All About the Basics

My friend Mark is an army Lieutenant. He served two tours in Iraq (if I’m inaccurate, correct me, Mark). His day job is that he is a founder and co-owner of Gaming Green Pages, the phone book for the gambling industry. He’s their lead salesman, as well as all the rest. When I talk with Mark about anything, he very often starts the conversation by saying, “Well, you’ve just gotta go back to basics.”

Mark says sales basics are what drive his efforts. He talks about getting the word out, driving people towards a close, moving them from his first choice of response into what they ultimately settle on. He talks about making sure everyone understands the value. He covers all the bases this way.

When I talk with Mark about finances, he starts with the basics:

• What are you spending?
• Do you take a lunch from home?
• Are you buying coffee every day in the morning?
• What’s your entertainment budget?
• How often are you buying new things?
• How can you have credit card debt? You make a million bucks!

(not exactly).

Mark rapid-fires these at me until I break and tell him that I’m spending too much money and I know it. Now, I’m not at all surprised by this news. My wife and I know what we’re doing. I’ve spoken with others about it, too. But with Mark, it’s never about anything tricky. The other night at his place, we were drinking beers and watching a thunderstorm.

“The minute someone tells me about some wild idea that’s way off the track, I know it’s not the answer. It’s always the basics.”

Even drinking beers at his house was the basics. Instead of buying beer at the bar for $5.50 plus tip, we bought at a store for $7.50 a six-pack. See? He’s always thinking.

Katrina and I were talking about this today. Kat said it: finances are a lot like weight loss and diet. You know what you have to do. You just don’t choose to do it, and that makes the difference.

Today, I took breakfast and coffee from home. I brought a Lean Cuisine dinner (steak tips and portabello with a side of broccolli). I drank iced tea that I brought from home, as well as spring water and free coffee from the office. I’ve spent zero dollars out of my pocket today at work.

Yesterday, I got back to running, following the basics there, too.

There’s something to be said about the basics.

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