I’m on the cusp of netting $260 for selling someone a plugin that costs $79. Is it right?
I’m not sure. One part of me say why not—this guy is in a bind and needs a solution. I’m selling him a solution that I know will make him happy, and exercising my entrepreneurial freedom.
The other half of me says to tell him about the plugin I’m going to use so all he’d have to do is buy it himself and never talk to me again. I help him out with free advice at the cost of a sale.
The second half is the editor talking. I feel like it’s my duty to tell people about these things to make their life easier and save them money. After all, I’d want the same.
I’ve been in situations like this before and sometimes I go against my gut (which is to tell him), which no doubt results in some bad shit happening to me.
Of couse I need the money. But the real question is if this is what is means to be an entrepreneur. It reminds me of the story of the plumber who came in and turned one screw to fix an impossible problem and charged the guy something like $25,000. His reason to the sticker-shocked owner was that “you never would have know to turn that screw.”
There’s also a middle ground where I charge him less for my troubles. All it comes down to is him discovering that he paid quadruple for something—I’d like to know what he feels right at that moment: contempt, indifference, rage, self-deprecation?
Whatever I do, I don’t want to be a moral idiot or a greedy businessman. I’ll have to sleep on this and write my response, even though I already know what it is.