Excerpts - Business
Includes
Two businesses alike and different
Playing the role of enthusiastic
Cattlemen’s Restaurant
From Tape 32
One has a business, and that business provides a service or a product that other people everywhere roundabout want. Then one is making a contribution. But if one is using that same business for a place to accumulate security--then it is an entirely different thing. It is always the inner meaning of a thing that counts--not the outward form in either place.
There are two men, we will say, running a business side by side. One man is seeing that his business is making a contribution to the community. To him flows enough money that he has what he needs. He may not get rich, but he has food, clothing, shelter, probably transportation, and he is making a contribution to the community of beings thereabouts.
The man next door has a similar store and provides something that people want; but he sees it as a means to accumulate wealth, so that he can be like the man with the barn (mentioned in the Bible); that he can store up sufficient wealth and security--that he can say to his soul, "soul, take thy ease. You have things stored up for many years."
These two businesses, on the outward appearance, are about two in the same type of business, but the inner state of these two men is as different as noonday and midnight. One is building-- at least to some degree-- a spiritual body. The other is totally unaware of the spiritual body, is totally intent upon serving mammon. He is not thinking of serving the people or making a contribution. He is serving security - to accumulate. And those businesses are very very different in everything about them. But the main thing we are interested in is the inner state of the men who operate the business.
So it is not that one throws away things, disposes of it, and gives it to alms. Sometimes one gives more by operating a given business than one would by selling the business and giving to the poor families around the area.
Sometimes he contributes more by setting up a place where people can work and provide a service for the community—this is making a contribution more than he would than if he gave everybody a few dollars.
Suppose we consider, a man had $100, 000,--we'll take a round number--and there were 100 families in the area that he knew about that were in the needy way. The have less than sufficient clothing, less than adequate nutrition, and possibly less than adequate housing. He decided to give his $100,000 away. He takes $1,000 and gives it to each of the needy families, and nobody knows it but him. So he's done something very worthwhile, one might say. But very shortly the $1,000 will be gone and while the families have had some relief from their discomforts, etc. they are still unable to provide for themselves and shortly will be back in the same needy way.
Suppose he took the $100,000 and invested it in tools so that he could put 100 men to work. He would still have the $100,000 in the form of tools; and he could hire the l00 men. He would be making a much greater contribution, possibly, than he did when he was "helpful," and gave them all $1,000. So when it says dispose of something or sell it, it means to cease to identify with it--cease to see it as important; and to see it now as a tool--to see it as something to work with that does not belong to me--it is a means and a way of making a contribution. So one can dispose of everything one owns and still use some tools and possibly make a very decided contribution.
School Talk #2 – Role Playing
(Audience participation in parenthesis)
(Also mentioned in tape on Consciousness, Health, Wealth and Love)
Question of success?
(I’d like to play the role of being successful.)
Successful in what direction?
(Whatever that may be.)
Whatever that may be, Lord only knows. Well, we’ll try to figure it out. I’m not sure that one knows what being successful is, unless it is something you aren’t now. It could be that that’s the way one plays the self-improving role—highly probable, don’t you think?
(Highly probable.)
OK, let’s knock that one off and say we’re not going to bother with being successful,
(OK.)
I don’t know how one would go about defining whether you were successful or not. If you made $100,000 a year, would you be successful? If you’re making $50,000 now, yes. If you were making $200,000 this year and next year made only $100,000, why you’d be a failure, is that right?
(I get your point..)
You got the point, so we can’t talk about success.
Let’s talk about something else that you’d like to play a role. Let’s say you played the role of selling, ok? You’re into that racket, are you not?
(I’m working my way in, yes.)
I’ve been doing it all my life and the hardest thing to sell is to sell people on feeling good, but we work at it all the time. It’s the hardest sell in the book. So I’m always working on the hard sell. So we’re going to work on that one. So now we’ll talk about selling.
(That is a role.)
You can see that is a role; and if you play it well, you make a lot of money. And if you don’t play it well, you get very discouraged, upset and have all sorts of—you might even play the role of self pity over here on this side, is that right? Unconsciously. So let’s talk about selling for a minute if we want to. So we’ll think first, how you would feel if you were what you consider an excellent salesperson. How would you feel?
(Oh, is that like what do I think?)
No, I’m not talking about what you think; we’re talking about what you would feel. Would you feel, would you say? Enthusiasm would be the most essential part of being a sales person.
(I’d say it’s a very big part of it.)
I say it’s about 99 9/10—the other 1/10 is knowing about what it is you’re talking about, OK? That only takes 1/10th.
So, let’s say that you would begin to think, “How would I like to feel?” That’s what you’re thinking apparatus is going to say, how would I like to feel? Not just on the product, but everything in your whole existence. You’re an enthusiastic person, and you can see one now and then on the street—not very often. Most of them are more like self pity, tired, woe-be-gone, sad, angry or whathaveyou, but you’re gonna be enthusiastic. And enthusiasm is a word that comes from the great word meaning the fire of the Gods. The fire of the Gods, the power of the Gods.
