Читать книгу How to Ask for What You Want and Get It! - Lucille Orr - Страница 16

“The most precious of all possessions is a wise and loyal friend.”

Whether it be in business or in your private life, sharing it with a person who makes you happy is very important.

If you’re looking for the right business partner, perhaps Katherine’s story will help you to find them. Not long after completing her marketing degree she was advising her girlfriend, Joanne how to find a wealthy person to finance a new business venture she was keen to establish to help children. “Think of it as a marketing exercise,” she suggested. “Let’s list what you want in a person and then we can define the markets in which they’ll operate and from that we’ll be able to determine where to locate them.”

The two women got excited working on the project that morning and decided the best place to find a very wealthy, businessman or woman was at the Casino on a Saturday night. Saturday, because they presumed interstate or overseas visitors would be looking for entertainment and the Casino always attracted the richest tourists.

They dressed up in the most expensive outfits Joanne possessed. Katherine had to borrow an evening gown as she’d reared five children on a widow’s pension for three years. The two set off feeling very positive that evening and while standing watching the High Rollers, Katherine was tapped on the shoulder by a very attractive young executive who handed her a fist full of chips. “Put them all on red for me?” he said quickly, “I’m at the next table, I’ll be back in a moment.”

She nervously did as she was told and placed a hand full on chips on red numbers. The wheel was spun, the money lost, and she felt devastated. When the man returned and asked what he’d won, she didn’t know how to tell him that she’d lost everything.

“Oh no,” he exclaimed, “I’m broke, they were my last chips, what will I do?” Feeling a little guilty and very empathetic, knowing what it’s like to be flat broke most of the time, she offered him a taxi fare. His response was, “well the least you two women can do is have dinner with me.” Without thinking about how contradictory it was of him to invite them to dinner if he was broke, they accepted his invitation.

Over dinner he discussed an educational business venture with the women and much to Katherine’s delight he was so impressed by her interest in the concept and the fact that she’d studied Marketing while caring for her children as a single parent, that he offered her the opportunity to start the franchise in her city. He financed the whole project and Joanne became a partner in the business. Today the two women are very wealthy, they became the major franchisee in their state and now earn a royalty income from ten additional outlets.

Katherine’s children go to private colleges and she has remarried. Joanne dedicated her life to business and has a wonderful time touring the world opening new branches of the franchised network on behalf of the Australian company.

Were these women lucky? Or did they take a well calculated guess on where their wealthy businessman would be found?

It’s hard to believe this type of thing can happen. But as you can see from the way the meeting was executed, it’s worth empowering yourself with marketing knowledge, there are excellent books and short courses available on the subject.