Santa Clara County, California, USA AN ATMOSPHERE OF GREATNESS!

As I grew up in Santa Clara County (since 1950), I believed that everyone was meant to become a winner! I have been raised to believe that it is our destiny to dream big goals and go for them.

After all, we had George Haines coaching 6 year old children to hit the water, screaming that you will one day win a "Gold Medal" in the Olympics. Today it is history – the Santa Clara Swim Team has won more than 100 Olympic Medals, many of them are gold! No other team, in any sport, anywhere in the world can make that statement!

San Jose State's Track Team virtually owned the World, Olympic, and USA records for many decades. Coached by Bud Winter, the fastest men in the world came here to be trained. Tommie Smith, Ronnie Ray Smith, Lee Evans, and John Carlos... the best in the world were here. For decades Bud Winter trained many great world record holders of track and field. Recruiting was the easiest for Bud... the great ones knew that if they could come here and be trained by Bud that they too might win a gold medal. Coaches from around the world wanted to know his secrets.

Founded in 1946, San Jose State's Judo Team has been the ultimate training ground for collegiate judokas (judo students) in the United States. Since its founding, the team has been coached by Yosh Uchita and has won 36 of 39 national tournaments, garnering more medals at the national and international level than all other states combined. The San Jose Buddhist Judo Club was founded by Uchita along with Don "Moon" Kikuchi and Tamo Kitaura in 1947 and is known as a place where children can learn to be national champions in a life-changing atmosphere of greatness. Kitaura left the group in 1952 to form Palo Alto Judo, a club that along with the San Jose Buddhist Judo Club has produced elementary, middle school, and high school athletes that grew up being coached by Uchita. These athletes have developed into winners in judo and in life in part through the influence of these great coaches.

Santa Clara University Basketball had the first "Twin Towers + 1." Dennis Awtry, Ralph and Bud Ogdon, were all coached by Dick Garibaldi. That same legacy was carried on by coach Carrol Williams. At the time, SCU was a small Jesuit school where values were not compromised and where competition was used in the classroom to build strong character and bright leaders of our future. These coaches knew that there would be life after basketball. I know because I have recruited many students from this great school and they have become leaders in our community! It is an atmosphere of greatness, a training ground for life.

It was no wonder to me that great corporations of the world lead the new technology to greatness by way of Santa Clara County. We know the stories of Hewlett and Packard who started in the garage, as well as the Apple Computer founders, Jobs and Wozniak, who were advocates of “Thinking Different” before they turned this slogan into an amazing ad campaign. There are hundreds of super firms that have grown from small beginnings in Santa Clara County to lead America and the rest of the World in technology, companies like Intel, AMD, National Semiconductor... I could listen to such innovators for hours as they tell stories about how they used equities in the real estate that they owned to finance some of their dreams or about how they converted their stocks into their homes and then created a wonderful lifestyle for their families.

In every decade of my existence, Santa Clara County people have been leaders and winners. I grew up in an atmosphere of greatness. I've always thought we were destined to win at something and perhaps have a shot at everything. You see it in sports; people say what they are going to do before they even do it. I have seen high jumpers that painted the mark on their bedroom wall – just how high they were going to jump. I have had runners tell me that they were going to run 9.2 in the 100 yard dash, 3:59.2 in the mile, or throw the shot put 70 feet. Most of the time when these people predicted what they were going to do, it had never been done before! Goals – if you set great goals your mind will stretch and grow to allow you to accomplish great deeds.

In business it works the same way. You set goals and you go for them. There are studies that prove that we never use more than one half of 1% of our human brain. William James says that the cortex has the power to equal five of the most powerful computers on the earth. Yet, we never really use our brain's awesome power.

