GoHuman Blog

Speaking of gargantuan corporations, Fortune’s Global 500 proves our planet’s economy is completely unsustainable.

Seven oil companies: Holland (1) UK (4) France (6) China (9) and the U.S. (2, 5 & 7) are in the top 10.  These giants exploit nonrenewable resources.  #3 is big-box retailer Wal-Mart, under siege by environmental and local activists.  Dutch financial services titan, ING (see #1) is #8.  The world’s largest car company, from tiny Japan – which could be car-free, is #10.

By 20 we get 4 more oil/energy companies and 3 more car manufacturers.  If you are horrified, or at least care, watch the award winning documentary The End of Suburbia. Even if you don’t buy the logic of “peak oil production” (which I don’t) or Who Killed the Electric Car (which I do), it’s a revelation.

Sustainability is #1 in a series of 19 Blogs, in no particular order, of answers to “Why GoHuman.com?”.  A shocking recommendation by company #43 is next.

Picture of Crude Awakening – a Burning Man Event

Reason #2; Reason #3; Reason #4; Reason #5; Reason #6; Reason #7; Reason #8; Reason #9; Reason #10; Reason #11; Reason #12

I’ve quoted from Money and Markets before, but a recent issue has the perfect followup to my last blog on Goldman Sachs, edited here for brevity:

“The AIG rescue was the biggest taxpayer rip-off of all time, initiating a whole series of Wall Street taxpayer rip-offs…:

1. The U.S. Treasury bails out AIG, protecting AIG’s counterparties from direct losses they’d suffer if AIG failed.

2. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York pays off AIG’s creditors in full. As U.S. investors lose fortunes in financially viable companies, 16 major banks lose nothing in a company otherwise bankrupt, like…

3. Goldman Sachs, with Wall Street’s most extravagant executive bonuses in 2006 and 2007, and the most lavish payer of employee bonuses in 2009.

The money flow is clear:
* From taxpayers to AIG…
* From AIG to big Wall Street investment banks like Goldman Sachs…
* From Goldman Sachs to its employees in the form of lavish bonuses.”

The true cost to our institutions is erosion of trust.  Trust cannot be bought, it is built painstakingly, over time, through the delivery of promises and expectations.

Our economy may recover, in the short term, but the bankruptcy of trust will be much harder to undo.

GoHuman.com targets the underlying problems.  Change the way your world works, locally, at the level of basic human interaction.

Trust is rebuilt one handshake at a time!

Mikayel Aslanyan of New York, NY, just won a GoHuman.com Flip HD video camera by telling the world about his expert furniture repair skills! When I delivered the good news to Mikayel, he thought this was “too good to be true.” Well, I assure you it is true!

For Mikayel, “GoHuman.com will change the way my business world works, by allowing us to reach our customer and customers to know where to look for right reputable businesses.

”It is nice to see that this site is up and helping us to reach our customers. We used you guys before, we are using now and will use forever!

“Thanks for bringing customer and businesses together.

“Glad to be one of your favorite customers.”

Thanks Mikayel. And you win the award for photo with best tie-in to our contest. Apparently his “dolphin flips for GoHuman.com!”

Hire Mikayel and All Furniture Services LLC for your furniture repair needs in New York, NY.

WIN your own Flip HD camera by sharing a local service you provide or need!

Since I wrote about Goldman Sachs’ apology, investors are calling for a bigger share of profits. Don’t owners have a right to demand this?

Corporations are created to limit investor risk while making money. Sincepowerful corporations can cause enormous damage, layers of governance are added. A balance of forces and laws grow a company as big as Goldman Sachs. Then individuals personally profit from investing in, or working for, these enormously fattened pigs. Some gorge themselves on very large pieces of pork.

Governments become enmeshed and corrupted by capitalism. Bailouts become billion dollar opportunities for greedy individuals to exploit. With the balance of power and control being challenged, Investors, Executives and employees all scream for bigger slices of bacon. The Beatles nailed it in “Piggies”.

