You’re a one man show with no contacts!
A while ago I was having a discussion (a somewhat heated one in some regards) with a friend Charles about China, and the economy there tanking.
This was WAY back before the Coronavirus spread its wings and took hold of literally the whole darn world, but as soon as it started, I KNEW it was coming.
I had made plans a while ago in this regard, and my plans were vindicated — — and no, I did NOT know that the virus was about to erupt. I simply knew that soon would come a time where I needed to SURVIVE and I made plans — — and looking back upon it, being that I’m hale and hearty in what is now (or was now, depending upon who you believe) considered the “epicenter” of the storm, I think my GUT feeling was vindicated!
I’ve always spoken about the importance of the gut feeling, my friend and how your gut is ALWAYS (well, almost always) RIGHT — — and trumps “logical thinking” MOST of the time.
In fact other than two instances last year where I was very creatively gypped out of money, I cannot recall a SINGLE damn instance in which my gut had been wrong . . .
Your gut as my friend from the Marines once famously told me “is right nine times out of ten”.
And he’s spot on, being he’s another one of those people that’s lived LIFE (and how!) by his GUT.
As he said one day, “Rahul, we’ve BOTH lived our lives and continue to do so on GUT feelings. . . “
Anyway, gut feelings mean you decide SPONTANEOUSLY.
The first decision that comes to mind is usually RIGHT.
This does NOT mean you don’t do due diligence and thereforth, but it means that AFTER you do all of the above, you just “make the decision”, back it, and then just do it!
And you CHANGE your decisions slowly, if at all.
Henry Ford amongst others had the quality, a very RARE one indeed of making decisions ultra quick and changing them slowly, if at all. This gave off the impression of him being stubborn, but in reality it was nothing more than PERSISTENCE.
I’ve spoken about the famous tale of how Ford wanted to build a eight cylinder engine in the past, something which ALL his advisors and engineers agreed (to a T) that it “could not be done”.
“Simply could not be done”.
Ford ordered them to do it anyway.
Six months later?
No result.
They came back to the “big man”, and told him.
What did Ford say?
Go right ahead! I want it, and I shall HAVE IT!
End of the year? Nothing.
Ford ordered them to continue anyway, and then, in another few months as if by a stroke of magic the SECRET was found — — and they built it!
Tells you a lot about changing decisions slowly, if at all and the sheer power of PERSISTENCE which I’ve written about before.
Napoleon Hill said it best in Think and Grow Rich.
We see the men that go down, that don’t survive the tests of life, the vast majority of men that . . . (I’m paraphrasing) but what about the silent minority that FIGHTS on even the entire world is against then, often times and always against seemingly insurmountable ODDS?
Do we hear of the SILENT but ULTRA POWERFUL force that comes to HELP these people when “the cause seems lost, and then some”?
Food for thought, my friend.
Anyhow, on with this.
Now, it’s no secret that the virus originated in China, and they covered it up, and that the economy there was teetering WAY before the virus struck.
In many ways, the virus was just the icing on the cake and a gigantic excuses for what is TO come (at the time of writing this it’s May 2020) and the REAL mess is yet to unfold (yes, I know I know. I’m ignorant and a naysayer, aren’t I? But look at the facts and more importantly FEELING behind what I and why I say what I do, and you might think and feel differently!)
End of the day, humans act based upon emotion my friend.
When you buy something, you don’t necessarily buy it because you need it (ok, sometimes, if we’re talking toilet paper or beer, hehe) . . . but most of the time, if you have a choice, it’s not your conscious mind that makes the decision.
It’s the SUBCONSCIOUS. It’s the deep rooted FEELINGs inside of you that decide for you. Not the external you!
And being that Charles while an otherwise intelligent person seems to Tom Tom China way more than he should be (though I wouldn’t classify him as a full blown tom tommer just as yet) it was an insanely frustrating discussion because he’d just ignore everything I throw at him in terms of facts, and basic common sense.
(to give you a bit of background, I’ve been in China since 2004. Way before the expat bubble burst, or right about at the time it started to burst).
I’ve seen how China was “back in the day”, “in the middle” and “today”.
And so when ESL teachers that haven’t even been in the country more than a few years jump up and down about “Rahul being a moron that knows nothing” (well, he said it politely, but I’m coming to that!) I find it interesting to say the least!
