Seth Godin had an interesting piece yesterday morning. He has a toaster that makes toast in 10 steps, which is cumbersome for a toaster. He compared it to ebay, which took him 11 steps to pay them $6. I think Seth missed an important point that he could have made.

We make websites. We as in (presumably) you, and myself. Assumedly, we all do this for a living. This means that most of the day, we’re business people. A wise man once said, “My money is your wallet. I just have to figure out how to get it into mine.” Eleven steps is not going to cut it unless you’re a powerhouse like ebay.

I’d like to point out Apple, yet again. It’s not that I’m a fan, it’s just that they do a lot of things right. You see, I, like everyone else on the internet, have only to fire up pirate bay if I want free music. But almost all of my music is purchased music. If I want a new song I simply pop open iTunes and buy it. It’s on my iPhone in seconds. Apple took one of the most saturated, overdone markets on the planet and figured out a way to get their money out of my wallet… they made it easier for me to spend money.

That’s what it’s all about in business, right? Making money. Making bread… and sometimes toast.

My advice to Seth is this: Throw out that toaster. It reinvented the wheel for no reason whatsoever. Go back to when toasters tosted bread in 2 steps.

Don’t confuse movement for progress, people.

In a recent TechCrunch article, it was made known that BrightCove.tv was discontinuing the ability for consumers to upload videos. Instead, they’re changing gears and focusing their effort on catering to the 4000 media clients who use their service.

This, in my eyes, is a brilliant business move. Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch, however, sees it as a weakness. According to Erick, “I am tempted to put it in the deadpool, but will refrain for now. If it disappears completely, or arises Zombie-like in the future, we will let you know.”

I believe this is the wrong attitude to have. Erick’s article outlines only the negatives and looks for reasons to call BrightCove a failure. Since when did adapting to your customers needs become an act worthy of labeling a whole business as dead?

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In my article about bean counting, I ended with a challenge for people to find the hidden meaning in the following sentence:

It makes no financial sense to toss a sticker into the box just because it’s cool… but it makes for great advertising.

Unfortunately, nobody claimed the cookie I offered.

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I’d like to thank everyone who sent feedback on my last article.  One of the most common reactions was to ask for a solid example of why you can make smarter decisions than bean counters… so this is my example.

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I like Steve Jobs.  Don’t get me wrong, I only bought my first apple product yesterday (iPod).  I’ve admired Steve Jobs for a long time for a non-Apple reason.  I don’t admire him for the products he turns out.  Sure, they’re great, but what I admire him for is his tenacity.

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