The Business Model of You

A simple model for how to create value for yourself and the world plus a few new really innovative products and services

Life and work is changing fast and we need new tools to navigate. The business model canvas works really well to simplify complex relationships. Photo: Ian Schneider, Unsplash.

A few years back, Alexander Osterwalder cleared out his inventory of his self-published book about business modeling on Amazon. He had signed a deal with a publishing company and was told to dump the books on the US market.

I had already read his book and though his very systematic approach to designing business models was brilliant and bought them for pennies on the dollar. I immediately made them available for sale on Amazon for the whole world.

Alexander was limited to selling them on the US market but I could sell them everywhere, in some markets for as much as ten times the purchase price. Of course, Alexander noticed this, reached out, and we talked.

Business is personal

First about my clever geo arbitrage project and then about how business modeling could be used for the individual. I had already started to adapt the model for my own personal life to shift from thinking like a consumer to thinking like a startup.

Alexander had also thought about the idea and we parted as friends after a very interesting conversation. I began teaching business modeling at graduate schools and Alexander went on to write a book about personal business modeling.