290 – October 17
“Never hope harder than you work.”—Rita Mae Brown
A bright young man of about thirty-five, Bob sat in my office and explained that he was looking for bookkeeping help for the new computer company he was trying to get off the ground. I asked him a lot of questions about his background and his prospects. He told me that he had received a $400,000 inheritance the year before. “Great!” I thought to myself, “a client who can afford to pay for my services!” I asked if he had a financial planner or stockbroker who was helping him to manage his assets. “No,” he told me, “the money is all gone now.”
I felt so sorry for him in that moment. What a gift he had wasted! Here he was, hopeful that he could make back his fortune with his start-up company, which now had no operating capital. He had several potential buyers for his product, a lot of hope, a lot of dreams—but no money. We tried to help him with some bookkeeping for a while, but his company never got off the ground, and he couldn’t pay for our services, so we parted ways.
He sent me a prospectus on another new start-up company a couple of years later. He wanted me to send it out to possible investors I might know. At the end of the letter, he mentioned I could reach him at a certain phone number and then said if the phone was disconnected (“Oh, the life of an entrepreneur”) I should try his roommate’s number.
Would you invest your money with this man? Would you ask your friends to invest money with him? No matter what his dreams, his plan, his optimism, Bob had proven himself incapable of managing money. He’s thinking positive which is good, and sending out ships, too. But he hasn’t been counting his money. This makes him a tuna. He may become a dolphin one day, but until there’s proof, only another tuna would give such a person more money.
Anyone like Bob in your life? As a friend of mine named Clancy said, “Teach him Spanish. I suggest you start with ‘Adios!’”
Today’s Affirmation:
“I invest with success in people who are smart money managers like me!”
I have to admit that I’m a Tuna-in-Recovery myself. I think I’ve made every Tuna mistake on the planet. These are some of the Tuna behaviors of which I have been guilty:
- Getting involved (romantically and professionally) with Sharks
- Having low self-esteem
- Not asking for what I wanted
- Not asking for enough money, raises, bonuses, perks, etc. at work
- Not believing I was worthy of success
- N0t saying positive affirmations (whether I believed them or not)
- Not taking the good advice of smart Dolphins
- Getting stuck in the mud and wallowing in it instead of figuring a way out and taking action
- Continuing to do something that wasn’t working because “it’s bound to work someday!”
- Whining and complaining about my life
This is not an exhaustive list. This is just what came to mind off the top of my head in about 5 minutes. What would you add to the list? Which ones have you done?
