Being Underestimated

A family member
on my significant other’s side
has been pitching
business ideas
to my significant other
for the past couple decades.

My significant other
listens to the family member talk
but he isn’t overly interested
in business.
He leaves most of that
to me.

I’ve tried to ask
this family member
about his business ideas.

The family member
either ignores me completely
or he patronizes me.
He tells me
I won’t understand
his business ideas.

I don’t argue
with him.

His attitude alone
tells me
we wouldn’t ever be interested
in partnering with him.

And now
I don’t have to listen
to his pitches.

He tries to sell his ideas
to my significant other,
someone who won’t ever
invest with him.
And he leaves me alone.

Being underestimated
can be a good thing.

It reveals
terrible judgment
and you can, in the future, avoid
dealing with those people.

Just Because It Isn’t On The News…

A buddy in another country
told me
she was so relieved
the fires in my country
were now out.

The fires aren’t
out.
There are more fires
today
than there were
last week.

The news has
merely stopped
covering the fires
because they and viewers
are bored of that coverage.

Don’t make business decisions
based on the news coverage.

Do your own research.

Wait To Act On Research

The latest ‘game’
is to release a study
with a completely bullsh*t conclusion
and then,
a few weeks later,
after the media coverage
has stopped,
release a retraction,
admitting it was total bullsh*t.

This doesn’t help
those of us
who have made decisions,
including business decisions,
based on the original
bullsh*t conclusions.

The damage has been done.

This has happened
so often
recently,
I’ve added extra steps
to my process.

I wait for a month,
if I can,
to act on any piece
of new information.

I also wait
to hear
feedback on the research
from experts
I trust.

Wait for feedback
and reactions
on new research
before acting upon it.