Hi everyone!
Thanks for checking out my thread! This is my first official one so I hope you like it. I came across Liberty.me back in the fall and have enjoyed watching videos by intelligent speakers and taking in some of the books there are for download. I’ve been at university for the past several years taking in what has been required for my degree…and I must say that for anyone wanting to use their brain again after college…some post-college recovery and repair to one’s knowledge is needed. Such a shame to have taken so many courses that were bent with some agenda or just plain poor and taught by a tenured overpaid fool. What can you do.
So I wanted to write a thread for guidelines for entrepreneurial initiatives. I figured that this is a great next-step for the libertarian thinker since so much of building a free world for yourself and others can come from engaging in entrepreneurial ventures. All great real wealth comes from being an entrepreneur. The parasites of our society (central bankers et al) are relying on entrepreneurs coming up with solutions. But more importantly, I think that in coming up with solutions as an entrepreneur you gain the means to free yourself from having to be subservient to the state and free up your energy to creating a better world.
The idea to have guidelines I felt was key. In so many days of hopeless Google searches and desperation I had little knowledge of how to focus my thinking on how to improve my life and my world most directly. I, maybe like yourself reading, became interested in libertarian economics and politics for this reason. It’s worth noting that in politics and economics, whether libertarian or otherwise, it’s possible for one to become lost in it all. Endlessly parroting theories or trying to learn how some shipping lane back in the 60s was blockaded by some country and the effect this had on trade in some region, etc. There’s learning about the problem and then there is looking to solve a problem. And I think this is the transition from being interested in politics or economics to being an entrepreneur. So today I want to provide this for anyone interested that might want to better their life quickly, not want to get involved deeply in political and economic debates for their whole life, and be a more creative person. If you have comments I’ll probably check this thread and read them but might either avoid replying or take a while to reply depending on what you say. I don’t always care about what people think about me but I want to learn how to be a better writer and a better / more clear thinker / better analyst. I’ll be more likely to respond to something constructive. The way I write is a little chaotic or a little compelling. I write a lot for my job.
So here it goes. What should an entrepreneur focus on? There are many sectors of the economy and many possible business activities to consider. But the core of what an entrepreneur does is serve the needs of others. Now this is not charity, this is not welfare. Though it could be looked at it that way if you’re religiously inclined. But I’m not. When you serve a need you’re entering into a voluntary contract where you solve something that someone else wants or needs and you receive deserved compensation.
As market capitalists, or as anarcho-capitalists reading this, we are quick to judge the actions and legitimacy of the state. And why not! It’s based on a non-voluntary contract which is really compulsion and the threat of violence for non-compliance with its dictates, etc. I was going back and forth with someone on the Liberty.me support staff where I decided that writing a set of guidelines for entrepreneurs – a list of things worth focusing on – from my view, for 2015 and going forward.
There has been a theme established with a group called Bitnation (see http://www.bitnation.co) of outcompeting with established government services and I think this is great! What a great narrative for creative people if they are seeking to both build wealth for themselves and help contribute to a more principled and coherent society. So below are my analyses of existing government services, which ones I think are worth pursuing for an entrepreneur, my comments about Bitnation, and closing comments for the Libertarian community at large.
- Bitnation seemed like it was too aggressive. It laid out in detail the services governments provided however and a sort of game plan can be realized from looking at their work.
- Bitnation’s Services Broken down:
- Diplomacy
- Advocacy
- Crisis Negotiations
- Security
- Peer-to-peer protection
- Individual Security
- Contract Enforcement
- Education
- Insurance
- Mutual Insurance
- Healthcare
- Unemployment
- Pensions
- Law
- ID System
- Dispute Resolution
- Marriage & Divorce
- Corporate Incorporation
- Land Registry
- Birth & Death Certificates
- Childcare Contracts
So from these services one could go further and include what seem like some obvious things that for whatever reason were overlooked:
- Infrastructure
- Roads
- Rail
- Telecommunications / Internet
- Media Distribution
- Energy Production
- Energy Distribution
- Water Treatment
- Water Distribution
- Air Traffic Control
- Heathcare (more so in Canada…well maybe not now…)
- Emergency Trauma Management
- Psychiatry / Psychology
- Long-term Care
If I had the means, which of these would I want to go after as an entrepreneur? Privately-motivated initiatives we know from reading economists are better at allocating resources and balancing risk since they are not able to pull a lever to get more capital either through central banking currency manipulation, leaning on taxpayers, or just straight up misappropriating funds. And as an entrepreneur, why might I want to go about the trouble of setting up a competing alternative service anyway? Simply put, wealth and fame! Right now especially in the West we have aging populations that are going to rely more and more on services above that are being managed by governments. So by outdoing them at their own game you are actually creating a better world by not allowing the governments to siphon off as much tax money and be able to justify it, and the very act of creating a superior service to what the government provides has a very significant prize associated with it. Customers, revenue, sitting on the beach, unplugging from the matrix, etc.
