What would you do if you had a second chance to live?

News Feature
From: Jamaica Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (JAIFA)
Date: 18/01/2010
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AT 'BLAST OFF 2010

FINANCIAL ADVISOR TELLS WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH

DELIVERS LESSONS FOR SUCCESSFUL LIVING

AFTER FACING AND OVERCOMING DEATH

(Excerpts from BLAST OFF Presentation: by Denver Brown)

Edited by Carlton A.Gordon


Guardian Life Sales Representative, Denver Brown, had everyone's attention at the Jamaica Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors' (JAIFA) "BLAST OFF 2010" seminar, Tuesday last (Jan. 5) as he shared with colleagues lessons learned from facing, experiencing and then "cheating" death. Speaking at the annual personal development and motivational seminar, Mr Brown declared:

“We must have felt what it is to die, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life..

" I know what it is like to die. I died for four hours! Three times in my life has death confronted me; however it is the third experience in which I will seek to share with you today, my extra-terrestrial experience, my moment of truth. The moment when all the unanswered questions of what really happens after death were finally answered for me.

"It is very difficult for me to explain my experience. I saw myself surrounded by utter darkness, standing on a black sea. I felt myself drifting towards a bright light, somewhere in the distance. But as I approached this light I noticed something strange. I noticed that I was not fearful or worried of what was happening. It was like all my fears and burdens were now laid to rest. I felt as if I was drifting to my place of utopia, my eternal home.
"Then suddenly, I heard a voice. This voice was different from all the voices that I have heard before. The voice spoke with such command, such clarity. A voice that causes even the mountains to tremble, Denver! Immediately I awoke to find myself lying in a pool of blood, stuck amongst the wreckage of my car. There I was in the middle of the road in a motor vehicle accident, trapped in within the car with no sign of anyone in sight.
"This must be a nightmare, I remembered saying to myself. This cannot be true; Denver Brown in an accident? Not possible! So, I closed my eyes, hoping that everything would just disappear when I reopen them, but the images were the same. The front of my car was smashed in causing the steering wheel to demolish my rib cage. All the car seats excluding the one I sat in were thrown all over the place. Soon, the reality hit me, I was in an accident!
"Like clockwork, the minute I regained consciousness was the minute all the pains I could ever imagine came down upon me. I could not feel my legs, blood oozed from my mouth like a spring in a garden. My hands were barely able to move and my teeth went missing. My friends, again I say to you, he who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. I do not wish for the pains that I felt, to be experience by not even my enemies...
"I was given one year to fully recuperate. I had three broken ribs, seven missing teeth, water running from my right ear as a result of a dislocated jaw, which brought improper balancing. I had post-traumatic syndromes. My bottom lip was like mashed potatoes, my upper palate of my mouth hung down to form another tongue. For days and weeks I laid motionless. Everything I had to do I did same place where .... I could not eat anything insoluble.
.."Like my car I was written off! There was no way one would be able to come back from such an ordeal. It was just not possible!
"Well for me; greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world, because He that is in me can do all things, thus enabling me to do likewise. With this in mind I returned to work. After three months still not fully healed, still without a car, and still having post-traumatic syndromes, I came back!

"I had no choice. It was only about twenty-six months prior to my accident, death came knocking again. I worked in the pharmaceutical industry, an industry I loved dearly but with my asthma, severe sinusitis and bronchitis I had to leave. I had to leave the industry under the advice of my doctor, who kept telling me that I was going to die if I stayed! The day I made the decision to leave was the day I felt that I was really going to die.
"That previous ordeal had drained me financially, so when the accident came, I was left for dead! There was no way possible for me to wait out one year as advised by the doctors.Despite all the encouragements to stay out a little longer, I came back out ready to work. However, still without a car, still in pain and with no money, but determined to succeed, I came back!

"Upon my arrival I was greeted with every agent’s biggest nightmare,” very low persistency or conservation”. I was already defeated, because I knew that in order to earn any commissions, bonus or to qualify for any incentives in any competitions I needed a very good persistency. So, the task was daunting, the challenge was great, but they that put their trust in the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up like wings of an eagle. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Teach me Lord how to wait.

