Good, Fast, Cheap. When You Always Go For The Cheapest Option, Your Options Become Limited

Photo by Michael Competielle

“I’m an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers… They use my tools.”-Robert Moog

Starting in 1964 Robert Moog began building handmade analog synthesizers that helped revolutionize electronic music. Operating for almost 30 years until the company was sold in 1993 Moog synthesizers were synonymous with warm analog tone. The company closed and the assets were warehoused and eventually auctioned off. 

Bob purchased back the rights to the Moog name and again began hand-building analog synthesizers in 2002. After 55 years the legacy of Bob Moog continues.

Musicians from Wendy Carlos to Keith Emerson to Trent Reznor have composed brilliant music thanks to the unique sound Moog synthesizers generate. 

While the hand-built quality of a Moog is second to none they are also known to be very expensive. Due to the manufacturing process and time it takes to build each model, they are generally stock items often in limited quantities. 

The Project Management Iron Triangle

Each side of the project management triangle is labeled cost, scope and time or alternatively cheap, fast and good. Dating back to the 1950s the theory has been utilized in project and product management as a metrics tool. Reduce the cost of a product and the quality or speed will be affected. Increase the budget and the quality or speed will increase. 

A simple formula that works in most scenarios. 

Why Going Cheap First Limits Your Options

When you make purchasing decisions primarily on price alone you will affect the quality or time it takes to make your product. When we always base our decisions based purely on cost or cost savings we are limiting one of the two remaining options. Fast and cheap will yield a product of decreased quality. 

With an overabundance of cheap goods on our store’s shelves, it doesn’t take much expertise to determine the quality of the products are generally of lesser quality. 

Where The Gap Is Closing 

With manufacturing firmly planted overseas cheaper goods are being produced with an increase in quality and quantities that argue that the theory of the Iron Triangle is a fallacy. The fact of the matter is that is untrue when you look at the product in its entirety. 

Are the employees manufacturing the goods being paid a fair living wage? Probably not. What about the acquisition of the product’s raw materials? Certainly a place to cut a few corners. And what about the environmental impact of the decreased wages, sourced materials, wastes and environmental impact of transportation. 

Most of these reductions are hidden from the consumer and are only highlighted when you do some research. 

Buying cheap is certainly not the correct answer to obtaining the best products. Quality products that last longer and built with care and consideration of the product’s societal and environmental impact are clearly the better choice regardless of price. 

Buying products that can be resold, traded or gifted away when we no longer need them will help to reduce wasting resources. Quality products require a qualified workforce to manufacture, service and repair. By reducing the number of products we consume we can afford to pay more of higher quality products. 

Shopping for products off the buy it for life list is a great start. On the list are products that may not be the cheapest but certainly are of the highest quality and availability. 

Buy better, buy less. Sell, trade or gift unneeded products to reduce consumer demand. With a reduced need for quantities and a willingness to pay a bit more, manufacturing will adjust to the demand which will be quality. The primary reason we should be purchasing any products at all. 

Everything’s on Sale But Is Anyone Buying

Photo by Michael Competielle

My email feed is full of crap emails. Black Friday sales, pre-Black Friday sales, post-Black Friday Sales, Black Friday week. Cyber Monday, Donation Tuesday. But today, today is fuck you Wednesday. 

If you bought into the hype, maxed out your credit cards to buy more junk that nobody actually needs to help fulfill your life of nothingness, today is your day. Give the shit back. 


According to early statistics brick and mortar, Black Friday sales were up 6.2% from 2018 while internet sales surged to $7.4 billion on Friday up $1.2 billion from 2018. Seems like things are just rosy. 

As a matter of fact, retail has been on an upswing with an average 4% annual growth since 2010. And this year is positioned to be another winner with anticipated holiday shopping forecast to hit $1 trillion. People are buying more online and more importantly from their mobile devices with a Black Friday mobile purchase increase of 35%. We are talking 61% of purchases were from mobile devices. The largest mobile device purchase day ever. 


Brick and mortar sales weren’t quite as lucrative however a big selling factor was the ability to purchase online while you can pick up in the store. Sort of the best of both worlds as you have the ability to research your products and find the best deals and not wait or pay for shipping. 

