If you want to succeed in business, you sooner or later have to deal with trickster gods.

Loki, Hermes, call them what you will — they’re practically everywhere, whenever commerce flows and men make deals.

You may be somewhere else at the time, but if your somewhere else has any potential for dough-ray-me, you can assume that a trickster god is on the way, right now.

Trust me, these guys are relentless. Not to scare you, I’m just saying. If they want a piece of the action, might as well open the front door, because they’ve already cased the back.

But then — who can tell with trickster gods? They may not want a cut of the action. Sometimes they’re just curious. And often enough, they’re good people to know: trading on their tips can bring windfall profits.

What they insist upon is knowing about the action: knowledge is the currency of trickster gods.

PS, anyone who says “Trust me” is cutting a deal, somehow or another. Mark my words.

PPS, image = detail from coin: infant Hermes stealing Apollo’s cattle. Clever lad ….