"Hmm . . . well . . . as a figure to start from . . . if only for symmetry's sake . . . say about what Brother Tesla's getting from Mr. Morgan?"
* * * * * * * * * *
The Professor's ability to negotiate in this meeting makes perfect sense to me. Some people just don't understand business and they don't want to understand business. It's not some aspect of their lives they care enough about to have ever given it any thought. Some people just want to get on doing what they want to do. They want to follow their passion even if their passion isn't shared by anybody else. In certain instances, like with the Professor here, your passion is something valuable to somebody else. In other instances, like with me, nobody gives a shit about anything you write (except maybe three junior high school girls from Missouri). But it doesn't matter. People often say, "If I wasn't getting paid for this, I'd still do it!" But that's easy to say. Here's the better version: "I can't imagine ever getting paid for this but I still love doing it!"
Anyway, I suck at business but I own my own business so that I have way more free time to do all the nonsense that actually makes my life interesting to me. And when people need to know how much I charge for something that I've never done before? I'm fucking stymied! I never know what to charge! Eventually I came down to a formula that seems to work but I'm probably shorting myself because everybody always agrees to my prices readily. Maybe I should change the formula and just add " + 20%" to the end of it. Even that increase would be far below the rate of inflation since I first started ten years ago!
Damn, I really need to consult a business advisor!
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