Notes on When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead by Jerry Weintraub

I just finished the heartwarming and inspiring book When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man by Jerry Weintraub and Rich Cohen. I heard about it from Ryan Holiday's reading newsletter.

This was almost my second book in a row about the entertainment business and true hustlers in that realm (the one I finished earlier this month was A Curious Mind by Brian Glazer). And both harken back in my mind to The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans, which I read in 2013. And just last week I watched Supermensch, about Shep Gordon, which my friend recommended to me and which I loved. So much can be learned about life from the crazy lives all these guys have lived!

I really, really liked this book by Weintraub. It was co-written with Rich Cohen, who wrote The Fish That Ate the Whale, which I really enjoyed reading last year. It was a combination of street-smart lessons, advice for business and personal life, and lots of hilarious anecdotes about crazy times with some of the most famous people ever (Elvis, Sinatra, etc.).

I was very sad to hear that only a couple months ago Jerry passed away. This book is truly a gift that he has left us. Below are some of my biggest takeaways from its many wonderful stories.
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• ​All about packaging; makes a difference and allows discovery for sales
• Parents taught him to earn money to buy what he wanted
• Later the work/means becomes the end if u can enjoy it
• Relationships are the only thing that matters in life
• Lots of odd jobs and came up with ideas
• Entrepreneur
• People will pay u to make their lives easier
• Never get paid once for doing something twice
• Personal service is the name of the game
• Always take the time to make the pitch
• As soon as u feel comfortable that's when it's time to start over
• Seeing the pattern of money and opportunities everywhere 
• Finding your own path and packaging
• As long as ur assets exceed liabilities ur gonna have a good life
• Improv exercises: sometimes when in a jam just need to open ur mouth and start talking and see where the words take u
• Be willing to take risks
• When the obvious thing is to lie, Tell the truth
• When the game changes, u gotta change with it to survive
• Don't follow another man's script
• A talent manager must be an optimist
• Buy your own steak; it's cheaper
• Phrases to create demand: "first come first served", "limited edition"
• Idea only crazy until someone does it
• Standing up for yourself against underground mob
• Promising something before u have it
• Context
• Home field advantage
• Need to control your product
• Persistence and keep talking
• Accomplish things on the third or fourth try
• Better to be feared than loved
• Cut out middle man
• Need to innovate and improvise
• Always meet in person to discuss deal
• Even if u have the greatest script in the world it won't work if the actors don't play their parts
• Let the other guy save face but keep score
• Being able to cross cultures and frontiers
• Power of spontaneity and first take 
• Never downplay your own special thing
• Sell someone as if they're already a star
• Stand up for yourself when people mistreat u
• When u want to learn, find someone and study them
• Work with the best ppl; life is too short to work for morons
• When you're a manager you're working for someone else not yourself
• Hotels are never really sold out
• Wake up early to beat others
• You have to be willing to walk away from the most comfortable perks precisely because they're the most comfortable
• No matter your age you're never too old to stop looking for teachers
• As long as you're here you might as well smile
• If you find something you love keep doing it
• Title without the job is the worst: u get all of the blame and none of the credit or the fun
• Perception is reality
• Grow into the suit
• Need to be able to survive long series of failures
• Talent doesn't go away; companies do which doesn't matter
• Can never tell quality of bull fighter until he has been hit
• Can learn how to act only when learn to be yourself
• Authentic honesty with everyone
• whenever you feel the urge to obfuscate tell the truth instead
• Ask when u don't know
• Listen when someone else is talking
• Sell with joy so product fun to buy
• Never afraid to fail
• Never afraid to try or look silly or threatened by a new idea

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