Why being BRUTALLY HONEST is the way to go
Often times, any sort of discussion or argument (even though from my end it’s a CIVIL argument conducted with the most of politeness) I have doesn’t go over too well.
In fact, I can count on the number of times on ONE hand that folks actually AGREE with me — — publicly, that is.
What they do privately as they sneakily check for my latest social media updates etc and what I’ve got to say is of course an entirely different issue.
And while hypocrisy plays a huge part in it, sometimes its more about outside pressures than hypocrisy.
As a friend of mine told me years ago, Rahul, I’ve got a daughter! I can’t say these things publicly! It doesn’t look good.
And while he’s right from a CERTAIN standpoint, overall, I’d disagree.
This is my buddy Michael by the way, him who could eat two lieutenants for lunch and still have room left over, hehe.
This is the same guy that “fired” me publicly once and got a very fitting response to it publicly, and we shared MANY laughs about it later! Hehe.
A great guy, but I have heard many such comments along the lines of “how can I say this publicly? I can’t lose business!”
And to ALL These people (and no, not all are hypocrites) I have this to say — and it ain’t gonna go over too well — is this.
Say it like it is, my friend.
If customers “leave” or get offended, hey, that’s their thang. Everyone has a right to get offended, but in terms of feeling “Scared of losing sales” simply for saying it like it is, well, personally I do NOT agree with that.
And I’m in a very small minority there. I know.
I’d rather be honest though. Brutally honest as I’ve been often called, and though it’s OFTEN landed me in hot water, I’ve never looked back once.
The hiding I got from my Dad for something very insignificant in the grand scheme of things when I was young no doubt has something to do with the honesty part, but taking it to extremes, and the BRUTAL nature of it (so much so that my Dad himself once literally pleaded with me to tone it down when talking to people in positions of authority — — did I listen? You be the judge. Guess. HA!) is something that I’ve never once looked back from or shyed away from using.
And in terms of life, that’s the way to go my friend.
Not necessarily BRUTAL honesty but honesty regardless.
And hear me out — — FAR too often things are SUGAR COATED in today’s world when they do NOT need to be.
Donald Trump for one, called out illegal immigrants for being the drain on the economy they rightly are, and instantly got a flurry of agitated and angry responses from the liberals (mostly).
And why?
Because he stated that “you’d rather have someone from Norway immigrating to your country than from Haiti”, for instance.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure the latter country has some great and highly qualified folks and the former has a ton “on the dole” as it were (nah, I ain’t a fan of the Nordic socialist system in case you’re wondering).
But as things stand right now who would you rather want in your country?
Someone from a developed country less likely to scream racism and suck off the government teat (or worse, do anything to get to the good ole US, even if that means ILLEGAL actions?) or someone from a drug infested hole like . . . well, I hate to say it, and this WILL lose me fans, but hey, we all know, don’t we?
He just said it like it is — — like I do.
And like PRECIOUS few people do, and again, this ain’t about Haiti or immigration.
Or India. Or the US. Or any country.
It’s about BRUTAL honesty.
It’s about saying what people need to hear as opposed to what people WANT to hear (curiously enough, a lot of the people accusing me of “only wanting to sell my products”, and hey — to be honest, that is NOT a bad thing in any way, but again, a lot of these people don’t seem to get the fact that I say what they need to hear, not necessarily WANT, which is the exact opposite of what I would do if I was *only interested in marketing my stuff* as the neighsayers love to neigh).
And end of the day, THAT more than anything else is why Trump is by the far the best Prez the US has ever had, and also why his approval ratings are RISING not just in America, but GLOBALLY (yes, I realize the lefttard media has a different picture to paint, but try talking to the “person on the street”, and you’ll quickly see the REAL picture).
Personally as far as I’m concerned (and I see this in old Donald too), I tend to be a highly polarizing figure due to this above “quality” (or trait, whatever you call it).
You either like me or you don’t.
Take it or leave it.
What you see is indeed what you get, and so forth.
