Set forth below is the text of an e-mail that I sent to Jaime Hardy, owner of the EventualMillionaire.com site, on October 24, 2013, followed by her response:
Jaime:
This is Rob Bennett, at “A Rich Life.” We spoke at FinCon13 re the possibility of me hiring you as a coach. I hope the rest of the conference was successful for you. I much enjoyed giving the talk I gave at the Ignite sessions. That was a trip. And I think I did a good job of getting the essence of my story down to five minutes!
My recollection is that there were three questions you wanted to ask of me before deciding whether it made sense to proceed. Please send the three questions when you get a chance. I don’t know whether this idea makes sense or not. But I would like to explore the possibility a bit more in an effort to find out.
My warmest wishes to you.
Rob
Hi Rob!
So great to connect online.
Here are some questions to answer and then I’ll give you some actions to try. Then we can chat in later November when I have a spot for coaching open up. Make sense?
What is the number one objection from the average person – not one of the haters?
Have you been able to convince others to see your side? When?
What do you think your positioning/branding is currently on your current site?
Thanks Rob! Can’t wait to hear your answers.
My email inbox is a bit too full right now – so I’ll do my best for a speedy reply. Answering this email from the doctors office about to get my cast off!
Have an amazing day!
Warmest,
Jaime
“Have you been able to convince others to see your side?”
This did not end well. The only thing worse than a goon is a goon who charges you for asking goonish questions.
I couldn’t resist this one because you went to the effort to add a wee bit of humor to the mix.
Hang in there, Anonymous.
Rob
What is the number one objection from the average person – not one of the haters?
Have you been able to convince others to see your side? When?
What do you think your positioning/branding is currently on your current site?
Did you provide her with answers to her questions?
We you be sharing the rest of the communication with us?
Yes to both of those, Evidence.
My response will be posted as tomorrow’s blog entry.
Thanks for your interest.
Please take good care.
Rob
Rob, you’ve gone from precise predictions (“A60% market crash by 2016”) to only the vaguest ones (“time will tell”). What caused this transformation?
There’s been no change in my views, Anonymous.
You are right that I once predicted that we would see a price crash of about 65 percent by the end of 2016. It’s still possible that that could happen. But I certainly would say today that the odds are less than 50 percent that that prediction will come through.
But I of course said at the time I made the prediction that we cannot be precise about these things. So nothing has happened that is contrary to what the peer-reviewed research in this field teaches us about how stock investing works.
Shiller did the same thing. He predicted the crash we saw in 2008 back in 1996. He said that we would see a crash by 2006. He was off by two years. He was right and those who listened to him will be able to retire many years sooner as a result. But his prediction did not come through in a precise sense.
If you require precise predictions, you are looking in the wrong place.
If you want to invest effectively for the long term, you are looking in the right place.
That’s the story.
Rob