It Only Took A Minute (and 34 Years)

It Only Took a Minute… and 34 Years: Why Your Expertise Is Worth More Than Just Your Time

In 1998, Citibank and Travelers Insurance merged and needed a new logo. They hired Paula Scher, one of the most legendary designers in the world. In their very first meeting, Scher pulled out a napkin and sketched the logo—right then and there. One of the executives asked, “How can it be done in a second?”

Her reply was perfect: “It was done in a second and 34 years.”

That moment gets to the heart of something every small business owner should understand:

Speed Isn’t the Enemy of Value—It’s Often the Evidence of It.

Paula Scher didn’t charge for the few moments she spent sketching on the napkin. She charged for her lifetime of experience, intuition, taste, and hard-won skill. The same is true in your business. Whether you’re designing signs, fixing machines, making strategy decisions, or consulting with a customer—it’s not just the time it takes today. It’s the years you’ve invested to make today look easy.

This is where the concept of Labour Perception Bias comes in. It’s the idea that people often associate more time and effort with greater value—and may question or undervalue work that’s completed quickly, even if the result is excellent.

One of the most famous examples is the parable of the engineer and the hammer:

A factory machine breaks down. The owner calls an engineer.

The engineer looks it over for a minute, taps it once with a hammer, and the machine roars to life.

He hands over a $5,000 invoice.

The owner demands a breakdown of the charge.

The engineer replies:
• Hammering the engine: $5
• Knowing where to hammer: $4,995

It’s not the action—it’s the expertise behind it that has real value.

Expertise is a Lagging Indicator

Author Ryan Holiday writes, “All success is a lagging indicator.”

That means your current results—like a smooth project, a fast turnaround, a confident presentation—are the visible tip of an iceberg made up of thousands of past hours spent learning, doing, failing, and improving.

Tinker Hatfield, a designer for Nike, put it like this: “When you sit down to create something… what you create is a culmination of everything you’ve seen and done previous to that point.”

A Word of Encouragement

If you’ve been in business a while, you’ve likely had a customer or client say, “That only took a few minutes!” Don’t let that shake your confidence.

Your speed is not a discount—it’s a demonstration of mastery.

Don’t be afraid to price based on value, not just effort. Your customers aren’t paying for the hour it took—they’re paying for the years it took to become someone who can do it in an hour.