Unemployed architect gives advice for a nickel | Hacker News Reader

Unemployed architect gives advice for a nickel

seattlepi.nwsource.com

38 pointsblueben7 comments

The architect, John Morefield, also gives online advice for a nickel. His website is http://www.architecture5cents.com.

Yet another example of someone adapting and adopting the Free to Fruitful business model.

The part that grabbed me most was him giving out referrals for people who need work outside his expertise. I bet he'll see some good reciprocating referrals from that some time in the near future.

Not only is he getting his name out there and getting good PR, he's finding a way to keep feeding his network, too. Clever.

This is essentially like the story a while back about the plumber who got his own business off the ground by actually pounding the pavement and talking to people.

Personally, I'm glad I have better (= pre-qualified customers rather than looky-loos, scaling efficiently rather than 1:1 scaling with number of hours I invest) options.

The razor blade strategy has come full circle. This is a great idea. I'd be interested to see one of the many Seattle-based web companies try something similar in the Market, though. How do you engage a customer on the street about your new social network site or convince someone to start Twittering?

The bigger question is "Does your business have a way to translate a customer from the street into money in your pocket?"

The architect does. That guy who sells potato peelers does. The plumber who banged on doors just to give out coupons and say "Hey, I'm a plumber you can trust next time you need something plumbed" does.

Twitter doesn't.

Relatedly, architects, potato peeler salesmen, and plumbers have a value proposition which can be explained to absolutely anyone. You want your living space improved, you want your time spent peeling potatoes decreased, you want your excrement to not come gushing out of the kitchen sink. I personally would struggle with explaining to regular people how they really, really want to be tied to a machine all day sending 180 character messages. Apparently Twitter does, too, or they'd have convinced people that this activity is worth paying money to do.

i love his attitude. he's being friendly and having a good time, while also making progress towards real work.

Yeah. What should he do instead, stay at home and mope? You can only work on your resume so much, make so many follow up phone calls, call in favors and tap into your network so much, browse job ads on the Internet for so long.

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