Susan G. Arledge

Toyota’s relocation to Texas will, at a minimum, cost the city of Torrance about $1.2 million in annual tax revenue and affect about 3,000 employees. “When you look at the whole package, it’s difficult to be a business here,” said Torrance Mayor Frank Scotto.

For those of you in real estate who don’t share my commitment/compulsion/obsession with the Winter Olympics (or, as it's now being called, the Warm Olympics), here is a recap from week one.

When I started in the real estate business, the first piece of unsolicited advice I received came on a card taped to my phone. It read: “Successful people form the habit of doing what unsuccessful people don’t want to do.” It sounds like simple advice, but ask any athlete how many repetitions it took to perfect that swing or to master that shot, and you realize that success in any field is all about the repetitions.

I don’t think that I can endure one more interviewee asking me how long it takes to make a lot of money in this business and in the next sentence, asking if we work on Friday, as his bungee-jumping team has Friday jumps planned for the rest of 2013. Well, future barista, you probably won’t be a good fit here.

I learned the hard way that if you don't play golf, your commercial real estate career can suffer, and that I would be much better armed to achieve my life goals if I learned to play golf. So, with a Yoda-like approach, I determined I would “Do. Or do not. There is no try,” and “do” golf.