And let’s face it, things are not exactly turning into the 70s where people are out in the street, going to concerts, growing afros, carrying boomboxes, and driving goofy cars right now in North America. The amount of real capital is mostly gone or tied up! Populations are aging (in Europe as well), and cities sometime feel more like they’re turning into government-run nursing homes…(OR THE MATRIX WHERE THEY’RE SETTING UP…!!!!!….) </paranoia>
So I think that in looking to solve government problems better than the government is able to can produce more real capital quickly, make entrepreneurs rich, and help to build toward an anarcho-capitalistic “social order” as Lew Rockwell put it in one of his books. The key principle worth identifying is that this can be accomplished without force but rather by SELLING. That is, appealing to people’s needs rather than trying to win them over in debate. The bulk of the population isn’t interested in libertarian philosophy YET (right guys???…) So amp up that charisma and go watch an SEO seminar.
Back to the list. Some services would be better to start disintermediating than others. Obviously as free optimizing individuals we would want to take the easiest first. How about money? ..oh yeah..So what would be next? Security in Bitnation’s parlance…I would STAY AWAY FROM. Americans in my opinion get WAY too caught up with talking about guns. Silk Road 3.0, 4.0, 11.0…enough said. You seem like a lonely HAM radio operator stuck in the 1980s not just clinging to your guns, but clinging to your gun debate. Work on something else first. You can’t sell people a new service by simultaneously freaking them out. If the wider culture is used to the police right now you’re not going to change that! What you CAN change lies somewhere else.
Diplomacy and Advocacy…we have to remember that some of the services governments provide may just be totally useless in their entirety haha. These could be useless, unless you want to set up a non-profit so you can advocate for tax money so you can advocate for…no creativity to be had here it seems.
Education. Coursera, and MIT online! Great first starts. Saving people from debt-death in whatever way seems like a wonderful way to both preserve capital and as well as peoples’ time so they don’t have to work in call centers right after graduating to make interest payments on their loans. Definitely seems like good work is being done with Prosper and Lending Club here as well. Perhaps new schemes to offer quick work training that aren’t managed by the government? Maybe a network of decentralized Coursera class spaces scattered around. Going to a strip mall to watch MIT videos with others instead of just at home? Maybe. Plenty are unwilling to sell their soul to the Ivy League schools but I’m sure would be willing to sign up for a persistent membership to a decentralized class space…and just always take courses, get designations, and do whatever during their evenings. You can’t watch YouTube videos forever, TV eventually loses its flair, exhausting farm jobs are available basically to only large-production owners…so for many who don’t work in trades, that could be the most productive thing they do with their time.
Insurance…isn’t this already privatized? I guess maybe the message is, don’t sign up for any government social security pensions if you have the option. Real capital will be siphoned away even if you do happen to get the digits promised to you in the future. If you’re an analyst working for a government pension fund you’re probably not as good as an analyst working for GS (I’m guessing).
ID systems, licences…this is all just paper work. You’re producing paper that looks different from the government’s paper. A Blockchain marriage certificate vs. a State of X marriage certificate. Congratulations, lazy business idea accomplished.
Dispute Resolution. A bit to say here. As an entrepreneur this shouldn’t be your focus. An entrepreneur by definition is not someone looking for disputes – they are someone looking to create something. When state laws become blockchain laws propagated through the Bitcoin network all that will happen is lawyers will get out of their chair, go to a store, buy a new 3000 page book of laws, return to their chair, and resume their work. Dispute resolution that is exterior to the state exists in some forms already (see https://www.net-arb.com ). I’m not very familiar with this space but I can say just on principle that building value is not building out avenues for people to carry out their conflicts, and taking money from them as you encourage them to carry out their conflict in the avenue you invested time into studying. Lawyers, if you’re reading, this is an internet discussion forum – not a newspaper. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate
Healthcare. Hugely political. Room for disintermediation I can say from personal experience. In short, most hospitals are very good at emergency trauma care but have all sorts of other departments and services hurled on top of this key service. Hospitals are a playground for the work I do – business analysis – and actually the optimizing of hospitals can actually “save or create” a lot of capital still. Entrepreneurs looking at healthcare can keep in mind that healthcare was one of the few growing sectors in the US in 2014 and will obviously continue to grow for coming decades. People will continue to hurl nonsense services into government revenue streams here (app for determining your psychological well-being sponsored by Obamacare, anyone?). Hospitals are good at emergency trauma primarily as I said. So room for entrepreneurs will be in disintermediating long-term care. If more older people can look after themselves while not having to go to a hospital or interacting with the medical establishment this will be a prize for those who can identify and serve needs. Uber for nurses?
Infrastructure. Didn’t Warren Buffet buy a railway? Key trends include young people moving from the suburbs to cities, the shift to electric cars, (..free energy..cough..), low oil, stagnating aviation. When people don’t have as much money they won’t drive around as much. Some people will always drive around but at the margins there is this shift. It seems rational so I don’t think an entrepreneur looking to serve people’s needs would want to take money from people who shouldn’t be spending it anyways. I like work that has been done in my city (Toronto) to modernize the buses and trains – though these are government-run. Uber seems to fill a niche with covert taxis you can hail with an app. Can you make a covert bus? Not sure but it looks like I can mention it…We can all look at New York City to see the multitude of sanctioned and non-sanctioned ways of getting around. By different cars, carts, trains, trams, buses, pedicabs, vans – an entire city for ideas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_New_York_City Crowdfund a new high-speed railway line. Kidding but not kidding. Dagne Taggart would have used crowdfunding.
