Dare to Dream!
29
I respect this man greatly. He’s very successful and insightful. But he feels that having something this ostentatious—as he would put it—attracts everything negative in people. He sees having a vehicle like the Lamborghini as having a bull’s-eye on your back. Everyone in town will now want you to fail. They can’t wait for you to lose you car, wife, home, etc. My partner got an hour-long lecture on why no one should have such a vehicle. Now for the other side of the coin. Less than two weeks ago, I had a gentleman come to my corporate headquarters where we’re getting ready to take one of our companies public. This man spent 30-plus years in corporate America. He was a senior VP with one of the largest retail food chains in the country. He has a net worth in the millions and millions of dollars. He holds a master’s degree. He just retired and is beginning to enjoy the fruits of his hard work. I had never met or even spoken to this man prior to the other day, when he flew in to our local airport in a private jet to meet with me. I took him to lunch in the Lamborghini. Then I invited him to drive it up the canyon. We had a fun ride that lasted just 15 or 20 minutes before arriving at my office. We spent another 15 minutes or so in small talk at my office before this gentleman asked, “How much do you need?” I told him. He asked how I wanted the money sent, then said, “Let’s just take care of this now.” He pulled out his checkbook, wrote a check for $300,000 on the spot, and I took him back to the airport in my Escalade. In less than two hours—total—I raised $300,000 from someone I had never met before. Obviously he must have liked me and believed in what we are doing in order to invest, but the car just might have been the kicker. Even if he had felt good