Jeff Bezos’ net worth briefly surpassed the 100 billion mark. Not bad for someone who started out selling books from their garage.
The paradox is that Amazon has only turned a profit a handful of quarters in its 20 year history.
How?
Value is what we assign, what we agree upon.
Profit may no longer be essential. What is essential is building a tribe, getting enough people to believe in your idea.
Fixed costs, variable costs, capital costs, depreciation all factor into the price tag we pay at the checkout line.
But what about the…
Opportunity cost–the loss of a potential gain. If I spent $30,000 on a brand new car, what could have I earned by buying a $3,000 used car and investing the other $27,000 in index funds?
Environmental cost–the impact of our finite resources. Is it green and clean? What kind of strain are we putting on the world we live in by using this product?
Cultural cost–the influence this has on how we live. Does this product promote dignity, opportunity and respect? Does it help us build a culture that we can all be proud of?
Healthcare cost–the effect on our physical, mental and spiritual well-beings. We are the the most obese, the most medicated and the most drugged up adult population in human history.
The most important principle to understand is this:
Sunk cost–the price paid that can’t be recovered…
We like to think that “It” is something you are born with, an indescribable factor that only a special group of people have, an outlier.
Let’s be clear, “It” is a lousy way to describe the years of practice and emotional labor someone has dedicated to perfecting their craft.
We rather attribute someone’s fortune to good genes, overnight success and luck because it makes us feel better about ourselves, to let us off the hook. (Of course, it doesn’t.)
Perhaps someone was born in the right circumstances with the right genes with the natural ability to be extraordinary at their craft. I doubt it. More likely, we see someone who has failed over and over again and has found a way to persevere, we are looking at someone who has been through the trenches.
Give the respect that is deserved and recognize that you can be there too–if you dare enough.
The tools controlling the means of productions are given to anyone with an internet connection.
You now have a microphone to say something, a platform to build anything.
Here are three rules (of many) to remember…
1) “These go to 11.” Actually, they don’t. Screaming louder than anyone else will fall on deaf ears to the masses. And even if it gets through it’s not the kind of attention you want. Attention doesn’t mean we trust you either. Trust is earned with one quality interaction at a time. Little by little.
2) Online you can link, source, curate, edit the perfect comeback. But when is the last time a tweet changed our minds?
3) Once the curtain has been lifted, you can’t maintain the facade as the great and powerful Oz.
Act accordingly.
There are 300,000 commonly used words in the English language.
However, there are over 600,000 forms of nonverbal communication.
Actions like our posture, our facial expressions, our hand gestures speak louder than words. Texting severely inhibits the way we communicate–it is a form of hiding.
The first mistake you made was to reprimand someone through email, text or Facebook.
The second mistake you made was apologizing through email, text or Facebook.
It would have been far better at the beginning to take the extra step of looking someone in the eye, ask some questions and seek clarity.
Convenience is now one click away. But convenience almost always fails to make a real connection. That will require more than just a few faceless interaction.
You peek through the curtain and to your disappointment there are only a few seats filled. The house is wide open.
It’s not fair. You’ve worked so hard for this moment. And while it is easy to take your anger out on the audience, you then realize it’s not their fault…they’re the ones who came.
And it is natural to focus all your energy to pull in that one person in the back that refuses to participate or is distracted on their phone.
But it’s not for them. No, it’s for the ones who came.
Your art, that cause you fight for, your life’s work, your movement, it’s not for everyone, it’s for someone–the ones who came.
This. This post is for you. For the ones who came. The ones who have showed up.
Today is my 600th consecutive blog post. From the bottom of my heart thank you. Thank you in the deepest ways for reading and being part of this journey.
If only I had more money then I could help the poor and needy.
If only I had more time then I would start a business.
Resources are finite for everyone. Wishing for more is a trap.
What are you going to do with more money if you can’t manage the money you already have?
What are you going to do with more time if you can’t stop binge watching Game of Thrones?
It is unlikely that more will give us the leverage we seek.
Learning to work with what we have is usually enough to start the change we seek to make.
It easy to visualize what we will have for lunch today. We can easily picture ourselves in a restaurant or in the break room. We’ve had lots of practice. We did it yesterday and the day before that. We will do it again tomorrow.
Much more difficult to see ourselves doing something that we have never done before.
We can’t see ourselves finish our first marathon when we haven’t crossed the finish line before. Because right now, all we see is a mountain that is unclimbed. We don’t know for sure if it is even possible and the chance for failure is high.
It is tempting to stick with what we know. In this sphere, we are competent. Competence goes out the window when we step into the void.
The thing is, no one remembers what they had for lunch two weeks ago. But you’ll never forget the important contributions you make.
You can’t say it out loud without first hearing what’s within.
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