We have all watched the movie and or heard about the horse that won the Triple Crown in 1973. In our office at Hotel AG, I have an original picture taken at the finish line of the Belmont Stakes signed by the jockey Ron Turcotte. The picture shows the 31 length (length of a horse) winning margin at the Belmont Stakes, the race that won Secretariat the Triple Crown in 1973. That same year, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes; all 3 records still stand today. The time and margin of victory in the Belmont Stakes has never even been approached by another horse. Secretariat was named the 35th best athlete of the 20th century, and I believe the only animal to ever be so named. He was simply the best race horse of all time.

Why am I writing about a horse? Well, as Paul Harvey used to say, this is the rest of the story. It’s the story about the horse, its owner, its trainer and its jockey that you can see parallels to your own life.

See, the horse was owned by an owner (Penny Chenery) who had no experience in horse racing and was a woman and very much unwelcomed by the establishment. The trainer (Lucien Laurin) had never trained a horse that won any triple crown events, and he was considered by many, a loser. The jockey (Ron Turcotte) was unproven as a competitor and shunned by the racing establishment. Secretariat was never supposed to be fast and or be able to run long distances because of his bloodline; in short, because of who his parents were. There was no reason to expect any success from this team because they didn’t come from the right class of folks, grow up in the right places, and come from the right family. Sound familiar?

If you look at the greatest inventors, the greatest leaders, and the great examples, they mostly came from backgrounds and environments that should have limited their success and ensured they would only achieve the average, yet they did succeed.  I believe the greatest ability is simply, availability. KT

Have you ever seen a person who just seems to be the authority in his or her line of work? Well, at some point that person made the decision to be the authority. Yes, I said that person decided to be. See, the world is full of very skilled and very talented people in various fields of work that will always remain in the shadow of being who they were supposed to be because they are afraid.

I have a great friend who is in the same line of work I am in. He never went to college and was a copy machine salesman when he had the opportunity to start selling hotels. He never had the training and seemingly the ability, but he decided one day who he was supposed to be and going to be. He is the best hotel broker that ever laced up a pair of wingtips. Hear me here, it wasn’t because of education, family, friends, or “connections,” but rather it was because he decided one day to be the authority and then put in the work to get there. There are countless stories of successful people that all started with a simple decision to be somebody.

Every person who has accomplished great things in his or her line of work, from the President to a young mother who decided to invest in her children, did not become accomplished in their line of endeavor because they went to school and someone else showed them how to be great. No, they decided that this was their opportunity and decided to act and present themselves as being very good at what they do. If I have learned anything in business, it’s that people hire who they like and trust; people want to work with people who believe in themselves.

I believe God gives us all opportunities to be great, but many times because of inferiority, we miss those opportunities that God intended us to seize.

I always love meeting people who are very, very good at what they do, regardless of the field of work. It’s actually captivating to meet these people and watch them do what they do. There is no school or membership that ever taught someone how to be great because there just are not any studies, lessons, books, college credits to teach this.

I have many family members that all succeed as builders, insurance agents, mortgage brokers, nurses, bankers, mayors, auto body specialists, pastors, etc, and I am always amazed to watch them in their line of work. Each example of this decided to be great at what they do, and the results speak for themselves.

I have two very, very, very beautiful daughters that I could not be more proud of. Let me tell you about them.

My oldest daughter is a Fashion Stylist and just launched her own cable show featuring how to help other people feel better about themselves by what they wear. What a great calling at a time in the world where many ladies need to know and experience a new level of personal confidence. I will say that what she does is as important as any pastor of a church because like the pastor, she helps in the one-on-one and hopefully will encourage a young woman to be what I talked about in the first paragraph. This daughter has decided to be who she is supposed to be.

My youngest daughter is one of the founders of a social media company that started with social media for hotels, but has now moved into its on market placement, handling all social aspects for many different types of companies. I watch her teaching new employees, and I am continually amazed at how she learned to do all this and learned to be so gentle, yet firm when dealing with staff. She is simply gifted at what she does; she didn’t learn this in school, but it was almost as though is was revealed to her. This daughter has decided to be who she is supposed to be.

Then, there is my bride. I always called her “the bride of my youth” because we met in science class in the 11th grade of high school and have been married for 35 years. She handles all the administrative side of our company and follows the money. I cannot tell you how fortunate I am to have her in that role. I never have to worry where the money is and if it’s being handled correctly. She is the most kind, gentle, and thoughtful person I know. Literally. She has always supported me when I didn’t yet do what I talk about in the first paragraph. She believed in me. For men who read this, trust me when I tell you there is nothing more powerful than a wife who respects and believes in you. She has also decided to be who she was supposed to be.

Decide to step into the place you are supposed to be and the person you are supposed to be. If you could see a little above the natural and into the spiritual space, you would see God the father and his angels waiting for you to decide to be who you are supposed to be. If you could hear them, they would be saying, “step into where you belong.” KT

Being a part of Hotel AG has been one of the greatest periods in my business career. The firm is doing very well economically, but it’s the environment and the people that I enjoy the most.

When the recession of late 2008 and all of 2009 happened,  I didn’t know if we could stay in business. The firm lost a large sum of money for about 19 months during that economic period. When you look back at decisions you made in the past, sometimes the smallest decisions become cornerstones of who you really are. While many, if not all of our competitors, laid off 50% of their staff, we made a conscious decision to look at the downturn as a period of reinvesting rather than a period of loss. We did not lay anyone off; they had spouses, children, mortgage payments and obligations too. What came out of that simple decision was that we still had a staff and could still handle business. When the market recovered, we were poised to meet the needs of our clients. I will probably always look back at that decision as being one of the best choices we could have made.

We have 2 guiding philosophies in our company: (1) Keep It simple and (2) Keep it Real. See, I believe everyone is a sales person from a doctor, lawyer, office worker or kitchen cook. Everyone is always selling themselves and selling what they do. We fundamentally believe that in the most simplistic of ways, that people hire who they like and who they trust. It’s really that basic. That’s the Keep It Real part. People can see through a phony and see through slickness and arrogance. Many of our competitors spend more time with internal competition that they do externally.

Our platform may not be the best or brightest, but we have very little internal competition issues and very little internal trust issues. Last year, we closed more hotel transactions than any year I have ever been involved in this business. Therefore, in business and in life, keeping it simple and keeping it real is a pretty good objective to have. KT