The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Turning Dreams into Profits

HOW TO GET OTHERS TO TELL YOU THEIR MOST VALUABLE SUCCESS SECRETS—A TECHNIQUE I LEARNED FROM A SELF-MADE MULTIMILLIONAIRE

Ted Nicholas, the advertising guru and self-made multimillionaire, leads an enviable life. Married to a beautiful, intelligent woman, he lives in Switzerland and Florida, travels extensively, plays top-level tennis, and works when he wants and as much as he wants.

Last time he was in South Florida for business, we met to catch up. The conversation started with chit-chat—how’s the family, nice weather, what about those Yankees, and so on. But that didn’t last long. Ted wanted to know about me. What was I doing? What new projects was I involved in? What new marketing tests had I observed?

I told Ted how all my business interests were doing. I told him about my new projects, even revealed to him my theories about which are going to work very well and why.

“This is information I shouldn’t be telling him,” I thought to myself. Yet I kept talking. I told him I was looking at investing in a list-management company in New York. I even told him where it was located. I told him about a hush-hush public offering I was marginally involved with.

It occurred to me that this was one of Ted’s success secrets. He got all kinds of good stuff from me—and I promised myself that his was a conversational trick I’d practice more often.

If you are lucky enough to be in the company of a successful businessman, don’t waste your precious time talking about baseball … or, worse, yourself. ...