11/4/09
Econ 101 for the Pickup Scene

corporate_growth_chartimage from nDevilTV

Economies of Scale is a “theory of seduction” positing that the more you put yourself out there, the better you’ll do. Duh, you say. But, like the greatest economic theories, it gets better as you unpack it.

Say you spy the woman/man of your dreams sipping a green-tea latte at the Soy Luck Club café: You’re almost guaranteed to spaz out when you approach them, unless you’re naturally blessed with balls/labes of steel. What hope do you have of maintaining your cool as you try to give your future spouse your phone number, scrawled on an unbleached, recycled napkin?

What if, instead, you approached every cutie who caught your eye, on a daily basis? The stakes would be much lower, because you couldn’t possibly go out with every one of them—so what would you care about a rejection or fifteen? This laissez-faire approach lowers your desperation level, which inversely affects your sex appeal. Now, that’s what we call a return on investment.

Once you’ve mastered your master-of-seduction role, resist spreading the love too thinly, lest you leave a trail of broken vegan hearts in your wake.

From our weekly Metro column — see it in print here.



4 Comments

  1. johnny is spot on here. Two years ago I was the standard “good” guy – tall, professional, fit, and could handle conversation with most women if there was some common topic. But I didn’t have the confidence to approach women. And I so slept…alone.

    But then I started approaching women casually….waiting for a bus, in line for coffee, etc, just making chit chat. I only asked out maybe 1 in 10, but I looked at the situation as “Which of these women will say/do something that impressed ME?” I didn’t do any of the BS that the “approach” guys teach you (insulting the woman, etc.), but just had casual conversations. Most of the women were ok/boring, so I passed. But my current girlfriend was really funny, smart, and hot, so I asked her out.

    1.5 years later, we’re totally happy. She has told me that a lot of guys had approached her in the past, but were clumsy. She said that I seemed comfortable and wasn’t waiting to drop a pickup line, and that made her comfortable.

  2. Evan,

    You’re spot on if you’re trying to pick up someplace like college, or within a social circle, or workplace, or whatever.

    But if you find yourself high and dry and want to start all over with total strangers, Em&Lo are spot on with this.

    The only way to get good at making passes is through practice. Speaking as a seduction community guy, I had to make at least a hundred approaches before I started getting smooth.

    And now… damn, I am smooth. I can easily strike up conversations with women, start flirting, escalate sexually, and get them home in a matter of hours or less. And I can do it consistently. This is something I once considered an unattainable feat for me. I thought the guys who could do this just had some special magical power that I lacked. Never thought I could be one of them.

    But it took work, and some SERIOUS volume approaching. And I got it wrong along the way many times. Weirded a few girls out, offended a few, bored a few more… you get it. This doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Practice makes perfect.

    You can’t expect to just live a socially and sexually closed life 99% of the time, then bust out the ladies’ man act once in a blue moon when you see a girl you like. Doesn’t work like that for some of us.

  3. Gotta disagree – brand reputation is everything, and giving it away erodes your public image. Make yourself desirable, and then create an artificial economy of scarcity. Boom, you’re a luxury good that many want, but only a select few can afford.

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