When I was a young man. My first big boy job was in an industrial coal facility. It had been built back in the 1970s and the equipment was a reflection of that decade. Some of you may know a little bit about industrial electrical devices, but needless to say, there were large electrical buildings throughout the property that were controlling various conveyors and motors, with relay logic!

These buildings contained large breakers and most of them had lights as an indication of the run status of certain equipment. Back in the 1970s, it was common practice to have both a red light and a green light as indication lights for a breaker.

Part of my job there, when I was working swing shift, was to go through various buildings and check the running condition of various equipment, such as pumps and conveyors. The indication lights worked exactly backwards to what you might think.

A red light indicated that the machine was running while a green light indicated that the machine had been stopped but was in a ready condition to run.

As you might imagine, being a young man and used to regular traffic lights on the street. This seemed quite backwards. There were many occasions where I would be driving home before 5 o’clock the morning, after working a 12-hour night shift and subconsciously without thinking, I would see the red light at a traffic intersection, and proceed to drive straight through it. I was blessed not to have much traffic around me during those times!

This was not because I forgot the traffic laws, but rather it was a consequence of my brain being slightly reprogrammed due to the repeated action of doing my job at the coal facility.

Since I had practiced looking at red lights and interrupting that as “Go” while also interrupting green lights as “stopped,” that training carried over to various parts of my life.

About six months ago, I was showing my wife the chart of a stock I was considering purchasing. Her comment about the chart was very telling of the natural state of human emotions when it comes to the markets. She said, “It looks pretty bad!”

“That’s the point!” I replied.

See, it is very hard for us to retrain our minds to do the opposite of what we wish to do. When we buy stocks, it’s the natural inclination to buy stuff that looks successful, stocks that have a chart showing an upward trend.

In contrast, it is much more difficult to purchase stock when the chart looks abysmal. When the stock has fell off the cliff and is diving straight down.

There is a fear. We are afraid that no one will ever buy that stock again. However, this is not true. Part of learning to become an investor is going to require you to retrain your brain. It means gaining the ability to think “go” when you see red. Just don’t run any traffic lights!

Now, what on earth does this have to do with marketing?

Have you ever noticed how business shrink back from spending money on marketing when economic times start to appear “uncertain.” If business owner even gets a whiff of some like business having trouble, he will recoil like a freighted turtle. By the way…economic times are always uncertain!

Such behavior is the exact opposite of what should be occurring. Hard times are a green light for expansion. When everyone else contracts, the void is left open. The room is empty and the door is unlocked. Go ahead, enter!

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