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Looking back on all the fancy accounting, economic, and marketing classes I took in college, all I ever really needed to know about money I learned through the game of GOLF!
Salesmanship and Marketing
I grew up across the street from a very nice golf course. On any given day I would find between 5 and 10 golf balls on my parents front lawn. I enjoyed collecting and arraigning them by color and brand. By the time I was 6 or 7 I realized that I was sitting on a potential goldmine and I began offering the balls back to the golfers for 25 cents each. In only a few days I built a mini-golf ball empire and effectively monopolized the golf ball market for that golf course with my business’s prime location, great product, and low overhead.
As my empire grew, I noticed that my clients (the golfers) would often complain about how hot it was so I began selling lemonade as well. The golf course owners didn’t care much for it, but there I was along the 18th fairway with a lemonade stand and used golf balls for sale. Later I would change my posters from “used golf balls” to “experienced golf balls” to give them a more positive connotation.
Saving and Investing
The average golfer (myself included) constantly wants to “upgrade” his equipment to the latest and greatest available to get that competitive edge. Unfortunately, due to the prohibitive costs of this, we have to run a cost benefit analysis when choosing to buy a “hot” new product.
Is it really worth paying $500 for a new driver that will give me an extra 10 yards of distance off the tee? As is often the case in life, it may not be your equipment that is inadequate; it might be your skill.
Negotiation Skills
Golf is always more enjoyable when there is a “friendly” wager on the line. With these wagers comes the negotiation of how many strokes (shots) each of us would get before we started our round to make the match even.
Some of us were better golfers than others so in order to make it worthwhile for the less experienced golfers they would get so many “strokes” deducted at the end of each hole.
Negotiations would get complicated because you had to compare the skill of your opponent to that of your own.
After a while I became adept at this “give and take” to find terms that where mutually agreeable by all players in the group.
Networking
Through the years of playing golf, managing a golf course, and serving drinks at the 19th hole, I can think of no other activity in the world where close bonds are made in such a short period of time. If a deal can’t be worked out on a golf course, it can’t be worked out!
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HEHE, very nice one, Ben!
So, what did you do with all that money as a kid from the golf ball empire? New bike? Candy? Save for college?