MadanyCo.™
A piece a day

I write here, every day.

Short pieces on marketing, business, and the craft of building things people want. Observed in the field. Written plainly. Published daily.

Today · piece 643

Two small bets

A new line of insoles and a cheaper resole cost a cobbler about the same. Only one of them changes what his regulars expect from him.

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Earlier pieces

  1. The org chart is the strategyInside
  2. Editing is decidingCraft
  3. What a receipt tells youMarket
  4. Spend less, growOperator
  5. Thirty daysCraft
  6. What I had wrong about brandOperator
  7. Premium is a priceMarket
  8. Riyadh is not DubaiMarket
  9. What survives FebruaryOperator
  10. One lineCraft
  11. We do it because we did itInside
  12. Field notes, National DayMarket
  13. Everyone turns greenMarket
  14. A loan against next monthOperator
  15. The week beforeMarket
  16. Give away the useful thingInside
  17. The queue is the adMarket
  18. Structure, not sentencesCraft
  19. A Wednesday this yearMarket
  20. Who the purchase is forInside
  21. Arabic is not a translationMarket
  22. Cash is a trust instrumentMarket
  23. What the extra dashboard is forInside
  24. Jeddah, properlyMarket
  25. Short is harderCraft
  26. Fine creative, wrong promiseOperator
  27. The deadline does the sellingMarket
  28. Who says noInside
  29. One variableOperator
  30. Read the menuMarket
  31. Say it out loudCraft
  32. Budget before strategyInside
  33. Nobody is waitingMarket
  34. HarvestingOperator
  35. A plan and a requestInside
  36. The rate card has seasonsOperator
  37. Leave the list aloneCraft
  38. The first shop backMarket
  39. Whose peak it isInside
  40. Booked with the courierOperator
  41. The canteen is a tenderMarket
  42. Live in the quiet monthOperator
  43. The irreversible half of the planInside
  44. Nothing leaves the menuMarket
  45. When they ask for a reportOperator
  46. The total matchedInside
  47. The small pack's monthMarket
  48. The first four wordsCraft
  49. Two months of noticeOperator
  50. Somebody already forecast thisMarket
  51. What the offsite costInside
  52. Who named the adsOperator
  53. The offer you filedMarket
  54. The print shop monthInside
  55. The account I kept rebuildingOperator
  56. Feet grow, bags do notMarket
  57. What the template hidesOperator
  58. Nobody wants the cheapest oneCraft
  59. The plan lives on one laptopInside
  60. The school picks the shopMarket
  61. The list changed time zoneOperator
  62. The team in the invoicesInside
  63. Which half is profitableMarket
  64. The length of the monthOperator
  65. What comes back in the suitcaseMarket
  66. Twelve posts a monthInside
  67. Nobody here has ordered itOperator
  68. The name that left the roomCraft
  69. The kiosk rounds for youMarket
  70. The chairman's roadInside
  71. The stamp cardOperator
  72. Field notes, the desert roadMarket
  73. Message us for the priceOperator
  74. The HR calendarInside
  75. A holiday nobody decoratesMarket
  76. The app nobody opensOperator
  77. The levy in the leaseInside
  78. Fifty degrees in the vanMarket
  79. The word newCraft
  80. The name on the statementOperator
  81. First on the listMarket
  82. Two bosses, one planInside
  83. What counts as a resultOperator
  84. A wedding in the dead monthMarket
  85. No vendor, no lineInside
  86. Noon to midnightOperator
  87. Three stickers deepMarket
  88. The inbox knows firstOperator
  89. Due to circumstancesCraft
  90. The margin nobody reopenedInside
  91. The car in the atriumMarket
  92. Approved by the founderOperator
  93. Nouns on the agendaInside
  94. The price of waterMarket
  95. The ratio has a currencyOperator
  96. The weekend that cannot leaveMarket
  97. The free weeks in the dealInside
  98. Delivered to an empty houseOperator
  99. Write from SeptemberCraft
  100. Front row, back rowMarket
  101. Blamed on the summerInside
  102. Page three in SeptemberOperator
  103. Jeddah opens in RiyadhMarket
  104. The campaign from the founding yearOperator
