Hopefully, not all dreams come true!

Thursday night, I had the most intensely vivid dream I've had for a long time; I dreamed that I was dying. Now, in my business, I deal with my client's mortality on a daily basis. We discuss it, plan for it, and look beyond it for anything unforeseen. We know it's going to happen, and addressing how we handle it is priority number one. I guess what really burned this into my brain, is that I was going to die like, three days later. I didn't have some serious disease, and I wasn't having premonitions of a building collapsing on me. I was just going to pass away. It was then that the funeral became an event, and I was inviting people I met and the friends I had. I was doing all the planning and the last-minute arrangements. I remember one of my friends, upon hearing the invitation, was very non-committal; "Okay, I'll see if I can make it." See if you can make it? This is my funeral, my death, for crying out loud! How is it not the biggest event of the year? I have to laugh. Our lives, successes, and failures make us who we are. Shouldn't our death be as big a deal? I really doubt that dwelling on the event of my death makes it any easier to digest, and that planning now, instead of three days before, will make all the difference in the world.

I suppose that by now most everyone has heard what everyone else is thankful for; God, country, family, friends, health, and so on. However, being an entrepreneur, I am thankful for those things, but I think I'd like to be thankful for them from the business side. Please bear with me...

GOD. Enough said. He allows me the wisdom to be a professional, and provides enough opportunities to make this venture successful. I think He also allows me enough room to make mistakes that I learn from.

COUNTRY. Where else could I do what I do?

FAMILY. Some would say an endless supply of prospects, but my family is gracious enough to bear with me and give me the time I need to be successful.

FRIENDS. I have enough pats on the back and attaboys to last a lifetime, but I never have enough friends that give me constructive criticism and let me bounce ideas off of them.

HEALTH. Have you ever worked through a day while fighting a head cold? Kidney stones?? Stomach flu??? Health is grossly underestimated in this business! Were it not for a clear head and a strong back, the work day would be impossible to get through.

As that is the last of the common list, let me add one more: compassion. If I could not see my customers for the people they are rather than the potential commission they represent, this would be a pretty sour business. An agent friend of mine in Colorado has this statement on the back of the hats he gives away: "SELLING COVERAGES, NOT PREMIUMS". Well stated, my friend.