Don't underestimate yourself

It is socially incorrect to pat oneself on the back publicly when life is going your way. It is fool hearty to get too full of yourself when you are having a great run in the stock market and your assets are growing at an incredible rate.

However, don't underestimate yourself either. All of us have a tremendous power and capability to do great things. The mind is very powerful and we can train ourselves to accomplish much more than most of us ever do. I am only speaking from personal experience and a lot of reading on the subject, therefore it would be best for you to do some research on this subject before accepting my views. I will share a incident that happened to me 24 years ago when I was managing a branch of a small brokerage firm in S. Florida. I had about 25 stock brokers and had the 3rd best branch in a chain of about 35 branches nationally. I loved my job and ran it very seat of the pants, treating everyone as I would like to be treated. I used to say to my "guys (some were women)", "I wish I had a boss like me"...everyone would laugh because they knew my boss and he was NOT me. Well, we were doing very well and there were a few of my brokers who were so good that it was getting more and more difficult to make them happy financially in the structure of the branch. The inevitable happened. One Friday, four of them came to me at days end and said they were leaving to form their own BD (Broker Dealer) and were sorry but........ After I gulped and accepted the bad news as gracefully as I could, I asked for their "books (clients)" which I was entitled to on behalf of the company. In a very professional manor they handed over the books which I knew they had already duplicated. I was also certain they had contacted their good clients already and probably had new accounts set up and transfers of assets ready to go to get the accounts open at their new firm. It's all part of the game.

I went home a bit upset and knew I had some work ahead of me to keep my branch strong and to maintain my income as the branch manager. Two of the brokers leaving had been earning more than I was, which is typical in a very good branch. Monday came. It would be difficult to break the news to the remaining brokers. I feared that there could be further defections etc. I was in the office very early. At 8:30 AM I was preparing to start my Monday morning meeting when who shows up? The four brokers who had resigned on Friday. I was shocked. "What are you guys doing here" I said. The spokesman replied "We came back for just one more Monday morning meeting. Would you mind if we sat in? Nobody gives a Monday morning meeting like you do and we'd like to hear just one more for old times sake." I was agape. Flattered, bewildered, off guard and at a loss for words. All of a sudden I realized what was going on. I held back tears and said "grab a chair." I had underestimated myself. All of us had underestimated ourselves. Through the two years we had been together we had formed very tight bonds, had learned a lot from each other and had been successful because of each other. It was hard for all of us to give that up. We did of course because life moves on but I treasure that morning for many obvious reasons. None of my other brokers left. I distributed the "books" of the departing brokers and to our surprise we maintained a good deal of business from those books that helped me to develop new top brokers. It was a win win. Most fair and good relationships end that way. Win Win.

I left the branch and the firm about a year later to further my own ambitions. Talk about a tear jerker. My guys mounted and gift boxed a Jaguar hood ornament that you see on the old XJ6, like the one I parked in the lot. They gave it to me as a going away present. They said that they hoped I didn't mind that they took it off my car......etc...had me fooled for a minute too!

Point: Don't underestimate yourself....YOU are very powerful and can handle your investments better than anyone...if that is what you want to do.