Recession: Or Why It's a Great Time to be a Small Fry

As you may have heard, Wall Street has been officially hit by a comet, and the old dinosaurs are dying out. Actually, the comet struck years ago... it just takes a while for the food supply to drain.

Is it spooky? Yes. Has the condition the middle class person really changed over the the last thirty years? Sort of. We have more credit and cheaper technology. But we're just as vulnerable, if not more so. Ask anybody that lost their home. Times are tough, but aren't they always in some degree? Just remember, the dinosaurs died of and the small fuzzy mammals thrived. In an economic sense, that's about to happen.

You can see it in society. People are getting nice prices at Walmart, but missing the human interaction and service. After all, that greeter only goes so far. People are looking for that local shop again. Of course, it's the future so you'll have to be smarter about the whole ordeal... but for small businesses, your time is now. Why? Here's a short list of reasons.

1. You can make decisions on your feet, and not have to go through a committee. (Believe me, that's a big advantage over the corporate dinosaurs.)
2. Technology and the internet has now officially leveled the playing field on all fronts. You can get the information you need to survive.
3. There's enough small local businesses like you that could use another small local business to help support them in some form or another.

And finally, let's say you've been laid off by a large giant corporate dinosaur going under. Do you think you could actually trust another one to provide for you and your family? Studies show less and less feel that way, and would rather take the risk of starting their own company than being let go. At least fate in in your hands.

This is 19th century economics with a 21st century spin. Chris Anderson of Wired said so. My old art teacher Steve Sherell said so, too. Actually, most people in the know say it. The 20th century was a necessary fluke to the economic climate of today. And the news reports that small businesses will triple in the next three years.

So, from one small business person to another, let me know when you're ready to draw up some great advertising. Let's embrace the new economy together.

Chris Anderson and the Free speech.

I had the opportunity to watch WIRED editor-in-chief Chris Anderson speak at the 2008 Economic Insight in Seattle. His subject... giving away items in your business for free, to lure customers into purchasing other commodities. This is nothing new. Much of what I heard reminded me of something my art teacher Steve Sherrell once said... that the 19th Century would have more in common with the 21st century. As for the Free Speech, I won't go into too many details, you can find those by clicking directly to his story.

View Anderson's article 'Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business' on WIRED

Let's face it, the 20th century was a weird fluke in terms of business. The idea of a parental corporation that took care of its employees was noble and naive. How could GM ever expect to take care of all those former employees and their rising medical costs? I truly feel bad for the baby boomers, they've had the carpet pulled from under their feet during every critical moment in their lifespan. They had a choice between college or Vietnam. Their women's liberation efforts were rewarded with adjusting the economy to a two-person income. And when it was time to retire, many had the pleasure of watching their 401K's disappear. And then 9-11 and another war that seems like it's fought for the wrong reasons. No wonder the boomers are distraught.

I want to enforce the notion that everything we knew about the world between 1950 & 2000 was a hiccup in the timeline. It's back to business of survival, and fortunately we have new technology on our side. Thanks to the small cost of internet storage (referred to in Anderson's speech), we can now reduce online costs to virtually zero. And if you read his book The Long Tail, you know how Amazon.com and other on-line stores thrive on the simple face that since they don't have to turn around physical items on valuable retail shelf space, they can offer gobs of merchandise aimed at the niche markets for reasonable costs.

If I had one complaint about the speech, it was that I didn't really learn anything that I hadn't already read in his book and his article. The one true highlight was his play-by-play on how Ryanair can offer plane tickets for free, by weaving in lots of 'ala carte' costs. There's something to this, especially with a downturning economy and a Generation X that thrives on experiences. I like this business model as well, because it emphasizes responsibility. Obviously, the more responsible passengers will be rewarded by spending less. It's a good example of an airline doing good, for a bad one... watch PBS Frontline's take on marketing and how they examine the downfall of Song Airlines.

Is free the future of business? Perhaps... I personally think there's a different word for it. It's COMMUNITY with a dash of EXPERIENCE.

More later.

The Book Club

As you may have noticed, I've got a new widget on my blog courtesy of Shelfari. Here's where I put books I've read or own on the shelf, along with reviews so you can get my humble opinion on certain reads related to the arts, business and so on. If you're an avid book lover I'd highly suggest jumping in on this social site with brains to match.

Free the arts... no it's actually for free now.

One of the topics I really want to explore is the impact of digital media and how an artist can compete (let alone put food on the table) in a world where so much information is now given away. The first step, this article by WIRED magazine's Chris Anderson entitled "What Are You Worth in a Free Economy?" by Nat Ives for Ad Age Magazine.

View the article here.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

I received an article from a friend about the concept of removing author credits from news stories and editorials all together. Although one can understand the perspective and reasoning as to why author credits are not needed in a wonderful world of Wiki, I'm thinking that in certain cases not only will credits become more prominent, but will also be essential as background information on the source of the information, especially with the rise of tabloid journalism.

Over the next five to ten years professionally published articles will become more like community property. More specifically, someone edits a previously written article to their liking, then would post the revised article with their name listed as an editor (or additional content provided by themselves) next to the original writer. It will work similar to Wikipedia. You'll be able to click on the author (and then the additional author's) complete set of vital statistics, and thus reveal one's political affiliations, perspectives, that sort of thing. This will certainly come more into play as Web 3.0 comes into focus, when... in theory the web will visually become more multidimensional. We might physically be able to see two sides of an argument. This would future illustrate how points and counterpoints are, in many ways, reliant on the other's existence.

This is the future of web content, the ability to see information from multiple perspectives, and choose what information you want to allow in your life according to preference. Removing an author's name is the wrong direction. People will want to know the sources of the information, and consider that aspect just as important as the information itself. With technology, the idea of just presenting related stories will be old hat. We'll be able to show opposing stories, semi-related stories, and have visual scales showing just how much one perspective deviates from the other. Features like this will become more necessary as the internet grows in size, and will be made possible when the web's next iteration includes new artificial intelligence capabilities, which can already be hinted at when amazon.com tells you what you may like to purchase based on your previous searches.

Information management and process will not only be the future of commercial web, but it will also be a major them in 21st century art. More on that later...