We’re a good way through car boot sale season now which has been particularly busy in this time of economic challenges.
So what have you gained from it? You might have picked up a few bargains or made a few pounds by getting rid of the junk from your garage. If so, well done!
Something that seasoned car-booters gain that may well be the most valuable thing on offer is a life skill and insight into people. What I’m referring to is the skill of haggling and the wonder of getting what you ask for. Haggling is not something that comes naturally to most of us in the UK but is well worth practising.
The secret of the art is simply to ask for what you want with confidence and be clear on what you’re prepared to give. A simple skill that if carried over to other areas of life can have a massive impact.
A famous example is Richard Branson’s purchase of Necker Island. This was before he was a millionaire at the start of his career. He decided he wanted to buy the island that was up for sale for £5 million. He offered £100,000. Although initially the offer was rejected he eventually got it for only £180,000. Not a bad price for one of the British Virgin Islands!
Whilst the context may be a little different to getting 10p board game from Chirk Car Boot Sale, the principles and the skills are the same. Buy simply asking you immediately dramatically increase your chances of getting!
Car boot sales are the classrooms of commerce.
I bargained with Life for a penny
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;
For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have gladly paid
Jessie Belle Rittenhouse (1869–1948)
