When I was a kid on Miami Beach, my friend Steven Rosen’s father Paul was the most outrageous of all the dads in the neighborhood. Paul had a Rat-Pack kind of swagger, cursed when he spoke to us kids, offered us drinks at parties and drove too fast in a giant navy blue Lincoln Continental.
Paul would always park in no parking zones and when we’d point out the sign that said “No Parking Anytime,” Paul would just say that we weren’t reading the sign properly. According to Paul, what you need to do is ask the sign “Hey Sign, is it true that I can’t park here?” and the sign would answer: “No. Parking Anytime!”
Today I remembered Paul’s philosophy when I was speaking to a conference in Tucson and talking to my audience about how to market their businesses in tough times. Instead of listening to all the pundits who are saying “No Opportunity Anytime” what we need to do is be like Paul and ask: “Hey, is it true that there’s no business to be had right now?” and they’ll answer: “No. Opportunity Anytime.”