【Description】
The world economy has regular fluctuations about every 12 years, and big fluctuations about every 60 years. No matter which country you live in, you could, or may face, an inevitable economic crisis on a different scale. When the situation gets tough, some people lose everything and find it hard to recover, while others overcome their challenges with ease and even expand their businesses.
There is a secret that is easy to understand yet is often too deep for most people to realize. What is the secret? Find out in this video by Grandmaster JinBodhi.
【You will learn】
- Secrets that turn crisis into business opportunities
- The wisdom of giving
【Content】
Here is a story about stamps. More than 80 years ago, there was the Great Depression in America during the 1930s. More than 90% of small and medium companies had to close down. Almost all of them had to. The world economy undergoes a big shakeup once every 60 years and a minor shakeup once every 12 years. It is very common. When firms and factories in a certain region collapse, the people in that area have trouble supporting their families. This happens everywhere, not just in America. Any country can have this problem. This is a natural phenomenon.
Somewhere in America, there was a factory that produced gears. The owner’s family name was Clinton. It is the same last name as that of a former U.S. president. His factory was having a hard time. In fact, most of the factories were facing financial difficulties. As such, Clinton was looking for ideas to turn things around. There were no cellphones back then; the fastest communication method was the post. Personal computers didn’t exist, so he wrote letters by hand and sent them to many friends.
But he became worried after mailing them out. He hoped he would get responses. He worried because of the economic depression. Each stamp cost around 3 cents. Paper and envelopes cost money too. Clinton spent money to pay salaries and his factory’s expenses. He was running out of money, so he needed to do something. He was worried that people wouldn’t write back, because people were hanging on to their money. At that time, each stamp was around 3 cents and mansions that cost millions today were only about $1,000. That is how it was at that time.
Clinton came up with an idea to encourage people to write back. He enclosed 2 dollars in each of the letters he sent out. But one stamp was only 3 cents. To do this, he had to sell most of his assets at home. People who received his letters were touched by his kindness. The money enclosed not only paid for the stamps to write back, it was a great help to people during that tough period. It was like receiving a bag of rice or cookies. It felt like a blessing from Heaven. Right. Those 2 dollars were of great help back then. People gladly wrote back to him and offered good ideas.
What Clinton did increased his interpersonal connections, and his factory was able to make a profit during the tough period. He profited from the purchase orders made by those who got his letters. That is how he turned things around. That is how he and his factory survived the colossal economic shakeup. Good job, I would say.