Why Smart People do Stupid Things.
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Over the years I have counselled many franchises and business opportunities distributors, I have been struck by the number of smart and successful people who were ripped off by a scammer.
How could smart people do stupid things?
One of the things that smart and successful people don't have plenty of is time.
Typically, they are rushed and harried. But does this lead them into a hasty decision?
No.
Are they too smart not to check up throughly on the distributorship?
No.
Are they greedy?
No.
Was the opportunity too good to be true?
No.
Well, then what was the reason for their error?
It is a combination of two psychological factors: framing and confirmation bias.
When we make decisions it is against a background frame,of which we are not generally aware of.
We seek to resolve certain problems without being clear what the problem is. In the cases I have been familiar with the individuals' frame was something like: work part time, work for less hours, work for yourself.
Having adopted this frame, the typical business opportunity scam jumps out as a solution to the problem as it was framed - just a few hours picking up the money from the payphones, atms, or internet kiosks.
Once you find the solution to your problem of being overworked, then no amount of information that shows that the business opportunity is a scam will resonate with you.
Committed to the project, you will sell yourself more throughly than any scam salesman could.
Due diligence involves a through examination of the way you framed the problem and why this distributorship is a solution to the problem.
Let me give you an example. You have been give a generous severance package, say of $45,000. You cannot retire on it, but it is a large lump sum.
As it happens, you are also in an unhappy marriage. Your big picture goal is to start again, go a different path.
A con criminal will find out this information from you in a heartbeat, feed you back your own words, and you will find yourself thinking that you have found a very special person who really understands your problem.
"Just buy this business opportunity and you can break free, find a different path" will be the subliminal message which resonates.
At the same time, every red flag or warning could be flashing like crazy - but you won't react to it. You literally will be struck dumb by these red flags.
To lose this business opportunity means staying on the same path.
Disaster!
And so you embark on a worse disaster.
