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Can Business Techniques Help You Find A Mate?

I’ve been in my own businesses for more than 40 years. I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I’ve also learned many things as well. It seems to me that some of these lessons might be quite beneficial in helping someone find a mate. See if you agree.

1-What is your selling territory? In creating various business plans it was always important for me to clearly identify what physical area I might want to concentrate my efforts in. So, one of the first things single boomers might want to consider is the area that they would hope that their potential mate/partner would reside in? If you narrow the field too much (i.e. five square miles), you simply might run out of worthy prospects too quickly. But, if you spread your net too wide, you might be disappointed when your new friend hesitates to visit on a spontaneous basis. Just like selling a product, it’s better to make a decision about your marketing area before you start.

2-Will you sell directly or will you employ wholesalers? I’ve very often done both with the same product line. Generally, I might have made key or large account calls myself, and left the smaller accounts to a distributor. In the dating world it is important to do some things directly, like searching the Internet dating sites, or going to socials and parties. But, by using friends, relatives, business associates, etc you will be leveraging your efforts, very much like I did when I used a distributor to call on accounts that I didn’t know or didn’t have the time or desire to reach.

3-Who is your ideal customer? In making my business plans I always had an idea of who would be an ideal customer. It might have been the size, purchasing power, credit worthiness, accessibility, etc that attracted me. Hopefully, before you begin your quest you have thoroughly thought out who would objectively be appropriate for you. In the business world, a company who gives nice sized orders, but doesn’t pay their bills very well, is not a good client. In your romantic life a woman or man who has great charisma is wonderful, but not if they are habitual liars and undependable. In both cases you need to know ahead of time what will and what will not work for you.

4-How much effort and cost are you willing to spend to land a big account? Everything in life is a risk/ reward proposition. In every business that I was associated with there was always the possibility of securing a large account if one put extra time, effort and money into the process. But, to what end? I would always determine ahead of time how much I was willing to risk. Single people make this investment every day in their relationships, and often wonder how far they should go and how much they need to compromise their principles in order to have someone who catches their fancy. Some relationships are just not worth the effort and emotional risks. It’s quite helpful to know your limits ahead of time and to cease your efforts when the right flags are flying in your face indicating that the prize is not worth further effort.

5-Do you test your product or service’s acceptability before committing large amounts of capital and time? If possible, I always looked for ways to make small tests to see if my products or services were saleable. I didn’t bet the “whole farm” on a project just because I was emotionally invested in expecting or wanting its success.  Single people would be well advised to move slowly and gauge the success of their budding relationships on a continual basis, or at the very least at key junctures. If the investment emotionally is kept small initially, and one then needs to pull away, the aftermath should not be too bitter or disappointing as it would be later in the relationship.

6-In every business effort I was involved in I needed to make an estimate before starting whether I had enough capital, the right personnel and the physical time to be successful. Nothing is perfect, but it is better to be fairly prepared before embarking on something that could turn out far different from your initial thoughts. Relationships don’t always go perfectly according to some preconceived script, i.e. the first month we will do this. The second month we will have accomplished that. By the third month we should be here. It sounds nice, but it rarely works out that way. Relationships often have a life of their own with ebbs and flows, possible quick starts with ensuing plateau periods, etc. Are you prepared for things to not go according to your original plan? Do you have enough emotional capital to see the relationship through to, hopefully, a happy result, or do you and your psyche have a limited attention span?

7-Some businesses are ill prepared for sudden success. They haven’t thoroughly thought through the potential growth stages. So, it’s not unusual at times for sales to get ahead of administration and production. Sometimes, especially if we are fortunate, personal relationships jell early. Like a greased skid, things can accelerate even faster than we are mentally, physically, emotionally, and even financially prepared to handle them. A smart businessman tries to anticipate all contingencies. In romantic relationships one must consider all the possibilities as well so that one is not at a loss to know what to do next when things happen at a faster rate.

8-Are all lines of communication open and flowing freely. The best run companies establish an atmosphere that fosters the open exchange of thoughts and ideas. No one can anticipate from whence the best ideas might come from. Relationships that start out with honesty and openness have the best chance of success. And, when there are differences that could scuttle the relationship, how much smarter is it to discuss and resolve these differences and conflicts early on before they become much larger and permanently entrenched?

9-All business plans have drop dead issues that need to be thoroughly thought out and decided upon before embarking. One of them might be the general makeup of the business. Some people are good at having partners, especially where there is a differentiation of roles; while other people are not. They would rather call their own shots without the necessity of compromise. In romantic relationships you would think that a couple would recognize ahead of time that there must be proper partnering. But, that might mean different things to different people. I’ve seen both men and women who were used to getting their way most of the time. Compromising was not their long suit. So, having a partner who seeks equality in decision making might be a recipe for disaster. You need to know what your limits and boundaries are and then explore how that fits with your partner’s likes and needs. Some businesses are willing to take on considerable risk in order to possibly become more successful or to reach certain goals much sooner. Other businesses are more conservative, content on developing slower, but steady and more predictable growth. Do two romantic partners have the same ideas about how to run the finances of their union? One or the other of them might be more frivolous, aggressive, or just comfortable taking risks with investments and life styles, while their counterpart might be very uncomfortable or anxious about putting themselves in this situation.

10-Most successful businessmen have an end game in mind before they start something. With some, it might mean building a business up so that it can be turned over to a son or daughter. Others might just want to reach a certain comfort or success level, while others have a keen idea that their ideal is fast paced growth leading to a profitable sale in three to five years. Romantic partners need to discuss their long term goals for the relationship as soon as they can determine that the possibility for mutual commitment is imminent. Nothing can harm a relationship more than having two loving partners project different visions of the future. They need to be mostly on the same page.