Sunday Setup
A weekly newsletter to help get your mind set up for a positive workweek.
01.26.2025 — Don’t Smell the Perfume
Wham, Scam, Thank You Ma’am
When some people hear a story of someone getting scammed, they say something like, "Man, that would NEVER happen to me!" But a cleverly-planned, well-executed ruse could still take a self-proclaimed scam detector to the cleaners.
Fraudulent activity has been around since 300 BC. Rumor has it, two Greek sea merchants, Hegestratos and Zenothemis, tried to sink an empty cargo ship, cash in their insurance policy, then sell the "lost cargo.” Sadly, Hegestratos not only lost out on the double profit, but he also lost his life.
Unfortunately, scam artists are still at it today. My wife recently received a text from a friend warning her not to smell perfume samples offered by random strangers. (Who would do that anyway?) The alert, which has been around since before Y2K and debunked as urban legend, states that men are robbing women after using ether-filled perfume bottles to render them unconscious once they take a quick whiff.
And then there are those online scams that rake in big money from unsuspecting victims. For example, according to the FTC, consumers lost a total of $1.14B in "romance scams" in 2023, including a woman who was scammed out of $855K by an AI-generated Brad Pitt.
Maybe Wu Tang had it slightly wrong when they said Cash Rules Everything Around Me. When it comes to love, instead of C.R.E.A.M. it should be C.R.I.M.E.
Cash Ruins Intimate Mating Eventually.
21 Questions
Every day we make — literally — thousands of decisions. And those decisions are usually preceded by questions.
What should I wear to the office today?
A blazer or a sweater?
Jeans?
Slacks?
Should I even go in at all?
Or just call in sick?
Granted, when it comes to our jobs, the questions are usually less trivial. Sometimes we're asked to make big decisions that not only impact our clients and customers, but also our co-workers and the company's bottom line.
What's the best way to increase revenue by 5% next quarter?
Is it a $15K half-page ad in a trade magazine that eats up 30% of the advertising budget?
Should additional resources be allocated to ensure the team completes all the tasks in the next sprint?
Or should Taylor be asked to log another 60-hour week?
Regardless of how often you've successfully made decisions in the past, don't assume due diligence is not needed in the present. To ensure you arrive at the best possible result, remember to pause and diligently contemplate the answers to conventional — and unconventional — questions before you finalize a decision.
Otherwise, a poorly-informed decision could produce a disastrous outcome, like the woman who was defrauded of $2M on Match.com. Apparently she got burned by a Match that sparked a Tinder box.