1. Special Podcast for Newcomers
When you have received payment from the customer, you must be prepared to package and ship the goods. Be sure to listen to this podcast to learn about various packaging methods.
2. Special Article for Newcomers
3. The Friday That Was Enjoyable.
⏰ 1 minute
4. How to Use the Arad User Website
⏰ 12 minutes
Aradi merchants should consider visiting their Arad User platform for at least 5 minutes each day as part of their daily responsibilities.
5. How to Present in Online Meetings
⏰ 58 minutes
6. Arad Visual Documentation
⏰ 2 minutes
Send documents to T.me/Arad102
7. France Representative in Iran
⏰ 1 minute
8. Negotiations That Do Not Progress.
One of the topics my colleagues noticed among the comments—and which we’ve discussed writing about several times but kept postponing—is this:
"I speak to a customer once, and everything goes well. But the second time, they either don’t respond or treat me so coldly that the negotiation stalls entirely."
By God’s grace, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel abroad once or twice a year. Many times, I’ve written from other countries and shared my texts with my team.
I’ve visited both Eastern and Western countries.
What I share comes from experience and may not align with everyone’s perspective.
People in Western countries, both in negotiations and in life, tend to be extremely straightforward. If they don’t like something, they openly say so without hesitation or courtesy.
However, people in Eastern countries are the exact opposite.
When they dislike something, they don’t react immediately. Instead, they behave as though everything is perfect during the interaction, only to show their true feelings later.
Regardless of whether we consider this behavior good or bad, as Iranians, we tend to lean more towards the Eastern style.
For example, if we attend a gathering that we don’t enjoy, we stay until the end. When asked about our experience, we might enthusiastically say, “It was amazing!” making the host believe it was the best event we’ve ever attended. But once we leave, we decide never to return—regardless of the circumstances.
So, do not place too much hope on the seemingly cheerful and promising behavior of Iranian or Eastern customers during the first negotiation. However, if you encounter an American or European customer who behaves like this, take it as a positive sign.
Now, let me explain another scenario: it’s possible that you’ve attended a place where you genuinely had a good time, yet you decide not to go again.
You might be invited to a funeral or a wedding, attend the event, and find it thoroughly enjoyable.
However, when you return home, you reflect and realize that you’ve lost a significant amount of time.
You start calculating, comparing what you gained with what you lost, and conclude in your heart that it wasn’t worth it.
With this simple comparison, you decide not to go there again.
At the moment, you genuinely said it was enjoyable and excellent—and you meant it. However, once you leave and calculate what you gained versus what you lost, you conclude that it wasn’t worth it, and you choose not to do it again.
Now, let’s take a look at two charts: one showing the Business School views and the other displaying Business Podcast downloads.
If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that as the lessons progress, the number of views decreases.
Why?
Because the individual watched the first lesson and concluded it wasn’t worth their time, so they didn’t bother with the second one.
(Let me add a note in parentheses here: Dear merchants who have recently joined us, if you were capable of deciding what is valuable and what isn’t entirely on your own, you would have achieved your dream goals even before joining Arad.
Did you reach that ideal point?
For a while, trust us—like a seed that entrusts its fate to a farmer or an infant whose care lies in the hands of its parents. Trust us for at least a year without questioning or altering the framework we’ve designed for you.
You watch one lesson and decide whether it was worth it or not?
For one year, put aside these judgments and simply follow Arad’s guidance. By doing so, you will see the truth in our promises about becoming wealthy.)
Exactly the same principle of decreasing views lesson by lesson exists in the Business School.
However, there’s one exception: the second lesson has received more views than the first.
This is the point I want to discuss.
At Arad, on your first day, you told us you didn’t know the path to wealth, so you asked us to show you the way.
Arad shows the way. There’s no ambiguity in this. Just as a doctor decides what prescription to give their patient, Arad determines the path to wealth. A patient isn’t expected to reject the first dose of medicine by saying, “It wasn’t worth it, I won’t take it anymore.”
But the customer or business supplier, or someone who hasn’t yet joined Arad, doesn’t understand these things.
They haven’t asked you for the path, nor have they made a commitment to you.
I’ll go back to the example of a couple.
Until the girl says "yes," she has control over her decision. But once she says "yes," she has accepted the man as her guardian and caretaker. It’s not just about that, though; the man must demonstrate his virtues and cover the girl’s financial gaps.
Before you became an Aradi merchant, you hadn’t accepted Arad as your guide to wealth. Had you been given materials then, you could have chosen whether to look at them or not. But once you enter, it means you’ve accepted that Arad will guide you to wealth. Therefore, you can’t simply decide whether to look at this or that; there’s no room for hesitation.
However, the results of the second image show that even after joining, Aradi merchants act like a girl who doesn’t truly believe. After saying "yes," she should listen to her partner, but instead, she continues to make independent decisions and behave on her own.
And exactly the same happens with your customers.
As you sow, so shall you reap. 😂
They’ll join you for the first part, but won’t follow through with the second.
9. Tell Us the Cure, Author
You’re probably thinking to yourself by now: “Author, you’re killing us with all this explanation! We’ve understood the problem—just tell us the cure already!”
I’ve made it detailed because unless you fully grasp the depth of the issue, you won’t take the solution seriously.
Here’s the cure:
As mentioned earlier, negotiation (mozakerah) comes from the root word “dhikr”, which is placed in the Bab Mufa‘ala, denoting mutual participation.
The word dhikr means remembrance, repetition, or bringing to mind. Negotiation involves a back-and-forth process that happens repeatedly.
