Ok kuwi, we'll try this.
You need a sign for your new business. You have $200 budgeted.
There is a retired professional sign painter who would do the job for that amount. You've seen his work, and know he has a good reputation. After discussing what you want it to say, he tells you he would have it ready in five days. It will be fairly plain, no frills.
You also have a friend with an art degree, that could really use the money. He's never done this kind of thing before. Still, you love the anime that this person does. His artistic talents are evident. Over a couple of beers, the friend agrees to give it a try. By the fourth, he's convinced he could make the most attractive sign in the whole town, drawing everyone in to your establishment.
You decide to invest in potential, over experience.
Five days pass. No sign. The friend has several different attempts scattered about, but, nothing is finished.
"I didn't know what to use as the base. I didn't know what kind of paint to use. Did you know that they have paint specifically made for sign painting, and brushes too? It's taking me a while to learn how to use them."
Potential is running head-long into your planned opening date. But, you were willing to invest.
The day before your opening, the friend calls to tell you the sign is done and installed. You squeeze a few minutes out of your pre-opening day preparations to admire his work.
It's colorful, bold, imaginative. He's incorporated the name of your business into the clothing of several anime characters. You're blown away. He takes his money, you go back inside to finish getting ready for the big day.
The next day, the trouble starts. "What's the name of this place, anyway?" After explaining it a couple of times, you finally take the next person out to show them how cleverly it's been incorporated into the whole beautiful scene. They squint up, shrug, and roll their eyes. You figure they've just not learned to appreciate good art.
A week later, you're driving down the street, idly ticking off the names of your neighbor's shops. That's when you realize that your sign is indeed colorful, it's imaginative, and it's also impossible to read at 20 MPH. It's impossible to read at a fast walk. Ten feet, standing still, and studying it, is really best.
The experienced sign painter offered plain. You have the sneaking suspicion that it would have been delivered on time and also saved a lot of headaches. The 'potential' of your friend caused more stress, and in the end you received something that does not work. He didn't understand how to deliver what you really needed, rather than what you thought you wanted. But, you've invested in potential.
Now that he's got the paint and brushes, perhaps he will apprentice with the retired painter to learn how to make effective signage?