  105. The call nobody wants to makeInside
  106. Cairo's summer tourist speaks ArabicMarket
  107. The radius did not travelOperator
  108. After the summer is a rankInside
  109. Bought on the way homeMarket
  110. Written for glareCraft
  111. Three years of reviewsOperator
  112. The tournament lands at twoMarket
  113. Opened to be seen inInside
  114. Asked from LondonOperator
  115. The compound talksMarket
  116. The first branch pays for itInside
  117. The new pin inherits everythingOperator
  118. The ballroom is fullMarket
  119. Paid for in JanuaryOperator
  120. The sentence that cost the mostCraft
  121. Read the leave chartInside
  122. An address with no doorMarket
  123. The date you come backOperator
  124. The retainer needs a briefInside
  125. The lease outlived the testMarket
  126. The account learns who stayedOperator
  127. Where Cairo spent EidMarket
  128. The Eid phone callInside
  129. The alert nobody unmutesOperator
  130. Delayed, with a dateCraft
  131. The customer is on the roadMarket
  132. Counted as the campaignInside
  133. Closed on the first dayOperator
  134. Jeddah before HajjMarket
  135. The pre-order is the forecastOperator
  136. The size of the boxInside
  137. The graduation tableMarket
  138. The even cutOperator
  139. The creator on the wrong lineInside
  140. Across the causewayMarket
  141. The word summerCraft
  142. The sticker on the menuOperator
  143. Read the comments under the adMarket
  144. Resignations follow the school yearInside
  145. Moving money between brandsOperator
  146. The freezer by the doorMarket
  147. Funded by what was leftInside
  148. Paid media in a borrowed voiceOperator
  149. The fullest Friday of the yearMarket
  150. Sorted by the kitchenOperator
  151. The brief is a voice noteCraft
  152. Exams run the officeInside
  153. The summer leaves twiceMarket
  154. Judged on the doorstepOperator
  155. The leave calendarInside
  156. The cooler is the shelfMarket
  157. A month of three weeksOperator
  158. Who could raise the priceMarket
  159. The number belongs to the cashierInside
  160. Renting the cardOperator
  161. A standard you can sayCraft
  162. Different by their measureMarket
  163. Silence needs a signatureInside
  164. Before they askOperator
  165. Specialty is the category nowMarket
  166. Better wins the weekOperator
  167. Everyone is a peace treatyInside
  168. The worst branchMarket
  169. Broad felt like ambitionOperator
  170. When they stop checkingInside
  171. Twenty years on the cornerMarket
  172. The size of the askCraft
  173. The first message is a receiptOperator
  174. The clause the distributor trustsMarket
  175. Permission not to answerInside
  176. Melted at the doorOperator
  177. The fishmonger your mother trustsMarket
  178. The price of a yesInside
  179. Too small for the dropdownOperator
  180. The fifth coffee shopMarket
  181. Whoever has it nowOperator
  182. Between the plumber and the auntCraft
  183. Which days get the emailInside
  184. Bigger than the nameMarket
  185. A message is not a leadOperator
  186. Nobody has to askInside
  187. The showroom is for the websiteMarket
  188. They only met the offerOperator
  189. A winter month for a decadeMarket
  190. Judged on thirty nightsInside
  191. Only ever met you at nightOperator
  192. No occasion to lean onCraft
  193. Sold by the gramMarket
  194. Finance's Ramadan begins nowInside
  195. One weekend, two occasionsOperator
  196. Egypt's biggest gifting dayMarket
  197. Nobody needed a driverOperator
  198. Sent from an empty officeInside
  199. Field notes, Eid morningMarket
  200. The buyer you have never metOperator
  201. Both, which means neitherInside
  202. Cairo goes home for EidMarket
  203. The gift note fieldCraft
  204. The free box slows the lineOperator
  205. The queue for new notesMarket
  206. Field notes, the last weekInside
  207. The tent empties earlyOperator
  208. Read the floor planMarket
  209. The night shift nobody invoicedInside
  210. Fixed price, moving costOperator
