Olive put her foot on my forehead, so I took this picture.
My marriage ended in 2017, so I went online and dated on and off. I met someone in January of 2019 and was in a committed relationship until the end of 2020.
It was an uneven relationship, we wanted different things, so I was back on the dating scene in 2021.
Since 2017 I’ve probably dated TOO much, and what I’ve realized is that intelligence, mutual desire and basic honesty are the three most important factors to seek out.
A smart woman can’t date an average IQ guy. She’ll eventually sense the cognitive gap and might even lose respect for him. Same for a smart guy with an average IQ woman.
There are more folks who have an average IQ than a higher IQ. A human with an IQ over 130 points is only 2.5% of the population, so that individual has far less options.
IQ is on a bell curve, so anyone with a 110 IQ will match with 60% of the population!
Once you whittle down your dating pool to 2.5% then you must assess if your partner is honest or not.
Honesty and character are hard to ascertain, but there are markers of it:
How someone treats their family.
Longevity at any job.
Credit score.
Your intuitive sense about that person.
Once you find a SMART and HONEST person then you have to ask yourself if mutual attraction exists.
The early adopters of rooftop solar and electric cars tend to be financially successful consumers.
You have to OWN the house to put solar on it.
Most folks who have bought solar from me have a household income in excess of $120,000 per year.
Most of my clients have a 4 year degree.
When I’ve tried to sell solar to LESS successful people it was a total failure.
Long term thinkers with an ABOVE average IQ are buying solar and electric cars.
It was like this when I sold the Prius for Toyota 20 years ago. The early Prius buyers were high income engineers, college professors, software engineers, etc.
For contrast, look at the men who drive giant gas guzzling pick ups (on lift kits)… this is a common demographic here in Florida.
These men tend to be UNDEReducated, and their thinking is about emotion, not logic.
I don’t have to tell you how these guys vote, you already know. Just look for the banner flying 12 feet above the ground, mounted to a pole in the back of their truck… these are the same guys you see tailgaiting small cars on the highway.
I say “Guys” here because most women do not drive huge trucks on lift kits. They are more sensible about their money.
A redneck will spend $10,000 to lift his truck 8 inches higher, but he’ll never spend a dime on solar.
This is also the type of guy who lives in an apartment but spends $60,000 on his truck…
I can trash redneck men here on my blog because these men rarely READ anything, let alone a blog about solar tech.
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I save far more money having solar on my roof and using that electricity to fule my car, about $350 per month LOWER energy costs between less spent in gasoline combined with electricity.
$350 per month = $4200 per year = $42,000 per decade
MINUS the $18,000 I spent on solar = $24,000 BACK in my pocket, tax free income.
Cost of my (used) 2017 Volt was $20,000, about the same as any used Toyota or Honda.
ALSO, the solar on my roof has increased the resale $$ value on my home.
If the officials at the United Nations come up with a tangible plan I think Musk will pony up.
But… do they have a plan, or is the United Nations just blowing smoke for publicity?
Elon Musk is NOT about the money, he wants humanity to move forward in terms of green tech, rooftop solar, electric cars and helping humanity become a multi-planet species.
Musk started a non-profit called Open AI to fight back against advanced Artificial Intelligence falling into the wrong hands.
If Elon donates $6 billion to end world hunger that’s like a middle class person donating $500 to the church at Christmas.
BUT, he wants an actual PLAN, and the UN does not have a plan.
This guy lives in a tiny house, works 70 hours a week… and people are still pissed off at him.
Disclosure : Tampa Bay Solar sells the Tesla Powerwall II.
I have not sold my first Powerwall YET, but I’m sure I’ll sell hundreds in the next few years, no doubt.
But I liked Elon’s philosophy and thinking long before I could sell his product.
I don’t agree with Joe Rogan most of the time, but he books fascinating guests.
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Consider that Earth is an average size planet, and our sun an average size star.
Astronomers have already discovered over 10,000 earth sized planets orbiting over 10,000 “average size” stars across our galaxy (they do so by measuring the periodic luminosity of each star as planets transit the path of light from that star).
That’s just in our LOCAL Milky Way galaxy, and there are hundreds of thousands of galaxies far, far away from us.
Now, consider that any species able to cross interstellar space is much more advanced than us, in the same way that a human is that much MORE advanced than the common ant.
We can observe an ant, even study it, but ants are barely aware of us. Safe to say that there are millions of anthills around our planet, and 99.9999% of those ants will never encounter a human being.
An ant really lacks the capacity to even comprehend a human being, yet human scientists have written countless articles, books and doctoral dissertations about how ants live, communicate, eat, reproduce, etc.
Check out any book written by Harvard Biology professor E.O. Wilson. Fascinating stuff.
E. O. Wilson has a theory that the weight of all the ANTS on our planet is roughly equivalent to the weight of all 7.5 billion HUMANS. That’s a LOT of ants, on every continent excepting ANTarctica, ironically.
If that theory does not melt your mind a little bit you’re not bright enough to read my blog.
It is safe to say that scientists like E. O. Wilson who study common ants will only interact with a handful of anthills, leaving 99.9999% of anthills untouched.
Still with me?
Consider an advanced alien species that is curious about the universe. Perhaps they’ve come here (maybe a few hundred years ago) looked in on us, collected a few humans for study, realized we were just the “common ant” then moved on.
