Comments on: The Keyser Soze School Of Ruthless Business

By: Is Your Company a “Fluffer” for Other Businesses? - Zoomstart

Is Your Company a “Fluffer” for Other Businesses? - Zoomstart — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:10:08 +0000

[...] there are companies that can smell blood in the water. They’ll grind down your margins to nothing. They’ll ask you to put every cent [...]

By: Everyone Loves an Underdog - Zoomstart

Everyone Loves an Underdog - Zoomstart — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 04:54:24 +0000

[...] see that you’re the best. And still, everywhere you look, the chips are stacked up against you. Every day you’re fighting an upstream [...]

By: Shane

Shane — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 02:35:46 +0000

I try to ask at least one stupid question every day. Just to stay in practice

By: Robin Bal

Robin Bal — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 02:13:32 +0000

“Somebody a long time ago told me that the only stupid questions are the ones not asked”, I loved this one and will try to make it work for me too.

Take care and cheers

By: Shane

Shane — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 16:19:14 +0000

Robin,

Thanks. Yeah, staying afloat and keeping calm during these situations is critical.

Our egos have a way of getting in the way, definitely. Mine has seldom gotten in the way of learning though. Guess I’m lucky. Somebody a long time ago told me that the only stupid questions are the ones not asked. Luckily it stuck with me

By: Robin Bal

Robin Bal — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 15:11:59 +0000

All excellent solutions to handle bad situations mate. Integrity is the most important ingredient if you have long term plans for any business. Keep afloat and keep calm keep moving are simply great ingredients. The 5th one is hard though, when you have been in business for a while some of us tend to believe that we know the whole lot. Bit of ego involved there but can be handled there too. I liked the post mate.

Take care and cheers..

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:23:12 +0000

Anthony,

I’ve heard that Ebay can be a problem sometimes. It’s usually people’s first instinct to lose their cool when they get taken for a ride by a cheat (I know it’s mine!). I walk it off or whatever, and then sit down and work on a plan to resolve it.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 08:34:06 +0000

I appreciate this post.

If you do much online trading, such as Ebay, etc, you run into people constantly who try to exploit the system and take advantage of you. Like you said, with experience you learn to see them coming.

It’s very easy to lose your cool and start sending emails before you think the situation through. Staying calm is great advice. A lot of times there’s a better way to resolve the problem than acting on your first impulse.

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 07:21:45 +0000

Hey Ankesh,

It’s not really a detour. Some of the best ruthless companies out there are successful at taking advantage of others because they’re the devil that doesn’t exist … they seem like they have everything to offer …

And then you blink, and realize nothing is what it seemed and you’re in a mess of trouble.

By: Ankesh Kothari

Ankesh Kothari — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:59:04 +0000

Thanks Shane for talking about Keyser Soze!

The biggest lesson he teaches us, imho, is how to create a legend.

“The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

But thats detouring from your post…