In Numbers I Trust. Numbers Don’t Lie. People Lie.

Morning Folks!!


All the words in the world can say one thing and it won’t matter one iota if the numbers don’t match the words. My compass is numbers. Numbers don’t lie, people lie. Pretty simple starting point. Your job in life is to be skeptical, however, not to the point of dismissing new numbers, facts and discoveries. Numbers should be your friend. Your closest adviser. The determining factor in most cases.


I am a mathematician by hobby. SIMPLE MATH. Addition, subtraction, division, percentages and equations. I really sucked in Algebra until I became really good in Algebra. The rest really was made for the calculator. But somewhere along the way they drew that line way too low and many never learned the basics.


So while others use words with motives behind them as their compass, I use numbers that are not clouded by words. Not bent and bastardized by words. Not adulterated and whored by motives. Numbers paint one picture and words can paint another. A mirage if you allow yourself to do that. A Blue Sky.


Folks swallow bait instead of doing the hard work of finding out themselves. They use a calculator because they don’t know the multiplication tables. Never heard of the “Ben Franklin Method”. Don’t understand that in negotiations it is a game and anything goes. That “John Jones” has eyes and your job is to get into those eyes to see what he sees because what you see is meaningless if you want to sell them something.


Everyone in business MUST be a salesman. So if you never sold anything, the transition may be difficult. Every successful businessperson must wear a number of hats to succeed. Psychologist is one of them so you can relate and understand reactions and human nature and other emotions.


But through all that, numbers never lie and when someone says it is only a penny or a nickel or whatever, tell them that billions are made a penny at a time. When they say this or that does not count, then you know either are the words coming from their mouth.


Those that valued domains on a PPC multiple used a flawed and useless model. I am on record for years saying that. Now look. Who wants to use that model? Here’s the secret. It was NFG then and it is NFG now. It was based on something sure to fluctuate. That is what markets do. They go up, they pop and they go down and crash. Then they repeat the process.


If you feed the calculator the wrong numbers and you don’t know they are wrong and don’t know what the approximate answer should be, then you are lost. In a fog. No way to even realize what a wrong answer is and what a right answer is or anything even close. That is the same with opportunity. If you don’t know what to look for, there is little hope on grabbing it. Especially when opportunity usually is invisible and seldom if ever has a neon sign showing the way.


You can’t be first on the next thing until you clean that up. It will keep you boxed in of your own device forever. Don’t do that to yourselves. Make numbers your friends. They will never let you down and they will never lie to you.


Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

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