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Uncle Eric #8

The Clipper Ship Strategy: For Success in Your Career, Business, and Investments

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Conventional wisdom says that when the government expands the money supply, the money descends on the economy in a uniform blanket. This is incorrect. The money is injected into specific locations causing hot spots or "cones". Mr. Maybury explains a system for tracking and profiting from these cones, for locating genuine money-making opportunities, and for avoiding those which are false or dangerous. "The Clipper Ship Strategy" includes step-by-step instructions, and clever illustrations that make the system easy to understand. Explains how to cope with recessions and avoid unemployment. This book is the second sequel to "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?" and should be read after "The Money Mystery" also available for purchase through Amazon.

Can be used for courses in Economics, Business, Finance, Government and History.

To improve the student's learning experience, also purchase the student study guide for "The Clipper Ship Strategy" titled "A Bluestocking Applying The Clipper Ship Strategy" also available through Amazon.

Contents for "The Clipper Ship Strategy"
Uncle Eric's Model of How the World Works
Author's Disclosure

Part 1: Sales Strategy
1. A Strategy for Success
2. Ethics and the Flood of Data
3. Hot Spots and Evidence
4. Austrian Economics
5. Line and Staff
6. The Clipper Ship Strategy
7. Piles of Money
8. The Money Spreads
9. Cones and Sales
10. Scooping and Pouring
11. All Roads
12. Cone Creation
13. The Super Clipper
14. Do Cones Really Exist?
15. The Biggest, Most Stable Cone
16. Accidental Cones
17. Portrait of an Accidental Cone
18. Other Accidental Cones
19. Hollow Cones
20. An Ecosystem in Chaos
21. Outside Sales
22. Benefits of This Understanding
23. Tax & Regulatory Cones
24. Marginality
25. Marketing Managers
26. The Automobile
27. How to Follow the Cones
28. A Case Sacramento
29. Hot Spots and Zips
30. The Importance of a Model for Sorting Your Data
31. Cone Classification
32. Is Pinpoint Accuracy Necessary?
33. How to Classify Cones
34. Precision and Size of Firm
35. Split Cones
36. An Eerie Feeling
37. Gathering More Information
38. Specialized Organizations and Publications
39. External Information - A D.E.W. Line
40. S.I.C. Codes
41. List Companies and Marketing Data
42. Importance of Real Estate
43. Learn by Example
44. Sales Side Summary

Part 2: Production Strategy
45. Stomping the Town
46. Your Factors of Production
47. Streamlining
48. Cyclical Problems
49. Break-Even Analysis
50. Mrs. Garcia
51. A New Industry
52. Break-Even Solutions
53. The Most Risky Investment
54. Specialization
55. Payback Analysis
56. Start-Up An Example
57. Careers in BCM
58. Investment Strategy
59. Two Types of Investment Cones
60. Summary

Appendix
Bibliography
Bookstores
Glossary
About the Author
Index

269 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

11 people are currently reading
260 people want to read

About the author

Richard J. Maybury

35 books106 followers
Richard Maybury, also known as Uncle Eric, is the publisher of U.S. & World Early Warning Report for Investors. He has written several entry level books on United States economics, law, and history from a libertarian perspective. He writes the books in epistolary form, usually as an uncle writing to his nephew, answering questions.

Maybury was a high school economics teacher. After failing to find a book which would give a clear explanation on his view of economics he wrote one himself. Some of his books include Uncle Eric Talks About Personal, Career & Financial Security, Higher Law, Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? and Whatever Happened to Justice? .

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5 stars
86 (43%)
4 stars
57 (29%)
3 stars
41 (20%)
2 stars
10 (5%)
1 star
2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Angela.
39 reviews1 follower
Read
October 29, 2018
This book is full of business advice, especially for those directly involved in sales. Though, I would imagine it would be harder to follow without having read some of his earlier books.

I have gotten a lot out of this series of books, but definitely have to read it with a recognition of the author's bias - which he acknowledges fully - and I just ignore his own salesmanship of encouraging the reader to share his books with everyone you know so that we can overcome the current bloated state of government. Though, these books have had me thinking more and more about how much overreach and overspending is currently taken for granted to be part of the U.S. Government. I'm pretty sure he's right and the founding fathers never intended that the taxpayers fund a giant jobs program.
Profile Image for Jason.
52 reviews20 followers
July 7, 2012
More people need to think like this. Even if we cannot change things politically, as this book pretty much assumes, we can still take care of ourselves.

