Enterprise Reversal

AKA 'reversing the enterprise' - means converting a cost into a value stream by repositioning or re-framing the cost into a valuable offer that others are willing to pay for, as opposed to paying them for it. In other words, someone pays you to do work for the enterprise, rather than the typical situation of having to pay employees for the services rendered.

This applies easily to knowledge work, but less so for physical labor. To apply this to physical labor, even more creativity is required.

This shifts the dynamic of an enterprise to increase the possibility of viral acceptance of a given product. Because the perspective of something is shifted from a burden (cost) to a value (benefit) - people will naturally be attracted to the value. Thus, the key for a successful entrepreneur is to reframe their activity as something that provides value as opposed to something that is a burden. A simple perspective shift does it. This perspective shift may require effort, innovation, and energy - but the payback should be ample.

One proverbial example of this is Mark Twain - the episode where Huck Finn gets Ben to paint the fence for him. [1]