Internet. Most of the internet runs through NSA-spied-upon large trunklines and what I’ve heard is that the network could be more decentralized. The mesh networking movement is involved with this. http://www.wired.com/2014/01/its-time-to-take-mesh-networks-seriously-and-not-just-for-the-reasons-you-think/ If paranoia over surveillance rises so will demand for safe, secure, alternative ways to connect. Microwave IP links are possible and actually permitted under FCC guidelines. There could be money in building out MANs (Municipal Area Networks) in the future. To be able to place calls that cost very little will be valuable going forward. Parallel surveillance-resistant networks will probably need to be established. Got a crowdfunded ship to lay more undersea cables that doesn’t pass through AT&T buildings? More bitcoin mining – less refreshing facebook – anything is possible. Practically speaking though this space is either saturated or has a high entry point. The entrepreneur would have to do something else first or focus on something with limited scope. A telephony project I saw recently is at http://bitphone.net. Peoples’ cell phone bills are barely justifiable as it is – so I like this project. Jailbreaking, IP phone relays, SMS IP relays will all have a market going forward.
Media Distribution. TV Cable, Radio. Parts of radio are regulated by the FCC. SiriusXM is not to an extent. Got a crowdfund sale for a competing satellite radio network? Didn’t think so. This is a more mature sector so I can’t think of entrepreneurial disintermediation and competing service-providing opportunities here. Are there 4K satellite feeds? The small-ISP movement is always good to see. Might be varying degrees of saturation depending on where you live.
Energy Production. See solar. See free energy. Rabbit-hole risk so leave this.
Energy Distribution. See Tesla material on microwave transmission. Rabbit-hole risk so leave this.
Water Production and Distribution. If you’re an entrepreneur you’re not going to lay new pipes as your first business. But maybe you’re an engineer who knows what would be required. Maybe existing piping systems are old and overlooked in your city or town because your local government is siphoning off money for the mayor’s kid’s wedding. Take a few business classes before going to work for the water utility. Maybe something can be built or improved outside of the bureaucracy. It’s worth remembering that most utility systems are built by private contractors and later appropriated by municipalities. If you’re a land developer, maybe consider how much you need to plug into the municipal supply – especially if there are reports that the water is tainted, and consider how much it might be to build near a lake and install your own water treatment system for your development. If the state allows lead to fester in the water maybe you or others won’t. If homebuyers recognize this you can surely charge more for lots.
Don’t make another water filter. The market has enough. Alex Jones will sell you them.
Wow, OK, so that wraps up my piece! I decided to write this because I can look at myself back in time when I got interested in libertarian politics. It’s a worthy pursuit, don’t get me wrong! You have to understand problems before you can go about solving them – it is always a multi-step process. HOWEVER. Many enjoy becoming lazy, particularly when they get their first paper-pushing job, decide to get a dog, renew their Netflix subscription…and it all sort of…and suddenly they become interested in politics again! But wait! Wasn’t I into libertarian politics way back when?…Yeah, but, the White HousegjgjgjgjgjdsfljkflfkjfdsdjfjdkfdjfdjdkfdjBitcoinjfjkfjfjfjfjfjdhghghgh LIBERTARIANS FIGURED THINGS OUT ALREADY. I KNOW YOU’RE IN DEBT. THIS IS HOW YOU GET OUT FAST. YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM THAT WAS CREATED BY OR IS SUSTAINED BY THE GOVERNMENT. I think this is the most straightforward way in this economy. Problem solving will be KING in the coming years.
Yes it’s difficult but what’s the alternative?
https://www.cfainstitute.org/Pages/index.aspx
Just know that it will take a lot of exhausting hours, you won’t contribute to improving society, you won’t create much real wealth, and you’ll basically be passing things on to the next person who’s going to get rich QUICKLY because they had courage. And when you get frustrated you’ll be able to find a forum, religion, or political group with like-minded people. If you’re now trying to figure out whether you’re a left-libertarian or a right-libertarian you’re doomed already…
I’ll close by saying that I think this is a good site because they have ALL of the great books by libertarian thinkers available FOR QUICK AND EASY DOWNLOAD. All of it has been edited and it’s all there. Should save you a huge amount if you were to go to Amazon or wade through the wider internet. Read up. Always re-read. Lazy people gravitate towards socialism. Socialism grows out of laziness. You will need to read these works if you’re going to deal with people in business because they will always have agendas that they are participating with or might be susceptible to participating with. But if you’re going to identify with being a libertarian you better not fall into this trap. If you do you will never be truly free in life and you will have to settle for a Honda and middle-class and traffic like everyone else. In an aging economy you might not even get that. Just more traffic and social networks to pass the time. I really don’t know what to suggest for you reading but this. Take what I say to heart and make this year 2015 your best. As they say in the Bitcoin realm with respect to mining difficulty – it usually will always go up. The same goes for our world today. Take care out there.
