It’s Saturday Morning and I am the only one here in the office for one reason; we just moved and I’m hiding from my wife Kelly. I’m pretending to be working- because if I go home, I will be forbidden to go in my new pool, or fall asleep in a lounge chair. I will be given low risk tedious task like unpacking winter coats. I am not trust worthy for dishes, glasses, or dare I say 45 boxes of her shoes. I was sitting here reflecting on how smart I have become by pretending to work today until I realized it is just a lesson learned the hard way. We have moved several times and it has made me start thinking of all the lessons that one can only learn from experience.
Here are my top ten that relate to business; they are contrarian to conventional wisdom or you could learn them without all the drama.
- Being a good listener is important: If you know me, you’re asking, “how would he know”, he’s a terrible listener. The fact of the matter is that the only times that I have ever lost money buying assets, was when I didn’t personally know the value, but listened too well.
- It takes money to make money: In fact the exact opposite is true. It takes money to lose money; it just takes effort to make money.
- Be careful what you wish for: Dead wrong, always do the free part.
- If at first you don’t succeed, try again: Also dead wrong, and a huge waste of time. It didn’t work, move on.
- The money will come if you do something you love: Who made that up? The money will only come if you something really well and whip your competitors, period.
- History repeats itself: Not in my lifetime- every time I think, “here we go again”, I lose my shirt. Change is evolution, not cycles.
- It will all work out in the end: That’s a sucker bet to keep you hanging around. If it isn’t working, it never ends well.
- Listen to your elders: Now that depends- for me, no way. For my boys, yes. The only reason I was able to travel the world doing auctions is that I had a deaf ear to my Dad and Grandpa, who told me to focus on what I know. Since I knew almost nothing, I figured over time that was terrible advice.
- You should trust your instincts: Another dumb one, you’re much safer to trust something tangible like the Kelly Blue Book.
- Never split tens at a Black Jack Table: Refer to number one and don’t listen to me, and ignore number nine and trust your instincts, and go get hammered repeatedly doing it, until like me, you’ve learned the hard way.
Heading home, hopefully we’re unpacked.
Best. RD