Somebody else to do the selling

A young man in Helwan binds notebooks by hand, and they are beautiful. Stitched spines, thick paper, covers cut from cloth he chooses in the market.

What he wants, more than anything, is someone to sell them. A person who will talk to the shops, answer the messages, chase the payments and leave him free to make things. Ideally someone experienced, who cares about the notebooks as much as he does, and who would be happy with a small cut of a small business.

It is a common wish among people who make things. Someone to handle the money. Someone to deal with the staff. Someone to take the part of the work that feels like a distraction from the real work.

Said aloud, the problem is clear. A person who is truly good at selling has choices. They can sell things that are easier to sell, in larger volumes, for people who can pay them properly. Choosing a one-man workshop with uncertain stock and no budget is not what talented sellers usually do, because part of their talent is choosing well what to sell.

The same is true of the good accountant and the good manager. Their skill takes them towards bigger books, not smaller ones.

So the wish tends to sit there for years, unanswered, while the notebooks stack up in the corner.

There are two ways out. The first is to stop waiting and get competent at the thing himself, at least well enough to keep the work moving. If it matters to the business, it matters to him.

The second is to look for a different kind of partner. Not the finished professional, but someone a little like him: talented, unproven, still learning. They will not arrive knowing everything. They can get there alongside him.