The Problem With Putting All of Your Eggs in One Basket

You may not have realized it, but sometimes this newsletter really can be like a lounge act.

Yes,?Friends, it turns out I do take requests…..mostly it’s from my?Mom?or my wife, but I do occasionally get a call or text from?FoDs?that triggers a preamble topic.

That is the case with this one.

Giving credit where credit is due, this one came from someone deep in my network. Like a relative of a high school classmate of mine deep.

The guy, we'll call him John, called me out of the blue recently to catch up and do a bit of networking. After I filled him in on what I have been up to since we last spoke, he started talking to me about someone from his network — turns out this person's company is going through a rough patch and is starting to let lots of people go.

Of course there was a story attached — and John teed it up by prefacing it with “it’s so juicy you’re going to want to write about this one for the?Friends of Dave.”

“David, you want to know the reason the company is hitting the skids? It’s because they were stupid enough to?put all of their eggs in one basket.”

Turns out the company made a huge bet on landing business from a single large technology company — they thought they had multiple deals of theirs in the queue for this year and, as a result, mismanaged their finances. They thought the projects were a lock.

As you may have guessed, they weren’t.

The economy hit the skids, there were a number of factors that impacted the previously made decision like people not returning to the office and the deals were cancelled.

The company made a huge aggressive bet, put all of their eggs in this one basket, and it is likely going to sink the business as a result.

A day later, I was having a conversation with one of my sons — he was fortunate to interview for a decent job for the summer and received a verbal offer from the company. He was so excited — he was looking for praise and?to see if his mother and I were proud of him.

Of course we were proud of him, I said. But then I heard John in my head, and I followed it with “Well, that's great, but just don’t put all of your eggs in one basket...”

Side note: this is where my wife gets?really?frustrated with me. She hears me say this and can’t understand why I can’t just shut up and be happy for our kid for taking the necessary steps to secure employment and act like a responsible adult.

And I probably should do that…..but I can’t help myself…she knows I’ve seen “Glengarry Glen Ross” like a thousand times and quote just about scene in the film…and she wasn’t the one with John’s voice in her head.

Fact is, we all do it. We think we have something closed and wrapped up and we let our foot off the gas.

We relax.

We start to count the money (or in some cases, spend the money), do the victory lap and imagine the success story we are going to be able to tell.

But a deal ain’t done until it is done — talk is cheap and, as most of you in sales know, usually you can only count on it as “Closed - Won” when you have a signature on paper and the money is in the bank.

Until that happens, you have to keep the pipeline and your options open.

You have to put eggs in other baskets — otherwise, you will put yourself at risk of having nothing. That’s not being negative or not believing in yourself — in my opinion, that’s just being smart.

And, frankly these days, with a rough economy and companies being skittish about headcounts across every industry, you need to?keep yourself vigilant and prepared?even when you think you are on solid ground.

That is what I explained to my son.

Until he got the offer letter, went to work that first day and earned that paycheck, this is a “Most Likely” deal. IT IS NOT CLOSED. I told him to keep looking for other opportunities and to fill his pipeline with options. You never know what can come along.

Thankfully, his offer letter came a few days afterwards — the job start date was a little later than he expected, but he also landed another part time gig that will help fill his compensation gap. He ultimately would be fine — and hopefully now understands that putting all of your eggs in one basket is seldom a safe bet.

I know he was a bit put off that I pushed him on this. He just wanted me to give him a big hug and say I was proud of him.

I get it. I reminded him that I was proud of him. But I also told him not to blame me — and told him to call John. After all, it was his bright idea in the first place…..

Remember this as you charge into the second half of the year. Hear John’s words in your head.

Don’t be stupid enough to put those eggs in one basket.

And remember, my Friends, only one thing counts in this life: get them to sign on the line which is dotted!

XOXO

Dave

This was adapted from the June 3, 2023 intro to my weekly "Friends of Dave" newsletter, which is accompanied by interesting links I curate each week. If you would like to see past full issues, please click here >>>?https://friendsofdave.substack.com/