All posts by Keith Thompson

My Mom and Gene

Family

Today is my mom and Gene’s anniversary. Let me tell you about them. My mom is, of course, my mom, which is the one who will always love you regardless of what you do, and Gene is her second husband and “technically” my stepfather. I want to tell you about them because they have played a very vital role in my life and in the lives of my siblings. They have given us kids a wonderful example of what a family should be like.

As I said above, Gene is “technically” my stepdad, but there has never been anything technical about it. He is my dad, and I love him dearly. Before he and my mother married, they both had two children from their previous marriages and then one son after they married. We are like the Brady Bunch because they made it work for all of us children and set the example for us all to see.

I am especially grateful to Gene for loving me without partiality. He simply came into our lives and loves each of us as though we were his biological children. Without hesitation, I can tell you that Gene loves me and my sister with the same level of love as his own children. Growing up there was never, and I mean never, any partiality between us kids. There was never a different level of Christmas presents for some rather than others, and they never favored one over the other. As an adult father, I know what a commitment that was for him, and for as long as I live, he is my father. Not one time was I ever introduced as his stepson. He always introduced me as his son, and I always knew his love for me was unconditional. I know other families where there are stepchildren involved and almost always there is a difference between the levels of love shown. He never wavered with his love and commitment to all of us kids.

My mom is simply my mom. There is not a greater love than that of a mother to her children. When were were young, finances were tight, but they balanced everything so we all had a great home and the things we needed. She is one of my heroes and one of the sweetest ladies that I have ever known.

Not every home is a good example of what to follow, but having had a great example to follow was, and is, one of the things I am most grateful for. Thank you, Mom and Gene. KT

Fishing with my father-in-law

Life

I believe sports are the best way to tell who a person really is. When you get them outside of their comfort zone, you usually see who they are. For instance, if you are playing golf, you can tell many things about the other person, such as if they anger quickly, if they are honest, level headed, enjoyable to be around…you can basically tell who a person is by how they are on the golf course. It is much the same with water skiing, basketball, football, and fishing.

My father-in-law was a man’s man, and his name was Max Phillips. He was deeply respected by his peers. He started a fence company when he was a young man and was the best of the best in the fencing business. He was married to my mother-in-law from his youth until the day he died. Together, they had seven children; my wife, Elaine, is their oldest daughter. I think it is beautiful thing when someone becomes very, very good at their career. This was the case with Max. He was born to be a salesman and knew instinctively how to sale with integrity. He would help crews install fences all day, go home for dinner with his family, and then go back out to sell fencing jobs in the evenings; he did this six days a week.

Max had one quality that I admired most and that was the quality to be mentally where he was physically. God help the crew he was working with; he would outwork almost everyone. When he was fishing or camping or with his family, he was fully engaged in that moment.

One day in particular I remember well; I was fishing with him at a lake south of where we live. He was in the front of the boat, and I was in the back. We were casting, reeling, talking, and enjoying time together. It was coming up on lunchtime and I said to Max, the next one who catches a fish has to buy the other’s lunch. He said ok, so I turned around and started trying to catch the next fish. I heard some stirring in the front of the boat,  looked around, and Max has one rod and reel in his hands casting as fast as he could. I looked closer, and he had a rod and reel under each foot with bobbers in the water. He was fishing with three rods and reels at the same time and was completely focused on beating me. Well, you probably know how the lunch bet ended up. Yes, he caught the next fish, and I had to buy lunch.

I learned several big lessons watching Max that day. First was to be in the moment, and the second was to simply try your best in life at whatever you are doing. See, if you try your best, that is all you can do. Many of us do not try our best all the time, and we save our best for special things. What would life be like if you tried with all your might at everything you did? Every email, every phone call, every time you played with your children or grandchildren, every time you prayed, every time you talked to someone? Basically tried your best all the time? I believe if we did this, we would find life more fulfilling, more enjoyable, and could possibly become the person God wants us to become.

So, a simple fishing trip with my father-in-law taught me that day how to be in life and how to give it your all with integrity. As I said earlier, Max Phillips was a man’s man and even though he was short in stature, he was big in spirit and in everything he did. KT

First two hotel sales

Career

I started selling hotels almost 25 years ago. My very first hotel sale was the Quality Inn located in Athens, GA. It was 1990, and I was broke and looking for a career to support my family. I had a good friend that sold hotels, and I showed up on his doorstep to learn how to sell hotels. It is important to know that I did not call him and ask if I could join his company, rather I just showed up. I believe he looked me over and saw that I was desperate and out of mercy, he said ok.

