Einstein once said, two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity – and I’m not sure about the universe. A glimpse at the news confirms this.
With Seattle in total chaos, we’ve decided to NOT move ahead with our plans to host one of the 2021 Roadshow events there, withdrawing our RFP to the hotels –and we’re making similar choices based on what’s happening in other cities right now, including San Francisco and Minneapolis. I realize this is merely a blip of income for these cities, but we’re far from the only ones.
Smead Capital Management, a billion-dollar investment firm, announced it was moving from Seattle to Arizona for similar reasons. Various businesses have been shutting down and leaving Seattle long before this due to the crime, which makes it difficult to attract customers and good employees who feel safe enough to patronize and work at downtown stores. Truck drivers have overwhelmingly said they will refuse to deliver in cities that defund the police departments. In Minneapolis, it’s estimated over 500 businesses were burned, vandalized and destroyed – many who were already struggling during the COVID-19 shutdown. Many are leaving, others just closing their doors permanently. In California, Elon Musk has announced his plans to move out of California due to a long list of grievances from the state (not just the COVID-19 shutdown), only to be given the middle finger by San Diego Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who tweeted, “F*ck Elon Musk.” If you’re in a city with similar unrest and stupid at the helm, you might want to start making escape plans now.
Just like businesses, governments need money to operate. But money is easily annoyed and highly mobile. If you don’t make it feel welcome, money leaves and goes where it’s appreciated, encouraged and honored. Money also goes where it’s invited…
As soon as the tweet from Ms. Gonzalez went out, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez tweeted right back: “I have recently read of your displeasure with authorities in California and your desire to relocate to Texas ‘immediately.’ I wanted to reach out to you to let you know that Hidalgo County, Texas is available to immediately accommodate you and Tesla Motors.”
Recently I attempted to buy a new set of weight-lifting bumper plates from Hi-Temp. The website said, “Due to excessive sales, we are no longer taking Internet orders at this time.” The stupidity in that statement is off the charts. You have “excessive” sales? How about raising your prices? How about at least putting people on a wait list with a deposit so you can continue to build a list of buyers? How about doing everything you can to hustle your arse off to fulfill the demand? There’s no excuse for this level of stupidity. But my money – along with everyone else’s money – is movable and easily diverted, so I’ll buy from somewhere else. They’re too stupid to even know money showed up and knocked, multiple times, then left, never to return.
You might think the above two stories are unrelated, but I assure you they are 100% connected. They are both shining examples of indefensible stupidity. Unfortunately, it can be found in abundance everywhere you turn these days. Maybe in your own house of business. The question is, where is stupid happening in YOUR world?
At one of our workshops for MSPs, we have attendees secret-shop each other, calling to play a prospective customer. The across-the-board results are abysmal. In the RARE chance when someone actually gets to a live person, they are often grossly mishandled and even told to go away (the prospect they portray is a 40-person, local company with a down server, looking for a new IT company). In some of the worst cases, they are even given the name and phone number of a direct competitor!!!! When money is mistreated, it vanishes. Money also has a memory, folks, so if you disrespect it once, it remembers and never returns.
Many people are mystified by marketing and stumped when it comes to generating sales. Candidly, it’s not complicated. You must make yourself ATTRACTIVE to money. You must look for it, welcome it and honor it when it shows up. You must wake up daily considering how you will lure it to engage with you. Money is in CONSTANT flow everywhere. Put yourself in its path and don’t be stupid. Simple.
