Many of us worry about our own personal bubble or world within.  We sometimes forget that we are part of a larger system.  No, I’m not talking about anything spiritual or religious, but a system as a whole… The Earth is a system and for everything on Earth to function there are interdependencies.  Those interdependencies begin to break-down when a system fails or is interrupted.  

For example: When people feel scared or helpless they look towards authority for the answers.  Folks, the answer is within yourself and everyone around you.  Why not talk to the person next to you at the street crossing, in line, on the bus, airplane, or train?  

CarrotMob came up with an idea that coordinates a group to make a difference or change.  I like the idea of giving a business, customers, in exchange for something.  In this instance it is a ton of customers for 22% of profits to go towards improving energy efficiency of the store.

Say on a normal day you pull in $2000.00, but on the day CarrotMob comes around you pull in $9000.00.  Okay so now you are taking 22% of your profits and putting them towards a long-term energy conservation program that is directly benefiting you the store.  

Let’s have some fun with numbers (these are only an example to illustrate a point):

Normal Day:
Sales: 2000.00 @ 25% profit margin = $500.00 Gross Profit

CarrotMob Day!
Sales: 9000.00 @ 25% profit margin = $2250.00 profit – 22% = $495.00
           == Gross Profit $1755 

Whoa!  Even after giving away 22% of profits they still made more in that one day than a normal day and they now have long-term energy savings.

Now, watch the video…

Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.

 

Crazy right?  NO 
I think we have forgotten, but are starting to wake-up that as a group of individuals we have the ability to do anything. 

Let’s now take this to a bigger scale as CarrotMob does at the end of the video.  What if a hundred thousand people went to a solar manufacturer and said hey we all want solar for our houses.  If we guarantee 100,000 orders will you give us a discount?

This isn’t a new idea… collective pooling of money to make purchases.  However, what makes me excited is that this isn’t a Business – Business transaction, but a Group – Business transaction.  Sure there are more complexities involved when you are dealing with 100,000 orders versus a bunch of orders for one company, but it is possible.  

We are a nation founded on thinking outside the box to come up with innovative and new ideas.  The energy crisis that we are and will be facing isn’t outside the grasp of an entrepreneur.  Unfortunately there is a big BUT here…

What motivates an entrepreneur? :: wealth
What inhibits an entrepreneur? :: regulations and taxes

You say that regulations are necessary… perhaps, but what happens when there is a corn subsidy or ethanol subsidy?  – Money that may have gone towards an innovative idea is redirected towards corn and ethanol, which may not be the best solution.  I don’t know about you, but I highly doubt a few individuals are capable of deciding what is for the greater good, using public money.  There are unforeseen consequences of such actions.  

It is what we don’t see that concerns me.  What could be manufactured instead of ethanol plants?  We may never know to the full extent because the path of least resistance leads companies to produce ethanol.  If I’m guaranteed certain monies from the gov’t, if I do this (the entrepreneurial idea with no subsidy) or that (governmental idea with subsidy), of course I’ll do that because it is easier and has an implicit profit regardless of the profitability of the company. 

In looking at the present bailout package… my concern is what we are missing and not seeing.  If this package or a variation thereof passes what could that money have been used for?  $700 bn dollars is a lot of money.  We are going to be over a trillion dollars in debt after it is passed and that is only for THIS year.  

The bankers and government officials “employed” by the bankers don’t want you nor I to truly understand how the present system works.  Just take a look at my previous post.  

In conclusion I hope that you realize that as a group of individuals we can do anything.  Fear will keep us paralyzed, major traumatic events allow the Constitution to be thrown out the window, and the media feeds us a story they want us to believe.  We are a nation of entrepreneurs! You have a choice.