Anyway, this ain’t about ESL and the general level of expats in ESL.
This is about the discussion.
Being I deal in green tea as one of my other businesses, and being I KNOW many factories that are struggling to even stay OPEN right now, I told Charles that.
“Man, all this is common sense. Gut feeling!”
His answer was “Show me facts!”
And before I could pull out facts, he pulled out his own version of facts — from a Chinese tabloid no less (the Chinese equivalent of the Sun, if you can believe that) — and even more amazingly enough, he claimed the person writing that tabloid was “in the know” and I wasn’t.
Supporting what was obviously a paid shill over someone with solid EXPERIENCE?
I asked him this again, albeit politely.
His answer?
“You’re a one man show with no contacts! What do you know?”
Um, well first thing I DO know is that I’m HAPPY to remain a one man show, and will continue to remain so.
I’m very happy to work out of my bedroom, or wherever I so choose in my underwear if I so choose (TMI I know, but the point stands).
I’m very happy to make 100% PROFIT instead of 300% SALES and 250% OVERHEAD.
I’m very happy to not deal with the hassle of having EMPLOYEES.
I’m happy providing bare bones products and services that just flat out work.
Curiously enough Charles, I don’t know if you’ll read this — but you’re RIGHT. I’m a one man show and that’s been my goal anyway all along, and I cannot think of ONE good reason to change this.
I have no desire to expand out of my cave, my friend, and I’ve made no secret of this in the past. Plenty have tried in the past and have miserably FAILED. And I don’t think green tea will make me do it either!
(By the way, I do trade in tea — not just green tea, all sorts of tea. Website is currently undergoing maintenance, but contact me HERE if you’re interested — or browse around the SHOP if you so choose — I have to update the shop with everything I’ve got. So much to do, so little time!)
And then I pointed out a very pertinent (to me) fact.
“Well, Charles, I have experience and have made sales”.
“How many sales did you make”, I questioned.
Amazingly enough, this was the answer . . .
“Zero, but that means I lose nothing! You do!”
And that was such a “gobsmackingly” illogical answer that I just gave up. I get this same answer sometimes from my wife on issues she doesn’t know about, but women . . . ah, that’s different! Hehe.
I did NOT expect this from a friend of mine, and a person whose helped me in the past, and a person who I have helped in the past as well, but I was glad he said it, as it showed what he truly thought about me on a subconscious level.
Funny part is, these people actually “do” want to learn from you . . . or your EXPERIENCES.
I cannot tell you the number of times people have come back after I “spurned” them and then secretly followed my social media, commented upon it, trolled me or what not (or called my exercises gay, hehe).
All good, and it doesn’t bother me one damn bit. If people are taking shots at you, that’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned for obvious reasons!
But the point is, these people want to learn . . . but yet they don’t, as the minute you tell them what to do (weight loss, for instance), they find EVERY EXCUSES in the book to argue and NOT do it.
Beats the entire point of asking me in the first place, don’t it? Hey, if you think your gyms and weights will get you in shape and keep you there and get rid of that ponderous Belly of Buddha you’ve been dragging along, then BY ALL MEANS — and PLEASE — follow those routines!
But when someone comes to me, and asks for help, and I provide it, and then they turn around then start whining about “why I’m wrong”, or find a bazillion stupid reasons for said advice NOT working (or “it won’t work”) — well — that is the person I ain’t got no time or use for my friend.
Sorry if that offends anyone, but it’s TRUE.
And I cannot tell you the number of times people have waited in a sticky situation to see “what Rahul does first”, before we decide on whether or not to do it.
Let the crazy guy be the guinea pig, eh. 😉
All good, hehe. Comes with the territory!
And curiously enough, this ties into the another thing I’ve been writing about — — freebies, and why you should avoid freebie seekers, price conscious customers, and those that ask for refund policies FIRST before purchasing (despite it being mentioned clearly on the website) for YOUR business, my friend.
What do I mean?
How can I jump from this to . . . ah, but wait, my dear friends.
Hold yer horses. I’ll explain!
So, a while back . . . in 2017, actually I did something I rarely, if ever do, which is to give a copy of my (at that point unedited) book “0 Excuses Fitness” to a lady named Carol.