And this, my friend is not just a good thing in terms of life (in terms of life, it keeps the idiots, morons and timewasters away that don’t give a rats ass about you anyway, and are just looking to siphon off your energy for their useless purposes — if I can dignify their actions by calling ’em purposes that is!).
It’s a good thing BUSINESS WISE too, and that’s really why I’m writing all this, pretty much because folks, even the NON-HYPOCRITES are often times scared SHITLESS of losing business over something they said or did that was straight from the heart.
And I am here to tell you, and this is not only coming STRAIGHT from the heart, but straight from experience gained through actual, solid business (not simply yakking around online on the Internet like a lot of the so called PUNDITS do) that if you’re in any way, shape or form serious about real business, then BANISH this thought forever.
What I am about to say will likely not be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s fine.
Anyway, a friend of mine (a good friend, and NOT a hypocrite by far) once told me to “watch what I say online” because in his words “if I’m trying to sell something”, I might end up “alienating” some of my customers.
Now I know where dude’s coming from, and from a certain standpoint again I’d agree.
To each his own as well, and many do it the way he says.
But personally, for me, and this is what I think will hold true for everyone, is that at the end of the day biz is about trust.
Not only that, most people have a finally tuned B.S. detector (especially in this day and age of scams etc) and if you’re trying to be someone you’re not — — or if you’re trying and China tom tomming publicly for example (and again this is just an EXAMPLE) and saying something entirely opposite in private (as a lot of these jokers do), then believe me now and trust me later, it’ll show in your work.
Note I didn’t say writing necessarily.
I said work.
That could be yours sales pitch. Your writing. Your VIDEOS (something nigh everyone except me seems to do these days, hehe).
It could be the way you interact with your customer, but what you CAN take in writing is the part about it showing . . . and also THIS — that EVENTUALLY, that same customer will NOT return to be a repeat customer (which is really the foundation of most stable and long term profitable businesses).
Why?
First off, because he can sense the “non genuine” part of you and although some people may HATE me for saying certain things, and disagree vociferously, they wouldn’t necessarily say they don’t TRUST me.
There is a difference, my friend, and while trust is always #1 and has been in terms of business, it’s even more important these days for obvious reasons.
Once that trust goes, it takes a while, if ever to get it back.
Trust, or lack of is ultimately what erodes ALL relatioships, NOT just business relationships. I’m talking personal as well. And I should know. Boy, I should know!
And honest, hard and TO THE POINT factual information is the bedrock, or BASE upon which any sort of long term trust can be built.
Additionally, if the customers go (and believe me, if one goes, the void will be filled very quickly by another better one — so quickly that you’ll wonder why you ever worried about it in the first place), then SO WHAT?
Were they a good long term fit for you anyway?
Isn’t it better to sell and help those people that BELIEVE in you, and are on the SAME page as you?
You’ll find that by being brazen and honest about your products, services and most importantly YOU as a person, you’ll actually get lesser customers but higher value customers both in the short and long run.
Long run, they’ll be the repeat customers.
Short run, you may lose the pennies, but would you care if you got solid DOLLARS in place of them?
I don’t know about you, my friend, and this may vary from person to person, but I’d rather than 10 solid customers than 100 “flakey”, wishy washy customers that can’t seem to make up their mind about not just you or your product, but just about anything under the sun.
The euphemism “here today, gone tomorrow” holds very true for such people — and customers too.
And I don’t think you want such people in your life long term my friend, either from a customer standpoint or PERSONAL standpoint.
Back to my friend — — he told me he promotes “different” viewpoints on different social media.
Being he’s based in the Chinese mainland for now, he doesn’t really talk about politically sensitive (I don’t mean in terms of China by the way — to do that would be stupidity, but I mean in GENERAL) stuff on Chinese social media, but he’s pretty open on the other social media networks about his political affiliations etc.
And while I respect that style of doing thing — — hey, to each his own, for me, that ain’t how it works, and I don’t advocate it for YOU as well.
