Creative Bulletin n.136

During the weekend we held a webinar on Edito. It was nice to meet and talk to some of those who supported the project! We enjoyed it a lot. Thank you again to each and everyone of you ❤️

Increasing prices, naivety and leadership. Last week we received the 2021 balance sheet and we had a not so happy surprise (when you have a company you find out one year later how things really went 😅): costs went through the roof and profit margins are too low. We couldn’t lie to ourselves anymore: this is a sustainable hobby, but it can’t work as a company. What to do?

The problem. For each purchase, we incur into the following costs: P + A + S, where P is the cost of producing the product, A is the cost of acquiring the customer (advertising) and S is the cost of shipping. Over the years we have tried to maximize those three variables in the hope of being able to offer a great product at a popular price. That’s where naivety kicked in. The problem now is that A (acquisition cost) has almost doubled and math makes no mistakes: P + 2A + S is not sustainable😱

Solution. We raised the prices according to the increase in costs. Were we afraid to do it? Sure 😂 But not too much. We cannot go at a loss and we certainly do not want to close the company: we will have fewer customers but with a profit margin that allows us to survive.

🦊 Semi-creative takeaway: When there are scary decisions to be made that basically tell you this way or the highway (in short, that do not leave much room for doubts), be brave when deciding, do it with a bit of healthy bravado. What other option do we have? 😉

Reading suggestions. Matteo just finished reading The spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Creator of El Topo and he found it special and enlightening, he swears it’s Jodorowsky’s best book (he is suggesting it to anyone that would listen). It is full of important lessons when it comes to the relationship with a Teacher. One of these quotes comes from the Advaita Vedanta philosophy: “Don't worry about the master's flaws. If you are wise, you will know how to draw what is good in him. When you have to cross a river, even if the boat is painted in an ugly color, you are happy that it will take you to the other side".

Our dreams. Yesterday Matteo dreamt that he finished Mario4 in one afternoon. He wishes 😂 Andrea dreamt that someone plagiarized Fabula for Kids – we hope it won’t happen!

What have you been dreaming about?

With ❤️,
Matteo and Andrea

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