Treat Your Suppliers Like Potato Wedges

When a product or service is important to you, don’t plan too far ahead. Purchase (or switch) per month.

What is the difference between a potato and a car?

Same as the difference between a website and a house!

Food is one of the few things I cannot live without (besides working Wi-Fi). But food is so easy to obtain (unlike working Wi-Fi), and in such small portions, that I don’t have to think about it. I don’t plan my meals 5 years ahead. I don’t even plan them 5 hours ahead! I purchase whatever serves me best, at the moment.

It’s different with my car, and my house. Since paying per ride, or night, is not an option, I must plan 5 years ahead and choose these expensive products wisely. A mistake can be costly. And paperwork and negotiations with vendors, insurance companies, and governments are needed to keep everything in check, and to keep it affordable. (If you don’t have a house, just imagine selecting a spouse.)

What about websites, designs, videos, or software?

Purchase Products Like They Are Food

Creative and technical products are so important for me that I prefer to see them as daily food, not as big products. I need them every day, and I prefer not to plan too far ahead. That’s why I pay Bravebox (websites & design), Robo MG (videos), and Lunatech (software) per month. No paperwork. No negotiations.

As an author I can’t work without the support of great suppliers who charge a decent fee. But they know I won’t waste time haggling over price and details because I trust they’re simply trying to do a good job. Why wouldn’t they? I could go somewhere else next month!

And why should I discuss and negotiate the work I want them to do next month? I don’t even know what I want to do next month. However, I do know I will probably have work for the next 5 years or more. I just prefer to cut the work into the smallest possible pieces. Work is too important for me to waste time on paperwork and negotiations.

Do you like my writing? Subscribe to my Management Workout mailing list. You will be the first to get access to my latest articles, and the first to read about innovative ideas for creative workers in the networked economy!