First of a series
[img]1430|left|Victor Green||no_popup[/img]One glance across the delicatessen table at dapper Victor Green, and you don’t hesitate. You don’t question whether you should buy what he is selling.
Go ahead.
If you have one brickle of sense, you start listening as soon as he slides into his seat. Reach with each hand for a pen, start scribbling notes as if the Titanic were steaming toward you at daybreak.
He left school in his native England at 15 years old.
At 73, Mr. Green penned a pragmatic volume “How to Succeed in Business by Really Trying!, that builds brilliantly on every bedrock counsel your Mama fed you years ago.
In Between, You Ask?
What happened during the 58 years in betwixt, as Mr. Green tells it, would fill a mine with earned gold – and with stories that demonstrate how you can became independently successful while others are bemoaning the sagging economy. Such talk makes the Englishman, who mostly lives in Los Angeles, bristle.
It is you, not others, he emphasizes, who will make you succeed or fail. You are independent. You will only succeed, he believes, if you are faithful to several principles.
“Starting a business,” Mr. Green says, “the most important part is not to get carried away with the emotions of your heart.
“Sanity not vanity,” he says, not only cleverly but practically.
“The emotion to avoid is, ‘Ahh, I’ve a great idea that is going to revolutionize the world. I will be a billionaire before I wake up in the morning.’
“The mistakes that people make are in speaking to their family and to their friends, all of whom will say, ‘Bubbelah, you’re wonderful. You’re gonna be a billionaire.’
“It’s important when you have this adrenalin rush and this emotion, which is wonderful, if you don’t let your head kick in with your heart, you’re going to make a mistake.
A Time To Challenge
“So you can get the emotions with your heart, like falling in love with somebody, Sooner or later, though, your head is going to say, ‘Is she the right girl for me? Do I like the way she dresses? The way she cooks?’
“We are all blessed with a brain, and this is where it comes in. Unfortunately, few people use all of the facilities within the brain.
“When starting a business, you have to make sure your idea is sensible,” Mr. Green said. “When you get to that stage, you also have to decide, Is the product or service you will be offering going to be of value to your client? Not to you.
“You don’t have to like the product or service you are offering. Your clients do. They are your customers.”
(To be continued)
