To succeed, don’t follow the crowd

I trust my gut. That sounds so alpha-male cool, I know. It’s also a very dumb approach to running the major aspects of your business.

Here’s the problem: The concept of gut feeling contains the word “feeling.”

It often feels uncomfortable when you’re on exactly the right track. Stick with me here as I explain this important concept by way of four rules:

Rule No. 1: Don’t succumb to ‘surface logic.’

Some of the best opportunities seem to be the worst at first glance.

In my case, I made more than a billion dollars by buying loans that multiple collection agencies had written off as “uncollectible.”

It was a multi-billion-dollar opportunity in plain sight for anyone to pursue, but very few people did.

Why? Because most people succumbed to surface logic.

You can tell that kind of reasoning because it often starts with “Everyone knows that” or “It’s always been true that.”

You may be headed toward a great opportunity if you can discern some excellent potential underneath a layer of logic that repels your competition from trying to pursue it.

In my case, I had been on the receiving end of debt-collection calls for years.

I knew from personal experience that the conventional collection-agency approach made me never ever want to cooperate with those abusive people, even if I had some money to pay back their loan.

Therefore, I created a company where we took the unconventional step of treating delinquent borrowers with dignity and respect.

They responded by paying back the debt they owed us — usually before they paid anyone else.

Rule No. 2: Thicken your skin