How to Instantly Save $500,000 in Business

Position available at prestigious company. Duties include but are not limited to research, writing, phone calls, copies, phones, sales, client services. Valuable experience. No pay.

Quick, what's that ad for? Welcome my friends to modern day slavery! The internship.

If you are lucky you'll snag an internship at a company that realizes the full potential of the intern. Educated individual, fresh ideas, raw talent, and no payout. Bingo. Free labor. On the business side, work them hard and harder, just make sure you write a glowing recommendation at the end. Heinously smart business move.

Dear future employer of my hard working intern: Intern will provide same or better results as any entry level candidate worth their salt due to desire for experience and unexplainable enthusiasm. Hire intern. Intern is free. Hire 10 interns. Save $500,000. The end.

If you're not so lucky, you'll end up with a company that sees you as a robot coffee-fetcher-copy-maker-shoe shiner. And why not? At least you are getting experience! How many copies can you make an hour? Double that my friend! You are getting experience!

Or you can be like LinkedIn, and just ask people to work for free. $0 an hour job!

Brilliant business move. Necessary career move?

Creative Capitalism

Anyone who knows me probably knows my fascination with the idea of Creative Capitalism, as coined by Bill Gates. Read the article. It's brilliant. I've worked in non-profits and noticed an often clear lack of business savvy, while in the corporate world it's so often all about profit and not about helping others. Social entrepreneurship is what I want, and when I figure out what exactly what that means for me, you'll be reading about it. Basically, I want to start a business that yes, makes me money, b/c that is what businesses are supposed to do, but also that actually improves the quality of life for impoverished or otherwise underprivileged individuals.

"This is the heart of creative capitalism. It's not just about doing more corporate philanthropy or asking companies to be more virtuous. It's about giving them a real incentive to apply their expertise in new ways, making it possible to earn a return while serving the people who have been left out. This can happen in two ways: companies can find these opportunities on their own, or governments and nonprofits can help create such opportunities where they presently don't exist."

Beautiful.