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 and began selling. I joined a real estate company run by a local developer. After several years, I was made manager. When I first started, there were few women involved, but over time, women took over the residential market. I didn't feel I could compete with women who enjoyed looking at homes, even on their days off.
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
In 1977, the rate was around 10%, but by 1981, it had risen to 18%. I used to joke with prospects that they could use their credit card to buy an office condo since the interest rates were the same.
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!
Also, had one of the first Mobile phones. That looked similar to this photo.
