A parable for tough times

Most forecasters seem to agree that despite the fact we have sidestepped the worst of the global financial crisis, we still have tough times ahead. And in tough times, one of the things you need to do is be innovative and work your assets harder. Note: competitors that don’t innovate – die. Which I like to think of as nature’s bonus for innovating.

Anyway, there is a parable I know which helps get the juices flowing when thinking about how to work your assets harder. I call it “How many times can you sell a piece of land?”. It goes like this.

Once there was a man who bought a piece of land,
1. He sold the metal under the ground to a mining company who it dug out and left a pile of dirt.
2. He sold the pile of dirt to a landscaping company, which left a hole in the ground.
3. He sold the hole in the ground to a waste company, who filled it up with rubbish and refurbished the land.
4. He sold a lease on the refurbished land to a sporting club, because nothing could be built there yet.
5. He sold the land to a long-term investor.

Selling one piece of land five times? Gets my juices flowing.

Brendan Lewis is a serial technology entrepreneur having founded : Ideas Lighting, Carradale Media, Edion, Verve IT, The Churchill Club, Flinders Pacific and L2i Technology Advisory. He has set up businesses for others in Romania, Indonesia and Vietnam. Qualified in IT and Accounting, he has also spent time running an Advertising agency and as a Cavalry Officer with the Australian Army Reserve.