Until such a time that someone shows up with a ring in their nose – then all bets are off right? I mean I can’t take someone serious [ever] when they’re sporting a nose ring. It’s 2023, not 203 A.D. so I’m trying to understand exactly what a ring pierced through the nostrils gets an individual, and whatever that is I don’t want it. All I want to say is this – while you’re talking to me ALL I’m thinking about is how in the hell did that ring get buried in your nose? Did it hurt more than your brain hurts as it attempts to make sense of this crazy world? It certainly cuts your intellect in half [or more] as far as the general public is concerned. I’m not privy as to how many PhD’s out there sport rings through their nose but I would imagine the number is still quite small? So there’s that. And if you don’t mind I’ll just help myself at whatever it was you were supposed to be doing for me.

While we’re on the subject of jewelry, it’s customary for ladies to wear pretty things on their necks and fingers and ears. I like to see some jewelry on women but I think piercing noses with jewelry takes away from that appeal [for me]. I equate a nose ring, gold or silver or whatever on someone with a lower intellect. Sorry, not sorry! Call me old fashioned I don’t care. I also don’t believe human skin makes a great canvas for artwork, imagine that. Tattoos do not appeal to me even though I know some tattoos reveal great artwork from their makers. I’d rather see that ink working on clothing instead. These football players sporting diamond studs in their ear lobes look childish and ridiculous. To me it demonstrates [again] a lack of intelligence. When it comes down to it in life no one has the time to care what kind of ear studs you wear, how fancy your car is, what gated community you live in, who you rub shoulders with, or how big a contract you talked some team into providing you, no one really gives two sh*ts and why is that? Because everyone is too busy living their own lives, focusing on things important to them and when it comes down to it you aren’t that important. Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. I try to keep these things in mind.

Here’s a story about making impressions [in general] and the ramifications of any impression we have about others as they do matter –
Don’t lose any sleep over this but each of us is making impressions daily – at work, at home, in front of neighbors, friends and relatives. These impressions remain printed inside each of our brains and are difficult to alter or eliminate altogether. Impressions of others can make or break a deal going forward [in the real world]. I managed money for people for many years and along with that I learned many things about people along the way. I learned more things [about people] than I can dedicate in a single sitting. One of my findings, one great lesson I learned from my financial services career is on the topic of how indelible a “first impression” can be on our psyches. This may surprise some of you; what you need to know if you’ve never managed money or been an investment banker is that the business of managing money is really built on referrals. Referrals are what makes the wheels turn, especially in the financial world. It comes down to people talk – they talk about what is going right for them and what is not and who is responsible in both instances.

You may be surprised to find out that referrals aren’t all equal. There are high quality and low quality referrals that will come your way. Let me explain, just because I received a referral from a client it didn’t mean I would necessarily land some new business. Sometimes it did lead to great things and sometimes it didn’t. One could be led to believe at first that it was them, they were the reason a referral didn’t turn into a client. After all, it’s normal to blame yourself when a referral doesn’t lead to new business. I felt this way until I delved deeper into the subject matter and looking under the hood I found that it largely wasn’t personal. Over the years a pattern began to emerge. What I came to find out is, after eliminating lower quality referrals – people without sizable assets or liquidity issues or with money mostly held outside the country – eliminating these prospects and there were still some folks referred to me that never brought their assets over for me to manage. The reason is not something that is that intuitive, nor would they want to tell a guy like me about it directly. The real reason is that the person referring them to me is not looked at [in their eyes] as an “influencer”, or influential. The referring person did not have a certain type of credibility in the minds of those they referred to me, or not the right level of credibility anyway. Not to say that the referring person was not a valuable client of mine and credible themselves and it wasn’t me either because they didn’t even know me. All they knew was that the person who referred me to them was not someone who they would want to emulate in this particular regard, maybe in other aspects of life but not in the realm of finances. See how this works now? The referring individual has to be looked at as an “influencer” to his or her peers. And how will you know when that is the case? The referrals will be of high quality and you will win many as new clients. Why do I bring this up? This is something you should be cognizant of especially if you’re in a service-related profession that relies heavily on referrals [sales, money management and banking, attorneys, doctors, etc.]
Just remember to keep those nose rings at home, and you’re welcome in advance! 🙂