The Letters I Write To You Are Read By…All

The old man turned 55 a couple of days ago which is how I sometimes refer to the guy I met on the first day of kindergarten.

Since he is all of six months older than I am he isn’t really old but I like to call him that which should show some of you that I am very consistent in my approach to some things.

I texted him birthday greetings from the car dealer and told him about how my keys had magically disappeared so they had better make me a good deal for a new one or expect me to start a scavenger hunt for the old set.

Given the experience I wrote about here with a different dealer I am almost surprised I went through it with another dealer but there are moments when I am nothing but determined.

The good news for all parties is we reached an agreement and I didn’t have to start a scavenger hunt through the dealership for my old keys because I walked away with a new set.

I got a good laugh when the salesman asked me if I was serious about the scavenger hunt. I shrugged my shoulders and said there is joy in the unknown.

Though six hours into it I told him I was getting hangry and he tried to distract me by asking what I do for fun. I said I write a blog called The Letters I Write To You Are Read By…All.

We’ll see if he tries searching for that or not. It is always interesting seeing who shows up here.

New Visitors

Some of our new visitors come from New York and Indiana. They found The Origin Of The Silver Man and Some Questions Don’t Need To Be Asked to be very interesting.

The car salesman asked me to explain how I got readers for the blog and if I spent any money on advertising. I laughed when he asked if I had spent money on advertising and told him about people I know that did.

“Blogs need to be filled with good content that is at least educational, entertaining and or informative.”

I didn’t go into a deep history lesson and talk about what things were like before Facebook, Twitter and the 298 other social media platforms.

Didn’t tell him how novel it used to be in the pre podcasting days to post your voice and or video online and how it used to be much easier to secure and hold onto readers.

Didn’t talk about how commenting used to be one of the best ways to build relationships between readers and bloggers nor did I get into distinguishing that a post is a part of a blog either.

It wasn’t what I was there to do and I wanted to move things along and get out. He was nice and easy to work with, but I miss having a car broker I trust.

It makes it into a more enjoyable experience and much less of a process. I have tried to locate one to work with here in Texas but haven’t been able to.

Had one guy who looked like a possibility but things didn’t work out.

A good broker should be able to provide you with access to opportunities to purchase/lease a car you like, with the options you want at a price you find acceptable.

If you can do that faster and better than they can there is a good chance you are working with the wrong person and that tells you all you need to know about the one experience I had here.

****

While I was waiting for some answers at the dealership I listened to a guy tell the woman he was with about how he was going to walk out having beat the dealer and I shook my head.

I don’t understand that mentality. No one is in business to give money away and even though there is access to more information you probably aren’t aware of all of the costs and incentives involved on the dealer’s side.

I have never had anyone at a dealership tell me they were losing money on a deal and if they did I would walk out. It is a ridiculous and unbelievable comment.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t think some dealers will rob a customer blind because I am certain that happens.

My goal in business is very simple.

I want everyone to walk away feeling like they got a fair deal that they feel good about.

If that happens and there are no unexpected surprises that come post deal I am generally pretty happy. My ego doesn’t need to be able to say I beat anyone.

Work Like Hell

I am in the middle of listening to Arnold’s latest book called Be Useful. I am most of the way through and overall I have enjoyed it.

You typically won’t find me getting into any self help books because I don’t find them to be of particular interest or helpful.

Arnold got my attention via an interview he did with Howard Stern and a Netflix special I watched at the gym. I found his story interesting and the advice he gives comes across as being very practical.

You can boil it down to you can’t accomplish anything of substance without having a vision and the willingness to “work like hell.”

That makes sense to me. It is not a bunch of new age mumbo jumbo about the laws of attraction. It’s figure out what you want, make a plan to obtain it and work hard.

He peppers the book with stories about his life and some of those are interesting. Been a decent way to pass time in traffic or listen to while on a treadmill.

I also appreciate his thoughts on failure, risk taking and that he doesn’t try to convince you that anyone can do what he did.

There is food for thought and merit in learning how others made it. Above all I like having an active mind and filling it with a mix of thoughts and ideas.