However, even this act of remembrance and repetition has a fine formula: if you don’t follow it, you’ll fail.
God says in the Quran:
"So remind, if the reminder benefits." Surah Al-A‘la, Ayah 9
This verse shows that negotiation, or reminding, is intrinsically tied to benefit.
If your negotiation doesn’t provide any benefit to the customer, they won’t continue.
Now you might ask: “In a 10-minute negotiation, how many minutes need to be beneficial for them?”
People nowadays have become “Instagram-minded.”
How long does an Instagram user watch a clip before deciding to continue or move to the next one?
My dear, it doesn’t even take a full minute. According to statistics, 90% of people decide within 3 seconds.
After those 3 seconds, if they decide it’s worth it, they’ll watch another 6 seconds and decide again.
In one minute, people decide 4 times whether to continue or move on.
Times have changed, my friend.
Gone are the days when a girl would wait years for her suitor to finish his studies, complete military service, and maybe—just maybe—come to propose despite all his flaws.
Now, at the slightest inconvenience, she hits the block button and moves on to the next.
Not to mention, she’s simultaneously negotiating with several guys at the same time.
You, too, while reading my text, if you sense at any point that I’m just rambling nonsense without offering anything useful, you’ll close the page.
That’s the plain truth, whether I like it or not.
This is the plain truth, whether I like it or not. And this is happening while you’ve promised to follow Arad's instructions to become wealthy, whereas your customers haven’t made any such promise to you.
10. Who Decides What is Beneficial?
You might say, "I said so many beneficial and useful things to them, but they still didn't continue."
My dear,
The decision of whether your words were beneficial doesn’t lie with you; it lies with them.
They didn’t find your words useful for themselves, otherwise, which person—even one of limited intelligence—would see benefit in something and then abandon it?
I apologize in advance to all my Arab-speaking friends for this part of my explanation, but this is the word of God:
“The Arabs of the desert are the worst in Unbelief and hypocrisy, and most fitted to be in ignorance of the command which Allah hath sent down to His Messenger: But Allah is All-knowing, All-Wise.” Surah At-Tawbah, Ayah 97
The word ajdar comes from jidaar, meaning "wall." In simple terms, it refers to someone who is as ignorant as a neighbor who doesn’t understand.
The question is: How did the Messenger of God manage to guide this group, who were the most extreme in disbelief and hypocrisy, and who surpassed all other nations in ignorance and folly?
If the Prophet had been sent to a nation other than the Arabs, people would have said, “They were a good people, it was easy to guide them.”
That is why God sent His Prophet to the worst of people in terms of disbelief, hypocrisy, and ignorance—so that no one would have any excuse left.
How did the Prophet manage to transform this “super-ignorant” group into a unified nation that defeated the vast empires of Iran and Rome? To the point that, as history testifies, these very Bedouins—who, as described by Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her), used to eat locusts, lizards, and desert animals before the Prophet—became so learned, refined, and cultured that even the great leaders of Persia and Rome bowed before their knowledge and manners?
The difference between prophets and us ordinary people, and between all those who try to reform society but fail (even though their people are no worse than the Prophet’s people), is that prophets adjusted the benefit for the people using the people’s own intelligence. Meanwhile, reformers try to benefit people based on their own intelligence.
This is where the Messenger of God says:
“We, the group of prophets, have been commanded to speak to people according to the level of their understanding.”
11. A Serious Recommendation for Becoming a Professional Merchant
I gave this recommendation even before joining Arad to the sales team I managed.
Spend some time at a kindergarten, interact with the children, and try to get them on your side.
Or spend some time as a shepherd.
The fact that God sent His Prophet to shepherds at one point and that He made him in charge of a group of children when he was with his wet nurse Halimah is for a reason. God wanted to entrust the guidance of the people to him.
I understood this advice when I heard the following Hadith from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him):
"People are like children in their intellect."
When you negotiate, do you think people listen to your words attentively?
Or do you believe that once they hear it, they will think deeply about your words?
Well, that's where you're mistaken.
People are not like that.
Look at how God describes the people.
"Or thinkest thou that most of them listen or understand? They are only like cattle;- nay, they are worse astray in Path." Surah Al-Furqan, Ayah 44
You may think that because your counterpart is a 40 or 50-year-old, they must be very wise, and they will carefully listen to your words and reflect upon them.
Now, change your perspective and think that you're dealing with a 7 or 8-year-old child, or cattle, who doesn't hear most of your words and lacks any significant intellect.
Wouldn't that change how you negotiate?
Wouldn't the way you provide benefit to them change?
Change the way you provide benefit to match what their intellect perceives as benefit, and you'll see your profits soar.
I ask my colleagues in the comment approval team not to approve comments from those who accuse the writer of insulting people, because I love people dearly, and I feel a deep affection for all the people of my land. But when I say that in terms of intellect, they are like children or cattle, I am quoting God's words. I say these things to help increase your wealth through trade.
To say that the writer is lying and doesn't love people because he views them as children or animals is unjust.
Firstly, I did not say all people are like this.
Also, for your information, I really care about children.
In fact, I have a great liking for cows and sheep.
So, loving people doesn't contradict the idea that most people, in terms of intellect, are like children or animals.
So instead of getting sidetracked, refine your negotiations, and in a few days, you’ll comment that your business profits have increased with this technique.
If you treat people the way I suggested, they will like you more and be more satisfied with the trade than if you try to treat them as wise and intellectual individuals and make them feel uncomfortable.
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