here's life

So, I’m involved with this Internet Business Forum that is held at the church every friday night. By “involved” I mean I show up most weeks, take notes and wonder which of all the different ways to make money I could get into. I’ve got some major philosophical blocks that seem to crop up. First, I’m pretty lazy. I don’t really do a whole lot. But then there is the marketing thing. Most of the money you make on the internet seems to be by getting people to buy something. Pretty obvious. Problem is, I seem to have a fundamental problem with buying stuff. Sure, it’s the American Way, but everybody seems to be so focused on getting more and more, why should I encourage that? Then there is the problem of making money. Yes, you do need to make money—it’s part of life, it takes money to have food and raiment, but why should I try to get more? I have enough to survive, and I have much more than a huge percentage of the world. And that money has to come from somewhere—from the pockets and credit accounts of other people. So every dollar that I claim for myself is one less dollar that someone else has. Shouldn’t I try to save money instead? Buy things that are the best value, do without, invest in things that will make my expenses go down? That way, I can have more money to do other stuff with—like giving it to people or God. Speaking of giving stuff to people, that is really what I see as the optimum. I want to give to people, and let that help others find ways to save money, and give to others, and the chain goes on!* So, these are the preconceived notions that are floating around in my head as they talk about this way, and that system, and getting in on this other one. But, it’s, advertizing, and marketing…how are you adding value to the system? You are the middle man!

It is true that money, when reached for as a goal, will never be enough. And I can feel this greed rising in me when they talk about the large amounts of money to be made, for little effort. Or maybe it’s not greed persay, maybe it’s excitement at the opportunity to improve my situation. And, I have to remember, if I have more money, I have more money to give away! Robin Hood. I can take from one set of distant “friends” and give it to people I like more! I can write content to get people to click on ads, so I get money, meanwhile, I tell my real friends to get FireFox + Adblock + Filterset.G Updater to make so they don’t have to see the ads that I am polluting the world with.
What am I going to do? I’m not sure. I think I may need to throw out some of my illogical ideals and just offer a service and make a buck. After all, what do I do all day? I help to increase the price of airfares by not working for free. Traitor!

What do I want to do? Build house systems so efficient and cheap that they cost almost nothing and show others how to do the same. Like I can make a living off that. You need to get people to spend more, not less. That’s what keeps the economy going—people spending more, and more and more than they can afford.

*My feelings are influenced by the Free Software Movement, where everything is given away, and the more people you give it to, the better. [actually, I probably fell into the free and open source software community because I already felt that way inside]