I have
been observing the growth of the
Internet over the past several years and
am truly
amazed.
Think about
this for a minute. It was only a few
short years ago that email, instant
messaging, text messaging, ecommerce and
video sharing ... just to name a few
services, didn't exist. Companies
providing these services like MySpace,
YouTube and Ebay went from zero to
billions in just a couple of years. Many
make more money than large corporations
who have been around for decades.
We're
currently living in what is called a
"Web 2.0" internet environment and
change is rapidly taking place
everywhere online. For example, people
now have the potential to use social networking sites
to connect, communicate and co-operate.
New software
or web-based applications are quickly
being introduced with new ways to do
things and old applications are just as
quickly, being set aside or seen as
obsolete.
With regards
to marketing a business online, what
worked yesterday may not work tomorrow.
So keeping up or staying ahead of the
wave is not as easy as it once may have
been.
As head of an international
black business association, I am always
looking for opportunities that will help
stimulate economic development and
wealth creation within and for the Black
community.
What I've
noticed is that many of us are not
effective in the use of the internet as
a "tool" for increasing income and
creating wealth. There is a big gap and
it appears to be getting wider.
Yes, we're
online and excited about the "gross
potential" of what we're experiencing,
but the "net reality" is, many of us are
getting caught up and taken off purpose
or task. Many are being distracted with
so many promises of instant success or
seeking to get "something for nothing".
Many are joining sites just to be
joining and not making personal contact
with anyone.
Did you know,
that feverishly posting ads all over a
site and submitting friends requests,
doesn't necessarily guarantee getting
sales?
You see, with
any tool, you must first understand it's
purpose and then learn how to correctly
use it to get a desired result. The
internet and especially social
networking sites, If not properly
utilized, will turn off more people than
are turned on. Instead of being a tool
for our advancement, "so-so" networking,
can become a big distraction and cause
many to lose more than they gain.
Here's
something to consider, did you know that in spite of the economic
forecast being portrayed in the media, there is plenty of money in
circulation and wealth is being accumulated
every day? Yes it's true!
The problem
for many Black people is, that not
enough of that money and wealth remains
within our grasps. We're on the
internet, but many of us are not using
it correctly. We haven't been given the
real purpose for the "tool" and no one
is really showing us how to use it.
The great
(Black) American entrepreneur, S.B.
Fuller (1905-1988) claimed that, even
more than racial barriers, it was a
"lack of understanding of the capitalist
system" that kept Blacks from making
economic progress.
In an interview in
1963, Fuller claimed that when Blacks
finally concentrate on developing
themselves so that they excel in what
they do, they will then find that they
have no real problems.
He claimed that
Blacks were left behind economically
because "they have nothing to sell."
That is, we offer nothing of our own
that we control the development of,
manufacturing and distribution for, on
any significant scale.
This
simple thing, is one of the reasons the
"lion's share" of resources, ie, capital,
manufacturing and distribution
capabilities, remain in the hands
of a few outside our community. What we
need is a way to increase and keep a
larger portion of our share.
If we would
work together collectively and grow to any size
or significance, we could do something
about some of this and start to
effectively change things.
I am convinced that the Internet,
ecommerce and social networking are ways for us to get
started getting our share and more with
little or no out-of- pocket cost ... any
major program, think tank or study
group. They say that "necessity is the
mother of invention". Well ya'll ....
its necessary. It's time for change.
We
must seek to first and foremost, find ways
to network. We must "connect the dots",
establishing meaningful, mutually
beneficial networking relationships that
create new income and generate real
wealth, is our "product". This is
something that we can control develop,
produce and distribute.
The key is
for us to (net)work together.
Imagine, if tomorrow Black folk
everywhere on this planet (with access
to the Internet) woke up and started to
take "networking" seriously
and began "connecting the dots". Imagine if,
they immediately started to use the
Internet as a tool for wealth creation
using Black products and services.
Imagine if they saw the value of doing
business with Black owned and operated
companies. They saw the potential
derived from "recycling dollars" within
our economic group and were provided
with the resources, training and vehicle
to help them do better for themselves.
They did it without a meeting, a march,
a word from their pastor, congress
person or favorite sports or hip-hop
celebrity. (Of course, those folk would
come onboard once they saw things were
moving along with or without them). Or
they would be used to campaign against
our "self-serving" behavior.
Imagine that, they didn't see it
happening on a "Reality TV Show", first.
They didn't hear some radio DJ or media
superstar say "its time
to go". There were no TV
commercials or radio spots pumping it up
to the latest beats and no corporate
logos underwriting it. No just us doing
our thing. Black business owners,
entrepreneurs and consumers, building a
foundation of financial strength that
would uphold and uplift one another and
be available to pass wealth to future
generations.
They (we) just started
networking as though our lives depended
upon it. We just took the time to get
connected and in the process let money
start to flow.
