Good, Fast Or Cheap: Which Two Do You Value Most?
Ask yourself this question before you spend time or money.
Before your next purchase, investment or business project, ask yourself which two of these three traits is most important: good, fast or cheap?
A purchase or investment can only possess two of three of these traits, at best. Although it’d be great to have all three, that’s a utopia. I learnt about this model for making more effective decisions and planning projects the hard way.
1. Cheap and Fast
Several years ago, I wrote my first book. It was all about productivity for writers and I decided to self-publish it.
Every self-published book needs an editor and a good book cover. After editing, I’d no money left to spend. Well, almost none.
So, I used Fiverr to hire a designer for five dollars. I got what I wanted after a few hours. But, the result contained typos, ugly fonts and the wrong colours.
This discount book cover was a classic example of something that was fast and cheap, but certainly not good.
I knew I couldn’t use it to sell copies of my book, but I could hardly expect much from a designer who was working for just five dollars. He was relying on a simple template.