Writing insights on all things business, life, philosophy, and entrepreneurship.
Was at Newark airport a few days ago, getting on a last-minute flight to Tulum for New Year's. Standing there watching people pay $7 for a bottle of water that costs $1 anywhere else. This hit different. Airports are fascinating because they're perfect examples of contained economic ecosystems. Once you pass through security, you enter a completely different economic reality. Normal price sensitivity disappears. Regular market forces stop applying. The rules of the outside world become irrelevant. Think about it. A sandwich that would cause riots at $22 on a normal street sells easily at the airport. People who would never pay $6 for a coffee anywhere else don't even blink at airport prices. The normal price resistance just... vanishes. But this isn't about overpriced airport food. This is about understanding how contained ecosystems create opportunities for asymmetric returns. When you find yourself in an environment with different rules, different constraints, different dynamics - that's where the real edge lives. I see this clearly in my last-minute trip planning. While everyone else is fighting for standard holiday bookings, I'm leveraging relationships and connections to secure spots that technically don't exist. Operating in a different ecosystem with different rules. This pattern shows up everywhere once you start looking for it. Every industry has its airports - contained spaces where normal rules don't apply and conventional price sensitivity disappears. Look at the nightlife industry in Miami. Look at luxury real estate in NYC. Look at the art market globally. These are all contained ecosystems with their own economic realities. Their own rules. Their own opportunities for those who understand the dynamics. The fascinating part is how few people recognize these opportunities. They're so conditioned by normal market rules that they miss the places where those rules don't apply. But the real players? They specifically look for these contained ecosystems. They seek out environments where they have an unfair advantage - whether through insight, relationships, or understanding of the unique dynamics at play. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Every major opportunity I've capitalized on has been in some form of contained ecosystem where I had an edge others didn't see or couldn't access. The key isn't just finding these ecosystems - it's understanding which ones you have unique leverage in. Where do your insights, relationships, or capabilities give you an unfair advantage? Where can you operate under different rules than the broader market? This is why relationships matter so much in business. They give you access to contained ecosystems others can't enter. They let you play by different rules. They create opportunities for asymmetric returns. Just like how I can make a last-minute holiday trip work through the right connections, the biggest business opportunities often come from being able to operate in spaces where others can't even enter. The airport doesn't just charge high prices because it can. It charges high prices because it operates under completely different constraints and opportunities than the outside world. Understanding these dynamics is what separates the players from the spectators. Success leaves clues. And one of the biggest clues I've noticed is that the most successful people aren't trying to win in open markets. They're finding or creating contained ecosystems where they have structural advantages. That's the real edge. Not competing in open markets. But finding your airports. Where your advantages compound. Where your insights create leverage. Where your relationships change the rules. The rest is just paying retail. |
Writing insights on all things business, life, philosophy, and entrepreneurship.