“No” Is the Magic Word

Don’t fear the word — invite it [Morning Reckoning] August 24, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( “No” Is the Magic Word - Jim Camp is one of the most outstanding negotiators ever. - He’s very different from the Fisher/Ury Getting to Yes model. - With more government intrusion than ever before, you need to know the magic word. [There is MASSIVE change happening within our company]( And I want you to [hear about this – from me]( – otherwise this new policy could blindside you. This has gone into effect immeditaly, so I want you to understand exactly what it will mean for you. [So please, watch this video for my full announcement.]( [LEARN MORE]( Brussels, Belgium August 24, 2023 [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Hi Reader, Happy Thursday! I’ve been running around Europe lately with the family. But there’s one skill that I’m so pleased I’ve developed. And that’s negotiation skills. Because even in Europe, people try to take advantage of you. So enjoy this piece and, by God, read Jim Camp’s books! Develop This Skill at All Costs There are many different skills that any person — especially a businessperson — must develop. Presentation, writing, and networking skills, among others, are crucial to developing both the self and the business. Imagine your prospective customer, and you are discussing a potential business deal. You’re able to navigate the conversation without any theatrics effortlessly. The dialogue feels like a sharp, rewarding tennis rally. It goes back and forth between the two of you for a time. Then, the conversation concludes with a deal. This deal gets you paid… and gets the client everything they want. You both benefit and realize a vastly increased scope of your agreement. Moreover, there’s even more potential to expand your business dealings. Dreamworld scenario? Sometimes, sure. But more often than not, this results from a conversation where you display excellent negotiation skills. [Urgent Notice From Paradigm CIO Zach Scheidt!]( [Click here to learn more]( Hi, Zach Scheidt here… I’m the Chief Income Officer at Paradigm Press. With inflation raging (and showing no signs of coming to an end any time soon), almost everyone in America is feeling the pain in a big way. Which is why, several months ago, I set out on a big mission… my goal was to create a [complete, step-by-step plan to surviving and beating inflation]( one that anyone could take advantage of. Today, after hundreds of hours of research, I’m revealing all of my findings. [Simply click here now to see how to survive America’s deadly inflation crisis](. [LEARN MORE]( What They Really Mean by “Don’t Give Up!” Roger Fisher and William Ury penned a “classic” text on negotiation skills called Getting to Yes. Reading this book is the surest way to have your head handed to you in a negotiation. I never understood the psychological mumbo-jumbo that getting someone to say yes to something would get them to say yes to everything. It’s garbage. Worrying about ZOPAs (Zone of Potential Agreement) and BATNAs (Best Alternative To No Agreement) differs from where your head should be when talking to someone. The truth is that people often say, “No.” All the time, really. How you deal with that is far more important than getting someone to say a “yes” they may not even mean. Are you going to give up after the first “No?” Many do, especially the Ivy League/Oxbridge types, who are positively insulted when someone declines their “perfect deal.” Don’t they know who they’re talking to? Using a “no” as a signpost or a boundary is critical when speaking to customers. You’ll hear them often. You may as well use them as guiding lights to get a solid deal done. Who’s the Best to Listen to? I’m a big Ben Settle fan. Right now, Ben is perhaps the most renowned email marketer on the planet. One day, Ben talked about one of his heroes, Jim Camp. My ears immediately pricked up. What Ben relayed about Jim immediately resonated with me. This man not only trained FBI negotiators but seemed no-nonsense about it all. Suddenly, negotiation wasn’t an exercise in psychology or hypnosis but a method of finding common ground. Camp defines negotiation as “the effort to bring about an agreement between two or more parties, with all parties having the right to veto.” What happens when you give someone the breathing room to say no is impressive. It completely contrasts the “take it or leave it” boneheads bandying their “method” about. To be sure, at the end of a negotiation, you need to know whether you’re getting married. But that’s much farther down the road. Whenever I submit a proposal, I write in the email's conclusion, “Please let me know if you’d like to add/delete/amend anything.” That sentence gives my client the guilt-free wiggle room they need to alter things they don’t like. Keep your ego out of it. Shipping business and stacking paper are what matters. Not bullet points on a proposal. Let the market tell you what it wants. It’s easier that way! The Adult’s Magic Word “Micah, what’s the magic word?” “May I have some chocolate, puhleese?” Every child is ingrained with that lesson. “Please” is the magic word. And always say “thank you.” They’re great lessons every child must learn to function in polite and impolite society. Although I’m enjoying my four-year-old immensely, I can’t wait to say, “Micah, you know how I always told you the magic word was ‘please?’ Well, here’s your new lesson. You’re at the age where the new magic word is ‘No!’” I don’t know about you, but I used to be one of those dopes who used to say yes to everything. I like making people happy, so I must remind myself of the magic word. No, thank you. No, that’s not for me. No, I think you should find someone better suited for that job. No, that price doesn’t work for me. Practice if you must. You won’t believe the results you’ll start getting. And what’s better, you’ll have cleared the way to say an enthusiastic “Yes!” to the right projects and deals! Camp gives three pieces of advice concerning “no”: - Embrace “no” at every opportunity in a negotiation. - Don’t fear the word — invite it. You do not take it as a personal rejection because you are not needy. - Every “no” is reversible. Camp continues, “The moment you really internalize this principle, the moment you understand the honesty and the power of ‘no,’ you will have taken a long stride away from emotion-based negotiating toward decision-based negotiating.” “Maybe” is the worst answer you can hear. It gives you nothing. Wanna go out with me? Maybe... Not great, is it? How about this: Shall we do lunch? Yes! Have your people call my people. Is that a real “yes?” Maybe it’s something they said to shut you up. You won’t know until later. That’s why “no” is the golden word. You know exactly where a boundary is. There’s so much more to write about this topic, but let me touch on one more thing. Want is OK, Need is Not “You stink of fear!” Mr. Hyde screamed at Tom Sawyer in the 2003 film League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Your customers smell this a mile away, as well. From now on, train yourself to want things from your clients. But from this point forward, you never need anything from them. You don’t need this deal. You want this deal. You don’t need to do this. You want to do this. You don’t need to close. You want to close. Badly. In fact, removing the word “need” from your vocabulary insofar as it’s reasonable to do so will do wonders for your body chemistry. Need produces stress. Stress causes cortisol levels to rise. It constricts your breathing. It raises your heart rate. Worst of all, it clouds your judgment — all bad stuff. Wants and desires don’t have that deleterious effect. But what if my client rejects me? They can’t reject you if you don’t need anything from them. Wrap Up I love Jim Camp’s books. Start with No: The Negotiating Tools that the Pros Don't Want You to Know, and No: The Only Negotiating System You Need for Work and Home are classics. I prefer the audiobook versions. Listen to them 10x each to ingrain the message. It may be a big change for you, but it’s worth it. Have a wonderful rest of your week! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Contributing Editor, The Morning Reckoning feedback@dailyreckoning.com Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( [Shocking Backdoor Crypto Play – LIVE on Camera!]( Crypto millionaire James Altucher just received a strange box that could COMPLETELY change how you look at cryptos: [Click here to learn more]( [CLICK HERE to See What’s In the Box]( He opens it live on camera, and shares details on the strange device that’s delivered everyday Americans over $1,170 per month in passive crypto income. [Click here to discover it for yourself now](. [LEARN MORE]( In Case You Missed It… Ultimate Gold-Buying Guide Byron King, Guest Editor [Byron King] BYRON KING We’re going to go in the order of least risky to riskiest. We’re of the view that if you hold the gold in a safe in your house, that’s the safest. If you live in an urban community full of artists, your mileage will vary on that assumption. Individual Coins and Bars Hard Assets Alliance Paradigm Press has had a relationship with [Hard Assets Alliance]( for a long time. We want you to know that for two reasons. One is that we’ve got a duty of care we owe you. And the second is that there’s a reason for the long relationship: HAA is excellent at what it does and takes care of our subscribers. Hard Assets Alliance allows you to buy gold at your pace and then take physical delivery once you own enough full bars or coins. If you’re new to buying gold — or if you’ve tried online dealers in the past and you’ve been put off by the complexity — there’s no easier way to [buy and hold real physical metal at exceptionally low cost](. You can also buy and store your metal in your choice of five audited vaults worldwide. It’s the hands-down [easiest way to get started with gold]( silver, and other metals. The US Mint If you prefer to buy coins directly from your country’s mint, that’s certainly an option. However, we’ve noticed the mints tend to charge well over spot price for whichever metal you’re buying. For example, as I type, the spot price of gold on the market is $1,820 per ounce. In the US Mint Catalog, the American Eagle 2022 One Ounce Gold Uncirculated Coin costs $2,670.00. That’s a 46.7% premium over spot. Unless you’re a genuine coin collector, it’s not the best deal. Contrast that with the Hard Assets Alliance. A 1-ounce gold bar is $1,867.10. That’s only 2.58% over spot. You get much more value for your fiat. Gold ETFs Next, we look at the precious metals ETFs, specifically gold ETFs. ETFs, or Exchange-Traded Funds, are investment funds traded on stock exchanges like individual stocks. An ETF is designed to track the performance of an underlying index or basket of assets, such as stocks, bonds, commodities or currencies. These two ETFs track the