End of the Mom/Pop Corner Stores?

A global economy means that locals stores are competing against stores anywhere in the world via the internet. In a pity attempt to find relevance, it's not uncommon to hear people say that we should be "buying local!" and I can't help but ask "why?".

If you are in business and you are currently begging your customer to buy your products or services ... well you either need to change or face the fact that your business is doomed to fail.
In a free economy, the strongest always wins but strongest can be anyone. The internet not only put another nail on the mom/pop shops' coffin, it also opened the door for great ideas to reach more people than ever. You can literally make money by filming yourself and putting it on youtube.

This "revolution" is not the first of kind. It isn't the first time that the mom/pops type of shops have had to fight a war. Previously, Walmart came in and put a lot of those type of business obsolete. They had a better system than anyone else - hence why they pretty much won that battle.
We could say that Amazon is currently winning because it pushed the idea of Walmart even further. Walmart is now trying to find relevance in this new market.

This shift is beautiful and it is normal. It is up to any entrepreneurs to come up with better ideas to change the world. Keep inventing!

Health Conversations in Moderation

We all have that one or two person in our lives that talk about the things that are going wrong in their lives constantly. Generally older, those people usually don’t do much during their day and focuses too much on the negative sides of their lives rather than the positive one. They literally have nothing better to talk about because they don’t see much going on with them.

We have to remember that talking about diseases, aches or ailments are only interesting to the person that has them and there’s nothing to gain from sharing it other than an attempt at compassion or pity. These negative talks can also suck out the energy in the conversation.

In moderation, those type of conversation are fine. After all, it’s important to share how we’re doing to our friends but it shouldn't be all that we’re talking about.

Are We Tough Enough?

*French troops storming Redoubt 9 during the Siege of Yorktown

It's not too long ago that warfare required men to stand in line waiting to get shot at while listening to your orders via flutes and drums or looking out for flag signals. Unsurprisingly, some men would flee the battle and were considered lesser men for doing so. (Although we could argue that they were the smartest people of the bunch... why in the world would you stay in line waiting to get shot?)

Those that didn't flee are among the toughest, most courageous, men in history. They believed so strongly in their cause that they were willing to take a bullet for it.

Where are those courageous men today? We grew to be selfish individuals - we don't stand up for things that doesn't affect us even though it would be the right thing to do.
We are quick to push the responsibility to someone else. You'll hear things like "The Government should do something about this."

Well... why don't you?