GoHuman.com promotes a sustainable model of equitable rewards and a new transactional model at the local community level. We celebrate the power of trust, built on transparent reputation. We look beyond the fallacy of so-called “Free Markets” to open markets of equal opportunity.

I’ll be blogging about these topics in the coming weeks. Thanks for the trust you display in working with us to change the way the world works.

Say cheese! or pork?

Cary Zartman of Chicago, IL, is GoHuman.com Flip HD video camera winner #9!

He says, “Z Factory has been in business since 1997, operating out of the same home office and as part of the same local business community since its inception. Over the years, we’ve all watched how “buying locally” has become a staple in the food industry — but the same can be said for business as well. And while Chambers of Commerce and other networking groups can help to build strong local relationships, they still require an interaction which can be largely dependent upon the right people being in the right place at the right time.

“What GoHuman.com accomplishes is simple, but invaluable. Connecting people in a way that fully understands that our businesses aren’t always conducted from 9 to 5, and not always face-to-face. GoHuman.com makes it ridiculously easy to seek out the quality resources that you need, at whatever time that might be, AND with the benefit of knowing they are well-regarded in their industry. 

“It’s great to know that my home-based business is functioning within a larger community… that it’s functioning at times when I might not be (like before my morning coffee)… and that it continues to excel within a community of like-minded and successful businesses. ”

Thanks Cary, and we wish you continued success with your business!

Hire Cary and Z Factory for art direction, graphic design and creative consulting in Chicago, IL.

WIN your own Flip HD camera by sharing a local service you provide or need!

Decades ago Bob Dylan sang that the times were changing. There are again welcome indications of serious change underfoot. They are the real green shoots cropping up. One of the most recent ones I saw was the $500M apology from Goldman Sachs.

If anyone doubts that this is change, consider this. Goldman Sachs first blustered in defense of it’s profiteering coming out of the near global economic meltdown. They were obviously very happy to reap the spoils in a game of global chicken, in which the last one standing can make out like a bandit, if of course the horrifying crash is avoided.

They also took the standard arrogant stance that they deserved the out-sized bonuses they pay themselves for sucking enormous amounts of value out of the system, at the expense of those at the bottom, who’s blood they are harvesting as they squeeze the proverbial turnips.

But now they are apologizing. And in delivering the $500M to small businesses who have suffered from their exploitation of the so-called free markets and the resulting global economic serfdom.

So this is indeed a welcome start. It’s an indication that, ultimately, the world is programmed towards a new level of maturity. One in which the actual worth of each individual voice is equal, independent of their net worth.

We had a bit of a time delivering the good news to our 7th Flip HD video camera winner a couple of weeks ago, but persisted thanks to all the great help Sasha Veljic has given to GoHuman.com. Sasha had a lot to say about GoHuman, so I’ll just let him say it!

“When I was introduced to GoHuman.com, its values and vision attracted my attention and admiration.  Primarily it is the vision of a better marketplace that is helpful to small businesses.  More and more people are interconnecting through the Internet.  That gives a chance to everyone.  The fact that GoHuman is built from the bottom up, with no top elite wielding power and reveling in greed is the principle factor that drew me in.

“I live in an area that has been affected by conflicts resulting in tremendous economic catastrophe that has plagued our nation for almost 20 years and continues due to current corruption and lack of legal state.  Living in strained economic conditions with many limitations and lack of commodities freely enjoyed in the West lead me to the conclusion that Internet-based small business venture is the best opportunity for me and others.  Besides, among GoHuman founders there are individuals who never cheated me in our past business relations, so GoHuman is a continuation of honest, altruistic business ventures with proven true business people that I share the same vision with.

“Internet here is not cheap.  However, it is a window to the world.  GoHuman has the best possible potential to provide all participants with equality on the market place.  Each user is able to form a list (circle) of reliable co-workers that can be better coordinated across local areas and the entire world.

“I believe I have caught the vision of GoHuman since its very inception.  A good cause cannot have a bad effect.  GoHuman values are timeless and its success certain.  My vision is to be a part of a successful worldwide business movement that will also cause changes in East Europe.”

