How Stories Add Value to a Pick Up Artist

It’s a dark and stormy night.  I am laying in bed.  I can’t fall asleep.  It’s two o’clock in the morning and I’m watching the Antiques Road Show on PBS.  For some reason, this is one of my favorite shows… I’m addicted.

There is something intriguing about it’s concept.  For those who have never watched, it goes something like this.  A bunch of people bring in some old junk from their attic.  Then, a guy in a suit pulls a big dollar sign out of his ass and attaches it to the junk.

To think that some ‘thing’ can go from sitting in a dusty attic to having a value of thousands of dollars is pretty amazing.  What’s even more amazing is how the people react to the news that they now possess something of great value.  You can actually see the look of bliss spread across their faces, as if they had just won the lottery.

If we think back to our economics class, we know that the worth of something or it’s value, has something to do with the supply and demand for that thing.  We also know that something is only worth what others are willing to pay for it.  Essentially, value is a perception of one’s needs.

With this in mind, does someone really “need” an ugly green vase from 1892?  If someone put that same vase in front of you and you had no knowledge of it’s market, would you be able to put a value on it?  You could make a guess, but unless you’re an expert on Victorian Age vases, you could only come up with a value based on your own perceptions.  Those perceptions would likely include: that it’s old, it’s ugly and it has little utility value.  What on earth would make someone pay thousands of dollars, let alone a couple of bucks, to acquire this thing?

Here’s a few thoughts on what would make a ‘thing’ valuable:

• It is rare or scarce.  People always desire things that other people can’t or don’t have.
  
• It has utility value, something that enhances or makes your life easier, usually a tool of some sort.
  
• It has sentimental or emotional value, like a family heirloom.
• It has a good story.

Being scarce, though a reasonable value indicator, doesn’t necessarily make something valuable.  My original artwork of stick figures on a napkin, though the only one of its kind, probably isn’t going to be worth anything.

The utility of something is a good indicator as well, but what makes a 19th century hammer more valuable than a hammer of today?  Certainly a brand new hammer would be preferable to building a house than an antique hammer of yesteryear.

Then we have sentimental value, however, this value is only realized by a handful of people at most.  One person’s heirloom isn’t going to have the same value to another completely unrelated person.

The above three value traits are indicators only under certain circumstances.  However, there is one trait on the Antiques Road Show that everything of significant value did have, a good story.

After watching the show numerous times, it becomes easy to predict the value of antiques simply by how elaborate the stories become.  When the appraiser starts digging deep into the history of a certain item, you just know that it’s going be worth some big bucks.  The better the history and story the better the value of that antique.  It’s really an interesting phenomenon.

If we go back to our definition of value, the perception of ones need, it’s hard to correlate how a story adds value to something.  I think the answer is easy.  Humans NEED stories.  It’s ingrained into our psyche.  How do I know this?  Because stories have been around since the beginning of mankind.  Ever since cavemen began drawing on cave walls up to our present day medium of movies, television, books and video games, humans have created and consumed a countless number of stories.

Even present day items can be given value with a good story.  Have you heard about the lady who sold a $5 pack of Pokemon cards on eBay for a few hundred dollars simply by writing a story about it?

By now, you probably want to know how this applies to picking up women.  I’ve blathered on enough about antiques and this IS a pick up artist blog after all.

I’m convinced that a story can add value to just about anything.  So, if a story can add value to an inanimate object, like an ugly green vase, then why can’t it add value to, lets say….a person?

There is a reason that almost all of the top pick up artists teach the art of story telling in their products.  Being able to tell a good story, not only adds value to yourself, but also gives value to the people you tell it to.  You are fulfilling their NEED for a good story.

All of the naturals I’ve met, the guys that just seemed to click with women, all had one thing in common.  They used a certain type of routine.  Of course they didn’t know it was a routine, but it was something that they perfected and repeated as a method of attraction.  That’s right, they were all great story tellers.

Walk into any social situation and look around.  Who are the most people gathered around?  Who has the most people captivated?  Chances are that it’s not the shy wallflower standing against the wall.  The guy who is telling a lively story in the middle of the room is the one getting peoples’ attention.

When you add value to yourself and to others, your stock goes up.  You become more desirable.  You become the pursued.

…It’s almost three o’clock in the morning now.  The Antiques Road Show is now rolling the credits.  I’m still not able to fall asleep.

I look across the room where there are two ukuleles sitting against the wall.  One is fairly new, bought several months ago for forty dollars.  The other one is quite old, from 1957.  It has a crack on the back panel, the strings are worn and it doesn’t stay in tune very well. 

I walk over and pick up the older ukulele.  I prefer it over the newer one, despite it’s rough shape.  It belonged to my grandfather.  He bought it while stationed in Germany just after he married my Grandmother.  He wanted to learn how to play a simple instrument to help pass time on his ship.  And he has some pretty good stories about it.