I Am Not Stalling...Much...

Look: I know I ought to be revising the first chapters of both CHANT and SAND, but I'm taking a little diversion.

Amazon is, to some, the harbinger of the apocalypse. To others, the company is a great resource that yet makes folks uncomfortable with its expansions. What I see, though, is an objective lesson in lemonade production. This isn't about whether Amazon is wonderful or evil; it's about their ability to choose what comes next.

Some months back, I listened to a local talk radio broadcast featuring Indiana business owners. The topic was Amazon, and the business owners' push to require that company to pay state sales tax. That would, according to those men, "level the playing field" and permit local businesses to survive. It would be fair, they argued, because local businesses simply couldn't compete against a company that didn't have to pay state sales taxes.

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 As a self-employed person, the lesson is pretty clear. Success won't happen when I demand my customers conform to what benefits me most. I succeed when I find what most benefits me within what my customers what.