Right about the same time Jimi Hendrix recorded Purple Haze, the Vietnam War was at it’s peak and Wilt Chamberlain set an NBA record for sinking his 35th consecutive field goal, Anthony Nitz was ready to enter the world in an exciting way.

In early morning Chicago rush hour traffic, the yet to be born Anthony Nitz was being rushed to a Chicago area hospital via Checkered Cab. Upon arrival, Anthony’s mother who was in full labor was pulled from the back of the cab by a couple of nuns, put on a gurney and swept into an elevator on the way to L&D.

Well, Anthony was tired of waiting and his patience wore thin. Before the elevator could reach it’s destination, he made his grand appearance much to the surprise of the Nuns escorting him. If any tune was playing on the Muzak it probably would have been “Wild Thing” by Bobby Senator which was quickly climbing the charts at the time.

Wait, there’s a twist to this story. It wasn’t until Anthony was in his mid 30’s that he found out that none of this was actually true. Yes I was born in a Chicago hospital but that’s about it. There were no Nuns, no crazy Checker Cab driver and definitely no slippery babies bouncing around the inside of an elevator.

This is my Sneaky Mom.

You see, my dear mother played one of the greatest pranks on me that lasted decades and she didn’t even know it.

We can’t recall the origin of the story but somewhere along the way I was told that I was delivered in an elevator by two Nuns. The best part…I believed it hook line and sinker. When I was younger, I never talked about it but as I got older I started to share the story with friends and acquaintances alike.

It wasn’t until I was in my mid 30’s that I was performing in a musical for our church and I was asked to provide a bio for the program. Of course I provided the abbreviated version and voila, it was now in print.

I’m not sure if my mother actually heard a single word or note played during that musical because she was for a while mortified that it was printed in the program. She recalled the story from decades ago but thought it had faded over time. We had a really good laugh about it (and still do) and I thank my Mom for giving me such a great and sometimes odd sense of humor and inadvertently playing the best prank on me ever.

After serving time in the military, I got out and took on a couple of jobs. One in manufacturing, one in office admin and then finally, I had a friend who worked for a messenger service that delivered documents for Title Insurance companies.  The documents they delver were for real estate sales and loan transactions. I was placed in one of the title insurance companies as a messenger desk manager. I did really well at it but I knew that wasn’t going to be my life.

I started noticing that there was a guy who worked in the “Farming” department which in real estate speak is the same thing as the “Marketing” department. I didn’t know a thing about computers but I didn’t care. I wanted to work in the marketing department. Every time I mentioned it, the management just laughed as if to say, “there’s no way someone like YOU could rung a marketing department” but I didn’t buy it.  I kept on them.  One day during the beginning phases of a real estate meltdown, the guy running the marketing department announced he was moving to another company. Much to my surprise, the branch president (the one who kept laughing at me) approached me and asked if I wanted a shot.  Heck yes!  I wasn’t going to pass this up.  They even offered me a significant increase in pay.

Hey, what do you want? We’re talking over 20 years ago!

Only problem like I said,  I didn’t know a thing about computers.  And…as it turns out the guy whose position I was taking was pretty much a jerk and had no intention of showing me how to run any of the programs or what the job entailed.  No problem, I’ll figure it out.

Fast forward 6 months past the 6 days a week of 7am to midnight grinding.

I had implemented more revolutionary concept for that position than no one had even considered.  I became a very highly valued individual.

I was recruited to another title insurance company with a 50% pay increase to oversee all of their western region marketing divisions.  I was then recruited to run a national lenders marketing department at double the pay.  My career was hopping!

After almost a year with this lender, doing great things and watching the company revenue grow exponentially I thought it would be a good time to ask for a car allowance. Nothing exorbitant but just something to get me out of my old pick up truck.  I knew I was making a great salary at the time but I learned a long time ago “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”.

So I walked into the boss’ office and pushed the piles of cash aside just to get to his desk and asked the question.  Again we were only talking probably about a $250/month car allowance.  Thankfully, those fateful words came out of his mouth that changed everything.

He said:  “Anthony, you’re at your cap.  There’s no circumstances where we could pay even a dollar more”.

I was disappointed at first and for a couple of hours kinda sad.  But that was short lived because I had a thought that entered my head.  I said to myself “How is it that someone can ever determine that I have a limited value?”  I determined that no one had that much control over me and I wasn’t going to stand for it.  Now don’t misunderstand.  I wasn’t mad at the boss at all.  In fact, it was probably the very best thing he could have ever done for me.

It really started to bother me.  He basically said that there is a limit on my value and that I wouldn’t be worth any more than some arbitrary number he picked.  NOT COOL but COOL!

NOT COOL because I didn’t like the idea that someone else thought they could control my destiny.

COOL because suddenly it was like a new level of awareness that came over me that set me on another course.  It was like my mind exploded with the realization of new opportunities that I wasn’t aware of before.

Just think about it.  If he had given me the car allowance, I likely would have continued working in the job and might still be there today thinking I had a cap on my worth.  But instead I decided to become my own boss.

It couldn’t have been more than a week gone by that these thoughts were constantly swirling in my head.  It was the old cliche of the Devil on one shoulder saying “You better keep the job because you are probably going to fail if you go out on your own” and the Angel on the other saying “You can do it.  You are focused, driven and capable of being your own boss and succeeding greatly!”

I was nervous.  I was about to take a huge leap of faith.  That day, I walked into my boss’ office and gave him my 2 week notice.  He asked what I was going to do.  I told him, “Sell Loans” and do you know what he did next?

He laughed out loud.  It was a condescending laugh too.  I was a little surprised by this since he normally was kind to people.  It was as if he was saying that I couldn’t do it.

I nervously went home that night to my wife cooking a wonderful meal and waited until the time was right to share with her the good news!

There didn’t seem to be a time that was right.  So, I just said it, “Honey, guess what? I just quit my job and now I’m on commission only.”

I think she literally got dizzy and almost passed out when she realized I was serious.  After all, I was making a high 5 figure salary and for a 20 something without a college degree that was a big deal.

After she gained her composure and we chatted about it some more, she did something amazing.  It was as if she figuratively rolled up her sleeves, put on some work gloves and said “Let’s do this!”  She knew it was going to be the next phase in our lives and it was going to take some focus, hard work and dedication.  Best part was that she wasn’t just behind me supporting me, she locked elbows with me and worked right alongside me.

They actually cut me loose in one week but with two weeks of pay and I began my journey as an independent sales person. Well, that’s what I thought.  In actuality, I was a relationship manager.

Yeah it really is George Clooney but in wax form! LOL

I learned early in my selling career that it was all about the relationship and I mean ALL about the relationship.  Sure, I would close plenty of deals without getting very close to some of my clients.  But, I quickly realized that the people that I did work on the relationship with were way more valuable to my business financially than I ever thought.

Funny thing was that I didn’t start with that plan of becoming everyone’s buddy.  I just started hanging out with and taking good care of the people I liked.  It all just blossomed from there.

In no time I was in a constant battle for the top two production spots in our company and stayed there until I left about a year later.

I went to a larger bank and consistently stayed in the top 5% of loan officers out of about 1,500.

After a while there I realized I was really good at generating real estate leads so I decided to move into real estate sales.  I went to a local company where I was always at the top of my office.

I moved again to another more influential company and likewise stayed in the top 3 consistently.

Everywhere I went I always ranked in the top but it wasn’t entirely because of the endless hours I spent or even becoming a student of my craft.

As I mentioned previously, about 90% of the business I generated was through the relationships I built.