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Readings and musings

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

9/29/2015

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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.
​
  • ​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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