Oh no, not true. Especially for a Borderline. Most of us are accidentally manipulative by our very nature, so making a conscious effort actually isn't much of a change. Working around our handicaps (the emotional fuckery portion of our disorder) to make effective use of it is another story, and something that not all Borderlines can do.
From One Fed-Up Borderline To Another
First of all, despite what popular culture might want you to believe, literally nothing is limited to one gender, so any of these tips could work as easily on a man or woman, just find the right one. The internet is a GREAT resource, because like everything else, the selection pool will be much larger and more varied than the real-world area around you. So, with that in mind, these tips are a bit male-focused. These are just my personal observations, I'm not a psychologist, or an expert and I don't claim to be. However, I am an overweight, 30 yo, mexican gay tranny and these tips work for ME, so there must be something to them because I have, collectively, worked eight months in my entire life (no gov help) and I'm sure not getting by on my looks, hard work or talent.
LEARN YOUR MARK
First of all learn to spot other Borderlines, Narcissists, Sociopaths, and any other manipulative people (besides alcoholics and druggies) and AVOID THEM because most of the time they are effectively immune to our bullshit. It can be done, of course, but honestly with all the easier marks out there, the cost/benefit makes it just a waste of time unless you're just REALLY BORED and up for a boss-battle challenge for the sake of fun or practice.
Alcoholics and Druggies (as opposed to regular people who just overindulge on those things) are manipulative but in a way that is focused on their substance, and that actually makes them easier to manipulate in just about every other way, however, you generally have more to lose than gain there. Borderlines are at a CONSIDERABLE disadvantage when trying to work over one of the other manipulative personality types because we have to try harder than they do, our emotional bullshit is a built-in handicap, but focusing on the sociopathic-style traits and learning to control when our empathy crops up can compensate for this if you're dedicated enough. Regular people are just easier. Borderline to Borderline, unless you pick one who is so low-functioning as to make them a pointless mark, is like two people with braces kissing, and I don't think I need to explain that further.
That aside, there are certain types of people who pretty much beg to be manipulated and these are the easiest ones because they want what you want, they just don't know it most of the time because it's subconscious. They are the co-dependent, some of them need a strong presence in their life to guide them, some of them need to care for someone, need to be needed, etc. to feel good about themselves. This is honestly a pretty symbiotic relationship, if you just want to pick a single nest to roost in as opposed to, or in tandem with, running game with multiple people. They get what they need, you get what you need, everybody happy. If you meet someone whose parent is an alcoholic, a druggie, or has a PD and they haven't recovered from their childhood then they are most likely going to be a good mark; someone who is a chronic or serial divorcee is also a good, obvious choice, etc.
After this there are the "cat owners" as I call them. Depending on your personality, this might or might not work. If you are submissive and into "bottom domination" (as it would be termed in BDSM) then this would work. Like a cat owner who thinks it is the master of it's pet while feeding it, grooming it, buying it special things and sifting through it's toilet every day and receiving only whatever meager crumbs of affection the animal deigns to give in return, these are people who need to feel in control of something, but once this need is met, they are perfectly willing to bend over backwards to kiss your ass and provide for you, because it makes them feel powerful, or important. This is the type of person high-class escorts and no-talent prom royalty dreams about.
Those are just a couple of examples and I haven't gotten NEARLY comprehensive enough to be useful. You need to do your own research on this type of thing, so, moving on:
MAKE THEM LIKE YOU: Make them like you first, and I don't mean this in the dumb, drawn-out, wasting fucking time "normal" way. Socialization is a game, and it's one you can rig i you play it like Pokemon (if you don't know what Pokemon is gtfo my planet, alien). Water beats fire, fire beats grass, etc. Everyone is a combination of types, personality type, sexual type, fun type, drunk type, etc. Match up their genuine one with the one that will get you the results you want. Some people spend years studying people and getting personal experience, this is a good way of doing things.
I like shortcuts, so you can do that, but while you're doing that, sneak a peek at the rulebook. Look into the science of personality, of the mind, look into what makes people attracted to each other, look into what makes people fucked up and dysfunctional (childhood is a crapshoot, everyone is fucked up in one way or another, some just hide it better than others. If there are people who are not, they are ridiculously rare.), look into behavioral psychology, basically, and use it as a cheat guide so you know what to fake and with whom.
