Thanks for the feedback - you make some good points.
I started from the point of slavery mostly in response to other authors who describe the modern system of employee/employer as slavery, which I think is the wrong word, but it seems I didn't do quite a good enough job of making that clear.
It isn't that consumerism & 50 hour work weeks are inescapable, only that they are difficult to escape and remain in mainstream society at the same time. Looking at people who have chosen alternate lifestyles (Like ERE or being a bum as someone else pointed out) are often marginalized ans ostracized - the system does not seem to like that they challenge the basic assumptions of what is good about our society.
I personally have been trying to bootstrap a startup as a way to escape some of the control a 9-5 brings with it, but I don't see entrepreneurship as a catch-all solution. As another article I am working on will point out, Startups are better off in some areas but are also often forced to trade off in others. Depending on the structure, leading a startup may often be worse from a lifestyle design perspective than working for a corporation.
I don't have a general purpose "solution" to the problem of dis-satisfaction in modern society, but I do know that what we have going for us is sub-optimal, and I would like to find alternate ways of living and structuring society to address some of the issues I tried to bring to light.
Thanks for the feedback - I think perhaps I will expand on the areas you mention in the future to help make it more clear. I would appreciate your input :)
Those both sound very interesting. I'll see if there are any BBC archives available, but you're probably right that they no longer exist legally except at absurd price points.
There is a lot of literature around how consumerism and debt driven lifestyles detract from our ability to live life in a more meaningful way, but I find solutions lacking. It is my goal to eventually discover better ways of structuring our lives and perhaps society to improve the quality of life in the modern world, without eliminating the positive aspects of a competitive culture and technological progress.
Thanks, those are good resources! I wish I had seen those earlier, but I'll comb through them and see if I can't find some more stuff to try for part 2 :)
Thanks. I agree, I think most of the real work comes in the months and years after launch, slowly building back links, improving your funnel, trying new advertising channels.
This blog is dedicated to my business strategy, what is working, and what is not working, so I'll be including the longer term marketing efforts as well over time. Where I focus initially will depend a lot on the launch reception and initial customer reactions.
Thanks! I plan on doing a follow up a couple of weeks after launch.
I am also not sure why Drupal isn't more used for startups - it's a powerful way to build a site. I can see that some startups want to build a lot of custom technology, but I didn't find anything Drupal couldn't do without a little tweaking in modules/themes. It also reduced my time to completion and test by a significant amount - not having to deal with a lot of the functionality most sites need anyway.
I'm sorry for your loss. People don't always understand, but losing a pet is losing a family member. I wish I had a quick fix for you, but I would recommend you take a couple of days off, try to find happy pictures you have of him, talk about the silly things he did with friends, and let yourself grieve. Covering up the feelings with work or activity may help in the short term, but there is nothing like taking the time to grieve. He sounds like a great dog, may he rest in peace.
Articles are interesting, but I have trouble trusting the author since there aren't a lot of links to supporting materials. Also, the statement identified by getonit immediately struck the BS chord with me. Someone who purports to scientific knowledge shouldn't use statements similar to "it can't be wrong because everyone believes it." right?
I'm a huge fan of his novels (I am currently working through his final trilogy now, which is a masterpiece), but this work seems like a money grab. The woman who wrote it was married to him for only 5 years and then "spen[t] the ensuing years seeking the man behind the disguise"?
In any case, he seemed to be an interesting man, so it is probably an interesting book. It sounds like it was edited well and includes a lot of the historical record on his life.
I started from the point of slavery mostly in response to other authors who describe the modern system of employee/employer as slavery, which I think is the wrong word, but it seems I didn't do quite a good enough job of making that clear.
It isn't that consumerism & 50 hour work weeks are inescapable, only that they are difficult to escape and remain in mainstream society at the same time. Looking at people who have chosen alternate lifestyles (Like ERE or being a bum as someone else pointed out) are often marginalized ans ostracized - the system does not seem to like that they challenge the basic assumptions of what is good about our society.
I personally have been trying to bootstrap a startup as a way to escape some of the control a 9-5 brings with it, but I don't see entrepreneurship as a catch-all solution. As another article I am working on will point out, Startups are better off in some areas but are also often forced to trade off in others. Depending on the structure, leading a startup may often be worse from a lifestyle design perspective than working for a corporation.
I don't have a general purpose "solution" to the problem of dis-satisfaction in modern society, but I do know that what we have going for us is sub-optimal, and I would like to find alternate ways of living and structuring society to address some of the issues I tried to bring to light.
Thanks for the feedback - I think perhaps I will expand on the areas you mention in the future to help make it more clear. I would appreciate your input :)