"For four months I worked without pay, reinstating what could have been reinstated. I was focused; I was determined to fulfil my dream as a great entrepreneur. I never prided myself as Og Mandino, the greatest salesman ever, but merely as a successful entrepreneur, a great advisor... I found passion in being a successful entrepreneur rather then a great salesman.

"I learned early that, success is ten times more guaranteed when you pursue your passion. What is your passion? Find it, nourish it, and then pursue it!

"With my passion, I found ways to overcome my challenges. With no car, I began doing joint field work with agents, agreeing to share the commissions where necessary. All I needed was to be in front of a prospect! So anything to get me there was good enough for me. For the pains, I took mediation and periodic breaks from work to rest. This was also necessary as I was still having flashes of the accident, replaying in my mind thus leaving me with constant nervous breakdown and shaking.
"I must admit 2001; the year of my accident was one of the most challenging, years of my life. However, I kept focused. For the entire year, I deliberated did not have a television at home. Every night for that year, I spent planning or practicing my presentation or preparing my prospect list. I believed that if others before me made it, then so can I. I believed that all the training materials provided by the company were years of studies put together for a purpose is for us to succeed. So, if I wanted to make it then all I need to do is master at least one of these programs, and that I did. I studied and mastered The 8 Best Practices of High Performing Sales People Program by Norm Trainor, of The Covenant Group out of Toronto Canada. I implemented every single strategy, one by one, and then soon I was on top of the game.
I qualified for my first persistency bonus, one year of my return to work. The feeling was europhic, especially, when I remembered that it was just a few days before I walked the streets of New Kingston at 11:00pm after my last appointment, crying as I walked to the bus stop, needing to find myself back to Ocho Rios. I cried more with each step, but saying to myself, “this is the last time I will be doing this. This is the last time I will be doing this”. – Thank you God for keeping your word. I remembered needing 20 cases in two weeks, something I have never done before. However, I was not going to allow my pains, my inadequacies to stop me. I was going to get them and that I did! I eventually wrote and settled 20 cases thus qualifying for my first persistency bonus.

"However, the greatest sense of accomplishment came when I first made the Million Dollar Round Table. This was two years after the accident. With less work I was earlier than many, I was there by September. Now, I was being seen as a star. I knew that despite all that was happening around me, success will come. I learnt early that there are three important characteristics of success; discipline, patience and faith. So, if I continue using The 8 Best Practices of High-Performing Salespeople Program and be patient , then with God ,success would come.

"My hope for you today, ladies and gentlemen, is that whatever you came here for, make sure you get it! In the words of the late Jim Rhone, never miss anything. Make sure you get it! Why I say this? Well, I remembered my first Blast off function. .. I will never forget the theme; “Branch Out”. I took it literally, I branched out. I left where I lived with family and move into a fully furnished rented house. With no money, I had to borrow the deposit and the first month’s rent from one of my unit managers, who actually loaned it to me. You see, I need to stay focused, I needed to move. I eventually lived there for seven years, even after I bought my first house.

"Wisdom is the art of knowing what to do overlook. Too often we allow petty things to steal too much of our time and we finish up living for the wrong reasons. If we desire success, then we must find a way to serve the many, because if we help enough people get what they want then we will have what we need.

"As we look forward to a new year, let us all commit to, “securing Jamaica today, tomorrow and forever”. If Jamaica must change, then we must change it. I now give of my time to work with some of the most vulnerable within our society. I chair the CSALT organisation, a charity organisation that helps boys’ ages 11-14yrs who have serious behavioural disorders, to become better leaders and better men for the future. So, make a change today, change someone’s life. Start believing in someone, start believing in yourselves. Believe in your fellow men, that they may someday rise to meet your expectations.

"I encourage you to embrace the future, forget the past. Dare to dream fulfil your destiny! You are here for a purpose; you are here for a reason. No matter where life may take you, it begins with where you are now. So start where you are, claim God’s promise and trust in His words."

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Reference: Carlton A.Gordon: Phone 9273249 *For continued receipt of more emails from us, please reply****
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