The Other side of the Table
Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes
Until you are actually the one making deals you are on the wrong side of the table. When I say making deals I don’t mean fulfilling contracts or responding to want ads. You have to be the one putting out the ads and hiring the people to get the job done on your behalf. As your Hustle progresses everything you do will stop being so much hand to hand and move on to negotiations. You will enter into situations where the other side will have a whole team of people arguing for their position and their stake. Needless to say it’s better to be the one calling the meeting than the one attending the meeting.
Hustle goes through many stages from hand to hand street deals, to negotiations in a conference room, and finally back to hand to hand deals at the golf course or over dinner. In the negotiation stage you will be so happy to finally think you are doing real business you will not pay attention to your share. You will change your clothes and dress probably in suits and have a nice car. You will eat expensive lunches and start to look like business. The problem is all the suits, lunches and cars are not business, it’s basically the same as on the street it’s just you are not dealing with street people anymore. Most regular business is conducted behind closed doors with offers of water, coffee and bagels. A Sucker will be impressed with all the marble, phones and secretary and lose sight of the deal in the first place. Negotiations are usually where the Sucker looses his rights and signs forever contracts.
When you are sitting at any table whether at a coffee shop, in a class, or in a conference room realize that the table symbolizes a barrier between you and the other person. Of course you see it there literally but it also means you are opposing each other. It’s like the ref between two boxers as the last force stopping them before they hit each other. Who ever sets the table, or sits at the head of the table has the power. Since they called you to their office they intentionally brought you to them so you would not think straight. This is all done as a power strategy to make you come in there and sign over your life, be happy with 2% of the offer, or be impressed with them so you defer to them instead of sticking to what you wanted. Until you have your own table to call a meeting you will always be on the losing end of any deal in which you were invited to negotiate. The only solution is to maybe rent a conference room for yourself but the other side will never agree to it.
BottomLine: Until you set the table you are subject to the cats who are trying to run the table!
Twitter
Youtube
RSS
Email
Facebook
MJ is a good example of this. I just saw a Nike commerical for Jordans and Mike still ain’t hit a billion yet! Sometimes those contracts look appealing but you gotta do your homework or folks will be making billions off you yearly, while it take decades for you to millions over time.
ok….so what to do in these sorts of situations? stick with what we want and avoid too much negotiating?
More RL what I noticed from my employers that do have small businesses many do the bulk of their work out of their homes and rent a office space. Usually downtown near transit routes and close to restuarants, which provides a convience for better negotations. I have noticed from personal experience that clients are usually more willing to meet up with you at your office.
Also picking a office space that have access to a large and small conference rooms saves you time and money because you have everything you need to set up a meeting plce to discussion deal and consult.
Plus a bonus of some of these office buildings is having a standard receptionist that answer all yours calls and then route your calls to either your home, cell phone, or even if you are visiting someone you still have SOMEONE else answering your calls instead of you!
@Freedom – MJ wasn’t negotiating in the first place he was just getting PUT ON. So MJ didn’t have a real business and so it wasn’t a negotiation.
@Keish – The goal of the post is to make people aware that all kind of ploys are used in negotiations to get you of track. To make you feel comfortable, to intimidate you all so you can take less and lose sight of the goal. So until you are the one setting up the deal, thus controlling the table; you are at a loss. Not a loss financially but a loss strategically.
You will have to negotiate when you get your business up just be aware of them trying to sucker you!
@Freedom – Most small businesses don’t realize they can rent conference rooms. They are called Micro-offices and you can schedule a meeting in a office space even if you run the business out of your office. Regal I think is one of these companies. They even allow you to rent the conference room if you happen to be traveling to LA, Frisco, Miami and New York. So if you execute the hustle right you can look like you are Nationwide!
If I’m at someone else table, I have to be ready to get up and walk away if the deal ain’t good.
I notice at car dealerships they have that table set up and then they start trying to screw the buyer with extra fees..most of them still sit there and this is the game these car salesman play with them.
Hey, that’s a good example because most people can relate to getting hustled at a car dealership. The funny thing about it is they leave you at the table so you can relax. Plus they keep giving you water so you can feel like you have to pee. Some crazy person put together the hustle that goes down at car dealerships.
Well all these negotiations are done at some table the biggest thing is not to be intimidated by the formality aka the hustle that is put down against people who are so happy to conduct business that they end giving up all of their money!