So many people want to be respected by those they meet and they are so worried what other people will think of them almost to the point that they will do anything to look their best and be loved by everyone they see. This in fact is a losing game because it means you have to learn how to lie really really well.

You have to pretend to be something you're not and you have to pretend that you agree with everyone you meet. You have to become an impostor and pretend for the rest of your life because once you start trying to pretend that you are professional you have to be careful that no one figures out the truth.

Let me tell you a little story of a gentle man who is going to work with our company and he was a salesperson. He was the most impeccable dresser and he looked and talked like a million bucks. I asked him to meet me at a Starbucks and he was going to be awarded a huge contract with my company for marketing our franchise company.

He explained to me all sorts of things that he could do for us and I asked to see his battle plan and how he did things for other import clients. I carefully invited myself to his office and told him I was leaving town the next day and we need to go right now. And then I suggested we drive in his car and he tried to weasel his way out of it, but I insisted.

Our so-called professional dresser and professional BSer drove a hunk of crap and it was so disgusting inside and messy I could not believe I was talking to the same person. We got to his office and he ushered me quickly past the mess and into a room with maps on the wall. I could see he was trying very hard and struggling now that I knew the truth to maintain his composure.

We did not end up doing business and it is not because I didn't believe he could do the job. After seeing the brilliance of his marketing in his War Room so to speak, I could see that he kind of knew what he was doing and with a little help from me we could have really blasted that market. I would have hired him if he had not lied to me with the false image thing. I would have even hired one of my marketing specialists to work along side of him. He could have met me in Levis and a Polo Shirt instead of a $5,000 Italian Suit, with a fake Gold Rolex.

Unfortunately I felt as if he lied to me by acting so professional when in reality he was just a normal guy trying really hard to do a great job. If you are a faker and pretender and simply act professional then perhaps you need to rethink your strategy, because if you're going to lie to people and your self you may as well go the whole route and be 100% professional with everything you do and not be a halfway halfass pretender. Please consider this in 2006.