The Radio Telescope and What It Teaches Me About Business

Humans have viewed space with their naked eyes for most of our history.  Then, with the innovation of a small glass bead, everything changed.  That first lens allowed humans to see more than what our eyes allowed.  The culminating act of this race was to connect many radio telescopes from across the globe to get an Earth-size lens.  Each individual telescope offering amazing glimpses into the sky.  Millions of times more powerful than the first telescope, the modern radio telescope allows humanity the ability to see into its distant past.  This view was magnified a thousandfold when radio telescopes were linked together to create an Earth-size lens. 

In today’s business environment, technology gives us a dizzying number of tools and measurements about the economy.  At any minute, you have billions of bits of data to choose from.  It can make an individual feel like the first people who looks through telescopes.  I bet you’re thinking like me, “So much information, what does it mean to me?”  Your business is part of this universe of commerce and you look for your star of data to help promote your business.  I wrestle with that idea everyday as a small business owner.  I believe that telescopes can teach us something that can accelerate sales and promotion with scanning the vast universe of ideas, media, and websites.

My business is Roll-a-Bong Games.  We sell a line of cannabis smoking games, two that I created.  Three years ago, I contacted as many cannabis game makers as possible. Of the dozens of emails, letters, and texts I sent, five game makers responded.  Like me, they were sole proprietors.  I proposed that we sell each other’s games and help to promote and expand the cannabis game market.  They agreed and we exchanged games.  It was a huge hit for me, and I had to purchase more games to meet my demand.  With my success came media coverage and opportunities to work with the cannabis industry. 

Over time it was clear, my fellow game makers were not selling my games.  Their websites had no mention of my game and they had not sold a single game.  My first bug issue was with games sold to a retailer.  One of my partner game makers had sent out an order that was not acceptable. This card game had only one card, not the regular 52.  I asked if the games could be re-sent, but he got angry and told me that I was trying to rip him off.  Needless to say, we never resolved the issue and we stopped doing business.  When I sold out of a game, I would not reorder it again.  This put an end to my game makers guild.

Now three years later, only I am still in business.  The five other game makers lost money and closed.  I still look for new games to sell on my website.  Each new game I come across; I pitch the guild idea.  I tell them that we could work together and by selling each other’s games, we expand our reach and help grow the market.  By working together, we can share resources and drive down costs.  When you work with me you have access to my printer, my post Covid-19 events, my network, basically my resources!  When we compete, you must expend resources to have access to new markets and lose all potential sales through cooperation. 

The go it alone route is like a sole astronomer. Each planet and star you find, you wonder if anyone has seen it before.  In business you create a product or service that you believe will have a demand.  From your prospective, what you’re selling is needed, but is that what the larger business environment wants?  Profit is the ultimate truth, and if you are profitable by yourself, you need no one’s help.  If you’re surprised by the failure of your Kickstarter campaign or find that demand is far less than you hoped or expected, what do you do?

Pay others to promote your product or service? That costs money! Spend money on advertising or a give away campaign? Each one of these things costs money and there’s no guarantee that you will make your money back.  Go on Amazon or Ebay?  Welcome to a new universe of products! Remember every small business in the world competes for your dollars on these popular sites.  You need to spend money to get to the top suggestion plain, so expect to spend to get noticed.  The larger the service, the more the money they will expect you to pay.  All of these options are far beyond most small businesses.  It’s clear most people haven’t learned the history of telescopes and get the subtle lesson that it’s development has taught us.  Together we rise!

Big Choices

I was lucky that my wife worked at a major university when I lost my job.  I, a guy in his mid-thirties, was going back to school after a decade of teaching tennis.  I struggled in school when I was younger and finally caught up to my grade level somewhere in my 11th grade year.  College would be just as difficult for me.  I had organizational skill problems, and my social life was extremely active, which left little time for doing well in school.  My emotions would always be an issue, but schoolwork became consistent and greatly improved from my first two years. 

When I finally graduated college, I had no desire to go back.  Over the years, the mindlessness of teaching tennis started to bore me and my mind desired greater challenges and stimulation.  I put more time into my hobbies and reading, then into my profession, and it was my time off that became more important to me.  I was married at 31, and my wife had various jobs until she landed a good job at a local university. This provided me with the opportunity to return to school for free.  An opportunity I took a few years later.

I loved school, worked passionately, and got every assignment in early and done to the best of my ability.  It started to become clear to me that few other people in the Master of Education program put the same amount of energy and effort into their work.  Each teacher taught both information and how to use it in the classroom.  It was the 2000’s and classrooms were having a huge surge of new materials and technology for the classroom.  When I asked questions, I was told to allow the other students to take part.  I started to see a pattern.  These drone teachers were test givers and, unlike me, had no desire to do hands on activities.  I walked into a profession that hated forward thinkers, but I didn’t realize that for a decade.  In my mind, teachers were open minded and life learners but I was very wrong.

I got a job and taught school for the next decade or so.  In that time, I became disillusioned with the profession and most schools.  To that, I now had my own children, and school became personal.  Year after year, I worked to update my school. I was the head of the Science lab program and I taught the afterschool Advanced Math/Science program.  All around me, I was met with resistance and hostility.  In my children’s school, things were worse.  I got in the habit of reteaching important lessons to my kids and found that my students seem to flourish while others failed around them.  Was I doing something different or better?

