Here’s an interesting point: It seems that many businesses value a bird in the bush much more than they value any two customers in the hand.

What does that mean? Well, businesses work very hard to earn a customer. They perform expensive research, evaluate demographic data, and they analyze same in detail. Then, they spend a lot of money on advertising. All this, just to earn new customers.

But what about the customers they already have?

Back in the day, it occurred to me that if I never lost a customer, if I kept the ones I had happy and satisfied with the service I supplied, well, I would never have to work hard to replace them. This meant, to me, that recurring revenue was the best revenue.

Don’t get me wrong, I was constantly working to earn new customers, but I made time every day to make sure that my existing customers were satisfied, happy, that they felt valued. I lost a few customers, but very few, and I never had a problem making my sales quota.

These days, I’m a customer much more often than I am a supplier, and I see it all the time: vendors, suppliers, businesses, take their existing customers for granted. They treat us as though we owe it to them to give them our trade. Yet, they’re out there advertising like crazy.

For a few years, my wife and I used to go to Santa Fe for Christmas. We stayed at one of the finer spa / resort places up there. Let me tell you, it wasn’t cheap, but service was psitively abysmal. I’d go down for coffee in the morning, and they wanted to charge me five bucks for a couple of cups from the bun-o-matic. Then, we’d go down for breakfast, and they wanted reservations. “I’m staying in the hotel!” I said. “No one told me that we’d need reservations for breakfast.” “I’m sorry, sir. No tables are available. I can put you down for lunch.”

The last time we went, there was a ruckus in the next room. A 100 screaming Irishmen constitutes a ceilidh (kaylee), I’m told. If that is so, in the next room, they were having one. I called down to the front desk and complained. After all, it was near midnight, Christmas eve. The guy at the front desk told me that if I kept complaining, they would throw me out of the hotel. Needless to say, I got my shoes and socks on (not in that order) and went down to have a chat with the manager, in person. The short of it was: They were to have given me a credit for that night’s stay, as well as a free night the next time I came, but, again, needless to say, there never was a next time.

Since, I’ve gotten all kinds of flyers in the mail from this prestigious establishment in Santa Fe. They could’ve saved the postage, and my patronage by maintaining reasonable service.

It’s too bad really, I loved the bar in that place.

Now, The other day I called the place that cleans our windows. It had been a couple of years since I had them done, but the guy I talked with found my records right away. He said, “Repeat business is the best business.”

I agree with that guy. How about you?

Why do so many people suffer when they achieve fame and fortune? I would say that I had often wondered about this, but this truth is, it has never really bothered me much; it seems self-evident, that is, quite apparent on the face of it

 I have wondered at self-esteem and self-image being such a remarkable motivator—for good, sometimes, but mostly for ill—in so many people’s lives. Some people would give almost anything to be the center of attention, the object of admiration, respect, envy. Such people would have all heads turn when they enter a restaurant. A murmur would run through the crowd, “Look, there’s such and so, wonder and marvel of the world! So beautiful! So smart! So rich! So blahblahblah! Would that I could have their life for just five minutes.”

Sometimes, this need for attention, for admiration, respect, and envy, is a  very strong motivator. Some people work extremely hard to achieve such regard, and then when the heads actually turn, and they have not a moments peace any longer, they find their dream empty and hollow, because… they are still themselves. As Buckaroo Banzai said, “No matter where you go, there you are.”

I’ve never counted the number of people that I have known who suffered from low self-esteem—in one form or another—a feeling that they were somehow not as good as this [thing, job, situation, what-have-you], or that [thing], or other people, whatever. It manifests itself in all kinds of weird ways, most of them utterly non-conducive to social grace. Such folks are often so self-occupied and self-absorbed that they can never exhibit any form of empathy. Sometimes, this manifests itself in over-compensation that can have disastrous results; to assuage the feeling of inadequacy, some folks put others down, lie, cheat, steal, even resort to overt violence or extreme passive-aggressive actions.

Now this, this self-esteem thing, HAS puzzled me a great deal. Whence does it come? Is it always some kind of crummy childhood? Really? Sounds like a lame excuse to me. Could one overcome this malady all on their own, or must they have adulation from others? If so, how much, and how often? Could anything originating outside the self cure something lacking (perceived or otherwise) in the self?

And what the hell has “Diogenes the bloodhound” got to do with it?

I knew a guy, way back when; a clever guy, affable, approachable, president of our division, an unusually successful guy.

Before things went utterly sideways, he had the foresight to retire. Now here is a guy with enough money to do whatever he wants. He might have traveled, or moved to Hawaii, or the Greek Isles, but, instead, he waited out his non-compete, and then started another business.

I got a call from him, after a while, and I met him for lunch.

I asked him, bluntly, why he had started another business, why didn’t he just spend time with his family, kick-back and have some fun.

He said that he was having fun, that making money was like a game to him, and playing the game, winning the game, was the most fun he had ever had. He had no intention of quitting now, just when he could truly enjoy it (working for himself, with no one to answer to).

Well, I could understand that sure enough. Another person might have thought him simply greedy, but I know this fellow, he’s not guilty of that. Another person might have thought that he had just never gotten comfortable in his own skin. Certainly, I know a few people like that, people who could never spend a few days, or even a few hours, alone, just thinking. But, I know this guy, he’s not plagued with regrets, or unfulfilled dreams or desires. No, this guy had spoken exactly his mind: he loved the game, and could think of no other way he would rather spend his time.

So, I had asked my piercing question, and he took the opportunity to ask me one: Why the hell was I wasting my time and effort writing stories and books?

It was an honest question, but I knew it was two-fold: buried in there, he was also asking, “you’re like me, I can SEE it. You love the game. You love to win. Why waste your talent and skill on a fruitless, unproductive endeavor?”

Well, I don’t see it as fruitless and unproductive. In fact, I was very much of the opinion that making money, simply for the fun of it, was a waste of time and effort (helping clients notwithstanding; I always loved helping my client’s solve thier problems). But that’s not to say that I didn’t understand and respect my friend’s opinion.

At the time, I kind-a shook my head, and said to myself, “there but for the grace of God goes I.” Lately, I’ve been thinking that my friend wasn’t so uncontrollably obsessed, addicted. A janitor, devoted to doing her or his job to perfection, might very well achieve nirvana being the perfect janitor. I suppose a businessperson, devoted in the same way to doing the job to perfection, might very well achieve the same end.

So, do you suppose that one could achieve any good end through being the perfect megalomaniac, or in being completely mercenary, greedy, avaricious?

Think about it…