On that first sale, I earned $7,700; at the time, that was many weeks worth of income based on what I was used to earning. After that closing, I said to myself, that was kind of fun, let me try it again. The second hotel was the Inn At The Peachtree located in downtown Atlanta. On that closing, I earned $26,000. I decided on that day that I was going to be proficient in selling hotels. I had never had a job or business where making that kind of money was an option.

In an earlier blog post, I referenced flipping a switch in your life. That second closing was the switch for me. I started with a company that was just at the point of breaking out in a big way, and the people at the company were all well educated and very successful. I was just this dud who was broke and needed the money, but I did have a reason that was greater than my competitors. It is called a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters.

Everyone said I would never make it and did not have the skills to learn the business. Sometimes in your life you need to be told how limited “they” think you are. Sometimes positive affirmation is very important, but to some, like me, I needed to hear those folks tell me I couldn’t do it. Well, I flipped another switch in my life and went out quietly and won the U.S. rookie of the year award that very first year. The nay sayers didn’t tell me anymore that I couldn’t make it, instead they softly patted me on the back and said kind words, but still did not believe in me. The second year, I won the U.S. award for selling the most hotels of any broker in the country. I had found a career that worked for me and one that I really enjoyed.

Why am I telling you this? It certainly is not to say look at me, rather it is to tell you that with the proper motivation, education, class, skill and, in my case, fluent speech does not matter. What matters is looking into my two daughters’ eyes and my wife’s eyes and knowing that they, and they alone, believed in me.

Today, there are probably less than five brokers in the U.S. that have sold close to a thousand hotels; by the grace of God and the motivation of my family, I am one of them. To God, the only ability that matters is “availability.” Family history, education, clothes, class, speech and skill are simply not needed to succeed. The most successful people I know all started without the finer points of life, but all chose to measure their success only by their own qualifier, what they had the potential to become.

It is Thanksgiving, and I am so very grateful for my friend giving me the opportunity to learn how to sell hotels and for the heart-level motivation I needed at that time. I am thankful. KT

Being thankful

Life

I have a beautiful family. I had some time this morning to just think and read; I found myself looking at pictures on my phone and going back to read texts and emails from my family. I am very aware of just how blessed I am, but it is times like these when I reflect on really how blessed I am.

I married my high school sweetheart 36 years ago, and I love our life together. We have two amazing daughters, ages 31 and 27, and the best two son-in-laws any parent could plan for. We have the two most beautiful granddaughters in the world….literally the world. Ha.

I was going though some files at home last week and saw notes and pictures from my daughters when they were in grade school, high school, college, etc. I believe these notes get more special as the years go by because they remind me of how blessed I am to have my two precious daughters. Elaine is the bride of my youth, literally, because we have been together since junior year of high school. God has brought us through many years together and also through many life issues and changes. Today, we find ourselves in a very special place in life where we are able to enjoy our family, work, and world around us.

When I look back over the years, I can very clearly see God’s hand on many of the decisions we made. At the time, those decisions seemed like average choices and the normal flow of life, but looking back, I can see they were anything but minor decisions. I heard a wise man tell me once that there are four major decisions in everyone’s life that rise above all the others. Who will I serve, what will I do in life, who will I spend my life with, and where will we live our life. When I look at these four decisions in my life, I can see God’s hand all over each of them.

In summary, I find myself blessed beyond measure when I take a step back and really look at the life that God has allowed me to live. May your life be a blessing as well; we all should take a minute to reflect on really how blessed and thankful we are. KT

Flipping the switch

Life

I was going through some old memos in my briefcase and came across a letter that I wrote to myself during a particular tough time in business back in 2007. I was leaving one firm and starting another; it was a time of stress in my life. I titled this letter “Flipping the Switch,” and I was going to be the only one that would ever read it. I wrote it so that I could read the words out loud, and that my spirit could hear the words. Before you say that’s crazy, in the New Testament, it says several times that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” The Bible also says that “whatever is in you in abundance will be spoken out of your mouth.” Therefore, I have always written notes to myself, and I am the only one that knows what they mean, but they all mean something special.

The term flipping the switch reminded me of how many changes we make in our life are done so when we decide to change our life. It is like walking from one room and turning the switch off, and walking into a new room and turning the light switch on. Like the light switch, there are just some areas in our life we need to walk away from and turn the light off, such as fear, anxiety and intimidation. In life, there are times we need to turn a new light on.

In all my understanding of God and the Bible, the thing I never see is God making these decisions for us. He always waits for us to make the move. Many times in my life, it would have been easier and simpler if God was making all the decisions, but as I understand it, he waits for us to make the decision and finally decide to make changes in our life. In our lives, we all know the lights we need to shut down and the ones we need to turn on.

In this letter to myself, I wrote the following 3 points: (1) be bold and be confident, (2) choose to stand up and be somebody, and (3) we are not endowed with a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Maybe this helps you as it helped me. KT