Sunday, November 8, 2009

Entrepreneurship

I think everyone that is in business at one time or another is feeling what I am feeling now. The feeling of loneliness, fear, no security, uncertainty, hasty anticipation, and others that I never felt when I am still working and living paycheck to paycheck. These things that deter one from starting his own business somehow... And I felt it several times before, but now, it is feeling so great.

Being able to manage my time as I see fit caused me more burden than ever and there comes the usual procrastination. Even here some things such as administration and money management is essential but it is not fun. In business, it is not only about getting as much as possible, but it is also about cutting cost, and keeping the business principle and mission in line.

Being able to try out new ideas also means that many more ideas are not working at first, but I have to keep trying and fixing things as it goes.

The dice has been casted. There is no turning back. Now I have chosen this road and I'm going to stick with it until I reach my goal here.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

State of The World (Part I)

As I observe the state of the world and Indonesia silently, I came up with several revelations:

Things that is thought to be good is not so good if not used in moderation. We see the industry in general. It's a fact that every decade there is always an economic crisis looming ahead. Why is that happening all the time? Factories' goal is to maximize production to satisfy the demand so that the owner got maximum profit. Many businesses are built for the purpose of generating profit alone. Well, sometimes catasthrophe strucks and the supply is too much. See the CPO and oil last year. What happens next is too much supply and the owner is at risk of a loss. Well, owners are smart-ass, so instead of taking the loss to himself, he can drop it at his workers. We see layoffs to cut cost. Workers, knowing nothing that his piece of work, can't do nothing but cling to his social security, or join the revolution. The climate suddenly heats! Scary...

Medical professions are concerned with preservation of lives. In past, a deformed child just die. Nothing can be done to save him. Now, it is a different story. Every parent want his child to live. If he has the money, he can make an effort to save his child from early death. What happens is overpopulation. The world's population has doubled more in 200 years that in the previous two million years. That is insane! More population drives the land prices up the roof (see Japan), and drive those with out so much luck to live in a bad housing. Nature has it's own ways to cope with it. Catasthrophe, epidemic is two of them.

Over-industrialization and over-population caused new problems: nature over-exploitation, alineation, and city over-building. The climate here in Jakarta is so hot now, when it is supposed to be a rainy season, and when it rains, flood comes. Over-building. I need not explain about nature over-exploitation because it is sounded everywhere without any effort to stop it. People need paper, so cut the wood more! Stop it please. Alienation comes to worker that never see the result of his work and just get a minimum salary with the "added value" goes to the owner. And the worker tries to assimilate more capital so that he can exploit other workers, compounding the vicious cycle. Many times he failed and become bitter, and want to start a Revolution.

(I'm trying to think in material world when writing this. Like Spinoza, I might be materialist on the outside but idealist on the inside, so bear with me...)

Einstein once said something like "A problem can't be solved by the state of mind that you're in." means, I must transcend this thought first somehow. Again, and again.

Think of it. Find the solution.

Start small.

With yourself.