Rule 6 - Everything is freemium
How we make money (scalable low-price fixed-cost products), and how we do not (time for money)
If you do not make money in your sleep, you will work until you die
This powerful quote from Warren Buffet has
We do not sell a product or services, we aim to create a sort of basic universal income or passive income for the crew. In economic terms, we aim for the creation of equity and future cash flows. We believe this is better for our crew’s creativity than a providing a salary in return for time. You should not trade your life for money. You should do what your passion is and get money from it.
The reason we strive for such an income, is because it leads to more creativity and flexibility, while decreasing dependence. It also leads to more scalable products and services, even though we do not ‘sell’ products and services. It should be read as: create a single thing (product and or service) and make it so that it can be sold (scaled) easily to everywhere in the world. Think in terms of subscription models of revenue, like Netflix.
What should remain free forever?
This section will be elaborated upon in the future. At the moment, we believe knowledge and information should be freely shared in order to make the world more sustainable. But sharing everything for free is not sustainable on the long run. We know that. So how will we make enough money to sustain ourselves? This is explored in part 2 of our Plan.
Pricebeam - Freemium pricing examples
We need to make money while we sleep. We must therefore strive to not rent out our time. We must strive for equity - a piece of business or marketplace - to gain financial freedom for all our crew. Focus on industries and businesses that facilitate interaction and can scale with near zero marginal cost (such as media and coding).
The business model of the 21st century lies in facilitating interaction (and taking a premium). Create a platform, a basis for interaction and monetize a few percent of the top. Do this without the need for ‘work’, i.e. hours to sell or products to make, and you create a passive income.
Eventually, we will invest in a “Black Swan” Fund so that we are ‘covered for anything’, as demonstrated by this goat farmer who made a doomsday machine that booked a 4,144% return.
New clients/projects receive a first ‘test’ assignment at near zero costs. This would essentially mean you lose money if you don’t innovate, but will tremendously lower the threshold to facilitate interaction and creates reciprocity. Once the client is hooked and dependent, you can increase costs for usage. It is like being a dealer and making people addicted to your product.
Play iterated games. All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.
