Outsourcing | Seth’s Blog

“I’d like corn for dinner.”

So, six months ago, you’ll need to plant the corn so you can harvest it today and cook it tonight.

Or you can drive to the farmer’s market this morning, buy a few ears and have it tonight.

Or you can walk over to the supermarket and get a can.

Or you can press this button on your phone and dinner will be here in twenty minutes.

I write this blog but I didn’t program the website.

Everything we do uses materials and tools that were made by someone else. When we built Yoyodyne thirty years ago, we spent millions of dollars to build email servers that you could rent today for $50 a month…

The question that isn’t asked, but that must be asked, is: Which part are you going to do yourself?

If you’re a photographer, does it make sense to edit your own work, or should you send it out to someone who is twice as good, half the price and faster than you are?

We act as though we’re locked into this decision, but in fact, we make it again, every single day.

What are you doing today that only you can do? What would happen if that’s all you did all day?

PS Akimbo (my weekly podcast) is now over 200 episodes. You can find it all the normal places (Apple, acast, site)