The men who got rich during the California gold rush were the ones selling shovels. Be a Clipper!
Profile Image for Daniel Shaver.
83 reviews1 follower
May 17, 2022
While all of Richard Maybury's books offer some interesting information, they all seem to have the same problems. I have read all of Richard Maybury's other books my biggest problem with them is their repetitiveness. I understand that the books are written to a younger audience, but I often feel like I am reading the exact same thing over and over again. Additionally, he sometimes seems to contradict himself. For example, he says over and over that the economy "is not a machine" but an "ecology" and then in a later chapter says that an economy is a machine that needs to be "cranked." Additionally, he opens all his books with a statement admitting his biases which was interesting because I hadn't ever seen an author do that before. However, in one of his books, he says that you should try to avoid biased content. Despite all these flaws, the clipper ship strategy along with all of his other books does contain some useful information. If this book wasn't so repetitive and contained a lot bit more information, I would give it at least four stars. I feel like the book could have easily been compressed into an internet blog or magazine article.
17 reviews
April 17, 2018
The Clipper Ship Strategy is a book about how money in an economy moves and how to take advantage of it. The way that the author Richard Maybury explains this process in an interesting and engaging way. The chapters are written in a way that makes them seem like they are a letter from a relative trying to explain something to you. This helps to keep you engaged as it a series of letters from someone to you personally. The author also explains how the strategy came about and how it is used in the world today. He uses historical situations like the gold rush and the great depression to show how the strategy works. He also uses models and illustrations to visualize what he is trying to convey in an easier way. In the end though this book is about how the government and the free marked effect the world in incredible ways. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to start their own business or anyone who is just trying to understand this crazy world we live in.
Profile Image for Andy Scott.
207 reviews2 followers
July 15, 2021
In this book the author eventually explains the Clipper ship strategy: buying low priced goods and selling them in a market where there is more money, and thus higher prices. He sort of explains how to identify those regions/markets where there is more money, based on government connection and intervention.

The book is poorly organized, or at least the organization is not clear. It presents some interesting ideas, but let me feeling more confused than helped. I found his book on inflation much better (What happened to Penny Candy?)
192 reviews
July 24, 2023
This book was definitely a lot deeper than other Uncle Eric books. The main concept was easy to understand, but the practical (profitable) application of it felt a bit elusive. Also, his entire premise is based on the assumption that the government will always be in business. I wish he would have discussed what some warning signs are that a government might be going out of business and how to adjust one's plan should that happen. In all, some great ideas, but you would need to pretty much devote your life to putting them into action.
Profile Image for Michael Tildsley.
Author 2 books8 followers
October 22, 2023
Some of the information on economy and how to research are now dated, but the basic concepts seem still very valid and worth consideration. Somewhat repetitive as others have said. However, I appreciate the simplicity of the lessons meant for a younger audience. They’ll make for good reference material when needed.
195 reviews
February 27, 2025
Some good advice, some of it out dated.
Not nearly as good as I thought it would be.

The picture of cones (pitcher) and sinkholes of money is the main point and is an excellent one for everyone to realize. The rest of the book was kind of boring.
Profile Image for Jenny.
539 reviews
June 21, 2017
Interesting ideas on investing and increasing your business. Repeated itself a lot. Skipped quite a bit of it.
Profile Image for Elisabeth White Shirley.
73 reviews2 followers
May 1, 2020
Yet another read for school. I didn’t hate it as much as some of the others but no subject will ever be as boring to me as those discussed in this book.
787 reviews1 follower
June 22, 2021
The clipper ship strategy is to go where the money is, not necessarily geographically but in business and investing. It makes sense.
Profile Image for JP.
1,163 reviews51 followers
May 18, 2013
True to form "Uncle Eric" offers a novel approach to investing one's capital, one's effort, and one's self based on a simple economic model not reflected in the status quo. I highly recommend this brief work.
Profile Image for John Hibbs.
114 reviews5 followers
February 19, 2009
Very interesting book. Made me eager to buy the rest in the series. Provides common-sense approach.
Profile Image for Erik Ferguson.
3 reviews
June 3, 2009
Great book for consultants/sales people. How to identify the hot spots and how to capture it. I loved this book. I wish there was an extra star!
Profile Image for Alissa Emrick.
13 reviews
August 22, 2014
Excellent book, as all of the "Uncle Eric" economics, history, and government books are. He gives a non-statist point of view that is very rarely heard these days.
12 reviews
Read
October 23, 2016
This book & series is a favorite of mine. I learned much about bubbles (aka "cones") from ths book. I highly recommend it.
2,065 reviews20 followers
February 10, 2025
Ellie read y11 rated 3 1/2. She felt he repeated himself too much...krb 2/10/25

Jacob rated 4*
22 reviews1 follower
February 1, 2011
Advice on how to navigate the ups and downs of the economy.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews

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