Learn From My Mistakes. Episode 37 What a Bargain!

I'm occasionally sharing a series called "Learn From My Mistakes". I number each episode, but I just make up the number. I've made so many. Some I just haven't written about yet.

Recalling the mistakes I've made is often funny, but I write about them seriously. One of the smartest things a person can do is to learn from the mistakes of others. It is a much cheaper lesson than making the mistake yourself.

This happened probably 25 years ago. I had just bought a new house with a large yard.

I had a neighbor who was a very charismatic guy. I saw him outside one day and he was so excited. He proceeded to tell me that a construction company was selling dump truck loads of fill dirt for $10. It wasn't just any dirt. It was good dirt. Plus $10 was an outrageously cheap price.  

I said alright, I’ll take 2 loads. So over the course of the next day, a dump truck driver dumped 2 full loads of dirt in my driveway. As dirt goes, it was nice dirt.  

The problem was that I didn’t need any dirt. I began to suspect it was a mistake when my wife was just speechless. I tried to reason with her with wise comments like "But it was only $20.  Do you realize how cheap that is considering the quality of this dirt?" She slowly shook her head in despair.  

It took me a year to move all that dirt... By then, I had fully learned the lesson. It doesn't matter how cheap you can buy something. If you don't need it, you are buying dirt.

You may be thinking "What does this have to do with practical business life?" I'll tell you, it has a lot to do with it.  Sometimes we get so consumed by pursuing a bargain, or get involved in making a deal, that we lose site of what we are really getting.

I'm not just talking about a $10 load of dirt. Salespeople sometimes fall victim to this mentality when doing public bids. Fortune 500 CEO's fall victim with mergers and acquisitions. Politicians can do it when trying to reach a compromise.  In every case, the people get so caught up in doing a deal that they lose sight of the value of what they are really getting.  

If you can learn from my $20 worth of dirt, you might save yourself a lot of money and trouble.