I have a vision of using the tools of capitalism to empower working class people. It's a sly vision which pleases me because really I just want to give working class people access to the rules that the capital class enjoy.
Back in the day* Americans grew up with the experience of small business. Families sold eggs. Families rented out rooms to travelers. The stores in town were owned by fellow citizens of that town. Paper routes, selling socks to the army, you get the picture. It seems to me that we are losing touch with our experience as sellers. Our kids are often so over-scheduled that lemonade stands are a rare sight. We are all buyers here, and most of what we buy feeds the corporations which have given us jobs but taken away our choice to start our own businesses.
I imagine a world in which we start selling again. Owning your own micro-business is hard work. It's also financially unstable. But how stable are our jobs now? We go along until middle age when we are outsourced or gotten rid of because of productivity gains. And then what?
The rise of Etsy and Ebay have given lots of people who are creative or sales minded a place to develop a conversation with capitalism that is less about the corporate world and more human. Blogs have given people who didn't have a public voice a chance to enter the conversation. The Maker movement which I view as an offshoot of the hippie movement is encouraging young people in valuing the things that they make more than the things that corporations make for them. This is a serious blow to the power that corporations currently have in our lives.
And what power is that? Our choices of food and clothing are limited to what is possible within the scope of profitability. Our choice of where to live is limited by where we can find a job that will support us. Our political choices are limited by the need of our candidates to court the serious money that corporations hold over their heads.
Many of us are just bumping our ways along in the darkness, learning as we go. There isn't a focus in most public school curriculum for people to develop the skill of sales, but I argue that it is a vital skill for all of us. When you apply for a college or a job you are selling yourself. When we want to talk to our representatives and make ourselves heard, we are selling ourselves. When we learn the skill of having a sales conversation, we are learning how to persuade. Are you seeing the connection between sales and political empowerment?
I unschool my kids. It has taught me a lot about how people learn. I have tried cramming knowledge into my kids and I have tried feeding them ideas they are interested in. I have also tried putting them into situations where they can have tiny little successes. That has been the most successful path for them, and I am beginning to practice it myself.
I know there are a lot of self employed people on DK. Some of us stumbled into it, and some of us went in with a plan and succeeded. One of the things I respect about self employment is that your labor goes to enrich you instead of a corporation which may or may not be working in your own best interest. I would love to be able to learn from you all. If you have something to give, jump in on the comments and tell us your story. I especially would like to hear from people who had a struggle to get through before they could start their business, because that seems to be the way it is for me. I know I can't be the only one out there struggling with this.