Maybe Human Beings are on the “check back in 500,000 years” list in some alien archive a trillion miles from Earth.
Maybe our entire civilization is a just a common anthill in the woods somewhere, nothing real special; we’re still pretty violent, still divided over dumb shit like politics, religion, gender issues, Dave Chapelle, etc.
Just like E.O. Wilson walking past a common anthill and realizing we’re boring…. this might be WHY we don’t see aliens on the South Lawn of the White House.
We’re not significant yet. We might detroy ourselves in the next 100 years, who knows?
Perhaps Homo Sapiens will need to integrate with artificial intelligence in order to become smarter, evolve further, and realize our full potential.
Then again, we watched a bunch of mouth breathing racists storm our Capitol on January 6th… and I wonder if maybe we’re not moving in the wrong direction!
I spent this past weekend working the Home Show at the Tampa Convention center.
Below is JL, a member of our sales team… what a handsome guy!
Doing events like this can be a tad boring, but the purpose is to meet people and book appointments that lead to solar sales. I’m organizing my leads this morning:
The last time I did the Home Show in June I closed about $80,000 in new business in the weeks following.
I don’t like to do events all the time, but 2 or three times each year isn’t that bad.
There are folks on our sales team who do events all the time, but many events don’t result in viable leads.
There are always 4 or 5 OTHER solar installers present at these Home Shows, but many of the other companies are chinzy outfits with zero history or track record. Some won’t be around in a year.
Tampa Bay Solar is 11 years old, with 900+ completed installs.
VERY FEW local solar companies have done jobs like this 1,140 panel job on Florida Aquarium:
Billie Eilish wrote the new Bond Theme with her creative partner (and brother) Finneas.
They’ve both been playing music and recording together since they were little kids.
Finneas is in his early 20’s, Billie is only 19 now?
Billie gets 90% of the attention because she’s the singer up front while Finneas is playing the piano, singing back up harmony and producing her albums.
Fascinating how this level of talent struck twice in one family!
Prediction: Billie and Finneas are already global superstars, but they have an enduring talent that we’re gonna get to enjoy for many decades to come… think Lady Gaga, Prince, the Beatles, Eric Clapton, etc.
The CEO of Tampa Bay Solar is a retired Navy SEAL, and I’ve been lucky enough to work with Steve Rutherford for the last 5 years. Steve and I were recently discussing success and I left that conversation thinking about some of the factors that either lead to an individual’s success or devolve into failure.
FIRST factor is Natural IQ:
Some folks are just born brighter than others, on the bell curve of human IQ most people are in the 100 to 110 range, with only 2.5% testing over 130 IQ… my daughter Grace was tested in the 140 IQ range as a child, and as she moved through academia she consistently tested in the top 1% of her peers.
School is a breeze for anyone with more computing power.
A human being born with a 70 IQ will operate far differently than a gifted child with a 140 IQ. A higher IQ can be shifted down by drug use or a traumatic injury, but someone with an average IQ will probably always stay in that range.
The 2nd major factor is Knowledge / Experience:
We’ve all met that professional who knows his or her industry in and out, can answer complicated questions, and does really excellent work. I try to learn as much as I can about sales, solar and electric cars in order to be the top deal closer at Tampa Bay Solar.
I’ve been selling for 27 years, so my experience in reading people gives me an advantage over a less experienced sales rep.
My Dad was an engineer at a nuclear reactor in South Jersey, and he knew every inch of that facility. He was skilled at dealing with contractors and union guys (Experience) so he was able to make a good income, especially in the last 15 years of his career.
A few years ago I worked with a young man who could sell, but when I asked him general knowledge questions he knew NOTHING. He thought WWII took place in the 1980’s… he had no idea who fought in the Civil War. I ran into him recently and his level of woeful ignorance has not changed. I’m glad he’s no longer on my team.
Another part of your success is whether your knowledge is relevant to the current technology. A VCR repairman would not make a great income right now… I’m so grateful I got into the solar biz when I did, and I hope to use my knowledge as solar goes up all over the place in the next decade.
The THIRD factor is WORK ETHIC:
This is where someone with an average IQ can differentiate themselves in the workplace: by simply grinding it out and working harder than everyone else.
When I got into the solar biz back in 2017 I went out and knocked 10,000 doors and sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in solar.
By working HARDER than everyone else I taught myself the best way to sell solar (knowledge + experience) and I learned to touch on the points that moved my clients and discard the points that didn’t.
The best thing about work ethic is that you CHOOSE to work hard, or not.
An average IQ guy with no knowledge can get ahead by learning new stuff and working HARDER than everyone else.
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Consider the High IQ person with no work ethic and no knowledge. Totally useless. Wasted potential.
Or the low IQ individual with NO knowledge but a hard work ethic? They will be great at digging ditches, forever.
This is why seeking knowledge / experience is crucial to success, combined with work ethic.
I was tested as a smart little kid… but then I got that concussion when I was 12…
Today I benefit from my PAST work ethic over the last 5 years because the call-in leads to Tampa Bay Solar go straight to my phone, which helps me close more deals. Some of the call ins are pushed to the team, but if I’m not booked I go see the client myself THAT DAY.
I’m still door knocking, even with 47 years on my odometer. I’m the only rep on the team that does that.
Ben Alexander writes. 