HELLO: “How’s It Going? I Don’t Know Anything”

By Hrytsiv Oleksandr @ Shutterstock.com

“How’s it going?” I ask.

“Good,” he replies. “I don’t know anything.”

And with that, I know he’s good because he’s been telling me that for twenty years now. Now, I can assure you when he says he “don’t know anything,” he knows quite a bit. Because you see, he quit a lucrative job in his 30s to go to medical school simply to try his hand at being a doctor. He, we’ll call him Doc now, is still working part-time as a doctor in his 70s.

When telling me the story, his brother-in-law, also a client, tells me Doc’s the smartest guy he’s ever met. Another client, the brother-in-law’s best friend, concurs, “Yeah, Doc’s as smart as they come.”

After spending time with Doc in Newport and talking to him regularly, I see the intelligence. And when he says, “I don’t know anything,” I know we’re just talkin’.

One of my favorite parts about working with you is we’re always “just” talkin’.” Your way of talkin’ is your way of talkin’, and yes, you have phrases that make me smile because I know you’re being you. It’s what makes this whole thing called a relationship, a relationship.

With all the noise out there, it’s easy to get caught up in the emotions of it all and to begin to wonder about what you’re doing. I know this. Because it’s what you tell me. That’s life.

In speaking with thousands of investors just like you, not one of my conversations has ever been the same. Period. Yes, every day we’re a little bit older, and decisions we made months or years ago aren’t always relevant today. And that’s OK. But it would be a shame to react without thinking about what you’re doing or talking it through.

Action Line: Sometimes it’s in times like these, you need someone to hear you out. Someone who knows your name simply by the way you say hello. We should probably talk.