Can You Deliver on your Boasts?
As we gain experience we realize that concepts stay the same while situations change. In cleaning out our garage I came across a box of things my mother saved from my growing up days. Included were some old high school newspapers with articles about the football games.
Now I don’t remember too much from those games but I do remember the score of the first game my senior year, which we won 43-8. The reason I remember it was that I spent that summer at our cabin, the next-door neighbor’s nephew also spent the summer and he played for our first opponent. I heard all summer how great his team was going to be, how the league had better watch out and the game against us would start their ride to glory.
The same predictions go on in the world of business buy-sell except it’s usually cloaked behind the word potential. Far too many owners believe their business is ready to skyrocket and they should be paid for that future profit. It doesn’t work that way. You get paid for what you’ve done and like my football braggart, talk is just talk; you have to play the game.
To be fair, there are plenty of buyers who brag about their abilities and hope it convinces a seller to sell a good business to them for very little money down. Buyers also need back up their boasts.
“It ain’t bragging if you can do it.” Dizzy Dean
