Chapter 65

The house seemed to come alive at six this morning. There was a stream of people going to the gym and out to the pool for some laps. The wives and Mika were going with the men to see the new buildings and offices today. My ladies would be busy checking on market activity since they had stayed away for a couple of days.

It took both the limo and the Bentley to get us to the office and then up to the North LA office. The partners all enjoyed the morning tour that I let Georgia lead. The sales group was excited by the hundred and four sales brought in from the developments and listings. Matt said that he had hired another even dozen good salespeople who would be going through his sales methods school this week.

We walked over to the condo office, and were greeted by a great Foxworth welcome. Danny grinned and said, “Come back to sales and let Chica tell you how they did this weekend,” to the large group that invaded her space.

Chica was standing in front of her three sales secretaries, checking on how the sales from the weekend were being processed. The smiling Foxworth said to me and all the visitors, “We had a great weekend, Brad. We sold thirty-one listings, added to nineteen country club estate custom sales, and nine from our other condo development. Can you believe that we had fifty-nine sales? I don’t have all the numbers yet, but the average is going to be way up there.”

I began applauding so that the visitors would give the sales group a hand as well. I told all the home office people, “See what happens when you put the right people in as leaders? We’ve decided to build a third floor on this building because we’re going to need a huge amount of space to handle all the management responsibilities for these condominiums. Our architect, Ken, has already submitted and received the permits.”

I gave Chica a hug, and another to Danny, on the way out as we headed up to the North LA office.

The ride up to Mooney LA North was filled with excitement after hearing about all the successes. Kurt said, “So what’s your commission going to be on all the sales from those two offices?”

“A lot from the Hollywood office, but I’ll only get the Regional’s commission off the condo operation. Danny is going to be the one to receive the Manager’s commission. Chica is going to get more than Danny for the sales, but Danny gets commission off the decorators, architects, title office, and financing. She hasn’t developed her insurance office yet, and doesn’t have an opportunity to sell pools or landscaping in condos. I think she’ll do alright, as will Chica. She’s going to be a crazy woman when we get the City Center project going. She’ll have multiple sales, title, and finance groups. I think the two can handle it all, but it will be a challenge and you guys are going to have to stand back and hold your breath when they start making huge commissions. They will deserve them, though, as they are going to be managing about a thousand people. I’m trying to teach them how to bust their supervision areas up so that they have people doing their work for them.”

Kelly and Conestoga were in the lobby when we arrived. Kelly knew everyone except Kurt and his wife. All the people from Indy knew Conestoga because her dad had always taken the family to Indianapolis every summer to show off the home office.

The new Office Manager walked the group through a reverse tour, starting at the Finance office that was strangely busy for an office that had just opened. The Accounting Manager handed Kelly a stack of papers that she glanced at and smiled. Our next stop was the swimming pool office where the Manager was showing several designs to a couple. We went down to the Title office from there, where three clerks were preparing closings while the Manager was looking over a closing package. The woman in charge pointed at a closed door on a closing room and said, “We picked up a few outside closings from other realtors in the area. I think we’re going to be busy.”

We walked past the Decorators’ office that was empty except for a secretary. She told us all the decorators were out visiting new customers.

I should have known Kelly that had set us up for something crazy. We walked into the Sales office that had the planned forty desks, four sales secretaries’ desks, and the Sales Manager’s office. The Sales Manager’s office was empty, but the man was talking to a salesman while going over some contracts. He looked up at Kelly and pointed to the huge white boards hung on the wall. The header read ‘Monday’ at the top, with six sales already listed. That’s when Kelly began handing out a sheet of paper to each of the visitors. The smiling beauty said, “As you can see, this is a successful working office although it’s our first official day in business. This past weekend that I included Friday in this week’s report, the current staff of twenty-eight salespeople brought in forty-three listings. They also brought in nineteen sales in our three developments, which includes one sale of fourteen million in our prestigious development. We also sold nine pre-owned homes. We are actually closing one of our pre-owned homes today because it is a cash deal and the property was a flip for the seller, so all the documentation was already prepared. We’ll have another closing for one of our inventory homes tomorrow. Twenty-eight sales for a brand new office.”

Kelly waved us back to the lobby, and said, “We’re shooting for a hundred to a hundred fifty a week until we can really get cooking. What do you think, Brad, will our numbers work?”

Ken said it for all of us. “Your performance is unmatched, Kelly. We are all amazed that you have such instant success. We will all pull for you in the same way we did for Brad when he came to LA and began making it successful.”

