Simple isn't bad

Keeping things simple is a fairly old idea. I realize that if we make things super simple the barrier to entry is lowered but in almost all accounts the ones who make the best product will continue to succeed no matter how many competitors.

If we look at the standard coffee shop, for example, by all standards of logic they should be extinct. Nearly everyone can afford to make coffee themselves at a very low price and quite quickly. The coffee you make yourself is fairly customizable and its probably 1/100th the price of your $5 cup of coffee. However, we constantly see coffee shops opening up, hell there are 2 Starbucks, a Biggby, and Madcap coffee within less than 1/3rd of a mile from each other downtown. How can all three, not only stay in business but, thrive in an economy like this when everyone can make their own coffee themselves? They are better at what they do than you are. Even though it is simple for you to make coffee yourself it doesn’t hurt their business model because you suck at it in comparison.

Even if we look at web design and where it is now compared to ten years ago; we see that huge improvements in simplicity of sites, navigation, and even creation (now for this instance the ability to create your own site easily does hinder the web design business a bit). However, just because you made your own website for free because your friend gave you a torrent for Dreamweaver doesn’t mean anyone will actually go to your site, mostly because it probably looks like shit. Everyone can make their own website, its not that difficult with the proper tools, yet web design firms are still in business because they are good at what they do. They take your idea and actually make it look really good (most of the time).

Again, while it is easy to say that making things too easy for people lowers the barrier to entry, lowers the overall quality of an industry, and lowers profits. It is just as easy to say that just because every schmuck can do something they might realize that, “yeah, I can make a cup of coffee for less expensive but I suck at it.” or further more, if your company is good at something and the overall quality in the industry is getting lower, this could help you stand out that much further.

This is a fairly simple idea... and I just lowered the bar for the blogging industry.

What I’m saying.

While it has been a while since I’ve posted anything on this blog, I started this with the intention of trying to look at what companies/people do that doesn’t make sense and replace it with simple or sometimes obvious things. That is why I named this site “This is a tie” it is obvious/simple (and I was really happy when I made that tie in photoshop)

However, this post, in and of itself, is really about how people need to understand that just because we are lowering the bar by making things simple it doesn’t mean that companies need to lower the bar. If everyone does crappy work around you and you are the only one who is doing good work it doesn’t mean you should do bad work like the rest. It means this is your opportunity to market yourself based on the ideas and ability that you have. Just because everyone can do what you do does not mean everyone will be as good at it. further more, these simplicities could lead to further innovation in your industry which could help your company even further. Let other people make crappy products that way the good ones are that much better.