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Evaluating your own power and making the most of it
Very, very good point, Anon.
There are some cases where less observant or less advanced people can still be helpful, though.
And that's to assess how you come across to them which, in some cases, might be the majority of people.
Any redneck could have told Hillary Clinton "you're unlikable" in the 2006 campaign. And Hillary could have easily dismissed him as "one of the deplorables". But his feedback was spot-on for a large swath of the voters, and it would have been enlightening for what she was trying to achieve -if she only had been more open to listening-.
I have a few more to add, more about buying influence:
- Donating to organizations, and/or institutions. In addition to the influence that you gain from giving money, you also get a tax credits which pretty much means you win twice. Not sure about elsewhere, but this mostly benefits people in the high-income bracket in my country because the more you earn, the more you get taxed; and the more you donate, the more tax credits you get back. When you're making six figures (or whatever is considered middle middle class to upper middle class), donating to organizations you believe in, can be a sweet deal when it comes to buying influence.
- Buying gifts for people you want to influence. Fortunately, for those of us who aren't wealthy, we can still take advantage of this one. When you're in contact with your friends and family all the time, you generally have a good idea of what they want and what they need. So, make note of it in your Evernote or create a list somewhere with peoples' names and what they could potentially want as a gift. Set up alerts for items that go on sale at camelcamelcamel or some website that will alert you of sales, then get them when they're low. This will save you a lot of headache, and since you've made notes about your friends or family, you've gotten gifts ahead of time. No more last minute shopping, or dealing with christmas shoppers.
- On this note, a quick and easy hack: If you know that there will be a sale in the near future (xmas, etc...), buy your items 2-3 weeks ahead of the anticipated sale, then once the sale is on, go to the store and use their "14 or 30 day price match guarantee" to get the difference in price back. This way, it saves you the line up, and you don't need to worry about the item going out of stock.
Good ones, JP.
When it comes to donations, think of those who were donating to the Clinton's foundation.
A way of "paying to play" to get Clinton's powerful ear and attention.
Which also leads to the other side of the coin, far more manipulative: start a foundation to get paid for your attention and influence, in a legal fashion.
