by Patricia Gilliam

Created on: November 04, 2008   Last Updated: November 16, 2008

I remember the first time I read a psychology magazine that said more people have a fear of public speaking than they do of death. Some people find that odd. I try to look on the positive side that maybe more people have peace about death than most people realize.

Lately my life has not been so peaceful. This weird guy keeps showing up at my real estate investment seminars. At first I thought he was just interested in material and wanted to hear it twice. I started worrying around the 4th time. Tonight may be the 10th time.

The thing is he always leaves before I finish, so I've never even spoken to him once. He's always in the back, looking around at the people around him. He doesn't seem to speak to anyone else either. Sometimes I worry about the young women who come alone, and I've put my small staff on alert to make sure they make it back to their cars.

It's fifteen minutes until eight. I watch the audio guys adjust my wireless hand mic so there's no feedback. A small crowd has already come into the room, but no sign of the mystery man. I find myself relaxing slightly, smile to myself, and go around the room to shake a few hands. These introductory seminars always result in enough income to make them worth it, mainly because I don't try to mess people over with some "get-rich-quick" scheme. Most of my clients already have the cash to do these deals, and I'd like to think my advice is well worth the money.

"Do you need some water, Deb?" Greg asked after I was finished meeting everyone.

Greg is kind of a jack-of-all trades, from my website to cover design of my books to operating the product table at the seminars-my mother keeps saying I should marry him, but we're just friends.

"Sure."

I stand in the back of the room again and review my notes. I basically have the core of everything memorized, but with the latest housing situation I try to open with the current market conditions in our area. Greg comes back and places the water on the podium ahead of me, and I walk up to the front.

The words roll off so easily now that I'm already thinking ahead as I'm talking. It wasn't like this at first, but practice helps. People who come to these things aren't coming to see you fail, and they're very forgiving even when the unexpected happens.

I finish introducing myself and turn around to write my website on the marker board. Turning around, I nearly drop the marker and stop mid-sentence.

There he is-not in the back, but on the corner of the front row! How did he get there so

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