Years ago, when I was first starting out, I had a tremendous desire to be a success in business. And this boy from Waldo thought, “If someone is successful, I can probably learn a thing or two from them!” So I started reading books by and about successful people and I also observed the successful business people around me. One thing they all seemed to have in common was that they were not procrastinators. Once they decided to pursue an idea, they dove in and began to develop

It was a Friday evening in November. I was on the P.K. Yonge football team and we were on our way from Gainesville to take on an opponent in a town 70 miles away. This game was thought to be a “gimme” game for us. We were quite hot (undefeated) and our opponent was quite cold (win-less). During the hour and a half bus ride over, we were all laughing and joking and having a big time. To say we were quite confident about winning this game would be an understatement! As we neare

When I was in my mid-twenties, Dixie, (my wife at the time) and I were invited to go on a bus trip to attend the University of Florida vs. Louisiana State University football game in Baton Rouge, LA. We had recently moved back to the Gainesville area and had entered into the real estate development business. I looked forward to making new friends with those on the trip and doing some networking. Little did I know that one of these people would become someone very important in

Last year, I took my grandson Jacob to watch his beloved Jacksonville Jaguars play. His dad, my son, Ben, Jr., usually took him to the games, but on this particular Sunday afternoon, I had the pleasure of taking him. I was excited about this as I knew how much he loved the Jags and how he even knew the players' numbers and positions. Indeed, he was a real student of the game and, in fact, played quarterback on a ‘little league’ football team. But most importantly, this was a