Pirates, Charlatans

Definitions:

Pirate: Someone who's only objective is to take gold. There is no other business transaction that occurs in a Pirates reality then taking your gold. Even if their product or service does not improve your bottom line they still take your gold.

Charlatan: Switch and bait. The Fake Bro, the "hey wow that's amazing tell me more about yourself" so you talk open up and it doesn't matter what you say the Charlatan is already on step two of his agenda. When you talk you are dancing for the Charlatan. In his mind when you speak he's thinking "dance monkey" all the way to his conversion! A notable moment in history of the most famous Charlatan is the one who got Marcus Crassus, his son and entire army killed way back in the roman era. This was the richest man in Rome and the power behind Julius Caesar, the man who defeated the Spartacus Army after nine other Roman armies failed. The Charlatan lead Crassus down the wrong path to his gold fever demise.

K here we go! This is going to be a good one. If you know me personally you will recall 3-4 years ago I was going through a "Pirates" "Charlton" phase. You probably remember saying to yourself "what is with this guy and what is he talking about!?". Well the reality of the situation is my entrepreneur journey at one point lead me to realize most of my business network was around zero sum players who's ethics were skeptical at best. I lost tens of thousands of dollars in multiple transactions surrounded by Fake Bros. Some transactions were my fault from buying stuff from slick sales guy that my business didn't need. Others straight up stole money from me. I'm not talking corporate budget here, I'm talking my own skrilla. When that happens it stings. Skin in the game. I'm all in 100% until the day I die.

I am a bit gullible sometimes as a peaceful leader. I see the best in people even when they don't see it in themselves. I see what they could become. This is nothing new to me, it's just one of my gifts. Can't teach a pig to fly as the saying goes.

Today is a bit special and warrants my time to write this article because I thought I was closing a $700,000 transaction. The transaction would have been profitable for both parties. When I make moves everyone wins, that's just good business. Gribble Gribble is the Charlton here. He posts about lending money as a private lender so I respond to his thread "I'm looking for 700 for expansion" and it's true I am. So he tells me to DM him. First red flag. Me DM you buds? Naw, that's not how it works when I am your customer. You work for me not the other way around. If a vendor doesn't serve me like I serve my clients we probs ain't doing any biz together buds. It's just how I operate. I have high standards for myself and anyone I work with. So like clock work Gribble Gribble messages me because he needs the sale not me; well I need it too but not as much as him. There is an abundance of money available but a lack of competent entrepreneurs to facilitate the opportunities. So we go through the transaction; the conversation is going well, seems like this guy knows what hes talking about, I did not think this guy was a Charlatan. After all, I'm just completing a business transaction as usual. I noticed his Facebook profile only had one picture of him but his profile had other animated Lending Tree images to make him seem legit.

Whatever, not everyone and especially private lenders want to have a public profile so I continue on with the transaction. I send him my ID email him the first form and notice he doesn't have a @lendingtree.com domain. Huge redflag. However, blinded by gold fever and what this transaction will mean to the future of my family if it closes I take the risk. What do I have to lose? What do I have to gain? Life is what but a bunch of micro gain loss gain loss decisions to be made from a psychoanalyst perspective. Truth is, if you can't see beyond gain/loss gain/loss mentality your a coward in the eyes of the enlightened samurai and shogun. Everyone one knows Game Theory bro.

So, I'm feeling like yeah wow this is going to happen and quite easily actually, my non negotiable were met, my monthly recurring revenue (mrr) would double and my business goal will be met. I was comfortable playing this out, it's just a good deal. I get money, pay interest, buy assets I've done for seven years and yeah that's it. So I send him my ID, bank info and he replies with

I wish to notify you that after proper consideration, I have decided to grant you this loan in good faith, and the next step now is for the transaction to undergo processing, The cost of the processing and insurance of the transaction is $1800, You are to make it available for the processing and insurance of this transaction before the loan can be transfer to your details. I wish to let you know that this loan is to be granted to you in good faith please do not let me down with the loan repayment.

