Harry’s Tarzan Theory: Your own business makes the most sense. You get four nice whammies:
1. No dumb boss.
2. No insecurity.
3. A salary, the size of which you alone determine
4. Twelve times the value of your hot business when you sell it.
Where to find a business to start? My favorite approach is The Tarzan Theory. Swing from one vine to the next. Swing from what you’re working in now and what you know to an obvious “Why doesn’t this exist? The world needs it. I’ll do it.”
The Tarzan Theory protects you from “gotchas” — things that crop up which you didn’t foresee, because you didn’t know enough.
You can’t start a business in an area you’ve had no experience in. The gotchas will eat you alive.
Madeleine Albright on Vladimir Putin
In 2008, in these same pages (Time Magazine 100), I wrote that Putin would “remain an irritant to NATO, a source of division within Europe and yet another reason for the West to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.” I was wrong. It’s worse.
Through his illegal actions in Ukraine, Putin has reminded us that leaders of great countries are most dangerous when they make up their own facts. Putin’s worldview is colored by toxic fictions.
Putin’s ultra-nationalistic instinct has upped his poll numbers, but his increased influence will be temporary. Russia has acquired territory but lost credibility. Putin has bought himself a pile of problems at the cost of the international ties Russia needs to prosper. He has betrayed Russia’s best resource – its people – who will eventually realize his rhetoric is nothing more than a fantasy inside a delusion wrapped in a tissue of lies.
To some, Putin has “won” Crimea. Will he recognize his “victory” is Pyrrhic – or try to repeat it? History is filled with aggressors who triumphed for a moment. Then failed.
Albright served as the 64th U.S. Secretary of State
My friend runs a “Telephone Sales and Service Success Webinar.” This is a free plug for him. I asked him for the five biggest mistakes phone sellers make:
1. Lack of Preparation.
2. Talking too Much. Sellers talk themselves out of the sale. Shut up and listen.
3. Failing to Capture Key Details. Your memory will fail you. Take good notes and follow up with an email.
4. Not Asking Enough Questions. When customers get to talk about themselves and their concerns, they feel better.
5. Talking Too Fast. Slow your pace by 20%.
Steve’s been teaching phone sale stuff for eons. He’s good at it. For more, click here.
More good stuff:
+ Blue messaging is free. It means it’s an iPhone. If you see green, you get charged. Sign up for WhatsApp, which is free messaging. Super service.
+ WAZE is the best iPhone app. It’s Google Maps plus police and traffic jam alerts. When it finds a mess, it will suggest an alternative route. Brilliant stuff. I would never drive anywhere without WAZE. Free, too.
+ Tick season is here in the north-east. Lyme disease is the worst. Impossible to diagnose. Devastating to your health. Wear long pants. Cover them with long socks. Spray your clothing with something containing permethrin, or DEET (which is stronger). Don’t expect to find a tick. The black-legged tick that causes Lyme is the size of a sesame seed. Most people never see the tick that bite them. Stay out of long grass. Stay out of the woods. It’s not worth the risk. Friends who’ve had Lyme Disease were devastated by it. Some still have it ten years late.
+ Don’t be freaked out by Microsoft’s threats of dropping support on your Windows XP computers. If it works today, it will work forever. Just make sure you use a good third-party virus software. I use Norton Internet Security. I like it so much, I even pay for it.
+ You can get TennisToGo and watch The Tennis Channel on your laptop, iPad or iPhone wherever you are away from your TV set. Remarkably good quality if you have a decent Internet hookup. You simply need to sign up, using your provider’s name, e.g. Verizon, DirecTV, Dish. Click here.
Fun, tasteless stuff.
+ The Department of Defense briefed the President this morning. They told President Obama that two Brazilian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan.
To everyone’s surprise, he collapsed onto his desk, head in his hands, visibly shaken, almost in tears.
Finally, he composed himself and asked, “Just how many is a bazilian?”
+ At breakfast, the husband says to his wife “What would you do if I won the Lotto?”
” I’d take half and leave you” she says.
“Great” he says. “Here’s $6. I won $12 yesterday! Stay in touch”.
+ President Obama’s approval ratings are now so low, the Kenyans are saying he was born in the United States.
Harry Newton who is feeling so privileged. Capital One just upgraded my credit card. I now have higher spending limits. They made their wise decision on the basis of how fast I paid my credit card bills. Which, according to their computer, must be very smart. I’ve never spent a nickel on their Capital One card. But I do feel honored.
I’m thinking I need more portfolio exposure to oil. I bought a little HAL and EOG. So far, so good. Pricey stocks. P/Es over 20. Picking stocks is like tennis. You do better when you swing out.
Regarding Lyme – if you do get bitten, you won’t necessarily get the bullseye rash. But you will start to feel achy all over and tired, and you won’t be able to shake it. Run, don’t walk, to the nearest “Lyme Literate Doctor” (look it up) and get on a course of antibiotics for more than a month. The spirochetes that have invaded your system are still swimming around in your blood, and can be killed with the antibiotics, for up to two weeks after you are bitten. You need more than a month’s worth of antibiotics, because they have a month-long lifecycle.
If you wait longer than the two weeks (timing is approximate), they will corkscrew their way into the non-blood areas of your body (nerves, joints, brain, heart valves, etc.), where they can’t be reached by antibiotics, and you will be – well, let’s just say your life will change, and not for the better. Memory loss, flu-like symptoms, chronic fatigue, nerve damage, heart palpitations, stroke, seizures, paralysis, and yes, death. It doesn’t happen overnight, but if you don’t fight back first and fast you will be in a battle for years. They are insidious, and persistent.
Lyme is called “the great imitator” because it is so often misdiagnosed and it takes people forever to figure out what is wrong. By then, they are really in a world of hurt, losing jobs, friends, and family. I highly recommend books written by a friend of mine, Connie Strasheim, and also checking out “Under Our Skin,” a documentary about Lyme on YouTube. Look for the full movie.
Whatever you do, take it seriously.
Many of the things Albright said about Putin and Russia could also be said of Bush and Obama and the U.S. Particularly apt is this line: “He has betrayed Russia’s best resource – its people – who will eventually realize his rhetoric is nothing more than a fantasy inside a delusion wrapped in a tissue of lies.”
Darn it, you know there are better oil companies out there, with PE ratios of 10 and 11? You put you in those?
Which ones you like?