SEPTEMBER
2011
Greetings & Salutations:
This month's issue was prompted by my ol'friend and Attendee
Ron Gershen
when he wrote:
"Consider the following as a topic for your e-letter:
"Don't do deals that can't be done!"
I don't mean deals that can never be done, I'm talking
about, within your lifetime?
How many times have you heard a so-called finder/broker
(whatever) talk about the deal/project he or she has been working
for the past year and a half. Every time I hear this only
one question comes to mind: WHY? How many deals could they
have put together within that time frame working on things that
made sense instead of things that make no sense. Ahhh,
but if they only knew the difference.
You know, I almost added that you could write a book about
that. If you haven't, I know you must have covered it completely
in at least three books already. If you brought this out
and expanded upon it in your inimitable style, I believe it would
be of enormous benefit to your readers and potential customers.
As always Jim, should you or your team get caught or captured,
ISF will claim insanity and leave for Bolivia with suitcases
full of old credit cards and very little cash.
I used to want to grow up to be just like you. But
now that I'm 64, I've come to realize that I will never make
it to the year 2641 to reach such a lofty goal.
In Response:
Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could get that message across
to the vast multitude of business wannabees out there in the
business wonderland - but - illogical hope springs eternal in
the misinformed and uninformed minds of beginning business hopefuls.
In my Finder's Fee course ... the bible of the Finding industry
... I have a short chapter entitled, "No Fee Possible,"
which details the kinds of Finder's Fee opportunities that CAN
NOT be done; except by the most professional of professionals
(already in the industry). But, as you may have already
guessed, there isn't a week goes by that I don't hear from some
beginning finder who is trying to do one of the deals I have
specifically named as a "No Fee Possible" deal.
Right now, some of you readers may be asking...
"How can I tell that a deal is not doable,
unless I try to do it?"
In order to keep away from undoable deals, there are three
pieces of advice I have always given to business beginners ...
and I have just added a fourth to the list.
First -- Never trust your own, personal opinion
of a deal or business.
If you have never been involved in the kind of deal or business
you are considering, you DO NOT "know" enough to say,
"This won't work." -- You can not judge any kind of
deal or business based upon your own, personal lack of experience.
Over the years, I have watched countless business people step
over dollars ... chasing dimes ... simply because they wouldn't
do what needed to be done. They have depended upon their
own misinformed, or uninformed, opinions to keep chasing non-existent
rainbows.
Second -- When you begin in any deal; or business,
ASK for advice from someone who is already SUCCESSFULLY involved
in that business or industry.
Notice I said "SUCCESSFULLY involved." -- Beware
of those who "haven't made any money, yet, but know someone,
who knows someone who did."
Successful business people love for you to ask them about
their particular business or industry. It massages their
egos. If YOU find them worthy of asking, they must really
be somebody.
IF the people who are "SUCCESSFULLY involved" in
that business or industry explain to you "why" your
business or deal won't work, you are better off abandoning the
idea; rather than chasing a non-existent rainbow. -- Of course,
if all they can say is "it won't work," without telling
you "why" it won't work, ASK someone else.
Third -- If you are entering into a deal, or
business, because you have "read" only ONE book,
report, article, course, manual, or whatever, about that particular
kind of business, DO NOT do anything until you've found, and
read, at least 3 more books, reports, etc., about that business.
Reading, and depending upon, only ONE source of information
(especially in business) leaves you at the mercy of the PERSONAL
opinions, foibles, misunderstandings, and other psychological
manifestations of that ONE author. -- It may also be (as
happens all too often) that the author is writing about a one-time,
lucky accident that couldn't happen again in the business community
in a thousand years.
By reading a variety of books, reports, articles, courses,
manuals, etc., about the kind of deal or business you are considering,
you will at least have input from a variety of writers ... one
of whom may have actually "done" what you want to do.
Because ...
It used to be that those of us who wrote about "how to
do business" did so from our own personal, practical, hands-on
experience. (I am one of the few survivors of that generation.)
-- Today, over 99% of the "how to do business" information
on the market is written by research writers who have never "done
it" ... they've only "read about it" and rewritten
what they have read.
Look at the "Internet Marketing" books on the market
today. -- You may have noticed, as I did in December last year,
that they are the same old stuff, over and over and over and
over ... each one just another rewrite of the one before.
(I didn't make any money on the Internet until I threw them all
away and followed what my own, personal "experience"
had taught me about marketing.)
Which brings me to the latest addition to my "advice
to beginners" ...
Fourth -- When the only "SUCCESSFULLY involved"
business people you can find in a specific deal or business are
only successful because they are selling information about "how
to" be successful in that business, DO NOT believe anything
they say ... unless (shame on you) you are going to be rewriting
and selling the same misinformation.
In other words, when all of the books, reports,
articles, courses, manuals, etc., about the kind of deal or business
you are considering (without exception) say exactly
the same thing, you can bet your bippie it is a "get
rich from rewriting and selling the same information" business.
By the way, if you ever see a book, report or manual written
by ME about "how to get rich on the Internet," you
can bet your bippie it will be AFTER I have gotten "rich"
on the Internet.
Can you stump the old master? --
Betcha can't!
Over the past 50 years (man and boy), I have made bundles
of money in direct selling, service contracting, wholesale merchandising,
entertainment (I was a professional Trumpet player, vocalist
& Radio Announcer), freight forwarding, import/export, retail
merchandising, warehousing, real estate, electronics manufacturing,
finder's fees, closeout merchandising, financial brokerage, business
consulting, steel fabrication, gold and coal mining, offshore
banking, mailorder, writing, and publishing. -- That being the
case ...
No matter what business you're in ... whether you're just
starting, well on your way, or at the top of the heap ... I've
probably been where you are, done what you are doing. -- So ...
Anytime you have a question about 'how' to do something in
your business - or - if you have any comments about anything
I've said in issues of this e-Letter; or if you want to add your
2 cents worth ... just "ask" me or "tell"
me.
Send your Questions, Comments or 2 Cents Worth
to ...
with "Question" - "Comment"
- or, "2 Cents Worth" in the SUBJECT.
If I, personally, don't have an answer to any question you
may ask, I will contact some of the professionals in your field
of endeavor (I will probably know one or more personally) to
get the real 'skinny' for you.
Note: If you want to ask a question anonymously
just tell me so when you send in the question. -- Nobody but
you and I will know who asked the question.
Copyright - 2011, J.F. (Jim) Straw. All rights reserved.