Tag: entrepreneurship

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Okay, so I plagiarized this…

It’s a good read anyhow.

I saw this on my Social Medias and simply had to steal it.  It is too good not to share.  But, as an addendum, I want to add that people working in abstract fields or with intangible concepts, it’s  even harder to communicate your worth to clients.  And Imposter Syndrome is real!   Creatives especially often undercharge.  It’s important to love your job.  But sometimes you must like getting paid just a little more.
 
A customer asked a contractor friend of mine how much it would cost to do this project.
My friend gave him a proposal: R30 000
The customer responded: That’s seems really high.
My friend asked: What do you think is a reasonable price for this job?
The customer answered: R20 000 maximum
My friend responded: Ok, then I invite you to do it yourself.
The customer answered: I don’t know how to.
My friend responded: Alright, then how about for R15 000 I’ll teach you how to.   So besides saving you R15 000, you’ll learn valuable skills that will benefit you in the future.
The customer answered: Sounds good! Let’s do it!
My friend responded: Great! To get started, you are going to need some tools. You will need a chop saw, table saw, cordless drill, bit set, router, skill saw, jig saw, tool belt, hammer, etc..
The customer answered: But I don’t have any of those tools and I can’t justify buying all of these for one job.
My friend responded: Ok. Well then for an additional R3000 I can rent my tools to you to use for this project.
The customer answered: Okay. That’s fair.
My friend responded: Great! We will start the project on Monday.
The customer answered: I work Monday through Friday. I’m only available on the weekends.
My friend responded: If you want to learn from me then you will need to work when I work. This project will take 3 days so you will need to take 3 days off work.
The customer answered: That means I’m going to have to sacrifice my pay for 3 days or use my vacation time!
My friend responded: That’s true. Remember, when you do a job yourself you need to account for unproductive factors.
The customer answered: What do you mean by that?
My friend responded: Doing a job completely from start to finish includes time spent to plan the project, pick up materials, travel time, gas, set up time, clean up, and waste disposal amongst other things. That’s all in addition to the actual project itself. And speaking of materials, that’s where we will start on Monday so I need you to meet me at the lumberyard at 6:00am.
The customer answered: At 6am?!! My work day doesn’t usually start until 8am!
My friend responded: Well then you’re in luck! My plan is to start on the deck build by 8am. But to do so we have to start at 6am to get materials picked up, loaded and delivered to your job site.
The customer answered: You know, I’m realizing that a lot more goes in to a job than what a customer sees in the finished project. Your proposal of R30 000 is very reasonable. I would like you to handle the project.
CONCLUSION:
When you pay for a job, especially a custom job, (whether it’s a physical project or digital project) you pay not only for the material and the work to be completed. You also pay for:
  •  Knowledge
  •  Experience
  •  Custom Skills
  •  Tools
  •  Time to plan
  •  Time to prepare
  •  Professionalism
  •  Work Ethic
  •  Excellence
  •  Discipline
  •  Commitment
  •  Integrity
  •  Taxes
  •  Licenses
  •  Sacrifices
  •  Liabilities
  •  Insurance
If you request a proposal for custom work to be done, please don’t disrespect a service provider by trying to get them to lower their prices.
If their proposal exceeds your budget, there’s nothing wrong with getting other proposals.
Just remember.. you get what you pay for.
 SERVICE PROVIDERS
Know your worth and be confident in it.
CONSUMERS
Recognize their worth and be respectful of it.
Credit to the author – whoever he or she might be.  Well said.
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Procrastination Invasion

YouTube Auto-play landed this little gem in my ear:

It’s a TED Talk  by the Blogger Tim Urban – His blog can be found here:   http://www.waitbutwhy.com/

I would not claim that he makes any profound psychological revelations about the phenomena of procrastination.  Yet, I do feel that everyone needs to hear what he has to say; at least once in a while.

If you want something heavier.  Revisit Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for life.

In case you have been living in a cave for the last 5 years, check this out:

The hardest one for me; and it ties in with the theme of this post about procrastination, is rule no. 7 Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.  And Maybe couple that with rule no. 2 Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.

I hope you enjoyed this post,now….

Back To Work GIF from Backtowork GIFs

(I was talking to myself 😉  )

 

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Money Made Us Lazy

This post is  an amalgamation of conversations I had over the last few months with potential partners in the sister company LUPR .

Uniquely, this tech venture, LUPR does not need any (more) monetary investment.   What it does need is capital in expertise,  leadership, intelligence, initiative, etc..

Maybe it’s  this novel approach in asking for help in advice and mentorship,  that have almost every last one of the handful of people I offered the partnership to so skeptical.   In their own ways each said;  what basically comes down to: I will invest money,  but can not get otherwise involved.

Is entrepreneurship dead?  Did money make us so lazy that we expect it to roll up it’s sleeves and do the work for us?  Can money think and make discussions?   Are people so afraid to try and fail that they would rather have the buffer of money to blame if things don’t go right right-away? 

My contention is that the modern entrepreneur is lazy, cowardice and decadent.  Change my mind.