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To work for Ruth Pugh, it helps to be a morning person. Or at least a night person who is willing to shout affirmations at office roll-playing partners first thing in the morning, hours before most San Diegans have even reported to work.

The pace doesn't slow from there.

All day, upbeat music wafts through the office as Pugh's agents hustle to make their individual minimum monthly quotas. Falling behind on this goal means more time in the cold-call area and, perhaps, an enthusiastic address by Pugh on the benefits of writing out daily "10-10 visualizations" or of penning a detailed description a "dream client." If all this fails to inspire, there's always the prospect of winning prizes for selling well. An afternoon swimming with dolphins, anyone?

Such is a day in the life of an agent on Ruth Pugh's Century 21 Award team -- a team that combined in 2005 to beat all the other real estate teams in the nation in both number of units sold and overall dollar volume. Pugh's 24 agents moved 1,676 homes last year and did $539.5 million in sales, a feat made possible, Pugh said, by positive thinking and teamwork.

"In hiring an agent, I'm looking for enthusiasm, excitement in their eyes," said Pugh, her own voice rising in excitement. "I'm looking for people who look at the glass as half full, never half empty, who have a positive attitude always [and] are willing to go that extra mile. If that means staging and cleaning the house, then we need to stage and clean the house. If [an agent] needs to stay here until midnight completing the paperwork, they need to do that."

One thing's for sure, Ruth Pugh can't be accused of asking more of her agents than she is willing to give herself. She wakes every day before five, exercises, and is in the office around seven to begin a workday that may stretch 14 hours. By 8 a.m., the lifelong Californian has already shouted affirmations and written out a 10-10 visualization for the day, a ritual she credits for much of her success.

"I'd have to say that doing 10-10 visualizations has changed my life," Pugh said. "Every morning, I write down ten things that I'm very, very grateful for and ten things that I'm going to attract into my life, and then I write what my intent is for the day. Whatever I write comes true."

Intentions documented on paper, Pugh spends the most of her long day pursuing her own deals and coaching her agents. All of Pugh's agents, including Pugh's 25-year-old daughter, Leann Thompson, have signed a contract promising to sell five houses a month. If an agent cannot accomplish that goal on a regular basis, they are let go. But that doesn't mean missing quota every once in a while spells doom.

"Sometimes, you're just down. Everyone has their down times, and when that happens we rally around the person and try to boost them up," Pugh said. "This is a team. I tell [the agents], ‘if you have a buyer and they're going be better off in a property on the other side of town, you'd better be flipping them to that other agent over there and not hoarding everything to yourself.' I feel very adamant about that."

Spurned to Success

Where teamwork is concerned, Ruth Pugh knows much about what can go right, and what can go very wrong. In fact, she owes her start in real estate to the fiery disintegration of a previous business partnership. Through the early 1990s, Pugh was one of three principles of Trico, a San Diego-based manufacturer of auto parts. One day, she reported to work and was fired by the company's other two principles: her brother and her husband.

The move mostly just upset Pugh at first, but later it served as a form of motivation. She set herself one simple goal.

"All I could think was, ‘I'm going to go out and whatever I do, I'm going to sell more of it than they do," Pugh said.

Though she lacked a college education, Pugh had charisma, charm and determination on her side. In 1992, she joined Century 21 Award in San Diego and opened the throttle. Working long days, Pugh was her office's rookie of the year. Soon, her brother and husband wanted her back at Trico. But by then, Pugh had developed a passion for real estate and was well on the way to achieving her very first sales goal.

"[Trico] ended up surviving very well, and I ended up selling more houses than they sold auto parts," Pugh said.

The "Why"

Just as Ruth Pugh's career in real estate was taking off, she was struck by a tragedy every mother fears, and an unfortunate few have to endure: the loss of a child.

On May 20, 1995, Dallas, the middle of three Pugh children, committed suicide in their suburban San Diego home. He was 15 years old.

The death of her popular, athletic, seemingly happy son hit Ruth Pugh hard. Initially, she talked of getting into bed and never climbing back out. Soon, however, she regained her strength and began rallying against teen suicide.

In the wake of Dallas' death, the family founded the Dallas Pugh Foundation (dallaspughfoundation.org). The organization, according to its Web site, "was established to help safeguard our youth and young adults from tragic decisions such as the one made by our son, as well as from the painful experiences that invariably come with that age."

As Ruth sees it, "We need to get the message out to our children that you may have these thoughts, suicide may cross your mind, but it's not okay to act on it and we're here to help."

The Dallas Pugh Foundation hires young people to talk about suicide prevention and offers outreach to teens considering suicide. Working in conjunction with the YMCA, the goal of the foundation is to raise enough money to build a gymnasium in Dallas' name. Ruth Pugh says the foundation, and the promise of that gymnasium, inspires her to work harder in real estate.

"To be able to do something well, you've got to have a ‘why,'" she said. "Why do I work 14 hours a day? Why is [real estate] my life? The foundation and the gymnasium are my ‘why' and I could work 20 hours a day because I have it... That gymnasium will be built in my son's name."

2006

In San Diego, like in most of the country, the real estate market has slowed in 2006 compared to 2005.

"Business is down right now," Pugh said. "Which is probably a good thing because we were just selling like you would not believe last year -- 120 houses a month."

With prices down, she says now is a good time to consider buying.

"It's a buyers market. Sellers are giving incredible incentives. Interest rates are great. It's a great time to buy, whether you're an investor or a first-time homebuyer."

Outside the office, Pugh has enjoyed the company of her first grandchild, one-year-old Preston Dallas, and occasional retreats to her "runaway house," a one-bedroom penthouse on Coronado Island.

As for the Dallas Pugh Foundation's work, the organization raised $187,000 in September at its fifth annual golf tournament.

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