1) Hesitation kills.
Let's say you're driving and a squirrel starts to cross the street. It sees you coming, stops in the middle of the road and turns around to go back. Then it suddenly stops, turns around, thinks it can make it and starts to cross again. Halfway there, it stops, decides not to take the chance and heads back. Next thing you know, it can't make up it's mind and it's going back and forth on the road until WHAM! Flat squirrel!
Collecting takes skill. When you see something that you've been hunting for, you can't hesistate. Buy it because if you hem and haw, it will be gone. Hesitation kills! Don't be a flat squirrel!
2) Death is the ultimate release.
3) SKO does not believe in umbrellas. (It's only water.)
4) SKO does not believe in gift-wrapping.
5) The 5 P's. Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
6) SKO does not get cold.
7) SKO does not run.
Back when I used to practice law in NYC, I would walk to Grand Central Terminal and the train would inevitably be less than a minute from departing the station. Commuters would be running past me in order to jump onto the train before the doors would close. They would hop into the last car and then have to make their way down the narrow aisle of car after car in the hopes of getting a seat at the front of the train.
Sometimes, they would run down the platform and the doors would shut just as they reached the train. Commuters who were already on the train would look up from their newspapers, see the hapless runner and think, "That sap." The train conductor would never open the doors to let him and he would be left standing on the platform, sweating and out of breath. It would be humiliating.
I knew that there'd be another train in about twenty minutes. I would get something cold to drink, walk over to the platform of the next train departing for home, get any seat I wanted and relax. Experience has taught me that there will always be another train and therefore, this is the reason that Steve Oto never runs.
8) Work hard now; plenty of time to rest when you're dead.
9) Never call Steve on a Wednesday.
Wednesdays are delivery days for comic book stores. In preparation for the hectic chaos that is Wednesday, I begin at 6 a.m. on the Friday before by downloading and editing our invoice, marking up the same and, inputting the arrival information into my laptop by 10:00 a.m. On Sundays, I remove comics that are over two months old, take cycle sheet counts of all comics still on the shelves, input the final counts into the database, bag and board two copies of each for the back issue bins, make space on the shelves for the new books with New This Week tags, make space for new trade paperbacks, toys and statues, among other tasks. Then comes Wednesday. Off to the UPS warehouse by 8:30 a.m., pick up the shipment, bring it to the store, break down the shipment, check for damages and shortages, mark off against the invoice, pull all items for Reserve files, put new product out on shelves, hope to finish by 1:00 p.m. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll have one or two bites of a sandwich before opening; otherwise I won't have the chance to eat for the rest of the day until I get home. Technically I close at 8 but stay until whenever since we hold Heroclix tournaments that night. Sometimes, Wednesdays are fifteen-hour days and I get very grumpy. This is why all who shop here know that they should NEVER CALL STEVE ON A WEDNESDAY.
10) Don't slow down society.
11) You can't save the world.
12) SKO does not forget.
13) Democracy does not work in a corporation.
14) Everything happens for a reason.
15) Everything works out in the end.
16) Life is short- You only get one shot at it.
17) If we don't have it, you don't need it.
18) Confidence is the secret of the universe.
19) Keep your expectations low and you'll never be disappointed.
20) What were the launch codes again?
21) Everything sells for a dollar.
22) Everything eventually sells.