  211. The aisle changes handsMarket
  212. The listing says closedOperator
  213. The fifteen-second versionCraft
  214. The line that arrived signedInside
  215. The city that peaks in RamadanMarket
  216. The subscription does not fastOperator
  217. The easiest money of the yearInside
  218. The room sells twice a nightMarket
  219. Back by night tenOperator
  220. Decided by the second FridayMarket
  221. Officially off, still decidingInside
  222. Volume on the wrong nightOperator
  223. Nobody wrote the noCraft
  224. A holiday with no daytimeMarket
  225. Two owners, one iftarInside
  226. The second restaurant at oneOperator
  227. Field notes, Ramadan's first FridayMarket
  228. A promise made by a pageOperator
  229. Three days are not dataInside
  230. The day shortens by lawMarket
  231. Ten minutes at sunsetOperator
  232. Approved for a different dayInside
  233. The set menu on a full nightMarket
  234. Two lines for two nightsCraft
  235. The customer is not fastingOperator
  236. The hour before the cannonMarket
  237. Everyone's channel workedInside
  238. The app's deadline, not the moon'sOperator
  239. Post-iftar is three daypartsMarket
  240. The guest list, not the chartInside
  241. Duplicated with last year's datesOperator
  242. A season before the seasonMarket
  243. The segment nobody can buildOperator
  244. A month on the fridgeCraft
  245. Where the Ramadan money came fromInside
  246. Lunch has two weeks leftMarket
  247. The photo is from JulyOperator
  248. Read the gift listInside
  249. The price that makes the newsMarket
  250. Landed before the monthOperator
  251. Cast, not placedMarket
  252. Flat fee, lumpy yearInside
  253. One month, three businessesOperator
  254. Arabic takes more roomCraft
  255. Eaten in the carMarket
  256. The budget that grew on paperInside
  257. The account manager changedOperator
  258. Here until MarchMarket
  259. Rented visibilityOperator
  260. Reorganised five weeks outInside
  261. Field notes, the wedding hallMarket
  262. The old pack in the filmOperator
  263. Approved is not releasedInside
  264. Printed for one monthMarket
  265. Write the six seconds firstCraft
  266. The new agency rebuildsOperator
  267. The app's Ramadan pageMarket
  268. Year to date, day tenInside
  269. Drafted and pausedOperator
  270. Dressed for the guestsMarket
  271. Answering on the seventhInside
  272. Three times the budgetOperator
  273. The fasting shelfMarket
  274. A month to sit outOperator
  275. The customer replies in voiceCraft
  276. The first request of the yearInside
  277. Resolutions follow the weatherMarket
  278. The rota is the campaignOperator
  279. The review with two columnsInside
  280. The room's real priceMarket
  281. Every send spends somethingOperator
  282. The week the residents leaveMarket
  283. Read the out-of-officeInside
  284. Ask the driverOperator
  285. Name the day or say nothingCraft
  286. Christmas comes twice in CairoMarket
  287. Two sets of booksInside
  288. Nothing behind the bookingOperator
  289. The terrace monthMarket
  290. Declined on the nineteenthOperator
  291. The target nobody loweredInside
  292. Who is actually shutMarket
  293. Two weeks unsupervisedOperator
  294. Paid for the forecastInside
  295. The small market reads closelyMarket
  296. The sign on the doorCraft
  297. The Friday editOperator
  298. The brunch is the formatMarket
  299. The zero was never zeroInside
  300. Nothing left but the discountOperator
  301. When two calendars collideMarket
  302. The box was already boughtInside
  303. The ad that outlived its offerOperator
  304. Field notes, race weekendMarket
  305. Step down, do not switch offOperator
  306. The accent in the copyCraft
  307. Whoever is at their deskInside
  308. Delivered after the holidayMarket
  309. Flows do not read the calendarOperator
  310. The safe mistakeInside
  311. A Friday that starts at fourMarket
  312. The basket is a waiting roomOperator
  313. Only the colour was translatedMarket
  314. Fifteen clients, one FridayInside
