Greg's Right FIT #395

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Recorded Memories
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Recorded Memories

• In addition to taking the photo or video, get yourself in the pictures. In twenty years you'll thank me. 
• Name your medica files with a standard date format. Include the names of everyone in the file. You have at least 255 characters these days, use them. Future you will thank you.
• Getting rid of bad photos or videos is hard to do. If everything is digitized, and we have a folder of "source material" it gets a little easier to make cuts. A little easier. 
• Don't feel guilty taking time to collect and organize old photos. It's productive downtime and from experience I'm telling you it gets the serotonin flowing. If you end up slightly more organized a little dopamine may show up too. Win-win.

Being Human - Best salesperson superior technique

". . .but is he really happy?" Fr. Ed Larkin

The New Yorker has a great story this week, "Money on the Wall." A profile of someone who might just be the best salesperson ever. (by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of "Say Nothing." Great book.) The profile is of art dealer Larry Gagosian. His galleries do an estimated $1BN in sales.

How does Gagosian do it? One way is group marketing. Get multiple buyers in the room with the product, current customers . . .and supermodels. 

"Gagosian vets each guest list with the vigilance of a night-club bouncer. Of the Memorial Day festivities, he said, 'There's nobody invited that I didn't approve.' The crowd, he explained, would consist of 'billionaires, artists, neighbors–mostly people I really know and am close to.' A pause, a wolfish grin. 'Or want to be close to.' Derek Blasberg, a writer and fashion editor who has held a staff position at Gagosian's gallery since 2014, told me, 'Larry is a full-time gallerist and a part-time casting agent. He knows how to pull the right mix of people from worlds that are financially lucrative and creatively inspiring.' . . . too many billionaires and it'll be dull as Davos; too many artists and celebrities and who's going to buy the art?"

(I'm not kidding about the supermodels. Gagosian once said they are important because they look good at a dinner table. Noted.) 

It's not easy to put events together, but it's effective. Successful events have three pieces: the audience, the topic, and venue. Any one of those can increase the value of the event, but from experience I will tell you, "who is going to be there?" is the most powerful question on the minds of potential attendees. It's one reason why famous people command a premium on the lecture circuit. And collect even more when they promise to stick around and hobnob with the hoi polloi, signing books. 

I'm guessing that besides throwing a great party, Gagosian does a lot of things right. A billion in sales is a big number. I'm just saying it's probably made easier when billionaires are fighting each other to get invites to your parties. 

(A priest I knew, when he heard anecdotes of successful people used to joke, ". . .but are they really happy?" Funny man, that Fr. Ed. Of course Larry G is happy. Of course, he is.)

Random Stuff

The threat simulation theory of dreaming is a thing. Just sayin'.

Over the years I've told some stories about my peach tree. When it was planted, my lovely bride said we'd have a lot of peaches and in year one we had zero. Year two, one. We joked about the "perfect peach." Then it was game on. This year we tried something new. Last year we had some ridiculous number of peaches, but many were small. "Thin them," said the tree guy. 

It doesn't seem right to pick small, unripened fruit, and toss it into the compost, but it works. This year we have fifty big, juicy peaches the size of baseballs. We'd have more but . . .critters. We know the peaches are getting ripe because every critter in the neighborhood comes around and takes a few. Sometimes I find discarded pits, other times the peach is half-eaten, but still on the tree. 

I try to make it a challenge for them. I have a net I put over the tree. It's harder than it looks to get the net over the entire tree, so this year it was mostly covered. Last night I dreamt that I woke up this morning and the tree was stripped bare. Not a single peach hanging. Investigating, I find a pile of discarded peach pits in the corner of the yard. I become enraged. Greg Smash. When I wake up I'm angry. I know it's a dream, but still. Greedy little jerks. 

As I gather the peaches at 6:30 this morning, I tell Wilson the ABC about my dream. Hearing my story, he gets angry too. Well, he yells at all critters, so maybe he was just angry. Anyway, there will be peach cobbler this weekend. And next. 

And next.