ONCE BITTEN, THE BAIT IS RARELY SPIT OUT
Thoughts on Fishing, Experience, and Being an Entrepreneur. And All This Might Just Help You be a Success.
By Brian Fansher
THE STORY
The predawn March morning started out much like any other trip to the local freshwater fishery. The pickups and boats lined up at the gate, waiting for the first sign of light. Every fisherman anxiously awaited the bounty of giant bass, eager to engulf anything that swims by...hey, a fisherman can dream. All of us do. I think fisherman do especially, but I suppose that's debatable.
With knowledge of my quarry (and countless hours pursuing it), I boated four quality fish within the first hours and missed one more. My brother-in-law, however, was still waiting to get bit. A good fisherman in his own right, he hadn't put in the many hours I myself have, pursuing the species and catching them under numerous conditions.
But I digress.
After another two and a half hours, I had boated another six fish, while my partner had landed only two. His were kind of scrawny, but that's neither here nor there. He continued switching artificial lures, spending more time tying knots than fishing. I stuck with what was working for me--a pattern that had previously worked well for me under nearly identical conditions. Sure, I offered some advice (which he would later accept), but for now he was content to jump from one "bait" to another, with their dangling treble hooks seemingly spending more time in my face than in the fishes'.
I proceeded to give a demonstration of my technique and offered him one of the 30-cent plastic worms I was using. He nodded and continued tying on another $6 plug.
I felt a solid bite on my worm. My body language changed. I bent my knees and stiffened up. My fishing buddy knew well what that body language meant, but as usual, asked me anyway, "D'jya get a bite?"
I didn't answer--never do (for some reason). I waited for the line to move and after what seemed like a full minute, it did.
My brother-in-law whispered, "Stick 'im."
I decided to play with his emotions (not the fish's), so I loosened up and watched the line slowly swim away for 20 or 25 seconds. By this time, my colleague YELLED, "Stick 'im hard. What are you waiting for?"
After a good 45 seconds with that strip of brown plastic in the Bass' mouth, I said "He won't spit it out." To which my companion replied, "Are you crazy It's a plastic worm, of course he's gonna spit it out." I waited some more, while my cohort stared at me, slack-jawed. believing I'd finally lost my mind.
After more than a minute, the line stopped moving. I reeled up the slack, while my brother-in-law shook his head in disgust and replied, "You had that fish dead to rights., What was that all about?"
Albeit prematurely, he'd assumed the fish was long gone and foraging for real food. Once I reeled up all slack in the line, being supremely confident the fish was still there, I reared back somewhat dramatically,producing a precarious bend in my graphite rod. The fight was on.
The fish didn't know it yet, but my partner and I knew there was no way I would lose it. It turned out to be the heaviest fish weighed in at the lake that day. I snapped a picture of the seven pounder and released it. No doubt it (and my brother-in-law) felt a little silly about doubting experience. And no doubt, another experienced angler will come along and fool that same fish. It might be five years from now when it's caught again, when that chunky female weighs 12 pounds, but it will likely be by a veteran angler who has put in the time on the water.
I knew that fish was hungry. I knew from experience, by the way it walloped my worm, that the fish was completely fooled and wasn't about to spit it out.
OF WORMS AND EXPERIENCED WIGGLING
The preceding was obviously a euphemism, as you are not at this moment reading Field & Stream. Some advice for the beginning entrepreneur (take it or leave it)--Once a consumer takes the bait, i.e. responds to your ad and otherwise pays for your product or service, there is almost no chance they will spit it out. The consumer in the above euphemistic example, i.e., the Bass, was sold on the wiggle of the worm.
Presented by the experienced entrepreneur, the proper presentation will usually get the consumer to bite. The experienced entrepreneur also knows that once the "bait" is taken, the quarry rarely lets go. The ever-present, "Beginners' Fear of Returns" is unfounded. Believe me, if you deliver what your ad says you'll deliver, the chances of it being returned to you for a refund are about one in 1,000--not even worth a drop of sweat on your part. Sure it happens, but it's extremely rare.
In our society's age of seemingly unlimited numbers of sociopaths, isn't it good to know that when the consumer receives what was promised, their inner-voice seems to insist that they NOT return it...even if it means they'll have to work and even if the product spends its entire existence in the back of a closet. This may be one of the last bastions of human social conscience, but I swear it's true.
Am I saying you should fool people into buying from you? No. Fool fish. They can be fooled again and again. You can only fool people one time. Am I saying people are fish or that they like to eat worms? Well, I've seen some people eat worms, but in this example they're strictly euphemisms.
Take, also, this to heart: Experience likes to share its experience. You can expect the same odds of receiving a returned product, as you can with finding someone experienced who is unwilling to share their experience and wishes only to see you fail. Suffice to say, the odds are against it. Likewise, a hungry fish will chew on a piece of plastic much longer than you think, provided it is absolutely convinced the piece of plastic is food.
One last moral to this story...When you assume the worst will happen and give up on your dream as a result, what are you really giving up on? I'm afraid, my friend, you may be giving up on yourself. The key to experience IS failure. Sochiro Honda once said, "Success is 99 percent failure." Things take time. Allow yourself enough time to be in position to experience success.
Copyright 2000, Self Power. All rights reserved. Brian Fansher is the President of Self Power, a business services and consulting company located in San Diego county Brian's company specialties include ad copywriting, discount advertising and scam alerts. Brian recently designed the EASY Home Advertising-Broker System. EHABS, as it is known, is drawing praise from several industry experts. EHABS provides many immediate tools and resources to operate your own Business Services Company from home.
For details on Brian's system, or on other Self Power services, and to receive a critically-acclaimed copy of Marketers' Newsletter, send $2 to:
Self Power P.O. Box 268-OB El Cajon, CA 92022-0268
Brian can also be reached at (619) 441-7930.
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