I have been doing a lot of research on starting a new online business for a product I once made over three decades ago. It was a good seller, but there were no online platforms at the time to gain sales or visibility. So the options for visibility as a sole proprietor were very limited.
Nor were there cheaper competitors from overseas. Nearly everything came from local or national suppliers. And employment rates were high, costs much, much lower.
Nor were there computer programs that could imitate artwork that once came from human creativity.
We lived in a world where human ingenuity generated ways to solve the difficulties of a complex world. Even the intricacies of difficult feats like landing a man on the moon were done by no m ore than simple slide rules and calculators, and plans for the rockets were drawn by skilled hands. Computers were not used.
People with high skill levels in engineering and creativity launched our greatest achievements for our nation. And, indeed, for mankind.
But now those very humans with their unique skill levels are reduced to insignificance as the shift in the commercial marketplaces has taken dominance. What once was wide open for even the poorest immigrant to grow in a manual skill field is now relegated to automation and computers.
the delusion…
When I was growing up not so very long ago, computers were not even a twinkle in anyone’s eye. Only those in the dark shadows who were the developers began to see the significance of their future impact.
Drafting was done by hand. Photography was performed by people who had the eye for capturing the beauty around them and transferring it all to film. Sewing was an affordable option for housewives and creators alike as material and thread was inexpensive compared to production-created clothing and toys.
The artisan within was recognized by companies and buyers alike.
Then something shifted.
The cost of those basic materials skyrocketed as people began to see profit in making quilts, digital photographs that could be “fixed” through inexpensive programs, and Computer-Aided Drafting systems began to dominate the business landscape.
With the advent of NAFTA and GATT the economic structure globally was impacted. NAFTA sent thousands of jobs and manufacturing capabilities overseas, shutting down any competitive and creative alternatives within the borders of individual countries. GATT was absorbed into the global economic World Trade Organization, essentially limiting any realistic competition within the borders of a single country.
Corporate protection…
Corporations were given “the rights of personhood” as far back as the late 1800’s. The expansion of those rights grew through several actions of the Supreme Court.
Today, small business and sole proprietorships that once made this nation strong no longer have the means to oppose the corporations bullying tactics. One small business in Florida lost to a larger big box store many years ago when the corporation wanted to have its new tag line (those little catch phrases you see at the bottom of their logos, like “Build it better, faster”) reach every corner of the nation. After years of fighting, the small company gave it. A few short years later, that same corporation changed its tag line, leaving the original hardware store unable to reclaim the right to use what had been their trademark for decades.
On the employment front, if a mechanism or labor force came along that would be cheaper to use, all else was jettisoned. Workers who had supported their companies for decades were laid off in favor of cheaper labor overseas. Mechanized and computerized alternatives were embraced. Those who didn’t embrace the new technologies were let go.
Small businesses lost the gamble competing with the larger companies in their bid for jobs because those opportunities were more expensive for them than the companies with more financial resources. Their workers were forced to turn their once-valuable talents toward just making a paycheck doing anything from corporate jobs doing anything just to make ends meet.
Those gifted artistry became considered as “too old fashioned” by media and corporate marketing hype alike. And higher paid employees were laid off to shore up the “bottom line” if the margins became too thin. (LINK
So goes history, as these changes are nothing new.
How long did this transition take?
Think about your parents. Did they grow up with cell phones 40 years ago? How about the internet, email, video games, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter (now X), laptop computers, self-driving cars, self-serve gas station, AI generated anything?
What is now considered a “necessity” never even existed not too long ago.
Remember radio? That was supposed to be displaced by the invention of Television, which is then supposed to be replaced by the Internet.
How about print? That was supposed to all go away by 1990.
When was the last (or first, if ever) time you ever attended a live act play? Or a live orchestra/concert?
Music and acting, once performed in front of live audiences, now have been replaced in less than 40 years with movies or taped shows from Hollywood. The majority of the audiences want quick access to cheaper alternatives on demand.
