Time, Energy and Resources – widgets vs. service!

Shorting yourself on time-based skills

You’ve heard this before right? That as you get better and better at something, you can do it more efficiently. So your skill is just as good as your competitor but you do it faster. great! Except that you charge hourly. So now they are getting better for less, and you are getting… shorted.

What’s the real amount of time it takes though?

Let’s take aerial photography. You could possibly (illegally) have a friend of a friend fly a drone, take some pics, and then get a memory stick of images. Or you could have an insured, licensed professional (that literally got clearance from the FAA to fly for you today) and do the “same” thing. This professional also has mad video editing skills and gives you very professional, color-graded results. The professional studied for months, paid and took a test from the FAA, keeps the license current, purchases a half million dollar insurance policy for each commercial flight, and learned the software necessary to provide the files. And to top it all off he has the skill to understand the difference between a simple wide shot and a customer that is trying to showcase their landscaping skills.

So did it take him 15 minutes to fly that, or a bit more time that you never see?

Let’s buy a microwave

If you buy a microwave do you think about the actual cost? The amount of time it took to create it? I bet you don’t. And yet you probably almost always do for the service you might purchase.

Let’s talk about that.

(part one of a two part)

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