So today I was helping with some house painting and there was this little smear on the ceiling which looked like it was used to cover something up. The paint was the same the color as the ceiling which made it blend to a certain extent, but you still notice it. Since it was pretty high up and all, the homeowners contemplated about hiring a person to paint the ceiling and the estimate was about $600.

My first reaction was that the smear is not too big a of a deal I thought and for $600 it didn’t seem worth it. After talking about this the homeowners mentioned that they were originally okay with it but felt that guests would notice it and therefore it would look bad. This then lead into a conversation on how it should be what they think and not others. Eventually, they decided that it was better to save the $600.

I suppose it’s always nice to try make your property top notch if it means improving your in some way lifestyle. But spending loads of money mainly to try and win over acceptance/approval from someone else’s taste and perception in cases like this are just a money sink I’d say.

This was kind of interesting. There is this magazine publisher that has a yearly subscription base plan like most other magazines. The price is about average as it looked like it was about $30 a year. What created a little debate was how the company offered a digital version of its magazine. Basically, you would be e-mailed a pdf copy of the magazine instead and the price would remain the same. Of course, the main reason they indicated that you should do so is to save a tree.

Most people were saying how they felt that they were being overcharged for something that isn’t tangible. It seemed like people were saying that they felt the subscription fee should be at least half the price as a result. Of course, the justification from the company’s side is that it still costs them the same for the most part in terms of generating the content and the expenses that are associated with it.

I personally don’t think we are at the right time for the majority to embrace digital subscriptions like this where the prices would be the same as the tangible counterparts. Even for myself whenever I read content online I have the mentality that there is just so much free information out there that you don’t really need to pay for the material. Therefore, I need to justify it somehow such as the company giving me a physical copy. It should be pretty cheap to redistribute digital copies too and so I personally think it would be smarter to make it very inexpensive so that more people would subscribe to such items.

Well today I saw something very interesting. There was a real estate agent that wanted to take pictures of a house as the potential buyer wanted to see pictures of the place. So, he told the owners that he would bring in a person to take the photographs to make it look nice. The interesting thing? He simply brought in his daughter and they used a simple digital camera to do the job. As well, you could hear the daughter whine constantly about having to take the photos.

I was just thinking how that is sure an unprofessional way to cut back on your expenses. Even if the pictures look like an acceptable photo, just the setup of simply using anyone who is not motivated to do the task can come across as very unprofessional. If you walked into a store where there was absolutely nothing wrong with the item but the clerk was extremely unmotivated to help you would you be inclined to do business with them again?

The only real time I would opt to do something using an amateur is if I was looking to complete something for personal use that is more of a hobby. Hence, what others think would be irrelevant. But if you are offering a service to others then just your image perception alone should make you think twice about wanting to cut corners too much like in this fashion just to save a few dollars.

Interesting scenario today as I went to the mall with the family to buy a present for my nephew’s upcoming birthday. While there we decided to get something to eat. At the restaurant my nephew was saying that he wanted apple juice and so we ordered one without looking at the cost. At the end of the bill it turned out that the small cup of apple juice was $2.50. The first reaction from everyone was that we should have just walked to the stores nearby and buy a large one for that price.

Then a comment came up on how whenever we travel with my nephew we should just bring our own beverage in a container. Would you feel funny doing that if it meant saving a lot of money in the long term? Example, instead of ordering a soda for $1.50 at the restaurant you would bring your own can of pop which you purchased for like fifty cents at a convenience store.

I think this is just one of those battle of perception things where even though it makes sense most people wouldn’t do it for fear they would be labeled in a negative way. I personally feel more silly paying markup prices like those though personally.

So I am going to meet a person next week to discuss about a potential business relationship and I knew right off the bat that this was a sole proprietor type of operation. The interesting thing was in virtually all of the correspondents the person appeared to be insistent in trying to make his business sound semi large. For example, in all of the communications there would be emphasizes on the office building and how it is located in the downtown core, there will be secretaries and assistants to guide me, etc.

Really, I already knew ahead of time that this was like a virtual office setup where people simply pay to say use the location for a mailing address while occasionally using the space. To me I personally wouldn’t care too much if the person flat out just said they are their own boss and run their business mainly at home. I would think nowadays it can be more impressive where you are able to sustain a viable business at the comfort of your own home.

Shouldn’t it all be about the numbers at the end anyways when it comes to a business? Example, one guy that makes a million a year in his living room versus a guy that makes fifty thousand while have a traditional office can be more impressive in terms of your image perception. To me that shows that the person knows how to be resourceful and can think out of the box.