  315. The empty box at checkoutOperator
  316. The asteriskCraft
  317. What is left on the railMarket
  318. When the group chat goes quietInside
  319. The address fieldOperator
  320. Never reached the shelfMarket
  321. Every creator has the same codeOperator
  322. November becomes the targetInside
  323. The stacked discountMarket
  324. The refused boxOperator
  325. Who holds the account on FridayInside
  326. A discount moves the clockMarket
  327. The forward outlives the offerCraft
  328. Advertising what you cannot sellOperator
  329. A day you do not ownMarket
  330. The competitor set your priceInside
  331. Eleven months darkOperator
  332. The window that did not changeMarket
  333. Which line it lands onInside
  334. Everyone bids on the same dayOperator
  335. Last year's priceMarket
  336. The warehouse writes the offerOperator
  337. Up toCraft
  338. The target chooses the discountInside
  339. The waiting weekMarket
  340. If you cannot pause itOperator
  341. Who holds the phoneInside
  342. The customer who does not eatMarket
  343. The share you do not signOperator
  344. The seller's yearMarket
  345. Thursday at fourInside
  346. Dark on paydayOperator
  347. Photograph what arrivesCraft
  348. After the showMarket
  349. The calendar on the wallInside
  350. Reconcile before you reportOperator
  351. The other festive seasonMarket
  352. Tuesday lunchOperator
  353. The cc lineInside
  354. The pickup queueMarket
  355. Nobody owns the size guideOperator
  356. No surprisesInside
  357. A statement in square metresMarket
  358. The first question is the priceCraft
  359. Changes at two in the morningOperator
  360. The office manager books DecemberMarket
  361. Paid in titlesInside
  362. Where accounts stallOperator
  363. The October numberMarket
  364. Cairo is celebratingInside
  365. A holiday the account cannot seeOperator
  366. The terraces reopenMarket
  367. Named after nothingOperator
  368. The pack is not a posterCraft
  369. Whoever had the timeInside
  370. Smaller, not lowerMarket
  371. One lever, two promisesOperator
  372. The review with no numberInside
  373. A green dessertMarket
  374. Still green on FridayOperator
  375. What is left on the shelfMarket
  376. The staff are the audienceInside
  377. Somebody is working todayOperator
  378. The greeting nobody readsCraft
  379. The number becomes the offerMarket
  380. A holiday in the run rateInside
  381. The month the film ateOperator
  382. Who stayed in AugustMarket
  383. Everyone buys the same TuesdayOperator
  384. The last person askedInside
  385. The permit is the shortlistMarket
  386. A Saudi return addressOperator
  387. Count the approversInside
  388. The number in the cornerMarket
  389. A name in two scriptsCraft
  390. Run from CairoOperator
  391. Which ArabicMarket
  392. Regional means DubaiInside
  393. The buyer decides NovemberOperator
  394. One poster, three shelvesMarket
  395. The August deckInside
  396. Planned on August numbersOperator
  397. The year starts this weekMarket
  398. What ran while you were awayOperator
  399. Written to be forwardedCraft
  400. Committed alreadyInside
  401. Field notes, the uniform shopMarket
  402. Friday's cookOperator
  403. The distributor's SeptemberInside
  404. The countdown has a licenceMarket
  405. Sample size of the adviceOperator
  406. The school run daypartMarket
  407. The deck and the buyInside
  408. Posted at eleven at nightOperator
  409. The same backpackCraft
  410. The September walletMarket
  411. Use it or lose itInside
  412. One peak fewerOperator
  413. Closed for the summerMarket
  414. Cheap traffic, wrong answersOperator
  415. The word phasedInside
  416. The city comes back in orderMarket
  417. The customer's summerOperator
  418. The last thirdInside
  419. The form decides the offerMarket
  420. An offer in one breathCraft
  421. The one-product ceilingOperator
  422. The fee for being seenMarket
  423. Signed while they were awayInside
  424. What breaks when nobody is checkingOperator
