What The Information Age Means For You

Apparently an ancient curse was "May you live in interesting times." It seems we shall.

One weird thing I see is that so many people are quitting their day-jobs and selling things online. It's not entrepreneurship, really, and it's all based off of some specific marketing strategy, but I'm not sure what to make of it. I finally figured it out when I saw an online marketing page marketing online marketing. Meta-exploitation. Anyway, I later saw another page with the exact same pen-like red circle around the send button, so clearly there's a specific system...

I just don't know what to make of it all.

I agree with you to a large degree, Gerardo. We do have a long way to go because we are still filling kids with the "work like a slave" mentality. However, with kids spending so much time on the Internet the influence toward entrepreneurship is growing.

I think this opens up an opportunity to "feed the fire" so to speak. Those of us who see the value and benefit of independent living and building your own sources of income can offer information and leadership that just might help accelerate the "waking up" of our young people. I see our current time as a *huge* opportunity to foster much greater freedom and to build a much better society that will make the government nannies more and more irrelevant.

Dave, totally agree with your "work like a slave then retire comment."

That worked for people 70 years ago, when corporate america as we knew it operated out of a significantly different set of core values than it does today. I still think, though, that too many people still follow that advise. I think that it will take several more generation for the average young person to realize that "go to school, get good grades so you can get yourself a nice job" will finally settle in.

Although I think that there is a call to change, and some people are looking towards the internet as the new land of opportunity, I still think we are years away from younger people finally saying, "enough with this" and start moving onto entrepreneurship.

I'm stunned at your insights. You couldn't be any more right on with many of your points. Two that really grabbed me were points #1 and #14.

Creating understanding and meaning is absolutely going to be the largest requirement in coming times. One of the things I've lamented consistently over the years is how much ground we are gaining technologically, yet how much ground we are loosing in wisdom and understanding. We have bought into the myth that just because we *can* do something, we *should* do it. Very rarely are we stopping to ask about the implications and consequences of our actions. Proof of that is how badly we've messed ourselves up economically through our extremely poor use of credit.

It's all about people is also a very profound insight. This generation seems to be waking up to that insight because of their observations of how their parents' lives have been ruined by accepting and living in the myth of "work like a slave, then retire." They've seen where that leads and the rebellion is on. I believe that this can only be a good thing, and those who provide support and leadership to the "rebels" will definitely benefit.

I wish to express how much I like what I'm reading. I just tripped across your blog yesterday and am now reading through your archives. I like it very much. Believe me when I tell you I'll be promoting it amongst my friends and acquaintances. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and wisdom.

The first video is a compliment to the book The Currency of the Future by Brad DeHaven. Which, in my opinion is the best book I've ever read on entrepreneurship, and it's because it focuses more on developing the right you, not the right business. There's an online copy, drop me a line if you want to read it.

Charlie, I think you are bang on with your analysis. I'd like to expand a bit on #2 and #5.

On #2 Intelligence is not enough:

I could not agree more about intelligence not being enough. I always thought that I was smart, but I could never figure out why in the world I could never get my i-commerce business off the ground, like at all. That's when out of desperation, I read Brad's book and my i-commerce business has been turned right side up. You have to have some business chops. You have to be emotionally tough, because the day you decide to do something meaningful with your life, some people will seem to go out of their way to tear you down. Most importantly you have to be relatable. Yes, folks, that means people skills, and the internet has not made those irrelevant-- it has actually made them significantly more necessary.

On #7 Being 7.5 hours behind those who work from home.

I totally agree with your analysis, but here are a few extra thoughts. The very next image was "and spend 4.5 hours with their children." Those two statistics are hinting more towards lifestyle, and I really could no agree more. When you multiply 7.5 hours per week against the 40 year plan, you end up in a spot were you literally will lose over 1.5 years of your life just going back and forward to work. They say that most marriages and families are soured because people can't invest enough relationship time into their families. It's kinda hard to build lifestyle, no matter how good the income is, if you are tethered in some way or another to your job or business all the time.

Very to the point videos. I have just divested myself of my offline businesses and am now heading online to discover my entrepreneurial world. People have always been what has mattered and this accounts for the phenomenon which is social media.

This is kind of scary but we have time to adapt to it. Especially as a number of warning signs have propped up and various authors and academics have predicted what is likely to happen. Technical jobs are being outsourced but soon they too will simply be automated, eliminating the need for a human being all together.

The creative stuff some day too will also be automated. Perhaps not in the near future, but I see no reason why, if we are to create a machine with such high intelligence, it cannot be creative and entrepreneurial!

ads last blog post..Boom Boom Pow REMIXED!