The 100 Years Club Installment #21: Quality, Cost & Time (a Timeless Balance)

To quote Beauty & the Beast, it’s “a tale as old as time.”

Balancing cost, quality, and time (speed) is always a challenge — in life and business.

I’ve been shocked (but not surprised) by the new trend in marketing, which is heavily weighted toward DIY (do-it-yourself) creative development and offshoring work to minimum-wage workers and content “factories” that serve hundreds of clients without really getting to know any of them well.

On the flip side, we have inexperienced marketers claiming to be premium brands and convincing companies to spend thousands (if not millions) on stuff that isn’t going to deliver ROI.

Self-proclaimed coaches, social media “rock stars,” and countless others abound.

AI is adding a whole new variable to the equation. It enables us to do things faster and cheaper. But are they always better? That’s where human oversight will come in.

I am getting faster and better, not slower and less relevant.

A common (false) perception of people over 65 is that we instantly become geezerly — set in our ways and fumbling around with all kinds of stuff.

I find that it’s actually the first time in my life that I can actually deliver all three of the “imperatives” — speed, quality, and cost — pretty effortlessly.

The misconception that experienced people cost more is often not true. I no longer have a mortgage, kids to raise, and hefty insurance bills.

That’s not to say that I give my talent away for free, but money is no longer my primary driver.

As for technology, I’ve been using it since the early days and have proven that I can adapt quickly from mainframes and rotary dials phones to AI and smartphones. In fact, I wrote my first book about AI in 2017, before the media started buzzing about it.

Bottom lines:

1. Quality, cost, and speed don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
2. Older doesn’t mean useless. In fact, it can be better.
3. Even beasts can turn out to be royalty. But sometimes, they really are beasts.