What does all this mean? Online marketing is working. As we have firmly learned how to market to the masses and pump up sales it appears the trajectory is positive. 


With this increase in sales, we should all be happy as we skip down the pathway of life. But are the retailers actually making a profit? I’m unsure how to write the sound of a vinyl record grinding to a halt as someone is screaming “stop the damn Holiday music” vvvvrrrerrfffff. 

“Profits? Did someday say profits?” I say in my best Mayor Augustus Whoville’s voice. “Profits, we don’t discuss profits at Christmas” 

Why not? Because we are in what is being called the Retail Vortex. Market analysis shows that the added cost of online marketing, logistics costs, and deep discounts are thinning profits. And more importantly, we haven’t discussed the dirty little word…. Returns. No returns on investment but the massive onslaught of returns that retailers absorb in this market where consumers feel returning or exchanging gifts is okay.

This holiday season 77% of consumers plan to return some gifts and purchases while 20% are expected to return more than half. Consumers are shopping looking for deals and making purchases with confidence that retailers will accept returns. As retailers are battling to discount pricing, offer free shipping and often free returns, brick and mortar sales aren’t the only retailers suffering. 

With limited consumer commitment in keeping purchases, retail sales and Black Friday/ Cyber Monday statistics are artificially reported. With many product return policies accepting returns into the New Year it’s possible the losses will be carried over.

The best advice is to spend time with friends and family and only make wise informed purchases. Make art, make music or make love, just don’t buy into the hype.

Good Customer Services Involve the Entire Staff.

Photo by Michael Competielle

Heading back from an art installation a few weekends past my wife and I had a craving for some favored Peruvian food. Being we were close to a great restaurant we decided it was a perfect opportunity to stop in.

Over the past year, our lifestyle has changed to where we’ve incorporated a vegan diet. We’ve found many places that have vegan offerings and so we make it a priority to frequent businesses willing to undertake the challenge of modifying their menus and training to accommodate our needs.

Our dietary choice is of the equal importance of empathy to animals, environmental concerns and lastly dietary requirements. Luckily we don’t have nut allergies, gluten intolerance or milk allergies.

Our prior experiences in this restaurant had been quite memorable as we had waitresses that were also vegan and that both had a firm understanding of the ingredients that needed to be excluded in our diet. Our food was amazing and afterward, the waitresses asked us to fill out a survey card expressing our appreciation for the vegan menu items to reassure the owner of the decision to keep the various dishes on the menu. Of course, we complied.

Walking into the restaurant that beautiful fall afternoon we sat down and read through the menu which contained clear and distinct (v) and (gf) next to many dishes.

Over the past year, we have learned that we need to be responsible patrons and specify our exclusions such as no cheese or no queso, no egg, etc. Often the menu doesn’t specify certain ingredients that’ll often wind up in the dish and we recognize we need to remind the staff.

That afternoon we were as extremely detailed to our waiter as we have been in the past again specific that we were both vegan and therefore no meat, no cheese. We each had a lovely Peruvian drink as we awaited our food, hungry from the days hiking.

Out came our painfully frustrating food. My wife’s salad was doused in cheese and a white cream sauce. My meal included a creamy shredded meat substance in two of the three pieces of my trio entree topped with a sliver of hard-boiled egg.

We don’t like to make a scene and felt sympathetic to waitstaff based on the low pay and reliance on tipping to survive. Both my wife and I scraped off the offensives pieces and ate what we could. We paid our full check and left a 20% tip never to patronize the establishment again.

Harsh? Possibly however the systemic failure is real. The efforts to create a specialized menu to cater to specific dietary needs completely ignored is unconscionable.

Upper management who possibly is the owner assumably decides on what dishes the restaurant will offer. The conscious decision to attempt to list knowledge of dietary restrictions on a menu and fail miserably at following through to getting that food onto a plate and served to the consumer is dangerous. With food allergies on the rise and mistakes by the inclusion of ingredients potentially life-threatening why should I risk returning to this restaurant.

