In Focus

Reality Bites

Chicks Make Mistakes Too, Part 3
by Chick Karin

If you read the last two days of the Chicks Eye View, we are shedding some light on the mistakes that the Chicks have made in our club. On Wednesday, I made up a story about a Church Choir and on Thursday I explained why you shouldn't assume the Cheese-Head is down. But in the day of Real Life Survivor shows and daytime spill-your-guts talk shows, reality seems to be the hot way to get your point across. Reality in the Chicks' World is that we make mistakes. It's part of being a Chick. We welcome any error (well, maybe not exactly welcome) and learn from it. In this last section of the "Chicks Make Mistakes" series, I'm going to stick with reality and use my boring real life examples as analogies. My reality will never make Oprah, but I'm never one to ever miss a trend.

Boring Real Life Mistake Analogy #1

I did this Werner Erhardt EST Training Seminar in California in the 80's. It was a self-awareness and empowerment retreat where we climbed mountains, rappelled off cliffs, and ran miles every day. (I don't know why I did it. I hate exercise, and if it's hard exercise, I'm a wimp. But, nonetheless, this retreat made myself aware that I wasn't lying. I really do hate everything extremely physical.) Each and every morning we had to run two miles. I can barely make it to the end of the driveway chasing the dog, so running these two miles had me shimmy-shimmy-cocoa puffin'. Along the jog, there were strategically placed supporters, encouraging you to keep going. I walked right by them.

The next day I sneered at the woman who said, "Come on Karin, not much farther! Ruuuuuuuuun!" "Leave me alone," I replied, "I am not a runner and I never will be."

The next day I decided I would take a new approach. I would smile politely at these people and listen. What happened was quite amazing, considering my lung capabilities. I actually ran. I looked to the people along the way for encouragement. I needed their help to get to the next point. I went from support-person to support-person and never walked once. The next day, I was. get this. excited to get back out there and run. By the end of the week, they had dwindled the number of support people down to almost nothing and I was able to run it all on my own.

When I started the investment club, I reverted back to my old I-can-do-this-all-by-myself ways. I figured, "I don't need help, and I'd hate to be a nuisance to anyone." It was hard. Learning to do the Chick's Dozen Numbers was hard, and trying to set up a club was hard. I needed help, as does everyone in a club. So that's the lesson: Don't be afraid to ask for help. That's the reason for a multi-member club! You have the luxury of a bunch of other people in the same boat that would love to help, or question along with you! Use them.

Boring Real Life Mistake Analogy #2

Have you seen the movie Charlie's Angels yet? You really should, just for nostalgia's sake. I saw it on opening day and loved it. Cameron Diaz has the most unbelievable body. She makes Farrah look like the Pillsbury dough-boy. But, how did she get in such good shape? How did she get every muscle in her body so toned? Kung Fu. Yep, the age old art of kicking and punching. Even an Angel reverts back to something that's proven, something basic. Which brings me to one of the mistakes that the Chicks made.

We spent too much time in the beginning trying to make up a philosophy or formulating our own approach. We should have just adapted someone else's and experimented with it. We wasted time being Chicks running around with our heads cut off instead of just familiarizing ourselves with a philosophy and testing it out. My advice to other investment clubs.try out the Chick's Dozen to begin with, and tweak it as you go to better fit your club.

Boring Real Life Mistake Analogy #3

My kids all used to go to different schools. One was at Montessori, one was in the neighborhood public school and the third was in pre-school. All of them had their Christmas programs on different days. Now, for the mother of four who can barely remember what day her children were born, trying to keep the dates of each of their Christmas concerts straight was next to impossible. I was at the wrong school with the wrong child all dressed and ready to sing. I finally smartened up and got them all in the same school, regardless of what they were teaching. I needed just ONE Christmas concert. (No one said I was the best parent.)

What happened in our investment club was a similar story. Each of the companies that we track reports their earnings on a different day. If I can't remember what grades my kids are in, how I'm supposed to remember when Sun Microsystems comes out with their earnings, much less make sure everyone else in the club reports when their company's financials come out? This became a problem. Since we couldn't keep track of their individual reporting day, we decided to make a universal day that we would report quarterly earnings. We use the quarterly tax reporting days as our standard Chicks Dozen days. April 15th, July 15th, October 15th, January 15th. Now all of our companies have their Christmas concerts on the same day.

All right, enough of my reality, I'm heading back to the movie theater and pretending I'm a 70's high-fashion private eye working for the Charles Townsend Detective Agency. If anything, I've got the hair flip down pat.