Business in the Summer of 2021.

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by GordonJ

Over the years, I developed a pretty strong attitude about whether you want in or not on MY projects. Thinking back to that Don Alm menu board which I had success with; I simply told the guy:

To an insurance guy: If you don't want on, then Jim at State Farm or Bob at Farmers or one of the other 101 guys in the area will take the slot.

I really didn't care, which not only gave me armor against any attacks to "selling" in general, but also was a great closer too.

Hi Gordon,

I'm currently reading through a controversial book... (For readers offended by controversy - now is the time to shut your eyes tight...)

It's called "The Art of Manipulation" by RB Sparkman, written in 1978.

The author spent time (intentionally) sharing his place in Houston in the 1970s with various con artists.

Even though he knew what they were, they still managed to con him out of thousands of dollars (and that's in 1970s money)!

That's right - he invited people to stay at his place, who he knew were probably going to end up conning him...

Foolish? Or genius?

What happened was... he learned a thing or two, and wrote a book about it...

I am against con artists, but... I do think you can learn things from everyone, even them...

The main difference between an entrepreneur and a con-man, in my opinion, is that an entrepreneur delivers on his promises, while the con artist doesn't.

Anyway...

RB Sparkman's "Tactic 4" is... "I don't need you. You need me."

As soon as you seem "desperate," it repels people... I think we've all experienced that!

But (according to Sparkman), if you can convince people you really don't need their business... they're more interested, maybe even desperate, to give it to you...

In romance... Who gets the girls (from a man's point of view)?

It's usually the cool cat, who acts like he doesn't need them, and doesn't care...

Not the fellow desperate to get laid...

The cool "I-don't-give-a-crap" tough guy is pretty much the character Elvis Presley played in all his movies... And girls loved it!

(I used to try to emulate movie-Elvis's attitude when I was in high school! It kind of worked... )

Maybe this got you "All Shook Up!"

Best wishes,

Dien