My girlfriend Kacie emailed me an interesting story by Jack London called “What Life Means to Me.” If you haven’t read it yet then I highly recommend you do so. I’m not going to review or interpret the story but I did want to call out a concept that Jack London addresses called the “brain merchant.” The concept of becoming a brain merchant means that the most valuable commodity you have to offer is knowledge. In order to become a brain merchant you have to know things that most others don’t. According to London:
“The merchant sold shoes, the politician sold his manhood, and the representative of the people, with exceptions, of course, sold his trust; while nearly all sold their honor. Women, too, whether on the street or in the holy bond of wedlock, were prone to sell their flesh. All things were commodities, all people bought and sold. The one commodity that labor had to sell was muscle. The honor of labor had no price in the market-place. Labor had muscle, and muscle alone, to sell.”
Why is this important?
Especially in current economic times I believe that becoming a brain merchant is one of the most important things you can do. The greatest investment that you possess is your brain and your ability to learn things. This brings me to my next point of the importance of business travel.
When I talk about business travel I don’t actually mean getting on a plane and going to another location for work. What I mean is being able to travel within your business to learn things outside of your core competency. For example, let’s say you work for the marketing department at IBM and are pretty good at your job; I would argue that you should start learning about something else within IBM, say product development. Why? To become a brain merchant. Don’t just focus on learning what’s right in front of you; try branching off. For me, the best way to become a brain merchant meant leaving behind all full-time work and starting something on my own. This entailed me learning not only about marketing but everything else that goes into running and building a business from scratch.
Again from London:
“I learned, further, that brain was likewise a commodity. It, too, was different from muscle. A brain seller was only at his prime when he was fifty or sixty years old, and his wares were fetching higher prices than ever. But a laborer was worked out or broken down at forty-five or fifty. I had been in the cellar of society, and I did not like the place as a habitation.”
I’m encouraging everyone reading this to go out and start selling their brains; become a brain merchant.
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