Rod Khleif

What Im seeing depresses me. its night and Im floating in the pool of my new custom-built beachfront mansion. The water is aglow with beautiful changing colors. Tens of thousands of dollars of palm trees decorate the view. Splashing in front of me is a large waterfall from the second floor balcony of my 8 million dollar home. Inside, no expense has... been spared, giant custom saltwater aquariums, a grand spiral staircase, extraordinary furnishings The whole thing is a magazine spread of paradise. It took me twenty years to achieve, and only two months to be disillusioned. Im successful by societal standards a thousand times over, but Im a failure at fulfillment. I have the chilling realization that no amount of palm trees or wealth is ever going to make me happy. Somewhere along the line, I made a big mistake. When I was six, my mother, brother and I immigrated from Holland. She moved us to Denver and we lived quite poor. Mom was a live-in housemaid for a man and babysat on the side. But she bought the house across the street with babysitting money. (She was a heroic single mother). She made a $20,000 profit on that home purchase in 3 years. That inspired me to go into real estate at 18. Twenty years later, Id amassed a 50 million dollar real estate fortune; 800 homes, multiple apartment complexes, and my beachfront mansion. a personal one and a professional one. My mom, being the proud Dutch woman that she is, would send me to school in leather shorts and wooden shoes from Holland. Immigrating was hard for me. I didnt speak English, and my mom, being the proud Dutch woman that she is, would send me to school in leather shorts and wooden shoes from Holland. It goes without saying that Id get beat up a lot. And when bullies chased me home from school, my mother chased them off with a fly swatter, so Id get beat up and ridiculed again the next day. So my whole adult life Id done everything to prove to the world that Im good enough. Id been totally focused on me. It was all Rod, Rod, Rod. psychological bottom in ...Read More