CHAPTER 1
Walking with a woman to the market is rigorous work. The reason is that women tend towards soft spending. They are quite good at pricing and getting a better bargain than men are. They will choose to spend time at the market over one commodity until they get it at the price they think they can spare even if they have more than the cost price the seller is offering.
Men show off even when they don’t have much. When they buy at the market, they do so at higher prices because often, they lack the patience to bargain and they think it's unmanly doing so. The market sellers make it easier with their phrase “you are not a woman, bro” meaning only women should bargain to the extreme.
In life’s marketplace, every buyer buys as a matter of choice. The seller presents numerous options and says to the buyer, “make a choice, there are different variants.” The choices available on the market are often so much, especially because there are many industries that produce similar products with varying quality and price.
The reason behind a buyer buying a product at the marketplace varies. The reasons may include quality, taste, need, the amount of money available etc. The market provides the perfect communion for all reasons.
Now, here’s the marketplace lesson. We do not visit the market because every other person is visiting. We do because we have our own needs to solve. We close our eyes to what other persons are buying however much they buy and focus on what we want even if we may need what those other persons are buying.
The need for contentment cannot be overemphasized. If we keep repeating it, it pays. Our choices should be relative to our capacity. Though we may need much more than what we have and may not be satisfied with our current position or financial status, yet we must find fulfillment in our present status by going for what’s within our means.
Assuming your pocket’s fat and you desire to get some shirts from the market. You visit the boutique and hanging on the shelves are shirts of various designers at different price tags. You pick the shirts you want and offer to pay for them at a uniform price as against the boutiques varying price tags. The attendant may reprove you and alert you to the individual price that each shirt carries. He may offer to show you shirts from which you could select from at the price you intend to buy. If you make a choice of high-cost shirts, then you pay for it else you can go for low-cost shirts.
Many persons want the best of life but are not ready to put in the necessary cost input. They would select the best cars at the showroom but quiver at the price the attendant calls, they go for a four bedroom duplex in a posh part of town but hate the value the landlord places over his property, they love the scenic view of the resort but dislike the high cost of Coca-Cola being sold inside it.
It’s common to hear people brag at their ability to have their way and get more than they could bargain for. While this is possible, often the means are unethical. These persons cut corners. Though they succeed and become the envy of all eyes, they know within themselves the void of discontentment that their seeming success brings them.
The sellers at the market are aware that they have a variety of persons to service. They provide something for everyone and they expect when you come to buy, you come and buy as you have. However, sometimes the sellers run promos to attract people to buy. They give grand gifts to buyers who buy from them. In this case, the buyers are seduced to buy and may end up with huge gifts much bigger than what they had anticipated buying.
There are opportunities that come in our everyday living that may not necessarily require more input than what we have always done. It just requires us doing what we have always done when it matters most like recharging our phones during promo periods of GSM networks.
We don’t have to wait for opportunities when we can instigate them wholesomely. We can create opportunities for ourselves by developing credible means through which we could render service to people who will get attracted to us even if they never need our service.
The marketplace could be so vast a learning location but you might not have noticed it because often you find yourself so busy trying to get one product or the other.
Now you know. You have a choice.