Kelly said, “I learned from the best, and hope to continue to learn from him. He says that he’s still going to use me to check on other offices so that I don’t lose my perspective about what makes a Mooney office successful.”

I gave my new North LA Office Manager a hug and told the visitors that we needed to get to the airport. Everyone was effusive with praise for Kelly and her office. I knew this was going to be the beginning of something very good.

We drove directly to the Burbank airport to catch the Citation X and go to San Jose. Sheila had a minibus meet us and drive us to the nearby office. We had added the digital banner to this building to attract more attention as San Jose doesn’t allow large signs for businesses.

Sheila and Andy were in the lobby waiting for us. Sheila, Forest, and Ann shared a family hug before Sheila said, “You’ll have to excuse the telephone and computer guys; they’re bringing all the equipment in this week. We’ll be able to try and do our final training here in the office next week if all goes well. My new Sales Manager is giving a class on obtaining pre-owned listings today, and will then begin one on how we sell homes in developments. The Title and Finance Managers are out soliciting business from other realtors. By us sending them together, realtors may think that they have to use our title office to close a home we provide the financing for. Come take a look at the office and furniture we’ve selected.”

I was excited about this office, and had Sheila show us her advertising folder. She even remarked, “I’ve learned to be prepared with all the numbers and my ad folder if Brad’s coming. He knows what works and checks each market so that we’re using the right media. I can’t wait for our opening and the first weekend of sales in our developments. Brad has everything ready for us and me. My advertising that begins this weekend will be some teaser ads, and then the following week will have some radio teasers followed by TV, and then more newsprint before the opening week. We’ll have our new salespeople selling pre-owned listings and gathering more by then.”

Andy told all the visitors, “I’ve brought some Foxworth folks over to help liven this office up. I’ve warned them all that there should be no practical jokes for a couple of months. I’m sure it’s going to be crazy here. Brad was hoping that we would run out of family to send out to other locations, but he’s brought it on himself by taking Chica and Danny to LA. Those two immediately imported half dozen cousins to work with them, of course. The problem with the Foxworths is that they keep making more.”

That brought a great laugh, but I knew how true it was. Andy handed out some sheets of paper and told the visitors, “Please look at the numbers for my mini-region. San Francisco is really coming on, and will do very well with the new high-end development. It’s brought the quality of listings way up. Sacramento has been growing in volume the entire last year and is now rivaling Oakland, although my office is really increasing in dollar volume. All three of my current offices are bringing in enough volume that the home office should be swimming in cash. The money will be that much deeper when Sheila gets her new office open.”

Sheila said, “I wanted to be the first female Office Manager and I am. I’m now going to have to struggle to beat the numbers that Kelly’s going to produce, and then there are those cagey Foxworth girls running the condominium office in LA. There will constantly be competition.”

All the visitors were standing in the lobby now. Forest said, “Well, all you partners; you’ve seen part of the future. Now let’s go home and make sure that we can handle it all.”

We rode back to the airport and flew back to Burbank. The limousines met us and we drove to the house instead of the office. I called in to make sure that Georgia was doing okay. She told me that she had handled everything so far, but thought that we could use a couple more Assistants because she was spending a lot of time helping Danny, and Kelly was constantly calling to make sure that she was doing okay. I might need to replace Kelly and let her be an Assistant Regional Manager. Georgia was doing fine though, and I didn’t want to take anything from her.

The partners and Forest were sitting in the saloon after having called into the home office to get the pulse of the office there after learning of Dan’s death. The e-mails the partners and Forest wrote seemed to calm any panic from the staff there. Mika wrote a heartfelt e-mail to the staff to advise them that she would be assuming Dan’s responsibilities in the future and would appreciate all the help and advice she could get.

Kurt asked, “I want to go to Hawaii and enjoy being with your family there, Brad. How about we all meet in Hawaii for a partners’ meeting two weeks from now? I’m thinking that we’re going to provide you with a consultant position for now so that you can continue to collect these outlandish commissions as Office and Regional Manager out here. I know that you’re planning to give it all away, but you haven’t done it yet and we really need your oversight. We’ll talk some more about a partnership when you get this all done. We’ll collect from your commissions and probably have you paid in full within a couple of months. Do you know that’s where all our money for financing homes comes from? We get a good group of loans together, and then we sell them for a profit and start all over again. That’s how we always have money to loan.”

