Dispatches from the Front #1
From The Human Use of Human Beings by Norbert Wiener (Boston: The Riverside Press, 1950), pp. 54:
No, the way to survival does not lie backward. Our fathers have tasted of the tree of knowledge, and even though its fruit is bitter in our mouths, the angel with the flaming sword stands behind us. We must continue to invent and to earn bread, not merely by the sweat of our brows, but by the metabolism of our brains.
My younger brother (15 years younger) reached out to me seeking advice on how to make money. I told him that while it was an intriguing question, that I did not have a ready answer at that moment. I suggested that he send me a message in a week or so. It makes sense for any sensible person to be curious about how to make money, since money plays quite a significant role in every area of human affairs. It’s always there, lurking in the background or proudly striking the NWA pose in the foreground. It can be used for both positive or negative ends. Even in religious institutions, where you might think money is rarely discussed, we’ve discovered through his spokespeople that just like the rest of us, God also needs money. And with all this complexity, it can be difficult to advice anyone on the subject when you’re just as perplexed about it. But I did spend days trying to come up with a useful answer for him, but first, I knew I had to understand what motivated the question. Is he dissatisfied with the money generating options currently available to him? Since he reached out to me, I can only assume that he prefers the risk and uncertainty associated with being an entrepreneur over the stability of a traditional 9-5. I was so tempted to dissuade him from walking down the entrepreneurship route but as an elder brother your role, I suppose, is not only to raise his ambition but to also guide and support him. Anyway, it is quite flattering that he assumes I know something about how to make money. Well I did tell him a thing on two about what I knew about money. 💊
I'm going to be straight with you. Mincing words is for those I don’t particularly care about. Dear brother, although money is something that most people need to survive, parents, schools and society teach us awfully little to nothing about it except maybe to just want the damn thing all the time. Many of us, like those before us, take for granted our understanding of money, as it is something we see and use daily. And with the growing inequality in Nigeria, it’s not hard to notice that those who have more money have greater access to certain freedoms and opportunities than those with less. If anything, you know in your heart of heart that not having money is disastrous not just for the individual but also for the society in which that individual lives in. Living becomes incredibly hard, preventable diseases go untreated, unemployment and lack of advancement opportunities leave graduates struggling, and some may resort to criminal activity. Some of these problems are caused by the absence of money. Because when you've got money you can exchange it for other things that are essential to your survival and even have a surplus to give away if you like. In short, poverty is the absence of options. When you’re broke and without options, you are likely to endure the worst forms of abuse since you have no alternatives. And as you know, unscrupulous elements take advantage of people in disadvantageous situations. If I say MSN you know I am not referring to Microsoft’s discontinued instant messenger; it means Money stops nonsense. In simpler terms, having money means that you can choose to do things that you enjoy, instead of things you don't like. You get to have more control of your time and can also deal with problems and unexpected events more easily. The most important thing that money does in my opinion is to unlock great experiences and without money, they will be forever locked in the realm of your imagination and with time you’ll despise yourself for having those longings. Guess what? Those longings will never stop. I don’t blame you buddy for wanting to know how to make money because the lack of it, isn’t fun. 🧰
To make money you’ll first have to understand what money is and how it works. This knowledge will help you significantly in your efforts to get it.
One of the reasons why many people want money is because modern society is so complex and no single person can produce everything that they need which means they will have to part with money they have to get the products or services that they need. As a university student, you can probably relate to this scenario: think about your typical day, from the moment you wake up until when you go to bed, you rely on countless items that you did not make yourself, from the clothes on your back to the bed in your hostel. To be able to have or use these items you have to exchange money for them. Consider this exchange as a kind of trade — a thing for a thing. So let's say I have sacks of potatoes and you have sacks of rice. You might ask me if I would be willing to trade some of my potatoes for some of your rice. If I don’t need rice at that moment, I can tell you that I am not interested in the trade. You either have to go exchange your bags of rice for something that I actually want or you’re not getting any of my potatoes. Perhaps I want beans, you either have to go look for someone who wants to swap your rice for beans and then come back with the bags of beans to swap with my potatoes. Do you see how tedious this must have been before the invention of money? What money does is remove this barrier to successful trade. In that situation, you can just give me some money for my potatoes and I can happily go trade that money with someone else who has got the beans I need. This saves time because you don’t have to scour the planet looking for someone who needs rice in exchange for beans. In essence, money makes it easier to trade the things we have for things we want and society just boils down to a series of trades and swaps. We are forever trading one thing for another and money is just the yardstick we use to measure the value of one thing over another. Our mom, for example, is a fashion designer and she exchanges her time and skills for money, which she can then use to buy other things she needs or wants. People consider her skills valuable and are willing to pay for them. Mom can choose to get that payment in land or pots if the party she’s in a transaction with agrees. One of the reasons you’re going to school is to get an education that would give you the skills and knowledge that society thinks is valuable. Anything society considers valuable, it doesn’t hesitate to reward. You exchange money for an education and then exchange the skill and knowledge acquired for income which you can then use to trade for other things you want. So the more things you’ve got to trade with the world, the more money you’ll have or make. Our parents have given us a head start by providing us with resources and opportunities that we can trade with others. Do not take this for granted as many people do not have this advantage. In short, to make more money you have to have products or services that a lot of people consider really valuable and are willing to trade what they’ve got for what you’ve got. 🛒
Thanks for reading. If there's anything you'd like to chat about, or if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email. I'd love to hear from you. :)