Chapter  9 :  Real Estate & Amway

I visited all the local colleges, left my resume, and met with the deans.

One dean was upfront with me, saying I would have to leave the South to find another teaching job. When  I asked why, he stated that because I had taught at two black colleges, I would be considered a troublemaker by most white colleges in the South.  This revelation opened my eyes to how different I was from so many others, especially in the South.  Interestingly, homophobic racism is rarely found among those of us attracted to the performing arts.

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The Dean mentioned that if I'm interested in staying in this area, he might have a beneficial opportunity. He invited me to bring my wife over to his house, where he would explain the entire opportunity. The opportunity turned out to be Amway! The involvement of a college dean sparked my interest in looking into it further. We left his house with copies of popular positive-thinking books and audio tapes by some of Amway’s most successful distributors. At more meetings, we met similar couples seeking a way to get ahead.  We attended many rallies and actually spoke on stage at a few of the small ones. One of our favorites was in the Charlotte Colosseum, where over 6,000 of us listened to Ronald Reagan speak. We even had family members attend some rallies. The excitement was contagious. Although after ten years, 

we only once managed to move ten thousand dollars' worth of merchandise in a single month. This was when we went on stage at a rally, were recognized as Silver Producers, and received lapel pins to signify this status.

During those ten years, I got my real estate license. I joined a real estate company run by a local developer. After several years, I was made manager. I also got certified as a real estate instructor and taught classes for students wanting to prepare for the real estate exam. 

The developer invited me to join him at a seminar in Charlotte. We came across a development offering office condominiums for sale. He said he was going back to Raleigh and build some. I asked whether he would do some research first. He said I could do the research, but he would develop them. 

It was not long before I became a commercial real estate broker. Eventually, I started my own commercial real estate company and was known for a while as the Condo Man. I would run large ads in the Sunday papers advertising several office condominium developments listed by The Allison Company.

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In 1977, the commercial loan rate was around 8%, but by 1981, it had risen to over 20%. I used to joke with prospects that they could use their credit card to buy an office condo since the interest rates were lower. Times were tough, so I  also got certified as a real estate instructor and taught classes for students wanting to prepare for the real estate exam. 

In 1983, I purchased my first computer with its floppy disk. Paid software developers in California to develop software that would calculate the advantages of buying an office over renting office space over various periods of time. I connected it to an electric typewriter to print the results. I felt like I was on the cutting edge of marketing technology.  The only problem was that, no matter how impressive the presentation or how convincing the numbers were, fear at the time prevented any major decisions from being made. I felt I was ahead of my time, but at the wrong time!

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On May 1, 2000, I read in the papers that Polk City Directories (Consumer Information Solutions Group), a service used by most real estate companies for information about who lives where, including addresses and phone numbers, was being sold for $260 million to Equifax, one of the top three credit bureaus. I had used Polk Directories during my years as a real estate broker. Each year, a new book would be released, always very large and weighing over 10 pounds, containing updated datasets for consumer/demographic marketing. I thought that if a company like Equifax was investing that kind of money in Polk, they must have significant plans for it.  I contacted Polk Directories in Raleigh and scheduled a job interview. They were impressed by my background as a college professor-turned-real estate broker. I was hired and flown to Las Vegas for training. I took Rebecca with me. It was like a mini vacation. We were given a lovely room in one of the better hotels, featuring an impressive outdoor pool with a built-in waterfall. I would attend seminars during the day, and in the evening, Rebecca and I would enjoy Las Vegas nightlife. One afternoon, we even took a helicopter ride into the Grand Canyon, where we landed on a ledge overlooking the river far below. As we drank champagne, I threw a large rock over the side of the ledge and listened for it to hit the bottom. We never heard a sound. Rebecca really enjoyed the trip, and I felt I had made the right decision to join this company at this time. Back in 1998, Polk introduced a DVD that contained all the information contained in the Directory. In 2000, I purchased a Dell laptop computer that could play DVDs. The company would fly me to various cities to market the directory to businesses.

Most of the salespeople had been with Polk for years, and the introduction of this computer disk was alien to them. Most of the sales force didn't even have a computer; I used the Dell laptop to demonstrate how quickly a business could download only the information they needed and print out copies for their sales team. The company was so impressed with my success in selling the computer disk that they made me a trainer.  My new position would require me to travel extensively across the country to train the sales force to market the software effectively. Unfortunately, before I could teach my first class, Equifax sold its City Directory business to InfoUSA in October 2001 for a $5.8 pre-tax loss, only one year and six months after acquiring it. InfoUSA then sold the business to InfoGroup in January 2002, only four months after buying it.

The new owner sent out a video for the sales force to view. The video showed an East Indian man playing golf, pausing to announce to the camera that he was the new owner and that, unless sales increased, layoffs would follow. His last words were “Remember, you are all my employees.” His tone and demeanor were all I needed to know this was not a person I wanted to be associated with.

Top people who had been with the company for years began a mass exodus. I soon followed. The new owner was later accused of misusing corporate funds. He stepped down as CEO and later as chairman after intense pressure from shareholders and regulators. The company was effectively taken out of his control.

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