The Rolling Stones captured the core emptiness of consumerism in the West with their song Satisfaction. The lines “When I’m watchin’ my TV and that man comes on to tell me how white my shirts can be… I can’t get no satisfaction” demonstrate the futility of the secular version of consumerism as experienced by someone deep in this secular culture.  As young entrepreneurs, and as Christians, we need to not get caught up in this cycle of consuming.  Granted, entrepreneurs are not usually considered the consumers in the business equation, but the mindset of entrepreneurs greatly influences how the consumers view the marketplace.

Far too often, young entrepreneurs discover an idea and begin to market the idea and work the idea into a tangible plan, and yet they fail to see the end.  I’m not talking about the final product or the exit plan.  I’m talking about how as stewards of God’s creation we fail to use God honoring means to reach a God honoring end.  As entrepreneurs, it is easy to get lost capitalizing on giving people what they want even when the things they want will never satisfy.  Freedom is not found in the “Free” market, true freedom is found in Christ.

Christian entrepreneurs can make a difference in a world where it is common place to overlook suffering in order to offer the cheapest product.  Organizations such as Toms shoes are able to base their entire company around the fact that they are making a difference by not trampling on others to get what we want.  I do not believe all people are greedy and indifferent to the suffering of others, but we act this way largely because those others are invisible to us.

As Christians, and as entrepreneurs, we are called not to just fill people’s physical wants, but to glorify Christ through our ends.

For further reading on this subject, check out William Cavanaugh’s book Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire

One of my favorite things to do on April 1st every year is to visit all my favorite websites and see how they attempted to fool their users.  Google is one of the more mischievous, and this year they told users of Gmail that they were introducing an email system which would allow users to send emails using only hand motions.

Connecting with users on more than a business level such as this can build relationships which stretches into customer loyalty.  Internet users are constantly looking to be amused, and when they are amused in abnormal places, they are usually very ready to share it with others.

Consider using common sources of amusement to draw in users.

Parodies are all over the internet.  One of my favorites is in the title (feel free to look it up).  However I think this is an untapped source for internet marketing.  I have yet to see parodies turned into marketing.  I for one would find this extremely entertaining, and would love to see memes in advertising.  Of course some people would think of this as selling out, but you can’t win over everyone.  Firms are looking for the viral element on the internet, but why not take something that is already viral and turn it into marketing?  I’ve laughed at viral videos, but I’ve also laughed at parodies of viral videos.  Businesses should look into using this opportunity for their benefit.

When you think about it, micro-finance takes a lot of trust.  Trust that you will get your money back – if that’s what you want, trust that the organization is actually financing the way they claim to, and trust that the people receiving the money will use it in ethical ways.  For instance, how do you know your money you use to finance a clothing shop in Colombia isn’t being used to fund the drug trade?  And that’s not even considering the fact that Kiva can be used to fund blood sports such as cock fighting.

I’m not saying micro-financing is bad, I actually love the idea and am planning on supporting it.  However nothing is perfect, and if something sounds too good to be true… well, we all know it probably is.

The current situation in our country is very curious.  We are on the verge of yet another “police action” in yet another country.  In this day and age, the internet is increasingly keeping governments accountable for their actions.  With both sites such as wikileaks and also the nearly instant access to multiple news sources, people cannot be mislead as easily as they have in the past.  I’m not saying that governments always mislead, but there is now an accountability which all officials have to take into account.  I know for a fact that Obama has played over 60 games of golf since he took office.  That’s about 2 entire months of his presidency on the course.  It’s not my position to tell him what to do, but the internet will bare all the details.  it’s up to the users to piece together the most credible story