The holidays have struck again and people are fighting at department stores at 5am to be the first through the doors. I remember a few years back when I arrived at my local theater at 5 am to be the second family in line for Revenge of the Sith for the 8:30am showing. Being second in line isn’t so bad when the line wraps entirely around the 20 theater metroplex as the sun rises. Jar-Jar Binks didn’t inspire any violence outside of the theater though – I’m happy to report.

With the holidays comes the kind of forced reality-check that occurs when individuals either joyfully plan to spend time with their family and loved ones. I took along a long time friend of mine for Thanksgiving this year to my in-laws country estate in Driftwood, Texas.

My friends name is Randy and we go all the way back to 1984, the year I moved to New England. Since then we’ve entered quite a few business opportunities together. In fact the first job he helped me get in 1985 doubled my all time record for an hourly wage. I’m sure I could attribute a list of my strengths today as a result of my long-time friend’s influence but since this isn’t MySpace I’ll just name one that relates to Negotiating. Randy was the inspiration and the model for me for decades for the process I now refer to as Challenge the Information.

He relocated to Texas some years back and is now a thriving business owner in the Austin area. www.cpuaustin.com. He creates industry standard blogs and websites as well as designs residential and commercial computer networks with an emphasis on customer support and drive-up service.

I wanted to thank Randy for being such a joy at my in-laws for Thanksgiving. Everyone really enjoyed his festive spirit and his Yankee-in-Texas bravado. And as far as persistence goes, Randy would negotiate with you at a funeral if he got the chance.  You can call him at (512) 351-7841.

So in closing you Negotiators out there might want to ask yourselves this resourceful question: “What Negotiating Strategy did Randy apply in order to get an entire post devoted to him including his website and his home phone number?”

Tomorrow I’ll be talking about T-shirts and my first vacation in almost 20 years.

If you’ve found anything in this post interesting feel free to leave a comment or even complain if you wish. Also I take any and all questions directly at justask@yourownbestgood.com. If you wish a more intensive look at training as a Negotiator, please consider signing up for my (currently) free apprenticeship program. I’ll see you all at the Negotiating Table and some of you in Maui soon!

Bruce Burns, the Negotiator!