So, I just watched American Beauty...

"you attract not what you want, but what you are"

Dr. Dyer

If you want to be really successful financially, you have to sell a lot of stuff, or a few really expensive things. Projecting an image of success helps people to trust you and buy from you.

Thats a great movie btw.

Glad to know you skipped the sex parts. As if I care...

"They say money doesnt buy happiness - look at the smile on my face, ear to ear baby..."

Boiler Room - now that was a kick ass movie.

I don't believe American Beauty is a good film to use for success brokering, regardless of one or two lines that may invoke success. The film has a lot of very bad principles in it.

I'd probably think that films like It Could Happen To You, Pay It Forward and other films where people help and mentor others to help themselves and ultimately help others do the same as well as films that people come to the aid of someone or a group of people who are being exploited.

I used to think Wall Street, Other People's Money, Barbarians At The Gate, Boiler Room and other such corporate greed films were good ways to show, success.

However, I changed my mind. Greed is not good. Greed does not work. Greed is not evolutionary. Greed didn't save many mega corporations or the USA. GREED Stinks!

I watch these television shows and I see greed all over them, greed for money, greed for celebrity, greed for all the wrong reasons. Watch the Apprentice, in the USA and UK, watch the Dragons' Den in the UK, watch American Idol or X-Factor in the UK. It's all about greed at the expense of others!

What I love to see, and I use the word love, because its an important word that should be meant sincerely, is for someone who had very little, who has brought themselves up from nothing with hard work and great original ideas to make something of themselves, to then pay it back to help others help themselves so they can help even more. That I believe is where true success is.

In every day business now, I no longer think "what is in it for me", I now say when doing deals, something that I believe is not used much, "I will provide value to the best of my ability, for which I will be paid whatever the customer believes my value to them is". If my value is very little to them, then they pay me little money, however, if something I create or an idea I come up with is a great value to the customer, then they should pay me the same. Honor is forgotten in business and it needs to be brought back, not this "lets see how much I can screw out of this deal" mentality.

I don't know if I am the only one who thinks this way.

I thought about an idea today, I was going to put in a Warrior For Hire, where I would offer copywriting for sales letters from looking at the customer's product and their ideas on what their product is about and why it benefits their potential customer. Not charge upfront for the copy, but offer them the copy for whatever the customer wants to pay, if they think the copy is worth $5, then pay $5, if they think the copy is worth $200 then pay me $200. Honor and respect.

I am also considering doing the same kind of deal with my new members site, where the customer can pay whatever they want based on the sales copy for the site, basically based on the benefits offered with a guarantee that if when they do get inside and if they dont see any benefit, they can have an unlimited 100% refund.

What do you think of this kind of way of doing business, I feel I am opening up to be screwed, because everyone is greed orientated, but it will be a great exercise just to see how many people out there are honorable

Let me know your comments.

Regards

James Harkin

Glen Garry Glen Ross Oh, That's the car biz...

James, theres a cafe over here in Australia, that doesnt have prices on their menus - people pay what they *believe* the meals are worth.

Everyone critisized the idea saying that it wouldnt be sustainable and that people would take advantage of it.

Surprisingly its been all of the media here and is doing extremely well.

James_Harkin, did you not watch Wall Street and get the theme the first time? The point was greed was bad and led you to do bad things. Funny how you used to think it was a good way to show success. Perhaps you never even watched it...I would hazard a guess that all those films you mentioned in that paragraph had similar themes about portraying greedy, cheating people in a bad light.

But that's not the main point of your post. So, anyway...

Boiler Room is about screwing people out of their money for shares that are worthless!

Glengarry Glen Ross is about screwing people out of their money for land that is worthless!

I am concerned with people's ideas of success in this forum sometimes?!? I hope those people we're being sarcastic when they mentioned them.

That is a very interesting concept, how long have they been in business?. Are they located in a city or a more rural area?.

I love this movie, but if we are going to discuss inspirational movies I think there are much better examples. The women in this movie was so obsessed she basically didn't care about anything else.

James relax dude.

I agree. These movies are about greed yes, but eventually they get to the point of demonstrating how bad greed is.

Either way - gimme gimmie gimmie!!

Gosh I love the Cookie Monster.

Adam

WOW, from American Beauty to Cookie Monster... What's next..lol

You point out to me that Boiler Room and Glengarry Glen Ross are satire and to some extent Wall Street, but you are posting it in a thread which advocates a sense of success by watching those films, if I am wrong then please correct me, but you are saying: its success by being caught and learning the error of your ways?

Regards

James

I think to be successful at anything means making mistakes and learning from your the error of your ways.

I personally do NOT think that the movie was inspirational in the least bit. I just like the quote. I really honestly believe that projecting something causes you to take action which then turns into being successful.

MorganRichman

I watched the sex parts.

Money is not everything, because there's a Visa, Amex and MasterCard that can be used. LOL, just kidding. :p

but for me only to project success without real action and planning and focus, it was in vain. Projecting success and act to succeed, both important.

Well, Ramone, I also have a similar in Indonesia. I've heard, there is a 'Canteen of Honesty' in there. No one was keeping the store. Absolutely no one watching. But there is a list of prices there. Purchasers can simply take the goods they want to buy and put money into a box that is provided according to the listed price list. The purpose of this shop is to teach people about honesty. How do you think?

Hmm, about American Beauty, I never watch it.

It's not always about what the show or movie is about.

Most of us are familiar with Sascha Baron Cohen, of Borat fame, and many of you are familiar with the more recent Bruno (which hasn't gotten quite as much attention). UK folk will recall Ali G Indahouse, which came first and didn't get much attention at all outside the UK. And before doing even that movie, Cohen had a show called Da Ali G Show. This is where he debuted the characters Ali G, Borat, and Bruno - all demonstrating the rank stupidity of the world at large, through various fake interviews.

In one episode of the show, Bruno was interviewing someone at an art gallery, and he asked whether art was supposed to look bad. The answer was the single most profound thing I have ever heard about art.

"Art isn't about whether something looks good or bad. It's about whether that's how you wanted it to look."

And that's it, really. For all Cohen-as-Bruno's hysterical effort to showcase the absurdity of the art world, I'll remember that forever, because it's genius. It's precisely what art is. Jackson Pollack may have just thrown paint on a canvas, but thousands of painters every year do the same thing and it isn't art. Pollack wanted it to look the way it looks, down to the most minute detail, and it shows. Everything he "threw" on the canvas was carefully planned and executed to produce the exact results he got. The thousands who imitate him don't grasp that; they ape his technique, but cannot capture his art.

Is that any less brilliant because the show itself is "low" comedy? I don't think so.

I think it does help in may ways to 'project an image of success' but it's also important not to use this to fuel the ego.

Meaning, yes it is a good idea but be humble and not try to 'better ourselves' over other people.

I will watch the sex parts twice so the world will be back in balance again.

I agree with James very much on the greed theme. It does not pay to be motivated by greed. It can eat you up inside. I was with a customer last week and sold them what they really needed rather than what they wanted. I lost out on a bit of profit but have that customer for life.

They have since literally given me 3 new customers who have all placed fantastic orders with me. Again I am supplying what they need - not what they want.

Why would you skip the sex parts - they are part of the film and make the story!