After not being hired back, I had to look for work after working at the same school for almost ten years.  Nobody wanted me, and I tried everything! I was forced to go back teaching tennis to make money.   That didn’t last too long either, but it forced me to look at schools again. This time I was critical of the tax bills for school and found that my children failed to benefit from the money raised for schools.  My kids never had working computers in the classrooms and only a few classrooms had “Smart Boards”: something I had in my classroom at least a decade before.  The worst part was that the majority of the teachers were completely computer illiterate. I was an ex-teacher with an axe to grind and thought every one of these teachers were completely overpaid. 

My kids did well in school while their intelligent friends failed to get to any level of achievement.  I didn’t care too much - I didn’t need the schools to do much, I could fill in the areas that had no been covered.  Then Covid-19 hit.  The world was given a front row seat to the fact that most teachers have no idea how to use today’s technology in the classroom and fail to use the most basic technology from twenty years ago.  My friend who is a music teacher in a good district told me horror stories of teachers causing problem after problem.  They could remote teach.  They feared for their lives because of poor fitness and health.  They pushed back on what needed to be done for all students to learn.  Teachers, the ones who should advocate for students’ rights became the biggest obstacle to learning.  Some districts made it work with little complaining, but most did a poor job. 

Now, a year later, it’s the parents and the students who realize something’s wrong.  Tens of thousands of Americans have transferred to online schools - these programs utilize today’s best tech.  Teaching online also frees online employers to hire teachers from areas where living expenses are much cheaper, so they can work for less money.  It is clear, hybrid education is here and it’s not going away.  That doesn’t mean schools won’t eventually reopen to pre-pandemic style learning, but now everyone is demanding a 21st century-style education.  We are all going to have to make big choices about the future of schools.

Civilization On Pause

We are on pause as a race now.  The wheels of society have come to a grinding stop and normal life seems really different from the normal that was just a few months ago.  Human history is full of these, just not on this scale or scope.  Great empires have fallen and in their wake was chaos and no governing power holding society together.  The Roman Empire fell twice, the aftermath was called the Dark Ages, but only in Europe and it’s geographic neighbors. These periods were full of death, disease, and mass slaughter.  Each time, people have found a way to organize and lift themselves from the darkness into a new type of government and order. 

Today that possibility is becoming more likely.  Should we fear that? In the end, the Russian Monarchy was bloated and corrupt, and the country was ripe for a big change.  Now the home of the communist ideal, Russia is now is set to change again.  No longer a power to compete with the massive military of the West, the Russians spend their time and money creating chaos in other nations.  But this strategy will backfire in the end, the people under this system can only take so much before complete societal shut down. And then what?  Anarchy and war, the eventual aftermath of totalitarianism and brutal dictatorships.  So can we guide society post-American world order?

The answer is surprising.  Technology in the last 50 years has improved much in some areas and most things are smaller and more efficient.  The human dwelling can now do much to endure world crisis.  With an Earthship strategy, the home can be made into a net positive producer.  A home that can generate it’s own power, mitigate water usage and utilize gray water, deal with waste, grow food, and a variety of other needs that most individuals must leave the home to find.  The idea of your homestead would replace the disposable dwelling idea and communities will need to work together for mutual safety and well-being.  Basically, life on the small scale wouldn’t change much. 

The “One World” economy would disappear.  Getting a package from India or China in a few days will be gone, and the idea of producing goods overseas will be replaced with micro-manufacturing and high-speed recycling.  The need to utilize local resources will be the new normal and the idea of getting cheap goods from the 3rd world will be history.  World travel will change and safety concerns will encourage people to find solutions locally.  The idea of cheap goods will be replaced by a barter economy based on value and the ability to reuse objects.  The idea of burying our waste somewhere else will end and individual communities will need to figure out what to do with its refuse and waste.  The idea of another pandemic will affect our economy and change how we live our daily lives. 

The military will change, too.  Without constant demand, the endless spending on a war we will never fight will end.  The new threat is biological and most industrialized nations will need to convert their fighting force into a medical corps, scientific units ready to do battle with viruses, bacteria, and evil pathogens.  Giant war engines will be liabilities that are vulnerable to biological attack.  In it’s place will be environmental armor, a suit designed to fight and win against microscopic enemies.  The silliness of enormous air craft carriers will be over and nations will no longer be able to spend billions on killing machines.  Smaller, more efficient, and affordable will have to be the norm.  In the end, maybe there will be a war and nobody will show?  Without nations fighting, will individuals learn to get along?  Civilization has never been guaranteed against war, and it might be the nature of the human animal to fight? 

No government can control reality, and in the end, things will change.  The climate, the solar system, the universe all are beyond our control and we must journey in the world that we exist in.  I believe that we are at the end of something - what will replace that, I’m excited to see.  Whatever the outcome, I will continue my life and my journey with passion and energy.  Tomorrow is not here yet and we have this beautiful sunny day to enjoy and be alive in.  Time is the way but not the rule.  So rejoice the moment that is here, don’t wait, time is moving fast.  This moment is perfect and the universe has gifted you with the present, live it!