USE OUR SUPERPOWERS
Whore out all of those heretofore-maladaptive reading-people superpowers (You know, the ones that makes you over-analyze every stupid word, action, facial expression and breath of your regular everyday acquaintances and cause problems for yourself when they won't admit their bullshit?) Those powers are RIDICULOUSLY useful when you learn how to filter out your own stupid Borderline mind. Most people can't read people as well as we can, even Sociopaths and other manipulatives have, or have had, to spend time to learn what we do naturally. You need to grab hold of this superpower, but to do that you have to learn to control your dumb Borderline mind. That whole persecution complex of ours, the "I need to be taken care of" and "that's unfair" crap that makes us overreact to others needs to be put in a little cage and taught to delay gratification. Yes, I do know that I am, in essence, telling you to cure yourself of some of your symptoms. That's what you need to do, but if you're far enough into the manipulation and empathy-disturbance that you're ASKING for how to con people then you might be far enough along to do it, if you haven't already.
So, learn to hone those people-reading skills, and at least DURING a con, learn to keep your wits about you and not let your emotions interfere with your process. It is hard, and it takes practice but it can be done. Focusing on that empathy issue is a key in helping because "Fucks not given" is a good way to short-circuit the emotional fuckery long enough to get shit done. Another "handicap" that can be turned to your advantage is that over-active shame impulse of ours. You know how you can manage to not have a full-blown temper-tantrum in a public place, but if you were at home you would have? Tie into that shame-impulse and learn to use it to keep your reactions in check. Retrain your brain to work for you by making your actions CONSCIOUS. It's obnoxious at first, I'll grant, and your brain will try to trick you out of it by telling you how "unfair" it is that you have to do this- IGNORE THAT SHIT IT IS SELF-DEFEATING. LIFE is VERY fair, you just have to realize that your idea of fair is biased towards personal gain. The better you get at self-control and the more benefits you receive from using it, the more fair everything will get.
OVERHAUL YOUR VALUE JUDGEMENT SYSTEM
Retrain your brain from the instant-gratification machine it is into a delayed gratification one. Learn the value of short-term loss for long-term gain.
Re-assess the value of different things, and of whether they are socially valuable or personally valuable. A LOT of useless fluff can be lost, and valuable insight gained if you take a second look at social rules. Learn to make quick cost/benefit decisions with regard to everything. Look at everything the same way you are finally looking at manipulation. Manipulation has a high social cost, but a frankly OBSCENE personal benefit when done well, and just as you've analyzed the c/b (always consider risk and potential consequences as part of the cost/benefit analysis!) and decided to overcome the social cost to reap the personal benefit of manipulation, so can you do this with other things. For instance, social cost of lesbianism is moderate depending on where you are, personal cost might also be moderate depending on your aversion to female interaction- but the right female mark for a heterosexual female manipulator would be worth it. Lesbians are at an immediate disadvantage because they have a harder time socially, losing the risk of genuine attraction helps keep your emotions and mind on track during the con, lesbians are often more motivated and feel they have something to "prove", so the successful ones are generally quite successful, etc. Don't use society's "default" values, use your own. Society dislikes fat people, but if jelly rolls never bothered you, then don't let something as stupid as shame stop you from dating a fatty to get a car. Deviations from the norm are where people are the most weak and it would be stupid to let social opinion scare you off a good mark. The worst thing you can ever do is let someone else do the thinking for you.
I've written a lot and I'm not really good at the whole volunteering-information thing. Feel free to ask a ton of questions so that I can just answer those and add extra information as it occurs to me. That would be much easier and I'd be more inclined to continue.
Oh! I'd like to add that modern technology has offered a potential new medium for manipulation that I've looked into and considered, but not yet personally tested.
Youtube or Snapchat (and perhaps, to a lesser degree it could be managed on Facebook, Twitch, Twitter or even a more skill-based site like Deviantart).
*Note: my research has been mostly limited to Youtube.
If you can project the right personality, can create some sort of niche for yourself, become a popular enough (only a certain level is really necessary to begin receiving benefits, I've estimated it at around 500,000 subscribers, give or take 300k) Youtuber and maintain it, you could literally enjoy the life and perks, of a low-level celebrity. People already do this, but who's to say the number of them who go into it with manipulation in mind, or what the difference in benefit would be if one deliberately did so?
Just something I thought worth mentioning... and if you try it on my suggestion, I ask only a meager compense for your raised station in life.
This was a fun read, however I'm sure you've worked more than you think. Seems like conning people for their money takes time, patience, planning and self degradation. Especially your brand of it which seems to operate mostly on fringe people.
Or maybe I'm wrong, could you tell me a bit about how you go about conning someone (examples are apreashated)?
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As an aside... Tsk. Always so passive-aggressive. I'm sorry my ease with discussion of certain topics always manages to intimidates you into a flurry of reverse-psychological posturing. It's not my intent, man. For what it's worth, I'm not trying to compare myself to you, I don't care about cool points. I'm just talking about what I know in a place where I don't have to be nagged about how much of "a bad person" I am for thinking this way."
Fucking hell, you got some self-esteem work to do mate, taking flirting as some sort of indirect attack, this is a whole new level of defensiveness and insecurity lmao.