price of gold… GLD The GLD ETF, or SPDR Gold Shares, is one of the largest and most popular ETFs investing in physical gold. The GLD ETF provides investors with an easy and cost-effective way to invest in gold, without having to own and store physical gold themselves. The physical gold is held in a vault in London. GLD shares represent a fraction of an ounce of gold. So when investors buy shares of GLD, they’re effectively buying a portion of the underlying gold GLD holds. The GLD is trading around $169. That’s a touch under 10% of the price of a gold ounce. SGOL If that’s a bit too pricey for you, that’s ok. Another option is the SGOL ETF. SGOL invests in physical gold, held in a vault in Switzerland. The SGOL ETF is similar to the GLD ETF, but there are some differences. For example, the SGOL ETF is backed by gold held in a vault in Switzerland, while the GLD ETF is backed by gold held in a vault in London. Additionally, the SGOL ETF has a lower expense ratio than the GLD ETF. Right now, SGOL is trading $17.38, a bit under 1% of the spot price of an ounce of gold. So this is a cheaper way of starting with gold ETFs. Gold Miners ETFs The Gold Miners ETFs invest in companies that are involved in gold mining and exploration. Since there are 56 companies in the GDX and 104 companies in the GDXJ, investors are well diversified within the miners’ spaces. GDX The GDX ETF, or the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF, is an ETF that invests in, you guessed it, gold mining companies. The ETF’s objective is to track the performance of the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index. It invests in a diversified portfolio of gold mining companies, such as gold producers and exploration companies. The ETF’s holdings are spread across various countries, with a significant portion of its holdings in Canada, the United States, and Australia. Right now, GDX is trading around $26.75. GDXJ The GDXJ ETF, or the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF, is an ETF that invests in smaller gold mining companies. The ETF’s objective is to track the performance of the MVIS Global Junior Gold Miners Index. It invests in a diversified portfolio of gold mining companies but with smaller market capitalizations compared to those in the GDX ETF. These companies are generally considered to be riskier investments than their larger counterparts, but they may also offer more potential for growth. Right now, GDXJ trades for about $32.25. “Pure Plays” – Single Stocks It’s important to understand you’re exposed to two big risks with single stocks: systematic and unsystematic risk. Systematic, or market, risk is the risk your stock may fall through no fault of its own; its price may fall just because the market has a bad day. Unsystematic, or specific, risk is the risk your stock falls even if the market is having a great day. This is the risk specific to your stock, which may have bad management or an earnings miss. These two risks are amplified if you own gold mining, exploration, or royalty companies. Single Established Companies If you’re up for a bit more risk, you can choose any one of the [constituent companies in the GDX](. Companies like Newmont Mining, Barrick Gold, and Franco Nevada are well-known and respected companies. But like any single stock undertaking, you’re carrying more risk with single stocks than by investing in an index. Even established gold miners are riskier than the average stock. Small Cap Mining and Exploration Companies There are even riskier companies that can increase your wealth substantially. As Byron likes to say, “Investing in these companies can sometimes take you from this side of town to that side of town.” That is, one winner with these companies can create life-altering generational wealth. Gold Futures Lastly, I’ll mention gold futures. We don’t want you to trade these. They’re just too risky. But gold is unique in that the futures price leads the physical price and not the other way around. So the gold futures market is critically important. Keep an eye on it so you know what’s going on. But if you’re new to gold investing, our other choices above are far better suited to your needs. Wrap Up I hope you got a lot out of this piece. It’s more of a reference column than anything else. Hopefully, it gives you food-for-thought when considering your next move in the gold market. Let me know what you think by emailing me [here](mailto:feedback@dailyreckoning.com). Be sure to tell me if there are any topics you’d like me to cover in future articles. Have a great rest of your week! [Byron King] Byron W. King Thank you for reading The Morning Reckoning! We greatly value your questions and comments. Please send all feedback to [feedback@dailyreckoning.com.](mailto:dr@dailyreckoning.com) [Sean Ring] [Sean Ring, CAIA, FRM and CMT]( is a former banker and financial educator and is the editor of the Rude Awakening. Sean has trained interns and graduates from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citi, Bank of America, Standard Chartered Bank, DBS (Singapore), the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Bank Indonesia (the central bank), HSBC, Barclays, RBS, and BlackRock. He knows the global economy is being corrupted by forces that most people can't understand and has used his unique and worldly experiences to help people navigate the markets. [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. 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