I knew this lady from a while back, and don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t about giving her a “freebie” in that I was WELL versed in why freebies are to be avoided like the plague (both in terms of receiving and giving, and life itself).
“Ain’t nothing free in life, son”, piped up Denzel in Training Day, and he’s spot on.
Nothings free in life, and the free things are not VALUED.
Anyway, Carol wanted to get in shape. She was getting a bit around the hips and stomach area apparently, so I gave her some exercises to do, and then the book.
I did this with a couple of other “friends” as well back in the day, just to see what happened.
Carol, by the way was the lady I referred to in the last email with an unused gym membership, but we’ll get to that later.
Fast forward a couple of years later, and Carol hasn’t even opened the book up.
My other friend I gave it to is somehow always “too busy” to read it, but the latest gossip from the world always seems to make him want to read, join and participate in like there is NO tomorrow! Hehe.
And so forth.
Now, this particular lesson is something I’ve spoken about before, and it’s TWO pronged.
First, these freebie seekers (actually, Carol didn’t outright ASK for it, but she’s smart, hehe — — she did it in a roundabout manner) don’t actually VALUE your product.
There are people (such as yours truly) who have gotten free stuff before, and have been so thankful to get it that I literally stayed up all night long reading the “free” books and info I had gotten, and applying it to my own biz.
But NOT everyone is in that sort of “go getter” mode. The vast majority of people aren’t.
And the first thing that comes to their mind when you offer them something free, even if it’s done with an open heart, is “struggling writer”, or some such other bullshit (which is BS yes because at that point although 0 Excuses Fitness was just out, I certainly wasn’t struggling by any means!).
Or, “he really needs to sell it”.
Or other such nonsense.
Again, and for what it’s worth, its not a secret by any means that I do NOT offer “free” copies of my books to anyone, and I knew this way back in the day, of course, even in other biz verticals.
(nigh on obvious to me at least — but apparently not a lot of other “appeasers”. Oh well).
But I’ve occasionally broken this rule in the past (no more though) — and have ALWAYS found out that I was wrong to break what has since become one of my CARDINAL rules.
ANYTIME someone comes to you and asks for your products “free” — they’re pretty much telling you the following -
- That they either consciously or subconsciously think you and your product are worthless.
- They will NEVER invest the time required to even open or try the product.
- And last (and to me the worst) — they will never actually USE said product.
. . . And while all of the above is bad, and to be avoided like the plague (unless you want a dead business — remember — like attracts like — and if that’s the sort of “customer” you have, then . . . ?), there is something else.
These people are usually BROKE as you know what. Broke ass tyre kickers with nary a dime to spend on a product, and this would be fine — don’t get me wrong — if they actually USED the product with the right mindset and intentions.
But their mindset is that anyone without a million dollars is an idiot (hence the comments made to yours truly, hehe).
I wonder if they know how many times those “illumanaries” that everyone looks up to NOW went through the same sort of thing and worse from EVERY standpoint BEFORE they achieved their ultimate success . . .
Henry Ford, for one was bankrupt not once, but twice, and was roundly ridiculed for his idea of “building a contraption on wheels that could move” (at the time that is how people perceived it!).
Ditto for Marconi, who developed the wireless. He was almost put into the looney tune bin by his friends and family (FACT, hehe) . Thankfully, as Napoleon Hill says in Think and Grow Rich, those with new ideas today fare somewhat better!
The Wright Brothers. Steve Jobs. And coming to our times, Jeff Bezos, the richest man on the planet by far.
Can you imagine there was once a time not that long ago when Bezos’s boss told him that he was better off in Wall Street (I think) than starting something like Amazon at the time?
I think NOT, my friend, unless you’ve been living under a rock!
And while the nay sayers will jump up and down about “Rahul (replace Rahul with any other person that is actually DOING SOMETHING WITH HIS LIFE) doesn’t have said qualities that those people did, and find every excuses in the sun to put said person down . . . until they see that million dollars and then they’ll do an abrupt U turn, of course) the FACT is that EVERYONE goes through trials and tribulations, and a hell of a lot of them until you finally make it
And if you haven’t gone through them yourself, well, sorry to say it — but you aint doing much at all with your life my friend. And are probably NOT aiming at any sort of meaningful goal either (and no, waking up daily with a headache doesn’t count as trials and tribulations).
