No, I am not talking about cars; I’m talking about beer.

Not too long ago, if you wanted a “good” beer, you only had three choices: Budweiser, Miller Lite, and Coor’s Lite.  This was it.  Of course there were other choices, like Pabst and so on, but none of them where “high quality.”  Them Tim Cook came along and screwed everything up.

20 years after opening Sam Adams, the micro brew culture is thriving, especially amongst my generation.  I’ve always hated Budweiser, Miller Lite is okay but I can’t remember the last time I had one, and as for Coor’s, my brother and I commonly refer to that as “Girl’s Lite.”  The big three no longer have the higher end appeal amongst (virtually) everybody.  So how did this happen?

Simple, they lost sight of the future.  Back in the 60s they had sight; they realized that people were becoming more health conscious and decided it was time for a light beer.  Then, over the years, people became use to flavorless light beer, or beers that all tasted the same.  There was a lack of variety, a lack of innovating, a lack of looking towards the future to where tastes would go.  And then a new visionary showed us how flavorful beer could be, and we went nuts.

Look at all of the beers out there now, Dogfish Head, Harpoon, Victory, and so on, not to mention all the microbrew beer pubs & taverns.  To stay relevant and important, don’t become complacent, always look into the future.

For me, this means following where the publishing industry is going and advicing clients how to get published.  What does this mean for you?

I hear this all the time, “I only need something that’s good enough!”  The question is “good enough for what?”

Good enough to fix that leak (for the moment at least).  Or rubber sealant is good enough for the roof (until it dries out, lets water in and causes rot/mold).  Or the coffee machine that’s half price is good enough (until it breaks and is replaced for the third time).

Good enough always sounds good, especially when comparing price, but rarely do they cost less (in the long run).  Things that are good enough don’t last as long and break more than the better product.  They increase maintenance fees and require more energy for the same result.  We sacrifice more time then we want with good enough products.

For photography, good enough images will only show your space as being good enough.  When your selling with good enough images, you need to spend more time explaining how the space is used, what it looks like in person, and how it feels when you are there.  It takes longer to get good enough pictures published, and often are only published by good enough magazines, read by good enough clients.  Those good enough clients will see you as being good enough.  And at the end of the day, you can look back and say we did a good enough job for that good enough client.

If you still feel settling for good enough is fine, let me ask one last question.  How would you feel if, when discussing marriage with your spouse, the response was “you’re good enough marry?”