This past Saturday I got together with some friends to celebrate the 28th birthday of my friend Alistair Hill, and if you remember my post on finding local niche markets to dominate, Alistair is definitely a dude who shows great interest in outside-the-box business models – and more recently this whole Internet marketing madness I’ve been engulfed in. I have a great circle of boys who all support each other and for the most part, are all successful in their own way. As much as it may seem to others that we’re a bunch of drunken hooligans when we’re out on the town, genius happens quite frequently at these gatherings and Saturday was no different.
For Al’s birthday we decided to go bar hopping, or what some may refer to as a pub crawl, with more soldiers joining the brigade as the night progressed. Stop number two on the night was a quaint little establishment known as Sharkey’s; A contemporary, low-lit gastro pub with a menu and wait staff that were equally attractive. Joining our original party of three was a handful of other friends who stumbled in from various locations throughout the city, and for the topic of this blog I will be introducing you to our good friend Vic.
Vic is one of those unique, eclectic type of cats that are completely unassuming – especially if you were to see him walking down the street. He’s currently on his way to becoming a full fledged Architect within the next 24 months and has an insane knowledge of music culture. Combine this with a pretty intense shoe fetish and the ability to inflict unforgettable moments in conversation, and you’ll begin to have a brief understanding of why we love it when Vic comes out to play!
The moment of truth…
After two or three rounds of drinks, about seven rounds into the night, the discussion was on the topic of prostitution and goat cheese – feel free to be creative and figure that one out. Vic jumped in changing the direction a little by asking us all a question, “Do you know what sets apart the upper class of society from regular guys like us?” Somehow I knew there was undeniable substance behind Vic’s train of thought as he began to tell us about a professor at school, and how he’s recently noticed that he never wears the same pair of socks twice. Where normal guys go to Wal-Mart and grab the 24 pairs for $13, upper class dudes have a more refined taste in foot comfort and tend to pay upwards of $97 for a 12 pairs of Gold Toe Windsor wool socks which they will never wear twice in the same week, or month for that matter. The moment of truth at the table hit pretty hard as Vic concluded that his professors level of success is because, and I quote:
“His sock game is tight!”
You heard right! His sock game is tight, and having a tight sock game is vital to success in today’s business world. Now let’s think about this for a minute. Will buying $97 socks improve your chances of running a profitable business online? Probably not. If anything, spending that much money on socks will guarantee your future bankruptcy status and ensure that your wallet is forever empty. Symbolically speaking, this particular individual is one who believes in the “dress for success” theory and your only as good as you look because we all know in the real world, first impressions are everything.
Maybe it’s the attention and care for minute detail, or the strive for perfection that has set the threshold of sock quality so high? I think it would be safe to say that someone who cares that much about their feet would naturally expect supreme quality from their business and personal life, and those are the type of people you would want to be surrounded by when you’re first starting out. I’m sure you’re getting my drift, or at least I hope you are!
You can’t expect to take care of business if you don’t take care of yourself. Treat yourself to a nice dinner every now and then, or go out and buy that golf club that you’ve had your eye on for the last few months. Don’t be stupid and put yourself into more debt, but at the same time don’t fixate on spending $60 that you hypothetically “don’t have” because if you really stop to think about it, when will you really “have” the money to spend? Never. Sacrifice is absolutely necessary to budget and create surplus, but don’t cheat yourself completely – live your life to the fullest, and surround yourself by things that make you happy. Make sure your “sock game is tight” and everything else will fall into place.
According to Vic.
Cheers,
Elijah