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Working While You're Asleep

cstthegate.com

83 pointsbennesvig17 comments

This is the distinction between scalable and non-scalable. I first read of it in one of Nassim Taleb's books (where he advises people to pick a non-scalable career, since the outcomes are more certain and the risks lower) but I'm sure it's been written about many other times. Ben Casnocha talks about it a bit [0].

Startups aim to be scalable. But you should note that you don't have to start out scalable. Doing so might be seen as a premature optimization. You could hand-service your first dozen customers, and worry about scaling only when you start counting your customers in hundreds rather than tens.

[0] http://casnocha.com/2009/03/scalable-vs-non-scalable-careers...

At low levels, it's possible to enter scaleable businesses with relatively low risk.

I started writing e-books for an affiliate. Took ~2 weeks to make the first couple books. Early sales justified continuing. Then mid-run sales justified continuing on a longer term scale.

I ran out of books to write, so I didn't scale that high - but I produced some recurring revenue with very little risk. At each point I knew my efforts would pay off at a certain level.

Is it an attempt to imbue each line with a sense of profundity?

Or is it a simple matter of confusing sentences for paragraphs?

Maybe it's just a broken Enter key.

I'm not sure.

All I know is that the sound advice contained with this article ends up coming across like one of those homely Facebook chain stories about a plucky underdog overcoming adversity through character.

I'm surprised that you powered through it.

I wouldn't trust anything from a person who expresses themselves via malformed haiku.

This was a big fad with air traffic controllers a few years ago.

Do you have any more details?

Reference to air traffic controllers falling asleep at work. http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011/04/Another-air...

This would be more aptly titled "Make Money While You're Asleep" rather than "Working".

That would be too many words without a paragraph break, I think.

Yup, I was expecting something about putting my sub conscious to work.

The book cover on the right appears to show a man being hanged.

It's a man standing in a corner.

The line indicating the corner leads to his neck like a noose.

Service versus product.

How so? A haircut is a service as is teaching others how to cut hair. The only products mentioned were the hair products he created, but that only came later.

That's actually a really interesting point. In software, selling as a product usually means the customer pays once and never buys that product again. Selling as a service means something recurring like a subscription.

I think it's easy for software people to forget those aren't the only models.

Here's how I think of it: Cutting hair is a service. Teaching others how to cut hair is a service. But designing a system that teaches people to cut hair is a business - closer to a product.

Another point. We weren't given the numbers, but his training program was ultimately about selling products, anyway. I'd bet the products made much more money while he was sleeping than the time he spent teaching.

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