BarrieBergman

Over the Rainbow

It seems like almost every week there’s a new billionaire entrepreneur.  They mostly come from the tech sector, but occasionally other types of businesses are represented.  This week Facebook goes public with an offering worth $16 billion, just the latest of these spectacular success stories.

I speak at colleges and universities about entrepreneurial pursuits.  The interest among kids in business ventures today is amazing.  Everybody wants to be Mark Zuckerberg.  When I went to school everyone wanted to work for IBM or later Goldman Sachs.  Doing ventures for oneself is an exciting way to use the freedom that we have.

The opportunity here is still unparalleled in the world.  I’m sick of hearing people talk about the lack of mobility in our society.  Individuals in this country are only restrained by their own lack of creativity and hard work.  The Horatio Alger dream is still alive.

At a time when Greece is failing because they refuse to live within any reasonable boundaries of spending, the US with its limitless resources can continue to prosper, if we just can find a way to compromise about our political differences.

I love America.   It has been so good to me and my family.  I am sick of hearing about all the things that are wrong here.  We have always been able to co-operate with each other, when the chips are down.  Tell the fools in Washington to accommodate each other and continue the greatest social experiment the world has ever seen.

~
I feel good
Like I knew that I would
I feel nice
Like sugar and spice
-James Brown

Thanks Dick

We lost an American icon this week, Dick Clark.  Dick was an original.  He was the first person to break a record nationally.  He never saw color in artists.  At a time when many radio stations refused to play music by black performers, Dick played Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and James Brown for a national audience.

He was a hell of a businessman.  He took Rock and Roll from the clutches of payola and let his audience decide about the merits of the music (i.e. “I like the beat.  I can dance to it.  I’ll rate it a ten.”).

He created the Academy of Country Music and many other award shows, primarily to showcase the music, when so little Rock and Roll was on television.  His production company was extremely successful, and no New Years Eve will ever be the same without him.

I met Dick a few times.  He was always kind and respectful toward me.  He did business on an honest, ethical basis, which was missing in many of his contemporaries.

I don’t think the American record business would have developed without Dick Clark.  So many of us owe him so much.  He will really be missed.

~
Hail Hail, Rock and Roll
Deliver me from the days of old
Rock, Rock, Rock and Roll
The music is there body and soul
- Chuck Berry

We’ll Get Rich a Few Days Later

I read recently that rich people are more likely to cheat at stop signs by jumping the queue than people of modest means.  The wealthy are also more likely to fudge on taxes, and in other places, than their poorer compatriots.   The theory is that the rich are empowered and feel more entitled than those of modest means.

Before you poor schlubs out there start to feel superior, you’ve got to realize that as soon as you get wealthy, you expect the same entitlements as your formerly rich betters - so much for the nobility of the poor.  As I have often mentioned, I’ve been poor, and I’ve been rich, but rich beats the crap out of poor.  However, that is a topic for another day.

Ethics are an interesting matter.  When I first decided to write a book, my title was going to be We’ll Get Rich a Few Days Later, which referred to having a strong ethical base in business.  Instead, I named my book Nice Guys Finish First, because my publicist talked me into it.

I still like the first title, although the second title took me to great riches and fame.  In a time of Rush Limbaugh and mass cheating in politics and sports, doing the right thing is an American value we should return to.

In the same article I alluded to, it was discovered that more affluent people fudged on change.  They were much less likely to return money, if a cashier gave them too much change on a cash purchase.  My wife Arlene and I have given money back many times.  About half the time the person is reluctant to take the money and acknowledge they made an error.  Some times you can’t do the right thing even if you want to.

Nice Guys Finish First:  amazon.com
Website:  barriebergman.com
Blog:  http://barriebergman.typepad.com/barriebergman/   

Interesting Times

If I were running a company today, the company would be doing great and expanding like crazy.  In the interest rate environment we find ourselves in, it’s almost impossible to do poorly.  I would be borrowing as much as I could from any bank, that would lend it to the business, and expanding as fast as we could go.

