Watch the money

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/11/watch-the-money.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29

by AndrewWarner • 17 years ago

25 14 17 years ago

sethgodin.typepad.com

ScottWhigham• 17 years ago

Hmmm - "if you work for a non-profit and you don't give money to charity, what exactly are you doing in this job?" Well, from the charities that I've seen, the money they pay in salaries is far below what the same job in the private sector would pay. Not a fair comparison IMO

wolfhumble• 17 years ago

In this case Seth G. didn't say that you have to give a lot to make it count (as he did with Zig Ziglar life insurance quote).

If you think something is important, for real, you will prioritize and at least give something even if you have little.

umjames• 17 years ago

Maybe the person who works for a non-profit doesn't give because he/she knows more about how your contribution dollars are actually allocated.

The naive giver thinks that all or most of the money is going directly to the part of the non-profit that does the charitable work. In reality, that part may only see very little (or even none if the donation isn't high enough) of the money. A lot of it may go to administrative costs and internal-facing departments. Like any large organization, a large non-profit has a lot of overhead.

I'd like to know if there's a way to know for sure how your donation is actually being used. It would be good that if you found out your money wasn't being used satisfactorily, you could demand your donation back and it would all be legally binding.

dualogy2• 17 years ago

"Money is more than a transfer of value. It's a statement of belief. An ad agency that won't buy ads, a consultant who won't buy consulting, and a waiter who doesn't tip big—it's a sign, and not a good one."

My favourite counter-example: the millionaire who doesn't spend money.

The fact is that the waiter, the consultant, the ad agency and the charity employee have every reason to ignore Seth Godin's judgment of their individual, subjective spending preferences and investment principles.

ggruschow• 17 years ago

Millionaires try to convince people to spend money?

dualogy2• 17 years ago

Not all of them try to convince all of them, but on average I assume many of them tend to, yes.

Also, my main point was in my last paragraph.

richardburton2• 17 years ago

When people don't use the products that they're trying to sell it will show. A while ago I met a guy who's created yet-another app to allow people to start a store online. I asked him if he's running a successful store on it yet? He thought my question was irrelevant.

37Signals have always built apps that solve problems they've had.

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch02_Whats_Your_Problem.php

If you're working on an app that solves your own problem (and you believe that the problem you have is not unique) then the likelihood that your startup is going to succeed must be much higher.

pfedor• 17 years ago

Just a piece of trivia, the Viaweb folks didn't start their own store on it -- http://www.paulgraham.com/vwfaq.html (scroll to the last question).

richardburton2• 17 years ago

But they did build the Viaweb marketing site on it ;)

Psyonic3• 17 years ago

There does come a point when this ceases to be realistic. It's unlikely, for instance, that a doctor is going to develop software to use in his office himself (especially with HIPA regulations!)

bena• 17 years ago

I think you missed the point here. The warning sign would be a doctor who doesn't go to other doctors for healthcare.

A better software analogy would be a software development company that doesn't like using software.

Psyonic3• 17 years ago

I don't think I did. It wasn't the doctor I was referring to. Medical software needs to be developed, but it doesn't seem likely that the people developing it will be the people who use it.

Psyonic3• 17 years ago

Rachel Maddow doesn't even own a TV. Should that be a warning sign?

kicktheken• 17 years ago

Drug dealers shouldn't get hooked on their own drugs.

Watch the money

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