Mentioning the scenario to a friend I learned that they also had the same experiences. This is disheartening that a service-based business refuses to get it right. Am I extreme? Not really I’m just cautious.

Van Halen and Brown M&M’s

Back in the 1980’s arena rock was huge with Rock and Roll acts filling arenas and stadiums on huge often sold-out tours. Bands like Van Halen headed up by David Lee Roth a spectacular showman know to preform karate like stunts and often fly over the crowd suspending from overhead cabling.

Van Halen was an experienced roadworthy band and Diamond Dave Roth’s uncle was the owner of the famous Greenwich Village club Cafe Wah? Enter the Van Halen tour rider weighing in at over 50 pages included the legendary request for backstage M&M’s with a caveat of no brown M&M’s in the dressing room.

Once the bands’ management arrived at a venue they would verify if the M&M’s had been included and excluded the forbidden brown M&M’s. Eccentric? Hardly. It was a test to verify the promoter had read and was detailed oriented enough to follow the riders requests. So what if there were brown M&M’s? The band and management would request a detailed safety inspection of the stage and rigging.

Photo by Michael Competielle

The fish is stinky from the head.

Good customer services involve the entire staff.

If you have a broken part in a machine, it probably won’t run. And Ecosystems with a competent out of balance could upset the sustainability of the environment.

So why is a failure of the waitstaff a systemic failure? What exactly is the job requirement? To take a customer’s order, whatever that might entail and ensure it’s prepared and served accordingly. That’s it.

Modern restaurants have bus staff, runners, computerized cash registers. The job requirement is relatively low. Know your product and follow your customers’ requests. That’s it. Simple.

So why the issues? Lack of proper training and desire to care.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. One link breaks and you have a catastrophic failure. If there’s cheese in my dish or brown M&M’s backstage what other corners are being cut?

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/good-customer-services-involve-the-entire-staff-7f10a229319b?source=friends_link&sk=b87de9f35520efb154628171a748e356

Fire Your Toxic Clients to Increase Revenue

Photo by Michael Competielle

For years I’ve been building my business originally as a freelancer working as a hired gun and gradually moving towards a business owner. Often the lines are blurred on the difference between the two but what I will say is there are distinct differences.

As a freelancer you are always out there making connections to prospective clients, competitively bidding against god knows who and aggressively fighting to win work.

Personal investment in time, equipment, insurance and most of all learning is negotiated against low bidders that often haven’t any actual qualifications most frequently to a hiring agent whose objective is the bottom line.

At the start, I jumped at any opportunity that I could to learn my crafts and most often worked for zero pay. The investment into my future by obtaining real-world experience far exceeded the couple shekels my no budget/ low budget clientele could not afford.

I learned a lot, often the hard way. Not only did I make mistakes I learned how to fix them. Desperately needing to make the best of what equipment and knowledge I had I saw a positive trajectory as the quality of my work product increased.

Countless hours were spent reading forums, blogs, books and articles learning the craft while others were having fun. Early mornings my sleep was disrupted as solutions to problems arrived in my lucid dreams.

Money flew out the door at a rapid rate like the deforestation of the Amazon. An unsustainable business model as I was always chasing the dragon obtaining the best equipment to feel eligible to charge accordingly. To this day I’m writing checks monthly to cover the investment costs of these essential tools.

The phone continues to ring with some of my earlier clients wanting me to jump onto their next project. Most of their projects are still low/ no budget as they have also been following the same shitbag business model.

And then one day I just stopped. I didn’t stop working, I stopped taking shitty projects. I raised my rates to where I felt they needed to be and developed some concrete rules.

My first epiphany came during some research on passive income streams. My business was based solely on freelance work that came and went like a Hurricane. Calming before the storm as all was quiet and then the shit would hit the fan. Low budgets, timing constraints, submission deadlines. What the fuck? Didn’t anyone have a freaking plan? Yes, they had a plan however most often it was their plan, their project and their product. And where did that leave me?

Anxious and stressed solving other people’s problems for low money.

So what did I do?

