At the core of every solid business in every nation on the globe, there are two key components, free labor, and an established gift model (aka con game).
Throughout history we are told that one of the things the United States civil war did was to end slavery in this country. Unfortunately, that was nowhere near the case. We were told about black heroes like Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass, who were big advocates and risk-takers on behalf of black people in this country. Of course, also had white gentlemen like Abraham Lincoln who were killed due to their proponent of non-slavery in this country. However, the slave trade is still alive and well.
In most states in this country we still have clauses to certain types of employment. Waiting tables is the most obvious example. If you are a waiter or a waitress in a restaurant, you may make 2 or three dollars an hour, but then of course you pocket whatever tips you make pick up during your shift. However, it is up to your employer which shifts you receive, and he may make that decision based on many factors, all of which are up to him. Sometimes the more attractive people might get the better shifts because the customers are naturally happier to see them. Sometimes the younger waiters might get the busier shifts because they have more energy and can just flat out haul ass faster. Whatever the case may be, the only thing the owner of the restaurant or franchise business wants is for the product to get to the customer faster so he can get HIS food pellet faster. Because after all, he is still believing, as he has his whole life, that he is fed by food pellets and not something greater.
In every business there is a grift. That means that every day there is an established model where the customer enters into an agreement with the business owner, and comes away with something thinking they have gained, but have lost true economic value. Now you may ask yourself, how can this be true? I just bought a car or a house for half the price of the market value! I must have gotten some true economic value. But the problem reverts to something I spoke of in my beginning course. The goal of economics is not to gain value, it is to gain relationships with people that increase the power of the thoughts and actions of both parties. The actual numbers you are seeing on that financial statement, or that check from the bank…. has no actual worth in this world and never will. There is one reason why you do anything, and that is so your child or your spouse or maybe your parent(s), or you, can spend another day here, and be happier during it.
However, an argument suddenly presents itself! We need certain things like a car, house, food, and clean water. Parents want a great education for their kids. Most adults want to enjoy a successful career either to build a stack of money, to get famous, or to gain just general status in their industry. However, I ask you to break all of that down to the core. What do you think any of that really gets you? What it begins to do is run you around in a circular logic pattern, where once you achieve one of those goals, you are forced to achieve a bigger one, to support the former smaller one. That pattern, once you are in it, propagates itself to such a degree that it never stops. We as humans, when we are young, say there is no problem with this. We are okay busting ass for 30 years if when we are 50, we are rich, with a big house, and a great set of cars, and an awesome beautiful wife and maybe five incredibly well-educated kids. The problem is that most people find it is not realistic. We are unable to physically and mentally pull it off even when supported by immense business structures and delegation and grift structures and intense labor coerced workforces. We just cannot do it. We hit 50, we are a mess, our families are a mess, and we have some money, but we don’t even care that we have it, we just want to be 20 again when our minds were more joyful, and not nearly as destroyed by the rigors of chasing that next greenback.
The best strategy in life is to do what you want, every single day. Spend as much time as you want with as many people as you want. Help them as much as you want. Then just go to bed. Then wake up and repeat. If you ever want to change that routine, change it, but I assure you, wandering from “THAT BUSINESS” will only send you down a course of pain and heartache and an older life filled with 20/20 hindsight that tells you that you have completely wasted the few mature decades you were only ever going to get.
Don’t waste your time. Kiss your kids. Hug your wife. Go have some fun.