  425. The school year starts three timesMarket
  426. Four ideas, one customerInside
  427. Choosing, then solvingOperator
  428. August is the floorMarket
  429. Flat through the empty fortnightOperator
  430. Where the voice livesCraft
  431. Fielded in JulyInside
  432. Sold on the way outMarket
  433. Open when nobody is lookingOperator
  434. Hired in JulyInside
  435. A sale for the warehouseMarket
  436. Still runningOperator
  437. The number on the flyerMarket
  438. A day off in one countryInside
  439. Who meets the new priceOperator
  440. Six months in one sittingCraft
  441. Cairo is openMarket
  442. Left in chargeInside
  443. In line with seasonalityOperator
  444. The valet in JulyMarket
  445. The overlap hourOperator
  446. Set by someone with a summerInside
  447. Everything falls due at onceMarket
  448. The founder's week offOperator
  449. Where the agency wentInside
  450. Field notes, the North CoastMarket
  451. The auto-replyCraft
  452. The dip everyone agrees onOperator
  453. Who funds the summer dealMarket
  454. A year that starts in JulyInside
  455. The month the money movesOperator
  456. The summer branchMarket
  457. Approved in JulyInside
  458. Managed or messagedOperator
  459. The third personMarket
  460. Plumbing seasonOperator
  461. The word for the customerCraft
  462. Halfway is the endInside
  463. Follow the air conditioningMarket
  464. The city comes out lateOperator
  465. The meetings that stopInside
  466. Same room, different guestMarket
  467. Ask the rota firstOperator
  468. Paid in riyals, spent in CairoMarket
  469. Spent by the thirtiethInside
  470. The feed has left the countryOperator
  471. The singular youCraft
  472. Cairo loses its weekendsMarket
  473. Written by whoever stayedInside
  474. Two calendars on one deskOperator
  475. It does not empty, it movesMarket
  476. The pause is not freeOperator
  477. Explaining June to head officeInside
  478. Twice the price by the seaMarket
  479. A beach nobody here is onOperator
  480. Divided by twelveInside
  481. Ninety days on the coastMarket
  482. The shortest copy of the yearCraft
  483. Compared to whatOperator
  484. Who stays behindMarket
  485. Who works on EidInside
  486. The dashboard on Eid morningOperator
  487. A share of a sheepMarket
  488. Giving without the postInside
  489. Spend runs through the holidayOperator
  490. The shelf knows which EidMarket
  491. The courier sets the end dateOperator
  492. The second ideaCraft
  493. Who is here in AugustInside
  494. A three-month cityMarket
  495. The stall is six weeks oldOperator
  496. Nobody's job to rememberInside
  497. The last order before the airportMarket
  498. The auction has no categoriesOperator
  499. The afternoon shutterMarket
  500. Decided on WhatsAppInside
  501. Forty assets, one ideaOperator
  502. Write the loss firstCraft
  503. The other EidMarket
  504. The shock absorberInside
  505. Pace to paydayOperator
  506. A small market fills upMarket
  507. Paying for the same startOperator
  508. Who has adminInside
  509. The day starts at nineMarket
  510. Three twos make sixOperator
  511. Waiting for the signatureInside
  512. A radius is an audienceMarket
  513. The customer wrote it firstCraft
  514. Copy of copy of campaignOperator
  515. The house is revisingMarket
  516. A test to settle an argumentInside
  517. Too small to testOperator
  518. Summer's first price riseMarket
  519. The money comes quarterlyInside
  520. The dashboard's weekendOperator
  521. When the terrace closesMarket
  522. The account works the holidayOperator
  523. Best needs a witnessCraft
  524. Afraid of MarchInside
  525. Rented for the weekendMarket
  526. Who wrote the wrapOperator
  527. The Saturday screenshotInside
  528. Friday moves to nineMarket
  529. The terrace you already paid forOperator
  530. Booked on ThursdayMarket
  531. Cut in Dubai, felt in CairoInside
  532. Full feed, empty checkoutOperator
  533. Greeting a day not yoursCraft
  534. Feseekh weekMarket
  535. The ones who did not have toInside
