Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Swallowed Whole

Not all good ideas are good business ideas. Care Work is the most obvious example. You can force a business model on 1-1 relational care, but there is no real possibility to scale. The only way to make it “worth the time” of the person providing support is to push the price up. Charging by the hour is done mostly because it is easy. Care Work starts to hurt if you push the price up. If you know your hourly-rate, and you know you aren’t being paid because you are doing something else, it can hurt. Like a self-employed person taking time off. Like a consultant going for a coffee with a friend. Like a lawyer or tradesperson doing small talk when you know the clock is ticking at your expense. Long handed pennys. Short handed pounds. The cornerstone of making money is constraint. Being able to put things in a box. To control supply and demand. But, and this is important, you have to be able to put money making in a box too. If you aren’t able to accept limits and constraints, and be comfortable with the concept of enough – money will swallow you whole.

Saturn devouring his son
Francisco Goya

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