The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Turning Dreams into Profits

HOW TO USE HUMOR IN BUSINESS

My friend Bernard opened a furniture shop shortly after he immigrated to Boca Raton, Florida, from Manchester, England, in the early 1980s. That’s when I met him. I was shopping for an armoire for our bedroom. Most of the nice ones I’d seen were priced above $500. He had a half-dozen of the same quality for only $195. I asked him how he was able to do it. With a twinkle in his eye, he said, “It’s not that my prices are good. It’s the other prices that are bad.”

Since then, I’ve bought at least $50,000 worth of furniture from him. And I’ve seen his business grow from a single shop to a network of wholesale, retail, and manufacturing facilities from here to China.

One reason for this growth is a technique he uses that has allowed him to become very successful and, at the same time, very well liked. And keep in mind that he’s in a competitive industry where people are knocking off one another (and suing one another) as automatically as they sneeze.

The Awesome Power of a Light Touch

Bernard is an affable guy. He always seems happy to see you. He asks about your family, business, and friends. He is happy to talk about his life too, if you ask him. And when he does, it is always positive and amusing.

Bernard has a wonderful sense of humor. He is always lighthearted. He is never mean—more Jerry Seinfeld than Larry David. And, like Jerry Seinfeld, he makes you feel that you are in on his joke.

This combination of congeniality and wit is used to make quick ...