[Imagination Club] Get rich quick ideas

[Jeffrey Baumgartner]

On 17 Oct 2005 at 19:03, John Tunney wrote:

> Nice one Jeffrey :)
> 
> I read about a famous investor from times gone by and I
> heard he had a simple 'system' that made him rich: he went
> around all the factories in the US and simply counted the
> number of factory chimneys that were billowing smoke. The
> ones that had the most active chimneys he would invest in.
> This may be apocryphal but it got me thinking for a modern
> equivalent. Maybe if we could monitor the daily rate of
> phone calls for a company (and possibly the number of
> emails) we could spot the fledgling companies that are
> experiencing an increase in business. Whether this would
> work better in the medium or long term I don't know. This
> approach probably wouldn't be workable for real but it has
> got me thinking about simple ways to assess the success of a
> company -  especially when looking for a company to invest
> in. Any thoughts?

Interesting idea, John, but I would add a filter that could 
determine how much of the e-mail and phone calls were 
personal and how much related to business. Those companies 
whose communications ratios were high on business would be 
worth investing in. 

It reminds me of my earlier days in Belgium when my Dutch 
was poor. I was doing a contract in a company. The sales 
manager was always on the telephone with someone named 
Scott and I thought this Scott must be a really important 
employee considering the amount of time the sales manager 
talked to him. 

As my Dutch improved, I realised he wasn't saying "Scott" 
(which isn't a very Dutch/Flemish name), but "Schat" which 
is a term of endearment like "dear" or "darling". In fact, 
he was on the phone to his wife all the time.

Not long after my contract was completed, I learned he had 
been dismissed for incompetence.

Jeffrey Baumgartner
--
Helping businesses innovate better
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