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LM: #294: The TV/VCR dilemma
Millennials and gen Xers were either taught this lesson by their dads, or they weren’t.
This is never more clear to me than when I see how quick some creators are to build their businesses on all-in-one platforms – something that is their email list and their blog and their payment processor and hosts their courses. Or, when authors build their entire businesses on Amazon.
The lesson I bet these creators weren’t taught was, Never buy one of these.
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My dad told me to never buy a TV/VCR combo, in slightly more recent years a TV/VCR/DVD combo. The basic logic behind this advice was: If one thing breaks the whole thing breaks.
If the TV or the VCR stops working, you have three choices: Take it in for repairs and have neither a TV nor a VCR while it’s fixed, or get rid of it and buy a new TV and VCR.
The third choice was, Frankenstein together a monstrosity like my grandpa had in his basement: A TV on which only the picture worked, on top of another on which only the audio worked.
It’s easy to see the appeal of the TV/VCR. It’s convenient and often cheaper, if not in money, in time and mental energy. But if one thing breaks, the whole thing breaks.
- If their email deliverability tanks, you have to live with it.
- If they get acquired and start squeezing out every dime they can, too bad.
- If Amazon randomly shuts down your account, there goes your whole business.
Like much advice, there’s a time and a place. If it’s your first apartment and you can’t even afford a garbage bin with a lid, fine, get the TV/VCR at the thrift store. Or if you live dangerously and don’t mind taking the hit if disaster strikes.
But not me. I will not buy a TV/VCR.
Aphorism: “Books…are like lobster shells, we surround ourselves with ’em, then we grow out of ’em and leave ’em behind, as evidence of our earlier stage of development.” —Dorothy L. Sayers
Cool: ‘Tis the season for comfortable house slippers.
Best,
David
P.S. I’m honored that Digital Zettelkasten was the top book shared in Readwise’s Wisereads newsletter this year.