Now I want to talk about just how easy it is for you to be number one or at least in the top 1% of the world's population. Let's look at the following:

• The Presidents Council of Physical Fitness says that of the people surveyed, 57% said that they did no daily structured exercise. Do you know that if you just walk around the block every night when you come home from work that that exercise would place you in the top 1% of the physically fit in America?
• If you were to read just one novel a month, you would be in the top 1% of the intellectual people in America.
• If you choose to place all of your children's events in your calendar and attend them, you would be in the top 1% of the most attentive parents in American family life today.
• If you are a homeowner in Santa Clara County you are already in the upper 1% of America. Only 1% of America can afford to live here. My job is to assist people to reach this goal: home ownership here in the Bay Area! But why would you want to live in the most expensive county in the United States? It is because you have an opportunity to be mentored by so many great people and the opportunity to achieve success in business here more than any place else in the world. By living here, you are part of a cultural greatness and it surrounds you.

One strong way to be a part of the top 1% is to choose sales as a profession. Here is a statistic for you: research shows that 98% of all Americans who earn over $100,000 a year are employed in sales! And yet sales is a career that very few people (about 2%) even try. I am consistently being called by people who have either just lost their jobs or lost them awhile ago and are just now admitting to it, yet I know many businesses and industries that are in great need for talented people to sell their products and services. Now, I have seen baby boys and baby girls, but I have never seen a "baby-born salesperson"! Sales is a profession. It is a career with passion. I have never felt that I wanted to do anything else. It is a career with security. I don't care if you are selling real estate or loans or both, there is no greater service and product to sell. I sell the "American Dream" – the chance to live in the Bay Area and own property! Usually we are assisting our clients in growing their net worth, decreasing their cash outflow, and selling them the largest financial decision that they will make within the year. If you know me, then you know that you do not have to be a wizard of speech, nor carry a briefcase full of fancy words. Sales is about asking questions, listening for the answers, probing those answers and confirming the information. Then you simply find a way to go get that information for your client. Consider looking at our web site www.calstarprop.com and the table of contents. Preview the "Employment Section." I don't know of any firm that offers a stronger commitment to train the right people.

I have a theory that God has given each of us a cultural difference. The fact that we are here already makes you a winner. I believe that you are gifted with the ability to create, achieve, develop, and sustain growth beyond what your mind and body will allow. We have the innate ability to reach out and predetermine what we want to be. If you can work from the heart, you can then achieve a "super servant" status vs. super salesperson. Those principles are demonstrated by your actions. A "super servant" conducts business based upon how they behave. You will be judged by:
     1. Your Character
     2. Focus on Service
     3. Demonstration of Commitment
     4. Good Relationships
     5. "Values"
     6. Trustworthiness
     7. Being motivated by your Clients' Growth

I want you to know that you may borrow any of these ideas to share with your firm’s employees as these basic concepts can work for and improve any business practice. We at California Star Properties, Inc., conduct business based upon referrals and therefore we must be judged by the level of service that we provide to our clients. Through you, our clients, we meet our next clients. Hence, we must practice these principles daily.

I mentioned that we live in an atmosphere of greatness. As you step through your day try to find something to be grateful about. Let us recall our recent past history and remember the winners and this history that we are part of. In every case we can cite times and events where people just like you and me did something that they had never done before. Let us not forget that these people had a goal and they went for it. All of them trained for many hours, they made some sacrifices, and they wore their hearts on their sleeves. Most had a coach, a mentor, a training program, or faith in a higher power. You have everything you need to be the person you want to be. In America we say, “In God We Trust”. America is a great place to live.

Let us all put the American flag in front of our rooms, let us remember what our Country's principles are:

• In America, we are "One Nation Under God." And in America, "a God of your understanding."
• The American flag is what guarantees us the right to our beliefs. So long as it flies in our skies, we are protected by our history.
• In the beginning, we all had to help one another.
• We will not compromise our character.
• We are indivisible.
• We value our liberty.
• And we offer justice for all.

I know that God loves a down and outer, but I also believe that God enjoys a winner! The spirit of our founding fathers is restless and is becoming very upset that we somehow have strayed from our basic principles.

This is to say that in America, it is easy to be great. Start today... who will you mentor?

To whom can you give something of yourself?

How can you assist someone to fulfill his or her dreams?

You have everything already within you to be all that you can be!

God Bless You,

Gary Mountain

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