我們做生意吧！

There are many special terms in the world of business.

The following story is about a sweetheart deal which I made last week. I made the deal with a friend， and we both made a profit.

I had started a small company several years ago. I worked hard to make it successful. It was a signmaking business. It was a small company， not a blue chip company. It was not known nationally for the quality of its signs. It did not make millions of dollars in profits. And it was private. It was not a public company with shares traded on the stock market.

Still， I worked hard building up my business. I did not work only a few hours each day—no banker’s hours for me. Instead I spent many hours each day， seven days a week， trying to grow the company. I never cut corners or tried to save on expenses. I made many cold calls. I called on possible buyers from a list of people I had never seen. Such calls were often hard sells. I had to be very firm.

Sometimes I sold my signs at a loss. I did not make money on my product. When this happened， there were cutbacks. I had to use fewer supplies and reduce the number of workers. But after several years， the company broke even. Profits were equal to expenses. And soon after， I began to gain ground. My signs were selling very quickly. They were selling like hot cakes.

I was happy. The company was moving forward and making real progress. It was in the black， not in the red. The company was making money， not losing it.

My friend knew about my business. He is a leader in the sign-making industry—a real big gun， if you know what I mean. He offered to buy my company. My friend wanted to take it public. He wanted to sell shares in the company to the general public.

My friend believed it was best to strike while the iron is hot. He wanted to take action at the best time possible and not wait. He offered me a ballpark estimate of the amount he would pay to buy my company. But I knew his uneducated guess was low. My company was worth much more. He asked his bean counter to crunch the numbers. That is， he asked his accountant to take a close look at the finances of my company and decide how much it was worth. Then my friend increased his offer.

My friend’s official offer was finally given to me in black and white. It was written on paper and more than I ever dreamed. I was finally able to get a break. I made a huge profit on my company， and my friend also got a bang for the buck. He got a successful business for the money he spent.

sweetheart deal 意思是私下簽訂的交易，sweetheart 意為甜心，情人；同時也有“私下簽訂的”之意。

blue chip company 意思是藍籌股公司，也就是績優股公司。

banker’s hours 意思是短暫的上班或工作時間。banker是銀行家。三十多年前銀行開門營業的時間特別短，從早上十點到下午兩三點就結束了，所以銀行家的上班時間每天只有四五個小時，于是人們就開始流行用banker’s hours來特指安逸舒適的工作。

cut corner 意思是走捷徑，以簡捷的方式做事。

cold call 意思是進行電話推銷，即冷不防地向潛在的主顧打電話，也可理解成陌生電話拜訪。

hard sell 意思是硬性推銷（術），強行推銷（術）。

at a loss 意思是虧本地；困惑不解。

cutback 削減，減少；裁員的意思。

break even 得失相當；不盈不虧；收支平衡的意思。

gain ground 有進展，普及，發展的意思。

sell like hot cakes 比喻為非常熱賣、非常暢銷的意思。

in the black 是財政黑字，指收入大于支出，報表余額是黑色字體，也就是贏利，有盈余的意思。in the red 表示負債，虧損；財政赤字。

big gun 表示重要人物；有勢力的人。

strike while the iron is hot 趁熱打鐵的意思。

ballpark estimate 意思是大致的估算。

bean counter 意思是精打細算的官員（或會計）。bean counter最早出現于20世紀70年代中期的美國，最初指的是“會計師”，特指那些不能容忍廢話和閑扯的會計師。1975年，bean counter首次以書面形式出現在《財富》雜志上，用來描述“一個來自肯塔基州的精明、小氣、一絲不茍的會計師”。這個詞清楚地刻畫了一個專注于細節的會計師，他習慣于計算每件東西，哪怕是最小的一粒豆子。

in black and white 白紙黑字，以書面的形式

get a break 交好運；時來運轉

bang for the buck 一塊錢換來很大的響聲，花最少錢得到最大的效果，也就是合算，劃算的意思。