In the last three months, I learned a lot about me, my life and the people and things that are part of it on a day to day basis.

My life and the life of SoundBroker.com are non separable. I love them both and do whatever I need to do to make both the best that they can be. I am honored that you are reading my words and even more honored when I think of the people that allow my staff and I the opportunity to assist them when buying or selling what it is that we buy and sell for them.

If there was only one thing (there isn't one there are many) that would stand out as the most important aspect of my life, it would be my integrity. Thus in turn my word. Without keeping my word, my life would be meaningless. It is because of that fact, I take the responsibility that I must safeguard the money that is in trusted to me and insure that the buyer gets what they paid for and the seller gets the agreed upon price paid to them in a timely manner.

Most of the gear my company SoundBroker.com sells is over $1,000 and sales can run as high as a few hundred thousand dollars. Or in other words, we are not talking about chump change, we are talking about real hard earned dollars. So it is with great pride and no hesitation that I can report, since the day I started SoundBroker.com in1997, that every seller has received their money in a timely manner. To take that statement one step further, when someone new asks me for references, my reply is for them to talk to anyone that they have respect for and ask them about their experience with SoundBroker.com. Odds are that if they are a player in this industry, they have had a positive experience with me.

So on January 25th this year, when I was physically brought to my knees in the most horrific attack of body pain I have ever experienced in my 61 years, thanks to two herniated disks in my lower back, I persevered and did everything in my power to maintain a sense of being, as well as my desire to rise above the pain and fulfill my obligations to SoundBroker.com , it's members and my staff.

The last three months have been extremely hard on my body and soul. I have learned many lessons and experienced the most trying time of my life. In and out doctor's offices, pain pills and the loss of my mobility, friends that turned out not to be friends, and the fear of the known and the unknown.

Throughout it all, I hung in there and now as the pain subsides and my life is returning back into my control, or at least back to the point of lack of pain on a moment to moment basis, I look back and realize that my focus on doing the right thing by my members never once wavered. No matter how great the pain, no matter how much all I wanted to do was go to bed and sleep it off, the fact remains, I toughed it out, focused, and accomplished my goal of providing the best customer service for my customers/members.

In closing, the number one reality that shone through this whole experience is a lesson that I learned ions ago, and that lesson of life is this: The only thing in life that we are in control of, is how we react to what happens to us. There was nothing that I could have done to avoid going through the pain and suffering, all I could do was react.

I am proud of myself for being proactive, positive and determined to get my health back while keeping my life's priorities in order.