Lance had an interesting post yesterday about how the different media sites have been going recently, and specifically how NBR has been impacted by the introduction of their subscription service.
Unfortunately he missed the key metric: revenue.
All of the engaged unique browsers in the world are all well and good, but isn’t it how well you convert those into cash flow that really matters in the end?
Either way, it reminded me of this nice anecdote, as told to me by Mark from Valuecruncher:
Farmers Market
Two farmers were chatting at a weekend market.
One of them was selling potatoes from the back of his truck, and had a long queue of people waiting to buy some.
But, he wasn’t happy.
He complained to his friend, “I’m selling lots of potatoes, but I just don’t seem to be making any money!”
“Well”, said his friend eager to help, “how much does it cost you to grow a bags worth of potatoes?”
“$5”, said the first farmer, as he took another order from a happy customer.
“And, how much are you selling the bags for?”
“$5”, said the first farmer, with a proud smile.
“Oh, I know your problem”, said his friend, “you need to get a bigger truck!”
Some Recent Posts
- Why you love your job, 30th Nov
- Whoppers, 27th Nov
- You can’t invest in nothing, 18th Nov
A version of this story was a BNZ TV advert in the late 1980’s – I can’t find a YouTube clip.
It is a favourite of Murdo Beattie’s at Cameron Partners – where he reminded me of it.
Classic.