  536. One message for everyoneOperator
  537. Time to change their mindMarket
  538. The flow still says RamadanOperator
  539. What the giving was forInside
  540. Between Eid and the exodusMarket
  541. Rebuilt, not resumedOperator
  542. Three days on the calendarInside
  543. What the distributor still holdsMarket
  544. The brief said RamadanCraft
  545. Bought for the tableOperator
  546. The bag is the dining roomMarket
  547. The year starts in AprilInside
  548. The courier holds the cashOperator
  549. The first Friday after EidMarket
  550. Only what was servedInside
  551. Growing slower than the monthOperator
  552. Eid is not RamadanMarket
  553. Turning the day back roundOperator
  554. The greeting from a brandCraft
  555. Until after EidInside
  556. Nobody compares prices tonightMarket
  557. Where the audience wentOperator
  558. The iftar you do not hostInside
  559. The second day of EidMarket
  560. Built for a moving dateOperator
  561. The price of kahkMarket
  562. The verdict comes earlyInside
  563. Suddenly a giftOperator
  564. Not every motherCraft
  565. A gift judged by the tableMarket
  566. Eleven days earlier every yearInside
  567. The month risesOperator
  568. Feed the driverMarket
  569. The email that lands at iftarOperator
  570. Approved at elevenInside
  571. Eid begins in the middleMarket
  572. The second peakOperator
  573. Which budget the donation sits inInside
  574. The ad break people watchMarket
  575. Blessed, together, generousCraft
  576. The reply comes at tenOperator
  577. What the family group forwardsMarket
  578. Credit for the moonInside
  579. The small account's RamadanOperator
  580. Bigger than the householdMarket
  581. Whose table the ad is forInside
  582. Two prices for one dayOperator
  583. The first morningMarket
  584. Ready in the wrong orderOperator
  585. The reader at elevenCraft
  586. One Ramadan, written onceInside
  587. Who books the iftar tentMarket
  588. Two holiday calendarsOperator
  589. Keep the post, cut the mediaInside
  590. Already in the houseMarket
  591. The code under the postOperator
  592. A holiday without a defaultMarket
  593. Half the team will be fastingInside
  594. The day ends at suhoorOperator
  595. A greeting is a signatureCraft
  596. Served without being seenMarket
  597. Least authority, whole audienceInside
  598. Ten identical bouquetsOperator
  599. The other Valentine's DayMarket
  600. Open four days a yearOperator
  601. Six signatures for a postInside
  602. The shelf fills before the moonMarket
  603. The cheap monthOperator
  604. The four-day regionInside
  605. The Friday replyMarket
  606. The three-minute filmCraft
  607. Everyone eats at the same minuteOperator
  608. Thirty nights at one tableMarket
  609. The week head office visitsInside
  610. The ceiling is a censusOperator
  611. Four weeks outMarket
  612. Which page the number is onInside
  613. The quiet accountOperator
  614. Sell-in is not demandMarket
  615. The same on a TuesdayOperator
  616. Understood is not heardCraft
  617. The family is the boardInside
  618. Busiest after midnightMarket
  619. The Friday hoursOperator
  620. Year on year, minus eleven daysInside
  621. A country in a dropdownMarket
  622. Three shared daysOperator
  623. Iftar is sold to officesMarket
  624. Instruction down, comment upInside
  625. Named by whoever was awakeOperator
  626. Riyals, not percentagesCraft
  627. The kiosk never saw the adMarket
  628. The buy is the planInside
  629. The second audienceOperator
  630. The desert weekendMarket
  631. History is not an assetOperator
  632. The threshold is the jobInside
  633. Awareness does not stay boughtMarket
  634. Ramadan by the hourOperator
  635. The curve nobody drewInside
  636. The eve, not the dayMarket
  637. A table is not an ideaCraft
  638. A channel needs a readerOperator
  639. The second ChristmasMarket
  640. How the number arrivesInside
  641. Restarting as a strangerOperator
  642. Day one is mid-seasonMarket
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