Now if you were enthusiastic, how would you be acting? Do you think anybody could tell it by just looking at you?
(Yes.)
Yeah, how would that enthusiasm carry out? It would carry out in the way you walk, in the way you stand, the way you look the way you talk, the way you move, the way your facial features set, everything. Is that right? Even the way you wear your clothes. Same clothes, but you wear them differently when you’re enthusiastic than you do when you’re not, huh? So you could then begin to act—would be the next thing. You would act like you’re enthusiastic. You did you’re thinking over here to see how you would like to feel. Feels way off over here. So if you begin to act enthusiastic, wonder how you would feel in a little while? Because as you act, you will feel. And as you feel, you will act. It’s a two-way street. It’s like any of these. If you begin to act this way, pretty soon you feel that way, is that right? Huh? If you feel like you need improvement in some way or other, do you begin to feel like you’re lacking in a whole bunch of ways and you should improve.
(Yes.)
Because you’re acting that way, do you see? So we did our “think, act, feel” exercise to determine how we’d like to feel. So, we use it further to say, “How would I be acting if I felt that way already?” Now there’s nothing to keep you from putting on that act is there? Now you could begin to act that way.
(Right.)
If you so choose. That would be a conscious act rather than an unconscious one. Now as you begin to act, you would begin to feel. And as you think act and feel, so will you be.
So, if you were acting enthusiastic, you would begin to feel enthusiastic and people will buy from you for the fun of it. Really. Now we are not taking this as theory, we know what we’re talking about—we’ve run experiments on it.
Howard was with me on one experiment where we set up a restaurant way out in the country, never ran an ad, never made an announcement—we were open. We never put a sign on the building nor on the entrance to it, and it was 35 miles from a town and out a dirt road at that, in the middle of a horse lot after you got out on the dirt road. And there was not a sign or anything that said we were there; and we did over 2 ¼ million worth of business in a year. Now the only thing we did do was to see that everybody that worked there had to act enthusiastic. That’s all. They had to have a good mood—which the only thing we called good was enthusiastic and pleasant and delightful and etc.
Now they acted this way and people came from—well, we had a guest book; and I don’t think there was a country in the world we didn’t have somebody’s name on it. One man came in one night and he said, “I was referred to come here, could you guess where? I said “No.” He said, “In the airport in Zurich, Switzerland.” A man told me if I ever got to El Paso, be sure to come out here.
So the only thing that we could claim other than that we treated people awful nice and give them good food and etc, when they got there, but to get them there; no ads, no signs, no nothing other than in the place was enthusiasm. So we know that it can have an affect on people up to 45 miles away, because they got there and the only way they knew to get there, is that right? There was nobody told them. We made no announcements, we run no ads, we put up no signs, we made no billboards—no nothing, so they got there. So it had to at least have a drawing affect for 45 miles away—at least that far, ok? So all we did was put on this enthusiasm.
Now, let’s say that each of us begin to act enthusiastic today. Do you think that everything around you and everything in you’re environment, all your affairs would undergo somewhat of a change.
(They will.)
How about that, what about you? Think there’ll be some change.
(If you’re motivated and if you’re……)
Well, that’s if you’re motivated is—you know I hear about motivation a lot. Basically, I haven’t figured out what it is unless I want to. So if I want to do something, I can always do it. So my motive is I want to. Do you want to act enthusiastic?
(Yes.)
Some of the by-products was you probably sell more than anybody else in the company; I’ll guarantee you that, ok?
Now that looks like a simple round-about way to go about it, does it now? Could you do that? It’s just a role you play. Now you’re playing some role all the time, so it’s not that you’re starting to do something you haven’t been doing. It’s just that you took up a different role.
If you were in the theater, you would probably hate to get typed as only being able to play one kind of role year in and year out whenever you got a job - is that right? Wouldn’t that be kind of boring? But how many of us have been playing these roles all of our life? Huh? So it looks like we get typed there whether we mean to or not. Now, let’s do something different and play a role that we think would be fun. As well as that, it will make you feel good, make you much more beautiful and make you a lot more money.
Now what’s so rough about it? Is there enough incentive to do it, or would you rather go on with those unconscious roles, because they don’t take any effort. See, on these conscious roles, you are the director, the actor, you write the script and play the lead and direct the part—the whole schmear, ok? You ready to take part? I will go along and do that for a price.
(ha, ha, ha from the audience)
Now it’s a very healthy price I will assure you. Could you just do it all on your own, huh? Mary Ann, can you do that/
(Yes.)
Will you?
(Yes.)
It doesn’t mean anything to me, it’s up to you.
(I know.)
It means nothing to me; it can mean an awful lot to you, huh?