Big Scaly Wolld

This one is about scale.

You need to know how to. Up until this time last year I was still in my freelancing photography stuff mostly but I had seen the wall (an the writing on it) from some distance before I was about to hit it. Even before reaching my full potential as a freelancing agent, I knew that potential would be capped below my goals if I were to continue the way I was learning to.

I still needed to learn how to build a solid business but I had reached the conclusion I first needed to learn how to scale it and I did want a larger than a one-man army type of a scale. And the conditions were not perfect for doing that with photography so I was about finding ways to invest into others.

Then an opportunity presented itself, without me actively seeking it, to go larger and get involved into a business which I had to first learn and then take control of a portion of.

But the thing was. Its scale was suddenly way bigger than what I had been mentally preparing myself for. That was part of the reason I was invited to get involved. It had already grown too big to control.

And by too big, I mean not too great and good. Just big and unruly. I saw that steep slope and a boulder coming down towards me. Did I run? Nope. Did I step aside? Nope again.

I like challenges, I like boulders, but I can't also indulge into liking them while they are gaining the wrong kind of momentum.

And most of the time I think I am not given all the knowledge I need yet. But that might be because I have to acquire it myself through some experience. While in the frying pan, so to speak. I feel lots of conclusions are coming together now, lots of right questions taking shape in my head.

And I don't think we scaled up in a good, orderly, sustainable way. Well, I was not here when it scaled up at all. I am now here, when it seems like I'll have to make plans on how to scale down a bit in order to soften the fall and then think of scaling back up. I need to plan a structure that could take a larger scale. Or a system that can be repeated into infinity without posing too much problem. There's no repeating physical stuff into infinity without providing additional support, though.

You can pick an apple and carry it away. You can hold two apples in one hand. But can you hold four? Can you hold sixteen apples without a bag? At what point do you need a second bag? When do you need somebody else to take another two bags and carry them along with you? At what point do you need to step back and manage the people holding the bags? When do you need a truck? How many trucks? At what point do you need a person coordinating the truck drivers? And another one dedicated to their maintenance?

We can't digitalize and teleport the apples. Such a business requires physical touch. And at some point an administrator of all the physical touchers, then an administrator of the administrators, and so on.

Now, you see, with the introduction of administrators, we get people not touching physically our apples, thus not producing additional income. Thus, increasing the price. In a market where you can't increase the price beyond a relatively low cap because ain't not enough people around who would buy "golden" apples all through the week.

Another aspect is we got two major elements which depend on each other. Production and Delivery. A and B. More A = more B. Less A = Less B. In terms of logic and in terms of fungible A and B. The non-fungible part of A and B is it's tied to Agents of A and Agents of B.

Let's say 1 agent of B can handle 100 units of A. And you need 4 agents of A (non-fungible) in order to produce 100 units (fungible). One of the agents of A is on a leave, you either get 75 units of A, or you replace that agent temporarily. The agent of B might be disappointed if only 75 units of A are available. But what about the reverse case? In practice, I observe a lot of B agents underperforming, or there's simply less demand, and so B agents are able to shill, let's say, 50 units of A so that the scales we have established are not matching. But we wait and hope for better times, don't we?

One of the things that annoys me.

If it were a game and all the agents were mere NFTs, I'd be burning them left and right, or buying new ones until, the scales on both sides were a match.

But it's a real and scary world of imperfect scales out there. Fortunately, I've got lots of things on my mind that shall be presented to others and potentially...dismissed or acted upon.

Don't forget, it's all relative in the end.

Yours,

Manol

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