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I grew up in an Air Force family, mainly in Japan and Hawaii. It was as awesome as it sounds. I totally loved it. Military families, at least when I was a kid, could travel through a process called “hopping”. You would go to the base terminal and get on a free standby list for flights. If there were extra seats you could get on the flight for free. Stops were often very long, sometimes because of scheduled stops, sometimes because of maintenance issues or mission changes.
On one trip we were flying from Japan to Texas, and the first stop on the trip was in Alaska. Well, something broke on the plane and we wound up stuck at the terminal for 3 days (understand this is not a full airport with restaurants. Just a terminal with some seats, vending machines and a family room with toys and a TV). One of the problems: you can’t leave. The flight can happen at any minute, and when the plane is fixed you may have very little time between the announcement and boarding. And this was before cell phones...so you had to stay at the terminal or risk missing the flight. We were hostage to the terminal. For food you could order pizza delivery or eat from the vending machines.
So, right when we deplaned and got settled, I found the vending machines and set up shop. I bought all of the good stuff (moon pies, pop tarts, those kinds of things) and set up a table right in front of the vending machines. I sold the snacks at 3-4x what I originally paid and made a nice profit. The other kids loved me because they thought the whole “store” thing was fun. The parents hated me, because they needed something to pacify their kids and I held all the cards. I guess my mom let me do it because it kept me occupied!
Supply and demand. It’s a big, big deal. When you have the supply and the market has the demand, you can control your pricing. You can dictate your value.
Here’s the beautiful thing about modern business: you can create demand. Even if you offer a product or service in a saturated industry, if you can find a differentiating edge you can create real demand...because even if you’re offering a similar service or product as your competitors, you’re offering it in a different, better way.
Break the box. Control your value and continue to offer real value. Find your edge.