Wed 7 Dec 2005
Now that you know something about The Business Experiment, I can tell you how exactly I’m involved in it. I’m spending time this evening editing the third issue of AnswerSpace — the TBE newsletter. I read the first one, thought the quality was lacking, and offered my services to the team leader. She read the previous post and accepted my offer. I had a blast editing issue 2. This week, I contributed an article in addition to my editing duties.
It’s not professional work in the monetary sense. They’re not paying me for it. But if I put enough material in front of the right eyeballs, it will eventually pay off in cash. I have to do my share of volunteer work before anyone will believe that I deserve to get paid for this.
This blog has laid the foundation for everything else to come. Without it, I wouldn’t be in a position to do this. So thanks, readers, for all your help.
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jonathan — i applaud you for jumping into this new group-think idea. as you know, i’ve been struggling with the same concept in my own blog posts…especially as it relates to things like wikipedia. i’m still on the fence. i love the concept and the idealist in me wants it to work. what i find fascinating (and ultimately, more plausible in terms of future success) is the group-think concept applied to running a business — rather than a free service — where it seems the participants have a vested interest because there is possibility of future payment if the work gets done and gets done well. i wholeheartedly agree with the notion that those who end up doing the work are those that are ultimately best suited to do it. but do you find that there are those who do shoddy work, yet do it earnestly? i don’t mean to play devil’s advocate…but, well…i do. in a way. i’m curious to know what your experiences have been so far. its tough to tell without a login to the TBE site, but i’m guessing it hasn’t been all roses. if it has, well…color me jaded…or at least consider me a skeptic who could be swayed with appropriate bushels of evidence to the contrary.
It goes as well as can be expected when everyone is a volunteer and puts in just a couple hours a week at most. Things don’t always get done very quickly. The newsletter has been a fun experience, though, and I’ve met some people that will be good to know in the future.
I think the concept can succeed, if it manages to continue blending work and play. All participants are doing this for free, which means they’re doing something they’re passionate about and enjoy. They’re not sitting at a desk for 8 hours to feed their families. That’s the kind of person you want working for your company.