Be yourself, my friend. If you wouldn’t post it in one place, don’t post it in another.
Be CONSISTENT with your messages, mindsets and everything else, and you’ll find that you’ll naturally not only grow an audience, but that TRUE doors will start to open for you.
Doors of opportunity that would have stayed firmly shut and locked had you not been transparent and HONEST in terms of your communication with people.
End of the day, why is all this so important my friend.
Well, simple
People buy YOU (and this holds especially true if you are a small business owner, or perhaps selling info products, or what not).
More than the brand, more than the product itself, people buy the PEOPLE behind the brand, the PHILOSOPHY behind the brand.
And most of the time, you’ll find that people will readily shell out a few extra bucks to buy from the person that they LIKE — — even in some cases if their product is slightly inferior.
And those are the people you want business wise.
Don’t get me wrong though. Your product can be should be head and shoulders above the rest, and I wouldn’t advocate it any other way. Not just your product. Your customer service and follow ups too.
I’ve seen SO MANY EXAMPLES of businesses losing repeat business due to one simple thing — poor, or non existent after sales service and followups that it makes me want to bawl at times (just at the sheer stupidity of said folks leaving EASY MONEY — and lets face it, repeat biz is usually just that — on the table).
At 0 Excuses Fitness, our mantra is underpromise, but overdeliver, and that’s how it should be for you too.
And so forth.
But the fact is, I do NOT offer any refunds whatsoever of any nature and make this very clear upfront.
Why? Well, that’s a separate topic and my refunds policy should explain it pretty well, but if there was ever a way to keep non serious customers, serial refunders, lookie lous, try before buy nuts, and other such people AWAY from me, THAT is one sure shod way.
The Laws of the Universe state like begets and attracts like.
If you’re brutally honest and truly believe in something, chances are you’ll attract more of the same without even consciously trying (and again I could give you plenty of examples, but that’s another topic altogether). For now though, remember that honesty, and preferably as in your face as you can get is the way to go, especially in terms of business.
One last reason for this is that it makes people sit up and take NOTICE of you.
You can’t be shy as a dormouse when you market yourself, my friend. You’ve got to be “lion” and yell from the rooftops .There simply is no other way (unless your product is an essential, or unless your Amazon or some other such huge company that has already sold itself multiple times to the majority of folks out there).
Again, and back to Trump — — there is a good reason the overly bombastic statements he makes get NOTICED.
Those that take Trump at face value see only that part of it. They don’t see the heart and intent behind the posts.
Those that DO see though, see something else.
They see a marketing GENUIS at work, and brutal honesty is part of Ole Donald’s style and the funny part, its so in your face that people fail to notice it altogether!
Sheer genius, hehe.
And now, in terms of fitness you may ask?
The same thing, my friend.
Tough love as I’ve often spoken about, advocated and said.
If someone is truly lazy and fat, then the last thing they need in the long run (to help ’em) is to be mollycoddled and called “big”.
If someone complains about bodyweight exercises while not being able to do them in the first place, then the nigh first thing they need to improve their general levels of health and fitness is (and this is BEFORE they purchase my products) is to ditch the hypocrisy, and be called out on it.
Sometimes, and this is evidenced by the group administrator on Facebook that recently threw a massive hissy, you HAVE to tell people the facts for what they are in a brutal, unbiased and non-shy manner (forthright, I believe is the word I’m looking for).
It hits home, and gets noticed, and it’s what they need to hear.
Incorporate this philosophy into YOUR OWN LIFE my friend, and watch how things change for you, almot overnight.
It might not garner you likes on Facebook.
It might not make you the most popular guy or gal out there.
Yada, nada, schnada.
But it WILL get you respect, and respect in spades, and that to me, to paraphrase not just the game of LIFE but also several famous Bollywood movies is what life ultimately boils down to.
RESPECT. With a capital R, and that’s that for this piece.
Let me know what you think, and don’t forget to clap or holla once you’re done reading.
Best,
Rahul Mookerjee
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