And what was once considered a skill to perform Shakesperian plays has been surpassed by poorly performed roles by flash-in-the-pan “stars” who are quickly replaced by the next big marketable competitor. Even mid-filming.
Or AI. Not unlike the 1980’s movie, “Looker“.
So what existed 30-40 years ago?
- Stick shifts
- Manually rolling down car windows
- Air conditioning that was called “4/60” (4 open windows and driving at 60 miles per hour)
- No TSA (You could actually go the gate to meet your loved ones or see them off!)
- Outdoor shopping centers
- Writing a letter and waiting for weeks for the anticipated response
- No fast-food restaurants
- Instacart and paid shoppers (to pick out your groceries) didn’t exist
- Waiting for the next big box-office hit to reach the movie theatres
- Dial-up phones (you had to memorize phone numbers) and no answering services (unless you bought your own answering machine)
- Interacting with local banks and bankers who knew your name
- Newspapers were delivered to your door (no overwhelm of instant news flashes because, remember – the Internet didn’t exist back then)
- Printed ads in newspapers (great for side-by-side shopping comparisons)
- Lower debt-to-income ratios (credit cards and the FICO scores were in their infancy)
- Manual adjusters determining whether or not you were credit-worthy instead of automated computer models
- The ability to use checks and cash
- Sending Christmas and Birthday cards through the mail instead of in a text message with premade emojiis
- Sugar ladened sodas weren’t as popular
- Doctors – especially pediatricians – would visit patients at their homes
- Pharmacies would deliver prescriptions at the person’s home without extra charge
- Customer service was really service run by real human beings instead of automated phone systems
- Pharmaceutical companies didn’t dominate medical science or medical instruction in schools
- Science wasn’t a religion
- Food was not a commodity
- Time for silence and creative play (instead of constant droning from online streaming services)
Life was simpler then.
The results are still coming in…
Corporations now bombard signed-up customers with emails through bulk messaging at lower costs than print. They realized the could target those same people with unneeded offers based on their past buying habits when (using geotracking and geopositioning) they could locate the potential customer when they were near one of their stores.
They jettisoned print ads because they thought online would save them money, was more convenient, and would appeal to the masses. But you can’t comparison-shop between all stores as they don’t all use online ads. And you have to switch between tabs to see them for comparison even if you could.
AI generated artwork, AI generated music and acting, 3D printers, and computerized sewing machines now compete with hand-generated items. These labor-saving, cheaper alternatives undercut costs and labor hours of the individual hand-generated items made by skilled artisans. (Think Etsy. See here, here, and here, in case you were out of the loop on the latest…)
And have you ever tried to find a person to talk to for something at your mega bank? Or credit bureau? Or customer service for anything? There used to be a site called “Find Human” to bypass the automated computerized services, but the companies are getting far craftier at not releasing that information.
Explaining a specific problem to a computerized, online chatbot is nearly impossible if your exact problem hasn’t been programmed into their little computer model brains.
So what is the solution?
There is a solution. And it is growing as a ground swell of frustrated artisans and consumers are seeking new answers and products. Just like the organic and grass-fed communities are growing.
But don’t be deceived. Corporations are also keeping an eye on which way the wind is blowing, and they are launching campaigns to thwart the efforts of these small movements. Through deceptive marketing campaigns and cooperative media outlets, unsuspecting consumers believe the hype they get from the “experts”.
But the desire to do better is deeply ingrained in the heart of every person. And the thirst for a creative outlet will never go away. If it is suppressed, it lashes out in anger. In creative riots or graffiti, overuse of drugs to kill the feeling of emptiness, mankind cannot repress that inner human quality innate in every person.
Creative must thrive. It must exist.
The techniques of today that are used as bully sticks for more profit could be turned into means of generating opportunities instead. Grow the human person and society will benefit greatly.
We are better than this.
Allowing ourselves to be squelched by greed and unsustainable power grabs will only created a utopia that will never benefit the human race.
We are better than this.
Support your local artisans. Support your local farmers.
Make a difference in your community.
It all starts with you.