Born on the island of Jamaica in dirt-poor poverty, Sherwin Presley Brown was blessed with the personality, great work ethic, and positive attitude that rocketed him to unimaginable heights of success. Through the support and guidance of hard-working parents and siblings, Sherwin is living proof that honest effort and great expectations are truly the path that will lead you anywhere you want to go. The second of nine children born to Thomas and Joyce Brown, Sherwin realized his boyhood dream of coming to the United States in 1982. He graduated from the prestigious University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1986 with a BA in accounting; not bad for a kid who grew up in the jungle and didn't own a pair of shoes until he was fourteen years old. Mr. Brown became a US citizen in 1988, and went on to distinguish himself as a successful investment advisor. In 2000, after working for only three years with one of the largest insurance and brokerage firms in America, he became the top producer among its 3,000 nationwide representatives. Impressive by any standards, but especially when viewed through the lens of his provincial Caribbean background where even the poor people in his home village of Greencastle, Jamaica, looked upon his family as poverty stricken. Sherwin's story is the stuff of dreams and is an inspiring rags-to-riches tale all unto itself. Despite his successes in corporate America, Sherwin was not satisfied with a stable, well-paying job and opted to flex his entrepreneurial muscles by developing his own investment models and methods. After three years, he realized his business philosophy differed too significantly from that of his partners, which subsequently led him to found, as sole owner, the aptly named financial services firm Jamerica Financial, Inc. Sherwin currently coaches, writes, and speaks to people about how to improve and safeguard all aspects of their financial portfolios. Jamerican: The Gift of Poverty is the third book by Sherwin. His first book, Safer 401(k) Investing: How to Protect All Your Investments from Wall Street Greed and the Government, was published in 2012. He also co-wrote two children’s book with his 6 year old Son Thomas,"The Next Door Neighbor Cats with the Funny Names," and "Why Do We Eat Animals?" , which were also just published in 2014 and is available in print and as an eBook. His other book, The Lies of the DOW, will be published in late 2014. For more about Sherwin and his books, please visit www.sherwinpbrown.com.
Jamerican
The Gift of Poverty
by Sherwin Presley Brown
Jamerican
The Gift of Poverty
by Sherwin Presley Brown
Published Jun 25, 2014
196 Pages
Genre: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Adventurers & Explorers
Book Excerpt
I was seated in first class on Sun Country Airlines flight 726 flying out of Jamaica. Seated next to me was my wife, Margo, whom I was positive was cheating on me. I was staring out the window looking down at Cuba and wondering how I got myself into this mess when I realized that the captain was saying something garbled over the intercom. One of the flight attendants was a red-haired woman with fair skin. The plane started turning and she got on the cabin mic and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the intercom from the flight deck is not working. The crew believes one of our engines is on fire and we must return to Montego Bay Airport.” Everybody got a wide-eyed look of terror on their face. I looked at Margo. So I’m gonna die with this woman, I thought. The red-haired crewmember started reading out of the Cabin Emergency Manual. To this day I have no idea what she was saying; I was too busy trying not to crap my pants. I took a deep breath and tried to tell myself that we were in the hands of aviation experts who were trained for these very instances. Right about at that moment, the attendant suddenly turned beet-red and started to cry uncontrollably. Oh God, even the crew thinks we’re gonna die! That wasn’t the cool-as-a-cucumber demeanor you want out of professionals in these situations. It was then that I realized we were truly going to die on this day. I was going to die a strange and tragic death just like my grandmother had years before. The plane circled around Sangster International for a while, dumping fuel so we’d make just a small explosion when we crashed instead of a great big explosion, I guess. I just sat there looking at the beautiful palm trees and noticing how pretty and peaceful they looked from above. Then I looked around to see if there was somebody else I’d rather die next to. The flight attendant got back on the mic. “Ladies and gentlemen, we will begin our landing approach into Sangster International in two minutes. Please remove your glasses or eyewear and, if you have them, please remove your dentures as well.” I took off my glasses and put them in my breast pocket and then reached into my mouth to remove my dentures, and they wouldn’t budge. Then it struck me that I still had all my original teeth. Yes, I was that frazzled. I looked out the window and saw scores of yellow fire trucks lining the runway, waiting for us to crash. She continued. “Please lean forward and get your head as close to your knees as possible. Remain in the crash position. Upon impact, there is a chance the fuselage will break apart; if you are able, get as far from the wreckage as possible as the plane will explode.” I was just waiting for her to wrap it up with, And thank you for choosing Sun Country Airlines today, but she just put the mic in its holder and strapped herself into her jump seat. I snuck a peek out of the window—we were making the exact same approach I’d made so many times before. Here we were now, whooshing into my home airport in an apparently flaming Boeing 737. The plane came closer to the ground, closer and . . . It was one of the smoothest and most perfect landings I’ve ever had in an airliner. We could hear the fire engines spooling up their sirens and they started to pursue the aircraft down the runway. We finally came to a stop, and Red got back on the mic. “Please remain seated until instructed otherwise.” Screw this! I thought. You think this tin gas-can is on fire and you seriously want me to sit here out of sheer protocol? I rose up and moved to the door. Before a crewmember could yell at me, half the plane had .started to follow me. I used to love flying, but have hated it ever since that day. Though I wouldn’t have any more airline mishaps, this wouldn’t be the last near-crash of my life.
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