Trust vs. Profit

When Business Gets Personal.

A friend of mine is involved in a unique business model that, on paper, seems almost foolproof. He buys raw materials and supplies them to companies where demand is constant. The beauty of this setup is simple: as long as he has the goods, he’s guaranteed a market.

But the real advantage comes from an unexpected source, a family friend he calls “uncle” who has spent years building strong relationships with distributors. This means my friend doesn’t need to travel to inspect materials or negotiate directly with suppliers. Instead, he simply sends money to his uncle, who handles everything on the procurement side. My friend then delivers the goods to his company clients, and once they pay, he takes his profit and returns the capital to his uncle.

Everything seemed straightforward until my friend called me one day with a nagging question: “What if my uncle is adding extra costs on top of the distributor prices?”

In other words, what if his uncle is pocketing additional profit by inflating the cost of materials? My immediate response was: “Guy, you’re making decent profit regardless. Does it really matter?”

But then he painted a different picture: “Imagine how much more I could be making if I had direct access to those distributors. Cutting out the middleman could increase my profits and give me more independence.”

It’s a fair question. On one hand, his uncle has the network, experience, and access that make the whole business possible. On the other hand, the only pathway to those direct relationships runs through his uncle.

Here’s where it gets tricky: this isn’t actually his real uncle, but a family friend. The issue now is that if he asks for direct access to the distributor network, it could either strengthen their partnership or completely destroy it.

Walk with me here. What my friend is really dealing with is the price of security. His current setup gives him something super valuable: guaranteed access to materials and trust with suppliers he’s never even met. That’s worth something, even if he can’t put an exact number on it.

But there’s also that voice in his head saying he could be making more money if he had direct control. It’s basically choosing between playing it safe with what works versus pushing for what could be better.

The real question isn’t whether his uncle is taking a cut (he probably is), but whether it’s worth paying. His uncle spent years building these relationships, took risks, and created a system that works. That has real value, even if it costs extra.

If you’re reading this, what would you do if you were in my friend’s shoes?