Posted by Byron on October 06, 2003 at 16:59:53:
. . . or even known what carpetbagger referred to?
Your comments are well said. I’m not a southerner and about the only things I find offensive are drivers talking on cell phones, ill-behaved children in public, morons that talk during movies, and politicians.
I was just curious whether very many (or any) people who saw your “carpetbagger” cards knew what it meant.
Best,
–Byron
Business Card Question - Posted by Mark K
Posted by Mark K on October 06, 2003 at 06:45:36:
Hello everyone, I am planning on approaching managers this weekend to get the ball rolling. I have the DOW book and I plan on finishing it tonight. I have business cards but they mention that I am a private real estate investor; and they do not mention mobile homes. Does anyone think that a PM will panic if I use these. Obviously, I will find out sat. But if it may go against me I will make new ones that say I finance mobile homes.
Please advise.
Mark
Re: Business Card Question - Posted by Mark
Posted by Mark on October 06, 2003 at 10:57:01:
There’s some psychology associated with business cards.
To buy, I simply use a plain card with just my name and phone number. I don’t want to appear as a (rich) “big shot”, who is going to snap up their home and make big bucks off it.
However, when approaching a new PM or selling a home, I use a “We buy, sell and finance”, etc. card, together with a company name. In this situation, I want to put a lot of “substance”/credibility behind me … a sizeable business that buys and sells MHs.
This makes park managers more “comfortable” about what you are trying to do in their park. (He’s with a “big” company that does this in other parks, so if they let him in, why would I not want him in my park?)
To home buyers, it again conveys a “big” company that’s unlikely to put up with any “problems” down the road (late payments, etc.)
It’s a bit like “slanting” a resume to a prospective employer. You adapt to fit the situation.
(Reminds me of “The Rockford Files”, when James Garner carried a small business card printing press in the trunk of his car! I heard that the show’s writer got that idea from Doc!).
Regards,
Mark
Funny how different cards affect people… - Posted by Dr. Craig Whisler CA NV
Posted by Dr. Craig Whisler CA NV on October 06, 2003 at 08:29:32:
…in different ways.
It won’t hurt you to have several different cards, depending on which hat you are wearing at the time, especially a card offering mobile home financing, for park managers.
It won’t hurt you to use your current card to start out. The most important thing is just getting started.
I have several cards. One card isn’t even my own. Its got the name of an assistent district attorney on it. Its very effective sometimes when dealing with strangers who are being hard cases, especially dishonest or overreaching sales people. It sort of shocks them back to reality when you hand it to them. I don’t even have to say it is my name on the card. Talk about instant attitude reversal and great service!
One card, for instance, is my selling card, in which I am Dr. Craig Whisler. Another one is my buying card, in which I am just plain vanila, Craig Whisler. I don’t want sellers to think I am a rich Dr. When I am buying, do I?
My favorite and most memorable card just has one word on it besides my name and phone number. It reads:
Craig Whisler
Carpetbagger
Phone (909)-662-5851
Yeah, I know it sounds corny but I bet people remember it more than your card, and that is the point.
Regards, doc
Good thing you’re not in the South . . . - Posted by Byron
Posted by Byron on October 06, 2003 at 13:51:03:
. . . identifying yourself as a carpetbagger. But then given the horrible knowledge of history by most people, perhaps there aren’t many people who know what “carpetbagger” means.
–Byron
P.S.: I know you used to clean carpets, but did you also bag them?
That is where I got my split personalty. - Posted by Dr. Craig Whisler CA NV
Posted by Dr. Craig Whisler CA NV on October 06, 2003 at 16:32:40:
Half of my people were from the south and the other half were from the north. Brother fought brother. It really split our family up in a permanent way.
The carpetbaggers were primairly northern opportunists who, not having lost their family fortunes during the uncivil civil war, went south and bought up large and small southern plantations for pennies on the dollar at tax and foreclossure sales, after the war left the south poverty stricken. The southerners of course, very much resented the northern folks with money from stealing (buying) their land. They often carried luggage made of carpet, hense the term carpet bag. Rumor had it that their carpet bags were full of money. That was untrue of course. The carpet bags were no more than a vehicle for carrying their clothing and other possessions etc. the same as with any other traveler’s luggage today.
Many of the carpet baggers abused southerners in a multititude of other ways, just as the southerners had abused their slaves in miriad ways, and ALL northerners were very much resented for that reason. It is understandable. Some of my people were proud slave owners before the war and others of my forefathers were proud to kill slaveowners to help set the slaves free. America has an unsavory heritage in some ways and we best not forget where we came from, lest history repeat itself. The unhealthy conditions that obtained in the south prior to the 1860’s still exist in many parts of the world TODAY and it is best that we remember how far we have come and try to help others do the same. It was only last week that I read of a new law just passed in China that allows couples to marry without the permission of their employers. No permission, no marriage. Can you imagin that in 2003? I believe that the slaves generally had to have the same permisson from their captors, didn’t they?
I still go to tax sales, even today. In that sense it seems logical to call myself a carpetbagger. Folks who don’t pay their property taxes still resent those that buy them out at such sales. That’s just the way life is. If they chose to resent carpet baggers it just indictes to me that they or some of their kin have failed to pay their taxes too, and lost their property.
I am not ashamed to have worked hard, saved my money and made more by ‘carpetbagging’, at tax and foreclosure sales.
My post was not intended to be either offensive or provocative in any way to my southern cousins.
Regards, doc