to be able to sell some.

I remember I told Bill Hodges that I wanted him to teach me how to sell restaurants and he looked at me and said “I don’t know how to sell restaurants, but I can show you how to sell hotels.” I said ok. Ha. That was it! There was no planning, analysis, studying the market etc. I was broke, and he said he would show me how to sell hotels and that is how I ended up in this business. God has had his hand on me for the past 29 years and I will be forever grateful for that day in Bill’s office because it changed my financial future.

I remember there were four other hotel brokers at the time that worked with Bill. None of them wanted me there because I had no history in hotels, no experience in real estate, no formal education and I stuttered. If you picked out the person with the least likelihood of succeeding in real estate, it would have been me.

The second decision that changed my financial future happened about five days later. For the first four days I would go to their office hoping for a scrap to work on. Absolutely nothing was happening, and I knew I needed to get some people to talk to. On day five, I got in my car and went down I-75 and stopped at 132 hotels and ask to speak to the owner. By the time I got back from that trip, I had some clients to talk to. That year (even though I didn’t start until May) I won the award for the 1990 national rookie of the year and since that beginning, God has had his hand on me.

I heard a smart person say one time that you don’t have to know everything before you begin, you just begin. That is pretty good advice. KT

Becoming you

Life

I want to get a little spiritual with this blog.

Many, if not most all the biblical characters we read about did not become who they were meant to be without first going through a rescue period in their life. They needed to be rescued. None that I know of just became heroes without going through something that was difficult or challenging in their life. Even today, most anyone who has accomplished great things in their life, did so after going through challenging circumstances. Below is a few (certainly not all) biblical heroes that didn’t become who they were meant to be without going through a tough time first.

Moses did not become Moses without spending 40 years in exile first

David did not become David without killing the giant first

Job did not become Job without losing everything first

Noah did not become Noah without being first laughed at for decades

Abigail did not become King David’s wife without first risking her own life to save her first husband

Jonah did not become Jonah before first spending three days in the belly of a whale

Abraham did not become Abraham without having to first start his life over somewhere else

Joseph did not become Joseph before first being sold into slavery and then imprisoned

Peter did not become Peter before denying three times that he even knew who Jesus was

Saul did not become Paul before being blinded for three days while God got his attention

And finally, we probably wouldn’t even know about Jesus if he hadn’t gone through death, burial and resurrection first.

The point is, don’t always look at failure, loss or bad news as life ending. If you are going through a difficult time, just maybe God has a rescue plan for you to become who you are meant to be. KT

Fresh wood – New Business

Career

New business is the life blood of any company. It is the single thing (in business) that keeps the past in perspective. Without new business, many companies drown themselves in past failures, missed opportunities, less than wise decisions and situations which seem to zap the energy around them.

I heard a sales guy say one time “if your wood won’t burn, go get some fresh wood.” That is simple but effective advice.

See, it is new Business that keeps you looking toward the future and renews hope and energizes you to keep moving forward. In our business, (using a dog analogy) there are two types of brokers. The ones who get one bone and go off and just chew that one bone. The other type is the one who wants to get a pile of bones to chew on. In brokerage terms, the broker who only wants to work on one deal at a time usually doesn’t last long in this business. The brokers that stand through the test of time are the ones that work on a lot of deals at the same time. When you have a lot going on, you can lose a few along the way and it doesn’t break your spirit. If you only have one deal you are working on and it falls apart, it can crush your spirit.

I remember sitting in my Chevy Tahoe in 1998 and having a conversation with the seller of a portfolio we had been hired on. We already had offers and were at the point of going under contract. On that call, the seller changed his mind about selling. Fortunately, I had a lot of deals I was working on at the time because if that portfolio was the only deal I had going, that call with the seller might have broken my spirit. As it was, I just kept going forward on the other deals I was working on and chalked it up to life.

I guess what I am saying is that in business, particularly the sales business, the best time to go after new engagements is when you already have a lot going on. It is amazing how much business you can get when you don’t have to have it. If you are in sales, you might want to read that last sentence again.

So, in life and in business if the wood you have won’t burn, go get some fresh wood. KT

Going for it

Career, Life

In business and in life, you sometimes just have to go for it. Not always, but sometimes. For example, if you are driving down the interstate, you shouldn’t go for it and drive as fast as you can. If you do, the po-po will show you your lodging for the night. If your child comes to you for advice, you go for it and give them all you have.

For many years my family would go on this annual camping trip the 4th of July week to Vogel State Park located in the blue ridge mountains. My wife’s family started going when she was just a child and our daughters grew up expecting to camp at Vogel every 4th of July. The last several years we haven’t gone but some of the dearest friends we have ever known, we met them at Vogel.

One thing that was always a constant at Vogel, was nightly softball games. The name of this blog is “going for it” and was named after those softball games. The game always reminded me of life in that there are times to play it safe and then there are times you (metaphorically speaking) just go for it.

We had this friend who would play sometimes named Andy. If you could copy anyone in softball, it would be Andy. He looked like a normal guy who could probably play well and get by, but when it was his turn to bat, he was a whole different person. It was like be became someone else.

The ball field had a creek that ran across the outfield that was about 225 feet from home plate. If the ball made it to the creek in the air, it was a home run whereas if it bounced in, it was a double. The first time I saw Andy bat will be forever in my memory because it was a lesson in life as well as softball. I remember he swung at the ball so hard, his left shoe came off.. I looked up at the ball and it was not only over the creek, but it landed another 150 feet beyond the creek in the camp ground. It was the farthest I had ever seen anyone hit the ball on that field. To top that off, the ball was one we had been using for several games and was already mushy. If it had been a new ball, we probably wouldn’t have been able to find it.

At the time Andy hit that ball, I vividly remember thinking about life and what it means to try as hard as you can to do something. I can name several times in my life where I literally tried as hard as I could to do something. When you do that, those feelings never leave you and become part of who you are and may even play a role in who you become. It is very rare to see people who are good at many things. It is much more common for people to be good at only a few things. It doesn’t matter if you are a full-time mom, dad, business person, speaker, author, sales person, teacher etc. What does matter is that you choose to try as hard as you can at something. It doesn’t have to be a life changing, rather it can be as simple as being a good listener or a friend who can be trusted.

The great thing is it is your choice. Using a golf term to make the point, sometimes you must choose between laying up and playing it safe or going for it. I say, with family, you should go for it and try as hard as you can to be the very best example you can be. Regarding our work life, try as hard as you can to be found faithful, honest, hard-working and trustworthy. I believe the rest will take care of itself. KT