With Fresh Eyes: A Newcomer’s View Of The S.E.C.


An S.E.C. Guest’s Perspective by Robert T. Cheesbrough
The Prestige Group; Kamuela, Hawaii
I first discovered the Society through an invitation of Ted Blank at the December 2003 Las Vegas meeting. One of my partners arranged the invitation and I was betting that the trip would be worth it.
It will prove, I am sure, to be the most profitable bet I have ever made in Las Vegas.
I realized quickly that we could create an advantage as a company and be able to operate out of Hawaii, as well as within it. We know this will distinguish our company from 99.99% of real estate companies and that large portions of that remaining .01% are likely members or continuing guests of the Society. How’s that for luck!
There is an ancient admonition, “Be careful what you wish for; you might just get it!”
Now, five courses and four meetings later, my brain has slowed to a moderate spin. After the Las Vegas meeting, we partners all agreed that we needed to make counseling and exchanging a mainstay of our business, with the goal of becoming our own best clients, in the words of Phil Corso. We committed to each other that as long as the Society kept inviting us, we would attend every meeting,
My wife, Erika, asked me once how I might summarize my recent experience with the Society. My response was that because of the Society and its members, I see the business, and my goals for it, with fresh eyes.