Nobody ever writes the classic text: 'everything I know about business I learned from prostitutes'.
Here's some things said to me that I would use in that book:
"They don't pay us to have sex with us. They pay us so we leave afterwards". #?outsourcing
"Clients feel in control all the time. They're usually CEOs or millionaires and they are used to being in control. So they like it when we take control. It gives them relief." This is called, "setting boundaries"
"My boyfriend doesn't know I do this. I bought him a boat and he doesn't ask questions." #?briberty and #?denial
"If you get the money up front you can often get the client to talk a lot and then leave before doing anything because you can say someone is after you and you have to go." #?entrepreneurship
"I'm normally a party planner." #?truth
"I'm sick from cancer and don't have insurance so this is how I pay my bills." #?life
"I was abused by the system ever since I was thrown in detention when I was 13 years old." #?storytelling
"I like it" #?lying
I don't think one prostitute ever told me the truth but that's ok. I just needed the interviews. I didn't want to be a business guy. I wanted to entertain. Everyone else could decide if it was truth or not.
Not to be deep but two things:
A) what is truth really? and
B) when people say "we're all prostitutes to some extent" they have no idea what the are talking about.
That said, we're all prostitutes to some extent.
One month we realized we had been forgetting to pay the insurance company. None of our employees were medically insured which I guess was against the law. I had no idea.
We didn't know whether or not to tell them. Or maybe something like, "don't get pregnant this month".
Ultimately, we didn't say anything. Nobody got sick for the next three weeks and we started paying their insurance.
We came close to hiring one guy to be a "COO" of the company. But he always wanted more. We would agree and then he'd ask for one more thing. More and more and more. Ultimately we ignored him.
FACT: Negotiating ability is the most USELESS skill in the field of negotiating. The key is to get the deal. THEN work your way up. You can't negotiate a door to be open. But when your foot is in the door you can always wiggle the door wider.