kottke.org

...is a weblog about the liberal arts 2.0 edited by Jason Kottke since March 1998 (archives). You can read about me and kottke.org here. If you've got questions, concerns, or interesting links, send them along.

Two ways to go about your business

The way I see it, there's two ways to go about your business. Well, there's significant mixing between these two ways, but one or the other is usually dominant.

The first way is to offer a product/service (usually shitty) that people buy and they don't ever come back for seconds. How do you make money this way? You nickel and dime the customer to death until they leave screaming. Makes you lots of money fast, but no customer loyalty.

The other way is to offer a product/service that everyone likes. Your customers are happy because you're not continually jerking them around and they come back for more. And your reputation grows and you get more customers. They're getting what they want and you're having lots of fun giving it to them. And you're proud of what you're doing. Everyone is happy.

I'm currently in the midst of the first scenario, trying to get to the second. The problem with that is the first scenario is easy to achieve while the second is not.

By Jason Kottke    May 26, 1998 at 10:48 am

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