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Sunday 13 December 2009

The lemonade stand...


Okay, so you make up gallons of lemonade and you think ‘I’m going to set up a lemonade stand and sell my product on the sidewalk.’ People start to buy and you’re doing very, very well. Someone comes along, let’s call them the XYZ company, and says ‘for a commission we’ll help you sell your product to a wider market.’ You think that’s sounds good and you give them the right to do so. They then keep asking for more and more product and they keep putting it on the market at a faster and faster rate. The faster you make the product the faster the XYZ company snaps it up. They are really very, very nice to you. It makes your head spin…ding! Ding! Warning Will Robinson…

Suddenly you start to feel uneasy. Other freelance lemonade stand people start to tell you that their cut of the profits from the XYZ company have disappeared and they are cranky and worried. You don’t want to believe it. Sure, the XYZ company has been going through upheaval but what company hasn’t in the current world economy? So you write it off as other lemonade stand people whining about nothing. Then it suddenly happens to you. WTF. Where is the money? From plethora to dearth in a nano second. You ask questions. You get told it’s all your fault. You’re not sure how it is – because only piss-weak people push blame back without reason - so you keep asking as you come from an accounts background and you know lemons from oranges. Why are you, XYZ company, buying more and more lemonade from me and shoving it onto the market at lightning speed if you’re making no money out of it? That seems pretty fucking dumb business and suspect. They give no answer other than a politely veiled ‘shut up.’ Rarely one to shut up, you persist with questions.

And then naturally, you do the only thing you can. You withdraw product. You request cancellation of all lemonade related contracts as you have no faith in these people running the lemonade stand business. Trust and money go hand in hand. Lesson learned. People will screw you to save themselves.

www.amarindajones.com

www.amarindajones.blogspot.com

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1 comments:

Sandra Cox said...

I trust the next company you go into business with will be keepers.