Maria, a baby boomer and a hippy, is an American woman. I met her in Sydney in a seminar on spirituality.
A Baby Boomer is someone who was born between 1946 and 1964 when economic prosperity arose in many countries following World War II. A hippy is a baby boomer and a rebellious youth of the 1960s and 1970s with a burning desire to change the existing lifestyle.
With a deep sigh Maria said, "The aspiration for a new way of being was fine. But like all other hippies, I did not have a meaningful direction. I wasted my time, money and energy on unproductive things. Now I am 50 and I don't have a job, family or income. I spend my time on the Internet using the computers in pubic libraries. I salute John Milton who wrote 'How soon hath Time, the Subtle Thief of Youth'. I can do nothing useful to generate income, though I am in need of money. I have wasted my life."
"Our attitudes and ways of looking at things decide whether a thing is useful or useless. What we throw out as waste provides self-employment to thousands of poor men who collect the waste and sell it. So, there is no such thing as waste in nature. Some scientists say that the universe is recreated at every moment. If that is true, rebuilding our life or creating a new life is not a difficult thing to do. Whether you are 15 or 50, you can make money if you have the right attitude and work hard," I replied.
"Thanks for your soothing words. But you are overestimating my knowledge. I don't know anything that can help me make money," Maria was very 'confident' about her incapacity. "That's the mistake most people do about making money. We have lived on this earth for many years. This simple fact tells me that you have enough knowledge to make money. Tell me about what ever you know. Let us see whether what you know has the potential to generate income for you," I told Maria.
"When I was a hippy, I used to travel to many countries. When I lived in Europe I dabbled into Kabala, a system of European mysticism, and when I was in Asia I tried my hands in yoga and meditation. I know nothing else," said Maria and with a big smile asked me, "Do you still think I can make money?"
"You can make more money than most other mainstream entrepreneurs," I told Maria as she put her right hand on her mouth in astonishment and continued, "The human aspiration has always been to discover the secrets of life and make progress towards problem-free life and for this reason many take refuge in religion. If 3 billion people deny existence of God, there are 3 billion people that are religious or spiritual. Instead of bothering your head about the religious truths, help these people by providing them products and services they need in their pursuit. As you already know a lot about different religions, it would be easy for you to think about the products these people may need."
"Oh, what you say makes sense. All religions have some sort of rituals and these rituals require many tools, products and accessories. I can sell incense sticks, fragrance oils, books and related products. I know where to buy them in big quantities at low prices. But how will I find buyers?" Maria asked me.
"Thanks to the Internet, that's an easy thing that anyone can accomplish in a matter a fifteen minutes," I said, "First you decide about your business and then build a professional website that will sell your products online. If you know about your products, you can easily build a website with a shopping cart through service providers such as Yahoo. As soon as your ecommerce website is ready, place ads on the Internet through ad providers such as Google AdWords, MSN AdCenter and Yahoo Overture. You will start getting enquiries within 15 minutes. Please visit the above websites and you will understand that every word I say is true."
I received an email from Maria after two months: 'After entering into arrangements with wholesale merchants for drop shipping and reseller commission, I built a website using Yahoo Stores. I started with incense sticks and fragrance oils. I placed ads through Google Adsense. You told me that I would get enquiries within 15 minutes. You are wrong. I made my first sales within 5 minutes! The power of the Internet is amazing. Today morning, I crossed the break-even point and have started making profits.'