I’m talking SURVIVAL. I’m talking not being able to put food on the table, even the most BASIC of item that we often take for GRANTED.
I’m talking NO government social security net (for reasons outside the scope of this piece). And so forth. . .
Napoleon Hill said it best in Think and Grow Rich, when he said that sometimes, it seems the Universe has a GRAND PLAN via which it hurdles men over many seemingly insurmountable and HEARTBREAKING obstacles before she finally deems said men to “be worthy” of greater service (along with the commensurate rewards, of course).
There seems to be a hidden “guide” who tests men through all sorts of seemingly impossible situations to see who can take it.
And those that can’t take it simply don’t pass the test. It’s that simple!
And those that can — are richly rewarded with two things. One, their GOAL. And, two and infinitely more important, the knowledge that as Hill correctly said, every adversity, every heartache, every disadvantageous situation carries within it the seed of an equivalent, or greater BENEFIT.
Not the full blown flower of success, but the SEED from which said flower may be made to germinate, if you get my drift.
And so forth. For now though, the one comment Carol made sticks in my craw until today.
“I just started this, and . . . “ I said, excitedly starting to tell her about my new project.
She cut me off.
“how much money are you making off it?”
HUH?? Money?? I mean Jesus, lady, I’ve just STARTED it, and you’re asking me money . . .
ENERGY DRAIN if there EVER was one, and hence what I keep writing about friends and family often times either wittingly or unwittingly being black holes of energy, hehe.
Napoleon Hill said it best.
Tell the world what you’re going to do, but show it FIRST!
But the funny part about all this?
Life always come full circle, my friend. And I don’t care if you’re John Rambo in Rambo III that’s “not willing to accept the fact that he HAS to come full circle and accept who he is” (I wrote about this in my last post on Medium, so I’m not going to go into again), or anyone that doesn’t accept the fact — it’s a law of the Universe, my friend.
And it happens.
As sure as the sun rising in the East, and setting in the West . . .
And anyway, so months later, I was talking to Carol again.
Not about my book. About swimming and how at the time I was trying to find a pool that was open during the winters ( my apartment complex didn’t have an indoor pool).
“Oh, I know”, Carol piped up. “You can go to the gym.”
“Uh . . . thanks but no thanks, Carol . . . “
“Don’t worry! It’s free! I have a membership that I’m not using”, she responded.
“Uh, no, I don’t know . . . “
But she would have none of it and handed me a card for a gym close to where I was.
Fast forward a few months later, and she asks me if I went to the gym.
I reddened. Let alone going to the gym I had FORGOTTEN the damn card, or that she even gave it to me!
And that, my friend, should tell you more than any other story I ever can on this issue, hehe.
The wheel truly DID come full circle, and as she asked me in an irritated manner “why I never used it”, I just smiled and . . . ah, but that’s for another post!
Last, but not least, those that get back with “but I want to be nice” and . . .
Well, gee whiz my friend.
First thing you know, sure, if you want to be nice and bend over backwards for folks that would never ever think of doing the same for YOU and don’t respect you more than the person on the road they barely know, well, that’s your business.
Fine by me.
People that will turn around and stab you in the back like the scorpions they are — — and I’ve written about this before.
OK. Fine by me. (so long as you don’t run back to me complaining about the same AFTER I warned you, and don’t piss and moan when I said “I told you so”).
But here’s the point I’m making.
And it’s a very pertinent point indeed.
These people will sometimes thank you up and down for the help which they neither value or USE . . . but will NEVER, EVER give you any money.
NEVER, EVER, my friend.
And free don’t pay the bills, does it?
And THAT little bit by itself should be enough to present my point, eh.
Anyway, I’ve gone on long enough so that’s it for this piece. For now, that’s the lesson — take it or leave it — up to YOU! 😉
Best,
Rahul Mookerjee
P.S. — If you are indeed TRULY interested in the BEST home fitness system out there that will kick your RUMPUS into shape within a few WEEKS — here is where you can grab it — https://0excusesfitness.com/0excusesfitnessystem/
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