Why do opportunities belong to those who are prepared?

Throughout the history of Jewish development, we can know that Jews are good at designing and managing their own lives reasonably according to their own environment, conditions and advantages. The same is true of them in the mall. They are called lucky people because they choose, design and grasp business according to the trend of the times.

19 In the 1950s, there was a gold rush in California. When Levai Strauss, a young Jew, heard about it, it was too late, and the gold rush from the sand had come to an end. He brought a large roll of denim. He wants to sell it to a businessman who makes tents to earn some money as a foothold. But when he got there, he found that people didn't need tents, but durable pants, because people were dealing with mud and water all day, and their pants soon broke.

So Levai Strauss designed the world's first pair of jeans with that roll of twill.

Later, Levai Strauss installed silver buttons beside the trouser pocket to enhance the strength of the trouser pocket. After that, Levai Strauss began to mass-produce this novel trousers, which sold very well. Although there are a large number of clothing manufacturers competing to imitate, Levai Strauss's enterprise has always been the leader, selling about 6.5438+0 million pairs of such pants every year, with a turnover of 50 million US dollars.

Levi Strauss is a man hit by luck, but luck only hits those who are prepared. Or only those who are prepared can seize the "luck" of accidentally hitting the door. Andre Meyer, the financial giant, is a well-prepared person.

Meyer was born in a hard family in Paris. 19 14 years, 16-year-old Meyer dropped out of school to make a living and became a messenger of the Paris Stock Exchange. In the summer of the same year, he was employed by Bauer & Sons Bank in Paris. This not only enabled him to enter the banking industry from then on, but also caused the loss of a large number of financial personnel because of the war, so that he was free to learn everything in this industry when he was 16 years old. Soon, Meyer's shrewdness was unanimously praised by the financial community.

Lazare Brothers Bank enjoys a high reputation in French financial circles. 1925, the boss of lazare Brothers Bank took a fancy to Andre Meyer, who he thought was a useful material. Meyer is 27 years old, and Weil asked him if he would like to join lazare. Meyer is very interested, but he has a question: when can I become a partner? Weil didn't agree, but Meyer refused the invitation.

1926, Weil brought this matter up again and made a suggestion: Meyer can have a one-year probation period. If his performance is really excellent, Meyer will become a partner in a year, otherwise, Meyer will have to leave lazare. Meyer jumped off the boat without hesitation.

1927, Meyer wished to become a partner of lazare. However, Meyer is not satisfied with this achievement. His pursuit is to become a real banker: to advise the company, arrange transactions, raise funds, and at the same time find profitable investment opportunities for banks. Meyer believes that banking in this sense is the main activity of lazare.

1928, lazare became the major shareholder of Citroen automobile company. At that time, Citroen first introduced the method of selling cars on credit to the French automobile industry. This method is implemented by Citroen's subsidiary "Car Company on Credit", which is abbreviated as "Sovak" in French. However, the boss of Citroen only uses "Sovak" as his car promotion tool. Meyer immediately thought of more uses of "Sovak", such as selling household appliances on credit and even real estate. He suggested that lazare and two other banks buy "Sovak" and turn it into a broad-based consumer credit company.

The boss of Citroen thinks Meyer's suggestion will do him no harm: Sovak will continue to sell Citroen cars instead of other cars, but will also engage in other fields. In addition, the change of hands of "Sovak" makes it unnecessary for Citroen to provide funds for the establishment of this company equivalent to a bank, which is quite tight for Citroen. This is a very popular move.

In order to successfully plan this big deal, Meyer ran around. He had a high eye and finally found two best partners. One is the business investment trust, one of the largest consumer goods companies in the United States at that time, and the other is J.P. Morgan, the most prestigious private bank in the world.

The partner was found, and then he began to seek "Sovak" as a commercial customer of his sales organization. He effortlessly signed a contract with kelvin Knight, a famous American electrical appliance manufacturing company. In this way, "Sovak" began to operate, bringing investors a steady stream of profits, even during the Great Depression. Today, it is still rich in financial resources and powerful.