Do you see? Obviously you see right? You've read this far. This is an affluent audience. You know what? Not everyone would see this. A lot of people that would get this far in the transaction are desperate for cash. Their business is failing because of cash flow. 80% of business that fail because of lack of sales. So they send him the $1,800 thinking this guy is the angel to their prayers like in the photo above and the money will appear in your bank account tomorrow. Really!? $700,000 is going to show up in my bank account tomorrow from a guy on the internet. Hahahaha yeah right, already learned that lesson when I got ripped of for $1,500 when I was 16, many moons ago.

Once you send him the cash, he's made his conversion for his business. Account closed, identity gone. We all know he has 10+ other identities he's running the same game on, filling his pipeline. Robbing people left right and center. If your wondering "Jesse how are you certain this guy is a charlatan?". Answer = experience. If you walked a few years in my shoes you would know right away. If you don't know, that's why I'm writing this article; to protect you; to bring awareness to the fact that people will steal money from you and take everything the first nanosecond they can. You will have to deal with this if you think you are going to make the 4% club. It's just how it goes, Homo Sapiens take, take, take, take, take, until there is nothing left and continue to take. I truly believe Homo Sapiens are terrible for the ecosystem of Earth.

Okay this is where it gets fun. When he sends the email I don't respond, I let him chase me. I tell him the $1,800 transaction fee is no problem, just doc it off the amount your going to deposit in my bank account tomorrow. I tell him this is non negotiable. If a CPA ever tells you X is non negotiable it's best you respect the term because there is no way the transaction happens if you do not meet the CPA's non negotiable. So when I tell him my non negotiable I chuckle in my head because sales guy scammer will try to squirm like a fish out of the water for survival to make his conversion. Little does he know he's completely outmatched. The buck stops with Powerhouse.

He also doesn't know I was on the phone with Lending Tree to confirm he was affiliated with their group. Their database returned nothing. I also tried to apply for a $700,000 loan on Lending Tree but they only deal in US, not Canada. I figure why let the scammer stop my transaction, let's see if I can complete it without him.

He messages me

How do you want to pay for the processing fee?

It’s negotiable

Completely ignores my nonnegotiable. Now this is a scam 100%. So I tell him to follow me on YouTube because I am grinding to 1,000 subscribers so I can stream to the world my work. At least I can get something out of this scenario. You the reader please subscribe to my YouTube so I can stream high income work live! www.orcaaccounting.com/youtube

The guy doesn't even know how to subscribe on YouTube, calls me messages me....Whatever, transaction over. Truth is I am interested in $700,000 so if you know anyone that wants to do business please refer them to me. I'm looking for the guy that has the bag of money not a financial institution with copious layers of bureaucracy. I'm ready to pull the trigger instantly on this transaction.

He sends me his driver's license and phone number (330).237.7089 which means nothing to me, I already know his scam. To him this is a $1,800 conversion. This Michael Gribble is another victim of identify theft just like my driver's license, passport and birth certificate will be used to poach others into the $1,800 scam. I feel like Mr. Gribber would know how to subscribe to YouTube, but some guy with lower intelligence wouldn't, like a scammer.

Conclusion: Business is about getting the money. That's the hardest part, so if your good at that part great! You hire guys like me to build the back end of your company and you keep crushing sales and delivering a great customer experience. It blows my mind how terrible a lot of places like banks, in particular today RBC customer experience is. When I call a place I want to talk to a human not a bot that doesn't understand the term affirmative to a yes or no question and hangs up on me. The RBC bot hung up on me twice because I didn't meet the AI protocol. I don't care if you save xyz pennies on your billion dollar profit a year company. Give someone a job. What is a switchboard cost $50,000 per year? Cmon, ya bunch of misers. I'm not alone in this perspective.

Stay safe, protect your profits. I will close with.

In business you need to figure out who to pay and how much. The challenge is most people pay the wrong guy too much money and the right guy too little money.

If you found value in this article or have a valuable perspective leave a comment. I get so many scams across my agenda I can't document them all. This is why I isolate myself and do not answer my phone. Just grind and grow. If you are insecure of writing publicly that's normal. Use this article as training grounds to build up your confidence. I will protect you and your business.