When I first got to New York, I had never really worked anywhere aside from college part time jobs.
My wife at the time had gotten a job, and I was going with her to New York. Frightening to say the least, but I was going to do it. I was the country boy that wasn’t going to go to New York, or maybe anywhere for that matter (maybe Baltimore) because I didn’t like the city.
Lots of my friends who wanted to be actors or dancers or what have you dreamed of going to New York, and ironically a few years after they got here they moved home. I moved there and stayed long after my divorce and my wife left.
I only recently moved out, after 21 years. I outlasted everyone. I am fond of saying that when I arrived in New York I didn’t know what I wanted, and now that I know what I want and how to get it, I no longer need to be there and pay all of the huge expenses. It’s a city for the very rich or the very young, or the tight knit ethnic communities. Everyone else I knew in the middle was struggling. Always struggling.
THE AGGRAVATION FEE
I had this first job with a company that built museum interiors and big staging and sets. Very cool. Never knew that industry existed.
We had an awful client, nasty and mean who made it impossible for us to get anything done.
When the time came for us to bill him, the Account Executive put an line item in the cost called
“AF” and this was 5 % of the Job. The job was worth 300,000.00. So that was a $15,000.00 cost.
And when the owner was reviewing the bill before presenting it to the client, he said “what’s this AF cost?”
And the account executive said “THAT”S THE AGGRAVATION FEE!”
And the owner said “ah ok, yeah” and we submitted the bill and the client paid it.
I learned from that that in all things there is an aggravation fee. You have to factor it in. How much is your wasted time worth due to the aggravation a person causes you willfully. Usually aggravation comes from deliberate action on the part of a vendor or client. It drains you, and your profits.
So when you are calculating how much something is going to cost you, ask yourself
“YES but how much aggravation am I saving?”
Things that cost more tend to have less aggravation, ever noticed that?
They save you peace of mind. And if you find low cost AND low aggravation, that my friends is VALUE!
JadeSource is constantly striving for both. Low cost and NO aggravation. We’re getting better at it all the time.