dream | act | succeed

Actually, I have never thought about it until recently.

What is a water company selling? Their own product? Or do they sell something that already exists, namely water? Hey, why hasn’t anyone sold air yet? Because it is out there for free? Sure! At least today it is. Clean fresh air, but in a crowded overpopulated city? I guess you got the idea.

Assuming that a product is described as anything you can possibly sell, there comes a new dimension to mind.

There are companies that produce, generate, invent products and services in order to sell them afterwards. Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is how we call them in the automobile industry. But then we have other companies as well. They do not “produce” their product, but take something already existing and improve it, change it, do whatever they want with it and sell it afterwards. Meaning that they do not particularly have to produce or invent anything. Kind of ok to describe it like that? Well, we will just let it be as it is for the moment.

Sure, life is not that easy and there might be millions of better ways how to define the business world, but we have to get to the point.

The third business dimension I have in mind is this. A business model that you can not categorize in one or the other of those already defined groups above. A concept or idea that has a totally new approach.

If you don’t render any service you will not find customers, at least not many. This might be the golden rule of the business world. But is it? Can’t we find a loophole somewhere in between those two worlds? We can! Many have done it before. An app that does nothing more as collecting the date from other websites and giving you the complete overview for example. One of those strange check the prices and find the best offer kind of a thing. The problem? The moment you set the app online, actually you are rendering a service again and get categorized.

Damn it! But what does that mean? Does the third product dimension even exist? We all earn money and are used to paying taxes. We don’t chose to pay them, we have to. Do we get something back? Of course! Streets, electricity, safety, you name it. But what would be a completely new business model? A new approach?

Collecting money without actually selling anything? Doing good with it of course? Doing charity? A non profit business? That’s something else, sure! But not a real business model in terms of just making money.

But how? Or what? Finding a loophole in an existing business model? Combining two groups of interests into one? Combining three or even more groups? Is that possible? I think it is. You have people that want to drive cars and a company that needs to get cars delivered from one place to the other? There you have it. Both parties save money and pay you a certain amount of what they save. Sure, we are rendering a service again. But actually you do not do anything. They organize it themselves. Sure, why do they need you after understanding the idea? So we have to render a service? An organizational effort? Not if we just render the idea. But then it’s the idea that we are selling. Damn it.

You see, there is a lot of potential out there in the world. You can see it if you let your mind wandering around and questions the status Q. Do these mind experiments more often and one day or another you will have the idea that has the potential to change your life forever.

See you next time!