We almost decided to play a round of golf, but decided to stay in. Ken asked, “Do you think our pilots would mind if we flew back to Indy tonight? I’d like to be in the office in the morning. I think Forest and Kurt have a lot to do there, as well. How about it, Mika, do you want to stay here for a few more days, or come back to Indianapolis with us.”

Mika was sitting with Dot, holding her hands. Dot smiled and said, “I’m ready. I’m for it if we can go back now.”

There was a frenzy of activity with the maids as they all packed their clothing. We all met in the saloon and had Charles fix us all something that would relax them for the flight. Kurt raised his glass, and said, “Although this was a short visit, it was one that told of a great future. Good luck to all until we meet in Hawaii next month.”

We were all vocal for a few seconds before drinking the drinks we had in hand.

I watched the limousine and Bentley go down the driveway, into the street, and then out the main gate. With an arm around my waist, Jules said, “You’re one manipulative motherfucker. They were all eating from your hand. They would name you CEO if you’d let them. They’re in so much awe at what you’ve done out here and how much your commission is that they just can’t believe it. They don’t know how hard you worked to make all this happen, and they don’t see the past effort now that it’s coming together. It doesn’t make a difference, Brad. Hideki and Yuu, who wanted to come, are the people who it’s important to be sure they know how you work, but I told them that you needed to handle the home office people in your own way. You know how much my family wants you to work with them on their projects.”

“I’ll try to get across to Hideki and Yuu next time we’re with them together that I want to make Mooney a winner and hit a real home run with some of the projects we’re doing. They’ll know the company is doing well when they receive the amount we borrowed from them back with interest. Yuu knows what I’ve been doing, and has his men watching me.”

Katie said, “How about we all go to the Rack tonight to watch Brad kick some butt on the tables? I can get a couple of games in and maybe pick up a couple of bucks.”

Jules was laughing as she said, “You’re going to compete for a twenty, fifty, or even a hundred, after I saw you put up over a million to get all that IPO and then selling it off a little at a time for a profit today. What’d you make today, a hundred grand? Probably closer to a half million, and yet you’re excited about winning a twenty dollar pool match.”

I was laughing, and Katie said, “You don’t understand. I have a rep that has to be kept up. Everyone wants to be the one who kicks my butt. It’s just like me beating Brad. I know it’s not possible, but I also know that I have him by the balls if he screws up just once. This is totally different than working the phones and computers in the markets.”

I was laughing as I said, “Come on, Katie, loosen up and shoot a couple of games with me here, and then we’ll go make monkeys of those guys at the Rack.”

We shot half dozen games, and I tried to show her how to make a couple of shots, but Katie was bull-headed and insisted on doing it her way. She was good, real good, but could still learn to shoot some shots with a little more push or English.

Mitsi and Sumi both came with us to the Rack. Brindle drove the limo so that we would have plenty of room. We were early enough to do some practicing while Katie and Jules were picking up some cheap matches. The team captain said she was hoping that I would be there as we were playing a team with a very strong skill level nine. She said that she would see if we could make a deal to play us first because a couple of skill level nines could take a while to decide a game.

I watched the guy practice with his teammates, and he ran three tables. That didn’t help his teammates get any practice. I always tried to give my teammate opponents some shots to warm up with, and then abandon the table for the rest of the team to practice.

Katie came to me and said, “Look at the guy strutting around because he could beat some threes and fours. He thinks he’s going to clip your wings and make you look bad real quick. I think you can play your so-so game and beat this showoff.”

We did play each other the first match. The lag told the story as he was hyper and pushed way too hard. APA 9- ball doesn’t give a slumping opponent a chance. No alternating breaks just that you break if you win the rack.

I broke and ran the first three racks. I didn’t pay attention to his rack, and he had a loose ball on the fourth rack. I did sink a ball but was going to be tied up on the one ball. I could do a two rail corner shot that would kick the one out toward the bottom of the table and not give the guy an easy way to get back into the game.

The guy was good and was able to sink the one off a kick, but he didn’t leave himself any way to get to the two. He actually helped me by trying as he separated a couple of balls that were going to be a problem. I was able to finish the table and watched to make sure the balls were together and the rack was tight. The guy cocked the rack, so I had him re-rack and that made him angry. He was going down the tubes fast.

I was on my game and finished the match 75 to 1, which translated to a 20-0 match. My teammates were all excited with the first win and went on to win the night bigger than usual.

Katie had won three straight matches, and Jules had won one and lost one. They were all in the lower dollar area. The guy I just beat in league play wanted a high dollar match, and said that he wanted a best of nine for five bills. I tried to talk him out of it as I kept telling him that I was on tonight, but he insisted on five hundred for a best of nine match. It would be with alternating breaks this time.