Photo by Michael Competielle

A complete restructuring. It began by breaking down my passions and qualifications. An assessment of which of those areas could yield the most traction for my business model. I began to evaluate my client’s businesses that seemed to continuously be also working for low to no money and I began to see the pattern.

Clients that were working in markets that didn’t have a consumer value ultimately were taking on projects of negative equity. As we would develop marketing material and products without an actual return on the clients or even my client’s client Investment, the adage “you can’t get blood from a stone” reared its ugly head.

As I surveyed the playing field I began to see the gap. An area in my market that had a void I was certain I could fill. Immediately I revised my rate card and mentally fired my underperforming clients as I’d finish their projects as expeditiously as possible fully knowing it was the last time I’d work for them. I needed to stop the bleeding quickly as I felt by continuing down my current path I would reach the bottom.
Instead of working on low and no money projects to obtain more experience and exposure I again decided to reinvest into my best investment…. Me.

Redefining my core business model was simpler than you would think. Fire shitty underperforming clients frees you of stress and anxiety. Your mind can suddenly function clearly as you refine your model. First and foremost what did I feel I needed. Honestly, it wasn’t more money it was a desire to obtain a feeling of accomplishment.

My restructuring has product prototypes sitting on my desk awaiting product launch. I’ve spent my time not working for shitty clients but writing my first book soon to be printed, becoming a writer on Medium, expanding my artworks and planning for some exhibitions in the coming months. I’m in preproduction for a feature-length documentary and developing content for a startup company.

My equipment is all still in use almost daily however I’ve repurposed the business model into profitable markets that I’m passionate about. I’m not spending any more time or effort working to get ahead, I just dumped my bad investments.

Photo by Michael Competielle

As I’ve weeded out the deadwood, my focus is clearer than ever and my path is clear. New opportunities arrive daily with limited efforts as I’m no longer burdened by the stress and anxiety of crappy freelance gigs. 
My profit margins have increased and my stress is none existent. Any expenses going out the door are for me. My products, my projects, and my personal development.

I don’t want you to think this is a get rich scheme nor a crappy fad diet. I firmly don’t believe in either.

This is a perfect way to find your lane and pick up some speed. Will I succeed? Absofuckinglutely… I already have. And what’s on the horizon? More positive upward growth. What I can tell you is as I’ve distanced myself from the underachievers I’ve grown exponentially.

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/fire-your-toxic-clients-to-increase-revenue-6fdc1b6e692a?source=friends_link&sk=00341abe24fcba97464c44cd512c77ac

Great Things Come to Those Who Innovate

The Rules Are…Don’t Follow Any

Photo By Michael Competielle

We all have witnessed brilliant business ideas pop up into a void of an existing market,that successfully takes off and changes the status quo forever. A gap so wide and vacant you’ll question yourself on why you didn’t come up with the idea yourself. Like watching the instant replay of an amazing touchdown run and seeing that gap, as now visualizing how the running back saw an opportunity and made his move.

Did Blockbuster not see the coming of DVD services like Redbox and Netflix? They most certainly did however they stood there and watched as a small innovative concept…took over.

Blockbuster’s CEO once passed up a chance to buy Netflix for only $50 million

Not smart business. What did Blockbuster do wrong…they didn’t Look, Listen and Learn. Without looking at the then current DVD rental market and heading off the Netflix and Redbox growth, listening to their then current customer base and learning from the data, Blockbuster nailed it’s own coffin shut.

What about Borders books? With over 500 retail based brick and mortar superstores worldwide Borders had a decent market share. In the early 1990’s Borders had an edge on the industry by having a sophisticated inventory system that could predict and optimize consumer purchases. However with growing competition from Barnes and Noble brick and mortar, and online giant Amazon, Borders mounting debt and large wagering on merchandising of CD’s and DVD’s forced them into bankruptcy. Borders didn’t adapt to the moving trends of online sales, while they invested heavily into a market segment that was going digital.

Borders certainly didn’t Look, Listen or Learn to their customers or the industries innovations.


Ironically a few weeks ago I visited an Amazon Books store in Manhattan. The store felt familiar to me with bright lighting and blond colored shelving adorned with 4 Star and above Top Seller books.

