This is exactly the premise behind Michael Gerber's E-Myth series of books: That loving something /= running a business that sells or does that thing.
The coffeeshop fallacy
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Re: The coffeeshop fallacy
#32This could also be called the game/app developer falacy. How many programmers started out wanting to make that perfect game/app? only to realise doing so is tedious and boring compared to dropping a $1 on a finished product.
This immediately made me think of a quote about folks wanting to get into the games business:
"Thinking that 'Hey, I like playing games, so maybe I'd like making them' is sort of like saying, 'Hey, I really like taking baths, maybe I'd like to be a plumber." -- Jesse Schell
To be a successful game developer, you not only have to love games, you really have to love MAKING games, too.
Re: The coffeeshop fallacy
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
McDonalds quality control is second to none. Their standard menu tastes practically the same everywhere in the world. It's the same with Starbucks. I know that no matter what part of the planet I am at, I can get exactly what I expect to get. I'm never disappointed. I can't stress how important that part is. Bad quality control can really injure restaurants.
Perfect consistency is only useful if your perfectly consistent product is any good. Much depends on your target audience. Bad quality control can hurt a lot, but so can perfect consistency in producing a bad product. If your audience is the sort that thinks McDonald's is quality food then that's obviously where you should aim, but many audiences don't.
Having worked in Quality Control in a major multinational, and studied and lecture statistics, I have seen that significant decreases in quality are accepted in exchange for increased consistency.
Re: The coffeeshop fallacy
#34Similar to the coffeeshop fallacy is something I described to a friend over dinner the other night as the "ambulance fallacy" ... He was telling me about his startup ambitions and about one particular business that he said sounded like a ton of fun (it was an alcoholic beverage business) - he loved the lifestyle potential of being "that guy". I told him a story about how I wanted to be an EMS worker when I was 12 yea…
When I was a child I could not understand why every adult did not become a Good Humor man- my absolute dream job at the time.
Re: The coffeeshop fallacy
#35This is exactly the premise behind Michael Gerber's E-Myth series of books: That loving something /= running a business that sells or does that thing.
Indeed. Gerber went even further and says that it may be counterproductive to own a business that matches your technical expertise. That's because of the temptation to jump in and do the technical work... instead of focusing on the strategic aspects of owning the biz.
Re: The coffeeshop fallacy
#36This is the paradox of capitalism. Focus on creating something inherently good and it will not be sustainable. Focus on creating something sustainable and profitable and it will most likely not be as inherently good as it could be. Example: McDonalds. Brilliant business model. Awful product.
Why am I being down voted for this? It is not spam and not intended as flame bait. It is not off topic and it is not pointless humor. It is a serious comment that needs to be debated and not hidden away at the bottom of the page. I am not stating anything extremely controversial, simply the same thing the article is stating, but with a slightly different wording. Don't down vote me because you disagree with me or bec…
Well, I'll tell you what tipped me over the edge was when you played the "whoa, tell me what's wrong instead of downmodding me" when timestamps show at least three people engaging with you before this post you made here.
Re: The coffeeshop fallacy
#37And I thought I was dumb never having worked out a way to make a decent living wage out of the places I patronize. It turns out most of the owners didn't either.
Re: The coffeeshop fallacy
#38I have found that being personally interested in the product has a lot of benefits. First, if you're a user/consumer, it's easier to determine which features are most important as well as usability issues. It's surprising how unusable some products are because the developers never actually use them.
Second, and most important, a personal connection helps to get you through the dark days at the start. It's very emotionally draining to work on something that has no traction, no supporters, and just a bunch of naysayers. If you love the product, though, it can offset this emotional drain quite a bit.
In my case, I built a tabletop gaming (ie. DnD) CMS. In the beginning, nobody used it except me, and it was tough to go upstairs and hack away every night and weekend. However, I used it and that was enough to keep me moving. Now, we've got thousands of users and paying customers, and the motivation is much easier to find. But, I never would have made it this far if I didn't care so much about the domain.
Unfortunately for me, I think there's probably a lot more money to be made in "boring" areas. If you can keep motivated to work on a CRM or medical billing system, you'll probably end up making way more than my DnD website. But, it will definitely be harder to keep the momentum in the beginning.
Re: The coffeeshop fallacy
#39This is not really different that trying to convince students to study and not bet it all on sports. Family friends did a good job a few years back bringing their son back to reality; he was really good at basket ball; by having him find all the people from his school, county, and state, who made it. Then asking him how many didn't.
People seem to always underestimate the effort and over estimate themselves.
Re: The coffeeshop fallacy
#40Without taking anything away from the article, it's worth noting that running a software business absolutely can provide one with a great lifestyle. More so than pretty much any other profession I can think of. The lifestyle I wanted: pretty much as close to zero required work as possible, the ability to do said negligible work from anywhere I feel like parking myself (preferably with good rock climbing), enough mone…
yes, you will be able to own that coffee shop, but you won't want to. being their landlord is a better way to go. also, i don't think software is viewed as a "high-prestige" profession.
also, i don't think software is viewed as a "high-prestige" profession.
It really depends on where in the world you are.