1 post tagged “selling”

Finding a partner, a buyer, or even a job can be remarkably similar activities.  All are governed by marketplace dynamics.  All follow the familiar seeking pattern that begins with attracting attention and ends with commitment to a careful choice.  And they all tend to expose the world's shallowness, rewarding our innate (and often inane) features rather than substantive qualities.

The marketplace dictatorship is both obvious and passionately denied by those selling their advice.  It doesn't matter how many times you reread The Game or What Color is Your Parachute if the demand is low and competition crushing.  Conversely, if you happen to have something many people want, you'll do alright even without a guru's exalted word.  This simple truth lies behind the familiar refrain of people discussing their own experiences: frustration on one side of the aisle, grandstanding on the other.

I think the best advice is actually to be found in The Luck Factor.  The book acknowledges that we mostly play the odds, but argues convincingly that the odds can be improved through faith, perseverance, and creativity.  Pretty logical, when you think about it.

Knowledge is helpful, too: there's always something in demand, and there is something that can take us there fastest.  We often suffer, alas, in ignorance of what that something is.  But it's always out there; otherwise, success would never come to anyone at all.  So we go on seeking it, consoled by the knowledge that the one thing we can always do is learn.