"Getting Out and Staying Out of Debt"---the last book of Don Sheehan

I have written in the past of Don Sheehan, the Dale Carnegie salesman---a world champion award winner. His first two books were "Shut Up and Sell," and "The Price Book." Few know of the last book.

In two short years, I had participated in most all the seminars that Don offered. For the record, my wife, Sue, even attended sales training. Don told me he was working on his third book, "Getting and Staying out of Debt." It was a "tell all" book, and I looked forwarded to seeing it in print.

Then the call. He had a heart attack on a flight from New York. In a day he was gone.

I called his widow a month later and asked whether I could see the manuscript of his book, "Getting and Staying Out of Debt." She said I was welcome to review it.

In the book, Don told the nitty gritty of his days in the sales business, and the world wide travel, the huge audiences booked at large well known hotels. The fame.

Then he told the truth. About the debt. About the overspending that almost ended his career in sales. One day came the light----He and his wife talked it over and changed the way they did---well everything.

The truth as he told it in the book was that "overspending" was the death of salesmen. The death of marriages. The death of families and dreams. At the very pinnacle of success the biggest salesmen were losing everything.

He told the story about the "mortgage burning party" that he invited all the relatives and friends to, where he burned the mortage to their home in Richfield, Mn. And, he encouraged everyone to celebrate paying the individual debt off. And making it a family tradition. He also asked us to invite him to our own party.

So. The last book was the one I had wished I had read sooner. The one book most never read. And the best.