I won the lag again and ran the table. He ran his break and I ran my next. It was then that it fell apart for the guy. He screwed up the break and left me with an easy table. I broke, ran the next, and he never recovered. I tried to wave off his five Benjamins, but the guy stuffed them in my hand. He said, “I was told not to fuck with you, but I really thought you were beatable. I’m sending some really great players your way, so be ready.”

Jules thought it was funny the way people fell to my psychological playing as much as my ability. Guys just can’t get control of their emotions when they think their pool playing masculinity is threatened.

We enjoyed some extended play time Monday night on into Tuesday morning. I was up early, exercised, and ready to go to work by seven. I ate breakfast with Sumi who had exercised with me, and we went to the office.

It’s always good to be the first one in because you can make coffee in the two break rooms. Sumi was at her desk in the back of the room and I was at my desk talking to Dot in the home office when our folks began coming in. Georgia had an attractive young lady with her, and directed her to sit in her desk side chair. My new secretary came in, smiled at everyone, and said, “Good morning, Brad, Georgia, Sumi, and Alice, nice to see you here. She put her purse in a desk drawer and turned her electronics on. She used her cell phone to check the time on the telephone system, brought a yellow pad in front of her, and picked up her handset.

I was going to say something, but my first Assistant put a finger to her lips to signal me to be quiet. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Debbie wrote down a couple of messages and then looked up at Georgia smiling. She handed Georgia a couple of pink message slips and brought one to me. Debbie sweetly asked, “Can I get coffee for any of you? I’m going after some and I can smell it, so it should be ready.”

Sumi, Georgia, and I all nodded as she left the office. Georgia said, “I like this one. It’s a minute before eight and this office is operational.”

Debbie brought us all coffee and sat at her desk. She looked up at Georgia and sweetly said, “I know from my notes what to do when Connie gives me her report, but not before then.”

I wanted to make some smart remark that we use the time before eight thirty for an orgy. I thought better of it, but I could tell that Georgia had an equally smart remark ready. I told my new secretary, “You really don’t have to be ready to go to work before eight thirty. That’s when the bell rings and all the mice run around getting and giving information. Some of us come in a little early to make coffee in the two breakrooms and get ready for the day. Since Indianapolis is on Eastern Time, we’re three hours earlier than they are, so we usually field their e-mails before our opening bell. We use this time to update our Assistant files and make any comments in the Regional files. You need to make sure that you list Georgia as my first Assistant now, and you as my secretary. Since Texas is mostly Central Time, two hours later, you can use that time to find out what’s new and shaking down there. Talk to all three offices there every morning and listen for anything that might be going on. However, you can wait for eight thirty here to do any of that, Debbie.”

My new secretary looked up at me and said, “I talked to Kelly, Joan, and Rebecca this past weekend, and they all told me what you just told me. I know they were all good secretaries, but I want to be the best. This is the place for me to get there if I want to be an Assistant one day.”

Alec came in to sit in one of my side chairs, with Ken rolling in after her. She said, “What’s this with Mika e-mailing me to come to the home office to help her decorate her office? What else have you set me up for, Brad?”

“Honestly, Alec, I didn’t think she would call for you so fast. She knows of your success with office decorations, so it’s not out of the ordinary for your advice to be requested. Call her and fly out there to see what she wants. Have her check with the other partners to see if they might need some of Ken’s expertise while you’re there. Go make your calls and let the receptionist know what you’ll be up to this week. Have the hotel reservations reflect Ken accompanying you if he’s going with you.”

Alec winked at me as she left. Georgia knew what to look for and was smiling at Alec’s back as she left. Debbie caught it and softly said, “So is there something good going on between Alec and Ken?”

Georgia said, “A whole lotta’ good.”

I looked at Georgia, and asked, “Am I supposed to ask to be introduced to your guest?”

Georgia blushed and said, “Alice Goodman, this is my boss and the Manager of this and many other offices. Brad, Alice Goodman, a recent addition to our house. I was waiting for the right time to ask about letting Alice interview for the job that will be available in Sales. I think she will complement the girls in there now.”

“You don’t have to ask me. Take Alice back to Sales and tell Matt to consider her for the opening he’s going to have. I’d bet he’ll take her.”

I looked up Don Patrick’s number in my contacts list. I asked him when he answered, “Can you come into the office so that we can figure out some form of contract so that you can have some security? You’re going to be an employee, so you’ll have all the good benefits our people have.”