The success of "Sovak" let the financial circles know that Meyer is a mature banker. He can not only put forward a grand idea, but also show his determination and ability to realize it.

Meyer's success shows that luck only favors those who are prepared, ambitious and have extraordinary endurance; Luck is accidental, but it is not accidental to catch the luck of hitting the door; Luck belongs to those who are prepared.

Don't take it for granted

Jews believe that in business activities, people are maintained by interests, and people's conscience and morality are often distorted by money. Once they trust others, they may lose everything and have no way to make a phone call. At first glance, the business story of "every time I meet you for the first time" is unremarkable, but after careful consideration, it is thought-provoking.

One day, a Japanese businessman invited a Jewish painter to a restaurant in Ginza. After the host and guest were seated, the painter took out a pen and paper while waiting for the food, and drew a sketch for the hostess of the restaurant sitting on the edge laughing.

After a while, the sketch was finished. The painter gave it to the businessman, painting both form and spirit. The Japanese repeatedly praised: "Great, great."

Hearing the flattery of the businessman, the painter turned to face him, sketched on the paper again, and gave him a thumbs-up from time to time. Usually, painters will use this simple method when estimating the proportion of various parts of the human body.

When Japanese businessmen saw the painter's posture, they guessed that they were sketching him this time. Although I couldn't see how he painted because I sat face to face, I still put on a serious posture for him to paint.

The Japanese businessman sat motionless, watched the painter sketch on the paper for a while, and gave him a thumbs-up for a whole 10 minute.

"Well, it's over." The painter stopped writing and said.

Hearing this, the businessman breathed a sigh of relief and leaned over eagerly. He was surprised when he saw it. It turns out that the painter did not draw a businessman at all, but a sketch of his left thumb.

The businessman even said with shame and annoyance:

"I put it on purpose, and you ... you played a trick on others."

The painter smiled and said to him, "I heard that you are smart in business, so I came to see you specially." If you don't ask others what to draw, you think you are drawing yourself and posing. From this point of view alone, you are still far behind the Jews. "

At this time, the Japanese businessman woke up like a dream and realized where he was wrong: the first time he saw the painter painting the hostess, the second time he faced himself and thought he must be painting himself.

Because a Japanese businessman made such a mistake, Jews even did business with people they knew well. Jews will never relax their examination of the conditions and requirements of this business because of the last successful cooperation. They are used to treating every business as an independent business, and treating every business partner who comes into contact for the first time as a partner. This has at least two advantages:

First, like Japanese businessmen, they will not treat each other lightly because of their ancestors' views. On the contrary, they can be vigilant enough to stop each other from doing everything possible.

Second, you can guarantee that the profits you earned hard for the first time will not be destroyed by the concessions you made for your second venture.

Jews are well aware that on the subconscious level, "every time is the first time to have sex" is often ignored casually, and the power of ancestral opinions lies in people's failure to correct it. It was not until the results came out, disappointment and even despair that they realized their negligence without complaint or regret.

"Every time is the first time to make friends" is an advanced business experience derived by Jews from living business activities in a long historical period. And its scope of application has reached the level of subconscious. Only the businessman who invented psychoanalysis (Freud) can have such a clear understanding of this extremely delicate and difficult place, and he is familiar with it. This is a business course to keep inner balance and not be incited by others.

But interestingly, for themselves, Jews demand that "every meeting is the first time" and do not instigate others; But for others, Jews do not hesitate to use their ancestors' views on the "second time" to instigate others. In a Jewish joke, the salesman at the umbrella counter made a "second trap" without opening his mouth and taking advantage of the customer's problem.

"Sir, you bought this beautiful umbrella! I promise it's pure silk.

"But, it's too expensive.

"So, you can buy this one. This umbrella is beautiful, too, but not expensive. It only costs 5 marks.

"This umbrella is also guaranteed?

"Of course."

The customer hesitated for a long time and asked again:

"Guarantee is silk?

"This is not ..."

"What did you promise?

"Well ... I promise this is an umbrella.

The customer in this joke almost took "two guarantees" as "one guarantee" and bought an umbrella with only "umbrella".