Thanks Sasha! Beautifully said.

Hire Sasha for translation services (English and Spanish to Serbian).

WIN your own Flip HD camera by sharing a local service you provide or need!

Today is Tuesday, November 10, 2009, and it is the 40th birthday of Sesame Street!

Sesame Street is one of the longest-running children’s programmes, and has spun off numerous films, the Muppet TV series, and one of everyone’s favourite Disney attractions, the 3-D Muppet Theatre. It has played host to numerous celebrities – Michele Obama has recently appeared in an episode.

Sesame Street broke new ground with its formula of appealing to both children with a mix of fun, friendly, cuddly and sometimes mildly-scary monsters, while also appealing to the parents with jokes and skits which played off popular culture and historical events. Sesame Street was an educational programme which found a perfect balance between entertainment and education. It related life-lessons about bullying, about being different and being proud of it, without playing the race or gender card. It managed to teach children facts and concepts – while also helping parents to understand how to deal with their children.

The writers and producers of the Disney and Pixar films we all love today must have been heavily influenced by Sesame Street. We can see the same formula of simultaneously appealing to both young and old with all the jokes which play on multiple levels. I would argue that your sense of humour, and how you see the world, has very likely felt that influence, and you are the better for it – even if you’ve never seen the show.

I grew up on Sesame Street – although I have lived in the UK for the past 23 years, I grew up in the USA, and among my best childhood friends were Oscar, Cookie, Grover and Snuffleupagus. We don’t have the current series here, but I’m constantly amazed by the number of Europeans who know and love Sesame Street as well. It’s one American export of which the USA can justifiably be proud.

Arguably, Sesame Street has changed the world.

So let’s all raise a glass of milk (or pickle juice) to Sesame Street – happy 40th birthday!

And, for any business or anyone offering a service – there’s a lesson here. Build a reputation of being decent and positive and delivering what customers want with a bit extra – and not only will they love us, they’ll celebrate our success. If you haven’t already, check out the GoHuman services, and see that is a huge part of what we’re about.

Susan Nieman, in a recent EnlightNext article titled “Idealism for Grown-Ups”, explains a basic tenet of philosopher Immanuel Kant: “Claims of reality and the claims of the ideal should be given equal weight”.

It’s a sophisticated philosophical underpinning of a truism I heard as a teenager. Every week Casey Kasum told American Top 40 listeners to “keep our feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars”.

Fans of GoHuman.com intuitively embrace this principle and see no disconnect with our “Change the Way Your World Works” tag-line. Others, put off by our grandiose vision, view our approach as naive and doomed to failure. We respect their perspective, and welcome their criticism, especially if they include constructive feedback.

Even Flamers help keep us honest. We “drink our own Kool-aid” about quality and local relevance, with the humility to “Make it Right”; another valuable component of GoHuman.com.

It’s in our nature to be idealistic. I’ll reach back much further than Kant for an admonition I learned as an undergraduate Theology student. The Hebrew prophet Zechariah, speaking to ancient scoffers, gives very modern advice: “Do not despise the day of small things”.

So grow older and wiser without losing idealism. Work at ground level and stretch for the stars. Align with the forces of nature. People who say GoHuman.com can’t don’t know the meaning of Kant.

You Can! Just click Share This to change the way your world works!

Denise Hubbard of Port Townsend, WA is GoHuman.com Flip HD video camera winner #8!

An early pioneer of GoHuman.com in her area, Denise helped her community by bringing local businesses on board.

She said, “I have been watching GoHuman grow its little local networks with great excitement! I know that I use the Internet the way my parents & grandparents used the phone book and the ‘yellow pages’-so- the concept makes total sense to me. GoHuman has the added bonus of reviews from clients, something our generation demands & can access thanks to this technology. Yay 2009 & YAY GoHuman!
I feel proud to be a part of it so early on….
I look forward to getting rave reviews ”

Thanks for the support, Denise!

Hire Denise and Townsend Bay Property Management for professional property management services in Port Townsend, WA.

WIN your own Flip HD camera by posting a local service you provide or need!