Out of nowhere, she gets a knock on the door.
When my mom opens up the door, the gentleman on the other end,
he hands my mom these legal documents. She starts flipping through the pages,
and then she realises that the property is going into foreclosure.
But my mom can’t understand why because she’s been paying the landlord
every single month on time.
She picks up the phone and she calls them up.
And she goes “Hello.
Oui, this is Marie. Yes I received the paper in the mail
it says the property is going into foreclosure.
But I don’t understand. Every month I pay the landlord on time.
Every month I pay him. I don’t understand why
the property is going into foreclosure.” The lady on the line
could tell that my mom sincerely did not understand what was going on.
She said, “Oh, Marie, even though you've been paying the landlord
money every single month on time, the landlord has a mortgage.
The mortgage is attached to the property. Because of that,
the bank has the right to foreclose. And so ma'am,
the property is gonna go to foreclosure.
And so my mom asked her, “do you take that,
maybe I can go to the foreclosure sale?
Whoever buys the property, I will be a good tenant for them.
I will stay in the property, I will pay them the rent.
Please, do you think that they will let me stay?”
And you know what the lady told my mom?
She said “Ma'am, it's not even worth you showing up.
Whoever buys that property is not gonna want to keep
your little restaurant in there. So my mom
is devastated. She's like “this is how I take care
of my 2 boys. I got all my life savings
into this property.” And so about 2 weeks later,
my mom says “you know what? I know that sometimes
you don't just have to listen to what people tell you.”
There are some people that are gonna try to talk you out of your dream.
They’re gonna tell you “don’t even show up”.
But my mom said “at the minimum, I’m gonna at least try to show up,
and see if I can convince whatever big time real estate investor
if there’s any way that they’ll let me stay in the property.”
Sometimes people are gonna try to talk you out of your dream.
And you gotta look them right in the eye,
and say “hey, that’s okay.
I’m just gonna keep showing up.” And so 2 weeks later,
my mom shows up to the foreclosure sale.
She's expecting a roomful of investors.
But to her surprise, there's only 2 people there.
The auctioneer and the representative from the bank.
Now, before my mom could realise what's going on,
the auctioneer steps up to the podium, he says “ladies and gentlemen,”
we’re about to start a bidding process on 540 West Atlantic Avenue.
If you're here to bid on the property, please raise your hand.”
And so naturally, the representative from the bank
is standing over here. She raises her hand.
My mom, who had no intentions on bidding on the property,
doesn't even know how this thing works.
My mom decided to take an act of faith,
and raised her hand. Martin Luther King
said that “faith is taking the first step, even when you can’t see
the entire staircase.” The auctioneer said “very well,
we're gonna start the bidding process at $30,000.
Can I get a $30,000?” The representative from the bank
is standing here and says, “$30,000”.
My mom, calm and collected,
doesn’t even know how this works, goes, “$35,000”.
It gets over here to the bank’s rep, bank’s rep says “$36,000”.
My mom, still in the game, “$37,000”.
This goes on and on. Now they're in the 40s.
Now they’re in the 50s. Now they’re in the 60s.
Now they’re in the 70s. It gets over here to the bank rep.
Bank rep says this, “$74,000”.
My mom, still in the game,
no money, “$75,000”.
It gets over here to the bank rep. Bank rep says,
“$76,000”. Now,
my mom's like, “I might as well have some fun.
I don't have any money anyway. We must be playing with
some monopoly money.” And so my mom,
attitude and all, my mom goes
“$76,500”. But this time, something happens.
The representative from the bank is standing here with a clip pad,
she picks up the clip pad, and she says nothing.
The auctioneer's gotta keep the process going.
He goes “$76,500 going once.” No answer.
He goes “$76,500 going twice.” No answer.
He goes “$76,500 sold.” To who?
My mom. The woman who had no intentions
on bidding on the property. And so my mom is excited,
she won the bid. And then she's like,
“wait a second. I actually have to have the money?”
And so they told her, you got 30 days
to come up with the money. And so my mom would go home.
She pulled out a notepad, and she started writing down the names
of all her friends, and all her family members.
One by one. And she would call them up
and tell them the story. Some would lend her $1,000.
Some would lend her $2,000. Some would lend her $3,000.
Some would lend her $4,000. Some would lend her $5,000.
And she’s 3 days away, and she's still $30,000 short.
And my mom’s thinking, “Maybe,
maybe this isn’t meant to be. I put everything that I have
into this dream.” And then her telephone rings,
and it’s her friend Evoles. And when her friend calls her up,
my mom says, “Evoles, no.
It’s too late. I have 3 days.
I still need $30,000.” Evoles said, “No, Marie, listen.
I know you’ve been calling us. But me and my husband,
we’ve been saving up money to buy a house.
We heard you call us, we heard the voicemails.
Right now we’ve saved up $30,000. We prayed about it,
we talked about it, and we wanna lend you the $30,000.
All my mom could say was “thank you”. And so my mom said thank you.
So my mom would go and get the money from Evoles,
and all of her friends, and all of her family members,
and she would drive over to the bank and get a cashier’s cheque.
She would get back in the car, drive up to Palm Beach,
look at that big, thick cashier’s window, with the little hole at the bottom.
My mom would proudly take that cashier’s cheque,
and slide it through the little hole. And that day,
my mom went from being the tenant, to being the landlord,
all because she was willing
to show up. There are gonna be times
where you’re gonna be wondering, “Why should I keep showing up
and working on my business? Why should I keep at it?
Why should I keep showing up to the conventions?
Why should I keep picking up the phones,
and making the phone calls? Why should I keep
fighting for my goals and fighting for my dreams?”
And what I wanna remind you is that you gotta show up for your life,
regardless of the circumstances. You gotta show up
in spite of the naysayers. You gotta show up
in spite of the conversation going on in your mind.
But here’s what I realise that my mom understood:
That sometimes you gotta be willing to do the things today
that others won’t do, so that you can have the things
tomorrow that others won’t have. Most overnight success takes 15 years.
If you wanna be an overnight success in this business,
make the decision that you’re gonna be here
for the long term. You gotta show up for your life.
Because if (bold & caps)
you (bold & caps) don’t, (bold & caps)
if you don’t, nobody else will.