Why do so many personal finance sites focus on spending LESS
instead of making MORE? Sure, managing your spending is important, but too many
people get tunnel vision on cutting costs.
I was working at Shelby's Pro Shop, a golf and tennis
retailer in Deerfield, where I grew up. I sold shoes and tennis rackets. I
didn't play tennis, but I learned how to be a very good tennis-shoe and
tennis-racket salesman. That's because I made the discovery that people's
reasons for buying things often don't match up with the company's reason for
selling them.
Manufacturers used to dispatch reps to the pro shop to
educate us on their latest and greatest technologies. They'd tell us about the
new ethylene vinyl acetate midsoles that made shoes more comfortable; the
Goodyear-brand rubber outsoles that made the shoes more durable; the new
variation of Nike Air that was miles ahead of the competition.