Networking is as
natural as breathing, we do it all the
time. The problem is, we have not
systematically worked out a schematic
for making it pay us everyday. If we did, we as a people, would be on
the road to financial independence.
Individual
wealth is nothing until we all have an
equal opportunity to be better off. Its
not "civil rights" today that is the
issue, its "silver rights". I personally
have been preaching this for over 25
years and, at times it seems for
nothing.
Talking about what others can
do so uncomplicatedly is frustrating at
times. Folk, its not that complicated. We only make
it complicated as a way of avoiding the
inevitable ... CHANGE. The complication
is in our own minds. The marketplace is
ready for change.
We can and
should seek out opportunity within our
own community before crossing over to
accept what someone else passes off to
us as opportunity. The best way for us
to be certain is to establish meaningful
relationships from the networking
connections we make with one another.
Of all American immigrants, Blacks
alone came to these shores in chains.
This country was no "land of
opportunity" for them. They didn't come
here seeking financial independence and
the accumulation of assets on their
balance sheet. They came here as assets
on the balance sheets of others. You
know how it went, "$100, two pigs, four
cows and one Negro". Our history in
America started as us being owned by
someone else as chattel slaves. Someone
claimed ownership of us. We were their
property.
When the "spoils" and
means of enrichment were created and
divided, one group always helped
themselves to the lion's share. From
their perspective, they were superior
and
there wasn't anyone around to challenge
them. They institutionalize their
policies of injustice and proceeded to
amass fortunes. Slavery was a "cause"
and fear based, poverty, not trusting one
another mindsets, of many of our people,
is the "effect". This effect
is now creating causes all its own, and
as a result, the system
self-perpetuates.
Frederick Douglas
said it best, "Power concedes nothing
without a demand. It never did and it
never will."
We didn't
demand enough, we didn't get enough. And
so Blacks, became conditioned to believe
in his-story, and accepted the small
mouthful of welfare crumbs and menial
jobs that offered no real chance of
economic enrichment.
That perspective,
has caused all kinds of
problems for Black people in this
country that continue until today.
Just to survive, Blacks have lived
through slavery, reconstruction, "Jim
Crow" segregation, integration and
affirmative action and today
"affirmative re-action" (the
dismantling of most of our civil rights
gains).
Nevertheless, the problem and solution
is the same. Its on US! We've got to
CHANGE!
Our challenge now is to
take "re-affirmative action", not only for ourselves
and the short term personal gain a
business opportunity may offer, but for
our families and our community. God has
blessed us with natural gifts. One of
them is the ability to network. We are a
visual and oral people and have lived by
that tradition all our lives.
I
propose that instead of joining every
network marketing company or money
scheme that
comes along or being isolated as "rugged
individualist" or just using the
Internet to play video games, network silly jokes,
sentimental stories, urban legends,
unsubstantiated PC virus scares, or have long
winded debates in forums, as some of us are known to
do, we instead mobilize our collective Internet
strength and create income streams that
will flow, perhaps starting slowly at
first but
building up like "rivers of living
water" from mouse to mouse, house to
house.
I propose that we come
together and organize. Getting a critical mass of
people involved in the process is
crucial. Check out the information
below. We are looking to find groups of leaders who are willing to
(net)work together with ... Black Business
Builders!
If you are interested in
taking Black business networking to the
next level ... get
connected with us!
Suppose
all Black business owners,
entrepreneurs, salespersons and
distributors made the connection.
Suppose all the Black churches linked
into this network. Suppose all the
historically Black colleges came
onboard. Suppose all the other
non-profit organizations were encouraged
to participate along with all the
fraternities, sororities, and community
groups and so on.
Tens, possibly
hundreds of millions of dollars could
start to circulate, all from just taking
a small step and a simple action. This
would be "new money". Money that we
would usually just give away to someone
else with no hope of return. And it
would cost us very little to
participate.
How hard is that to
do? Not hard at all. If we can take time
in the day to link hundreds of people to
a silly joke or hoax, why not take
action that will generate income for
yourself today and future generations
tomorrow?
Why not? We must do something
to help reverse the cycle
of poverty and under privilege many
face. By formulating positive attitudes
and effective strategies to build our
businesses, our personal worth, our
schools and our communities, we all will
overcome.
The fact that we were
able to endure over 250 years of slavery and
more than 100 years of open
discrimination is evidence of our
ability to survive. We must move past
survival as a strategy and move toward
contribution.
We must now
mobilize and utilize all of our
collective resources to build and
prepare for the future. We must change
any non-cooperative attitudes and
negative perceptions and assume the
responsibility for our own future. No
one is going to do it for us ... but
with God's help, we can do it for
ourselves.
Peace & Blessings,
Lee
Green,
Chairman,
National Black Business Trade
Association (NBBTA)
