[fdjake]

I thank you Sir for your comments!!

I can be a little rough around the edges....No doubt about it. And I sure as hell ain't no writer, so maybe some of it gets lost between my pea sized brain and the keyboard.

When I talked with Tom yesterday it was a nice conversation, we had some laughs and I respect the guy for sending me his number. People like that make the effort worth while.

Thank you for the follow up on Howard....The guy changed my life....I had no idea how important that meeting would be to my future. It was one of those times you look back on and literally SEE the fork in the road you were standing at. Once you establish yourself and don't need to work as hard anymore, the FUN is in passing along the knowledge and watching others benefit from it.

That's what Howard did for me and I'll never forget it. He called it "FRIEND RAISING." Even his name for it was inspiring.

And GMAC did a debt swap to avoid bankruptcy PROCEEDINGS.....But make no mistake, they were absolutely and completely BANKRUPT. That debt swap allowed them to become a BANK HOLDING COMPANY (they changed the name from GMAC to Ally Financial) which in turn allowed them to access federal bailout money!! As soon as the ink was dry on the bond holders approval they bellied up to the government trough. The US tax payer STILL owns 74% of this "business" and we're all on the hook to the tune of $14 BILLION as of 2013.
What ever Howard owed when he closed his businesses wouldn't pay ONE DAYS INTEREST on the $14 BILLION "Ally Financial" owes. So the bankrupt, no longer in existence, GMAC's opinion of Howard Van Bortel means about as much to me as some of the brilliant commentary made here.

Howard Van Bortel passed away July 17th, 2011. He was one in a million. I owe him a debt that could never be repaid. I was 27 years old when I met him and knew NOTHING about business. He called me WEEKLY after our meeting to encourage me and give me PRICELESS insights into what a customer really wants. His ideas were amazing, his enthusiasm was endless and he LOVED seeing a "new guy" make it!!

I simply wanted to do what Howard did for me......SHARE

I have actually received numerous PM's from people here who THANKED ME for this post. One member even went as far as to explain the BS comments made to me as the reason he doesn't post much. What a shame.