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This thread reminds me of a story that I read attributed to Chris Stott the famous English box turner.
Chris made his living selling at craft shows all over the country. He was a smoker and always took smoke breaks outside the venue. On one particular weekend he as smoking and overheard this conversation between two old ladies.

The first said, "Let's go in and see what they have."
The other lady said, "Let's don't; it is just stuff they made themselves."

If you have ever experienced selling to people in person they always think they can make whatever you are selling themselves. They think all craftspeople have a Shopsmith. And in my area everything made from wood is made from pine or oak with a different color of stain. They don't know that there are any woods besides pine and oak.
 
I read a story once about a lady and her husband visiting a pen show... she looked at a pen that was prices say about $50 (don't remember the exact amount).
She sniffed and said to the vendor, My husband can make that ....
Her husband said: All I need is a $3000 lathe, $50 worth of wood, a bunch of pen accessories, $300 worth of turning tools and about a year of practice....
BUY THE DAMN PEN ALREADY. :rofl:
:rofl:
 
Much like this story about the experienced mechanic...

A giant ship’s engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one ‘professional’ after another but none of them could figure out how to fix the broken engine.

Then they brought in a man who had been fixing ships since he was young.
He carried a large bag of tools with him and when he arrived immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship’s owners were there watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away and the engine was fixed!!!

A week later, the owners received an invoice from the old man for $10,000.

What?! the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything..!!!”.

So they wrote to the man; “Please send us an itemized invoice.”

The man sent an invoice that read:

Tapping with a hammer………………….. $2.00

Knowing where to tap…………………….. $9,998.00

Effort is important but experience and knowing where to direct that effort makes all the difference.
 
Back when such things were still possible, a friend of mine had taken a TV in to a repair shop. The fellow called him up the next day and said he could have it fixed for about $100 which was amenable to all involved. My buddy being curious asked the repair man at pickup what all was on the bill, to which he received the reply "Parts, Knowledge".
 
Mike Stafford said:
Much like this story about the experienced mechanic...

A giant ship’s engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one ‘professional’ after another but none of them could figure out how to fix the broken engine.

Then they brought in a man who had been fixing ships since he was young.
He carried a large bag of tools with him and when he arrived immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship’s owners were there watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away and the engine was fixed!!!

A week later, the owners received an invoice from the old man for $10,000.

What?! the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything..!!!”.

So they wrote to the man; “Please send us an itemized invoice.”

The man sent an invoice that read:

Tapping with a hammer………………….. $2.00

Knowing where to tap…………………….. $9,998.00

Effort is important but experience and knowing where to direct that effort makes all the difference.
Click to expand...
I got that same answer from an auto mechanic once.... my old '91 6 cylinder truck wouldn't start one day and had to call in a friend mechanic.... he raised the hood, took a look at the battery, connected a wire to the frame and the truck started immediately... charged me $100 to come out and "fix" the truck... when I complained, he said, "well, I knew where to look and how to connect the wire"... I paid the $100.
 
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