Photo by Michael Competielle

We designed our stores around our customers- what they’re buying and what they’re loving. We’ve used customer ratings, reviews and sales data from the hundreds of millions of products online to curate our store with features like “Most-Wished-For” and “Frequently Bought Together.” These features, along with customer reviews, make it fun and easy for customers to discover great products, reviews, make it fun and easy for customers to discover great products.

Sounds to me like Amazon is doing just as I suggest…. Look, Listen, Learn.


Working as Brand Designer for a startup experiential event and products company I’ve been tasked with the core projects of defining our brand, corporate culture, product design/ packaging and defining our target audience. Simple tasks complicated if you head into the quagmire of business development books and websites usually aimed at copying others.

Most of the content outdated or written on a generally broad topic without analysis of the only thing that really matters… the customer.

Recent business advice was to discuss anticipated costs, balance sheets and capital. Typical Wharton School of Business tactics to maximize sales and growth of what?

Of what I asked? We are still defining the targeted market that’ll fit into our brand, vision and values of what this company should be.

Looking at the assembled team of highly qualified team members of our startup, I felt it was imperative to understand why they signed on. Looking and listening to each individuals values on what environment they saw themselves coming to each day. Listening to how they hoped to interact with our future customers and who they visualized those customers to be.

We have a long way to go to build the brand, however by looking at the current state of our alleged competition, listening to our proposed clients and learning from the experience we’re developing what’s soon to be an innovative, lifestyle changing business.

With limited efforts placed on balance sheets and venture capital and all effort placed on defining our mission and culture, we are sure to change the lives of customers…. We shall Look, Listen and Learn

Michael Competielle

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/great-things-come-to-those-who-innovate-3e387f4e2801?source=friends_link&sk=99f61beebc29cd62992e540b2af85870

Brand For Your Loyal Fans

Photo by Michael Competielle

One day I was conversing with the artist representation of a former member of the horror punk band the Misfits. We discussed the current state of the music industry and the reliance on live performances, merch and the frequent release of new content to remain relevant and relatively lucrative in today’s less than optimal entertainment industry. With the current onslaught of competitive and low to no pay streaming services cropping up, the resale value of original music has diminished returns to the artist.

With venues struggling with operational costs and the toughening of drinking laws getting fans out to fill seats has proven to be challenging.

Immediately my thoughts jumped to a social media campaign as an attempt to get the word out and increase awareness and market share. Quickly I was corrected that in actuality management and the artist honestly had a well designed and almost foolproof plan of catering to the existing loyal fanbase and giving them exactly what they wanted.

Management determined that this artist had 10,000 diehard loyal fans and these fans were consumers. It was conceivable each fan had an anticipated annual cash outlay of a similar amount and using that estimated amount as the multiplier a living wage could be obtained for the artist and team. Semi frequent shows were booked at area venues this fanbase was known to frequent. 1,000 person venues were turned down in favor of venues with a 100–400 person capacity.

With smaller venues the chances of a sold out show increase as brand value is accelerated. Venues desire sold out shows to increase merchandise sales and concessions and fans generally rush to purchase tickets fearing a sellout.

With strategic planning of tour date linearly planned with album releases and new touring merch the artist can almost guarantee an estimate yield from each fan or show. Ironically when I asked about the quantity of albums pressed again a well planned answer was received. The quantities released were again based on the fan based and knowledge of quantities generally purchased. Quantities of albums, merch and special releases were kept to a minimum to again almost purposefully plan to sell out.

Products should never be discounted as this would also diminish the brand and product value. Printing an additional 5,000 albums would never create an additional 5,000 fans and most certainly not an additional 5,000 sales. Understanding the brands targeted market and specifically catering to the fanbase generated an almost consistent case flow and ROI.

… I’ll be honest, watching the music industry collapse has been demoralizing and disheartening at times. Trent Reznor

Understanding your true fan base and catering to them with your brand of products they’ll desire and appreciate is like having a private party on private ship.

https://medium.com/@mcompetielle/brand-for-your-loyal-fans-1207596c3401?source=friends_link&sk=51e80a0f28db082ad8cc99021a6058db