Passenger vs Driver, Part II

[MJ DeMarco]

Just read this article via Website Magazine which closely reflects my "Passenger vs Driver" concept.

Membership has its Rewards, Ownership Offers Riches
As you have probably discovered in your career as a Web professional, it is uncommon to achieve genuine success (let’s define it as wealth and/or notoriety) by building a website or service that essentially mimics, is identical in nature, or that ultimately supports or is reliant on another business entirely. We have all seen “clone†websites launch to much fanfare, only to ultimately fade away once users realize there is no significant improvement upon the original. Simply put, there is more value in owning a technology than leveraging someone else’s solution. This is where many of us fall short in the pursuit of success.

http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/pages/website-house-of-cards-commentary.aspx

Great read!

 

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[biophase]

Great read and for those who actually read the whole thing and like the article and have a website, remember to post a comment! :smug2:

 

[Rem]

Great read. Playing devil's advocate there is something said about not re-inventing the wheel. When you see a successful model why not duplicate and then add your own legacy to it. A brand new technology definitely brings riches but bringing a new concept to a current technology can get you a long way. Great article. Thanks for sharing.

 

[andviv]

The risk-reward equation comes to play in here...

More risk risk == higher chances of failure == higher chances of huge success.

I see the 'inventing a new model' as higher risk.

The lower risk means better chances of doing OK, but at the same time, less chances of making it big time.

This reminds me of a presentation I saw once about franchises. You are buying a 'proven' system that has already defined how much you can make, and making up to that much has a set cost. There are limitations and restrictions to what you can do, but there should be a safety net to avoid a complete failure as well.

Different models for different people.

 

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[Chitown]

I agree with the central thesis of this article, wholeheartedly.

I just spent months attempting to "bird dog" -- locate property for real estate investors based on their buying criteria. I have tons of acquired knowledge but no cash to show for my efforts. My people were either out bid or decided to change their purchase criteria mid-stream.

It all added up to me being a passenger on someone else's train because no matter how many 12-15 hour days I spent building relationships with listing brokers, viewing properties and crunching numbers, my control over the process ended as soon as the qualified property lead was handed over. My so-called "business model" -- upon reflection, hardly a business model;a job is more like it -- was based on the successful execution of someone else's business model. Never a good place to be, especially in this economy.

I just cleared a scary 4 month rough patch in my life. I am going to temporarily chauffeur for a wealthy family in order to stockpile some capital so I can test some direct marketing ideas I have. No more riding. I want to drive my own vehicle.