I always pushed hard for growth, when the economy was at its worst.  Most people stopped growing and sat on the sidelines, but I felt the time to expand was when others backed off.  It was easier.  It takes cajones to do this, particularly because banks hate it.  But, if the organization is good enough, the style really works. 

Banks, which are run by people who can’t make it in real business, always believe in going with the trend, while I believe in going counter-trend.  Running counter-cycle is the best way to make money that I know, but it’s hard to swim upstream, when everyone thinks you’re crazy.

As the economy gets better and companies make more and more money, the Stock Market is going to go up.  My fearless prediction for this year is somewhere in the 10-15% range.  I also believe that Congress will begin to act more responsibly and start to limit spending.

I’m an eternal optimist, so don’t base any investment strategies on anything I say, but if you do and you make any money, I would love a piece of the action.  If you lose money, call Newt Gingrich.  He told you the world was coming to an end.

In Sickness and in Health

Yesterday, in a humbling experience, I had to call my insurance carrier to get an early refill on a medication I take.  We are taking a trip out of the country, and I’ll be away when the normal refill is ready.  The insurance company insisted I call personally, which is a torture I don’t normally have to endure.

It took two phone calls, four menus, and two humans to make the decision to let me do something that in the long run wouldn’t cost the insurance company a penny.  I repeated the same exact information three times, and at the end I wasn’t sure I still spelled my name with an “ie.”

It’s obvious that this procedure is created to get customers to give up and go away, which I almost did, and paid the money out of my own pocket.  Everyone was friendly, but non-committal.  I finally got my authorization, after about twenty minutes, and went on my way to wellness land.

I spent a large part of my business life trying to inspire organizations to give good customer service.  How can any company treat a consumer the way I was treated?  The health care industry is one of the worst offenders, but there are plenty of others.

Can’t businesses get their IT nerds to make these processes easier?  Why do we have to repeat the same information over and over?  Can’t a machine or a human input the info the first time you give it?  Doesn’t anybody give a crap?  I once intended to write a book titled, “Nobody Listens, Nobody Follows Through.”  I decided not to write it, because it was so dark.  I’m currently sharpening my pencils, getting ready to write.

Musings

I kinda like Mitt Romney.  He’s handsome, prolific (lots of kids), and he’s a good businessman.  He jumps around on issues, but then don’t most politicians.

I’m probably not his target demographic, since I’m a Democrat, and I’m not going to vote for him.  But among the respective Republican candidates, he’s an easy choice.  Thus, I’m sick of Romney getting pilloried for being a good business person.

If more people in government had a clue about how to make money (i.e. buy low, sell high) we might be able to finance our debt without running a series of fund raisers.  Perhaps, if we could get some of the same greedy bastards that run Wall Street to run the government, we would do better – Oh wait – we tried that under Bush, and look how it turned out.
                                                              ~
A fan at a hockey game was recently fined $200 for throwing a banana at a black player.  Police said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him with a hate crime.  What do you think it was, a dislike crime?  Later in the game another fan threw a bagel at a Jewish player, but he wasn’t charged because there was no cream cheese or lox.  Yeah . . . I’m just kidding about the bagel.

It’s OK for hockey players to beat the crap out of each other, just don’t throw stuff on the ice, except in Detroit, where they throw octopi for some unfathomable reason.

Blue Monday

I’m easily pissed off.  Child abuse pisses me off.  Cheating in college athletics pisses me off.  All politicians piss me off.  Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Black Friday pisses me off.

No, I’m not unhappy about consumers running willy-nilly spending money; I just don’t like the term.  Some fool analyst on Wall Street came up with the name because supposedly the day after Thanksgiving is the day retailer’s P&L statements go from red to black.  This is only true occasionally, and it differs widely from industry to industry and year to year.

I could understand if we called this day “Green Friday” because it’s certainly the day money shows up, but co-opting the name of the day that the stock market crashed in 1929 is like somebody chewing gum loudly.  I can’t stand that either.

