How My Bad Dating Informed Good Marketing

When I was seventeen, I had a crush on Jamie Shin.

In 4th period AP Bio, we’d pass secret, folded notes back and forth—carefully slipping them under our desks while Mrs. Johnson’s back was turned. She liked me, I liked her—but I was playing hard to get.

That Saturday, my friends and I drove 17.2 miles south to the “nice” movie theater—in those days, it meant the ones with reclining seats and cup holders. The plan was to go early, hit up In-N-Out, and sneak double-doubles and fries into the theater.

Just as we pulled up to the drive-thru window, there she was—Jamie Shin—arms tightly intertwined around Michael Curtis.

In that moment …

Never had I ever had the urge to confess my feelings faster.
And never had I ever been so quickly and thoroughly shut down.

That day I learned a lesson I’ve never forgotten:
Humans jog toward pleasure but sprint from pain.

In marketing, you can paint all the rosy pictures and dreamy outcomes you want. But nothing drives action—the kind of action that has people banging down your doors—like the fear of loss.

I’m never suggesting that you manipulate or needle someone’s pain—life hands us enough of that already.

But making sales is sometimes simpler than you think.

Because when their Michael Curtis shows up, and they’re feeling the sting of regret, they won’t be walking—they’ll be in a “dead-sprint” to the one who can offer relief.

Cheers,

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