<This is an earlier Earth? What do you do?>

"I make clothes. Uh, these things." She tugs her sleeve.

<Huh. Are you good at it?>

"...yes, I am."

<I don't know very much about how textiles are made since we don't use them much.>

"Well, I'm good at it. Isama calls the thing I invented the 'assembly line'."

<That's really impressive.>

"She was pretty pleased about it, yeah."

<What does she make?>

"Furniture. They've got this cunning joinery so they're easy to put together, you buy it in a box and it's together in a few minutes, even Kitty c- uh."

<All this magic floating around and no one knows how to fix them?>

"Doesn't seem like it. I suppose maybe if the Khazad are immune to mind affecting magic like the emails said, their world could have something for the rest that just wouldn't work for that one."

<Is there a summary somewhere I can read?>

"I got a bunch of emails about it but can't forward them to you if you haven't got an email."

<It's all right. I'm mostly just curious what the rest of you do.>

"Isun does dishes and Ismat's a jeweler. Magic jewelry, though."

<That's so impressive- that it's a different thing each time, I mean, it suggests that the success isn't the slightest bit incidental ->

"Well, yours couldn't very well do... is it literally any of the other things or do you sometimes wear jewelry and use furniture?"

<We have desks. And wearable electronics.>

"I guess she could have gone into those, then, though there's not much room for expanding the product line if it's all and only desks, is there."

<This is true. But I mostly mean - the ability to make a successful business in the industry you pick is a much much more impressive one than just the ability to make a successful business in one industry. It suggests much more generalizable skills.>

"I mean, I started on clothes because I know clothes, but sure, now that I've got momentum I'm moving into shoes even though I couldn't make a decent shoe starting with a hunk of leather if I had to do it myself, sure."

Swish swish swish but it's more like a dog wagging its tail. <See, that doesn't happen with most businesses. The model where most businesses are trying to maximize profits is really inaccurate and the specific place it breaks down is that most small business owners don't have the slightest interest in doing things outside their wheelhouse, they're nearly indifferent to success beyond a certain level and they're really averse to having to do something new.>

"If I had to bet Ismea's doing the worst of any of us."

<Why's that?>