Now that all that is cleared up, we can also delete Cyber Monday too.  Any retailer knows the last full Saturday before Christmas is the biggest shopping day of the year, because people procrastinate as long as they can before coming out to shop.  The only reason the last shopping day before Christmas is not the biggest day is because most stores close at 6:00 p.m. that day.

Last week amid the turkey and football, Roger Federer proved once again that older gentlemen can still play tennis by winning the year-end tournament.  Black Friday my ass.

Not Wasted in Margaritaville

I’ve had a few heroes in my life, mostly sports stars.  Among them are Willie Mays, Dick Goat, David Thompson, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Roger Federer.  I've had a vew business heroes as well . . . Sam Walton, The Nordstrom family, and lately Warren Buffett.

I love Warren Buffett.  He is always the smartest guy in the room.  His investing style of taking the long term view, picking good companies, and staying out of their hair is commendable.  His acumen in picking companies is extraordinary.  Following him around is a great investing strategy.

What Buffett did this week, investing in Bank of America, is a perfect example of why I love him.  He invested in a beaten down company, that is still viable, contrary to all the rumors.  He got a preferred interest rate and great upside on the stock.  He made the investment to make money for his shareholders, but it also helps the bank with credibility.  He did the same thing with Goldman Sachs in the middle of the recession.  Watch him make money with this investment.

The stock market acts irrationally in the short term.  Adam Smith said in the prologue to The Money Game, that the market acted like a bunch of women at a sale, running from counter to counter.  Warren Buffett approaches the counter slowly and stays there.  He can do my shopping any day.

There is a documentary running on HBO called 50 State Road Trip.  It made me prouder to be an American, than I’d been in a long time.  Watch it and see what you think.
 

Thanks Mark

Thank you Mark Z and the Winklevoss’s. You guys made my life better with Facebook, but I didn’t realize it for a long time.  I finally got it a year ago, when I was promoting my book and my speaking by using social media.

I looked at Facebook as a marketing tool, but what I realized was that it was a terrific way to reconnect with old friends.  I’ve lived a long time and in a number of places, so I’ve met a bunch of people in my life. By using Facebook, I’ve gotten in touch with many friends who I long ago lost touch with.

I’ve heard from numerous people I worked with at our old company, Record Bar.  Some of them I never even met because our stores were so spread out geographically.  The comments have been wonderfully complimentary.  To have people say such nice things about a company we sold twenty years ago brings me a warm glow.

It reminded me of a reunion party we had for the company a few years ago.  A lot of ex-employees of the company were there.  When Arlene and I got to the party, we naturally fell into our old rolls as hosts.  We split up and didn’t see each other until the end of the evening.  People were so warm and complimentary about the company.  We were both very gratified.  As I said to Arlene at the time, “Hell they didn’t have to suck up anymore, we aren’t the bosses now."

It’s really great that the good feelings about the company have lasted so long.  We tried to make it a special place to work, and it looks like many folks thought we succeeded.

Boys and Toys

Another sad week went by last week.  The first buffoon decided not to run for president (big surprise!), and the governator turned out to be Johnny Appleseed, although he wasn’t planting apple seeds.  Also, the Republicans’ other major clown, Newt Gingrich, self destructed.  Without Trump and the Newtster to kick around, who are we going to laugh at?  Is Bristol Palin too young to run?

Watching politics and the class of individuals it attracts, reminds me once again of sports team owners.  Why do sports attract all these sleaze balls?  For every Rooney family there are five McCourts, Jerry Jones, or Marge Schotts, not to mention the worst of all time, the late, great George Steinbrenner.  What is it about teams playing games that attract these lowlifes?  Why do they love to go down to the field during and after games and prance around like they had some involvement in the outcome of the contest?

The owners meddle in the running of the organization without any knowledge or expertise just because they made a few bucks in the oil business or home improvement.  They become enraged when anyone questions their decision making, and the solution for very problem is to fire the coach or the manager.

I just heard that a hedge fund manager put $200 million into the NY Mets for a minority share.  The Mets are in trouble because their owner invested with Bernie Madoff.  The hedge fund guy said he’s doing it for fun.  Big Boys and their toys!