Network of Unreasonable men
Welcome to the Unreasonablemen network. Why unreasonable? George Bernard Shaw said it better than we ever could. Reasonable men adjust themselves to their environment. Unreasonablemen attempt to change their environment to suit themselves. Therefore all progress is the work of unreasonable men."
We like disruption, in fact we're looking forward to it.
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A cup of coffee |
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Monday, 08 June 2009 |
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That's the price of entry to business consultancy, that's how my network operates. I'm not fond of formal business networking, I detest sycophants, I kind of do business on my own terms. Because of this I don't have hundreds of folks in my network, more a small number of trusted advisers. I form strong working relationships with people over time. I subconsciously choose these people, and I seem to do this based on their intellect, integrity and knowledge. To these folks i'm always willing to help, forward a request of do what ever I can to get things done. Doing things this way i've built some great relationships, beyond just work too.
Interestingly enough, working this way, these folks love to reciprocate. The cost, a cup of coffee. In the last week I've got A grade consultancy on web design, sales remuneration and collaboration tools. Total cost $9.00 NZ. Riddle that through the next time you sign off a cheque for some advice...
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One person can give away their value because they get value in return, in this case a coffee, but this may do damage to another part of the industry where people are trying to charge for this very service. Equilibrium does find itself eventually and there are winners and lossers, but along the way models that work are busted to peices.
The industry we play is in media. Some examples.
-Because of digital cameras newspapers can now easily get photos for free from people on the side of the street. Now they dont want to pay photographers anything for a photo. $50 is the going rate - totally unsustainable to be a photographer. Thats why so many photographers do weddings....
-PR companies write articles about products under the guise of journalism. They give this to Magazines for free. Now this kills the market for proper journalists doing original work. And pumps the magazines full of stuff that the customers dont want to read.
Two industries changed forever.. for the better or the worst..
We now are trying to make a startup business grow, and everyone wants to swap something for what we propose they pay for. Great to have a house full of free t-shirts but it doesnt pay the bills.
My advice.. You must pay market rates for your services. Honour the code and we all prosper. Get everything for free, and eventually it all breaks down.