Do Not Sell Something You Would Not Buy Yourself

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Good morning.

I spent the last few days in San Francisco for some venture fund annual meetings. Ellen came along as well. I had not been to the city in a couple of years and we really enjoyed some long walks around and through the city. The density of smart people, high energy meetings and good friends within 45 minutes (assuming little traffic) of San Francisco is something I have taken for granted for too long and I am looking forward to my next trip back.

The passing of Charlie Munger is very sad, but obviously he lived a full life. One of my favorite quotes of his is ‘do not sell something you would not buy yourself.’

I am a born salesman and so it rings perfectly true. You could not get better sales advice!

When young people ask me for career advice I always tell them to work at a company whose product is flying off the shelves, even if that means a shitty job title or lower pay.

My first sales job was at Encyclopedia Brittanica (high school) and though I was so green at selling , the product mostly sold itself. The biggest objection during my sales calls were ‘CD-ROM’s’ and ‘The Internet’ which indeed were superior products in the long run.

My first big hit as an entrepreneur was ‘The Gripp’ which honestly just sold itself…and still does today…

The product is in the QVC Hall of Fame.

Writing on this blog the last 18 years I have covered a lot of ideas, products, topics, and life.

I have been looking back at the ideas and companies and products I have talked about the most and I am happy that I have stayed mostly true to Charlie’s advice.

Since 2005 when I started the blog the products and companies I have written about most include:

Wallstrip (founder), Stocktwits (co-founder), Social Leverage (co-founder), Apple, Google, GolfNow, Trend Following, $QQQ over $SPY and most recently luxury brands (high margin business investing) and Grass Clippings.

The older I get the more careful I get sharing ideas and products is another trend on this blog.

Charlie will be missed.