The past few days I have felt lost. Overwhelmed, maybe, is the better term. I am overwhelmed with choice. I also have to face that the amount of time and effort it will take to build a financially-sound product business is unpredictably wrong, so I have to shift more energy back to doing for-hire design work. Striking the right balance, here, will be important.

I don’t know why this is so important to me…partly it might be because I want to understand how business people think. They think differently than missionaries, designers, and employees of any color collar. They have a different set of preconceptions and assumptions, and a different playbook. The biggest barrier to me understanding them is probably my own preconceptions and values, shaped as they are to the trades I’ve been and the subcultures I inhabit. As a broad example, the ideas of value and fairness get in the way of pricing profitably.

Say I design a nifty chart. I can print it on nice paper at home, and it will cost me maybe 25 cents per sheet when factoring in ink cost and paper cost. I’m ignoring other costs, like the cost of the printer, electricity, and a space with a roof over it. If I consider just the cost of the paper, the mind of the consumer would say, “Hey, you can sell that for a dollar” which seems fine. A 300% markup over the base cost of 25 cents! And a dollar is quite affordable. However, there are also consumer perceptions of value based on price. What could possibly be good that costs only $1?

I’m facing this problem with the marketing of the Gun Safety Poster I had printed. On the one hand, the cost of production was fairly low. I’m finding I have to consider factors such as perception of value relative to the use. For example, is it something to keep, or something disposable? There are probably a dozen such decisions to make, and this has killed my momentum and I haven’t wanted to face it.

Why not face it? Any number of reasons. This week I’m planning on keeping a “attitude journal” to see how it goes.