Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi Chuck,
Speaking as a musician myself, I know what you mean about learning to play an instrument. I suspect it`s partly why music lessons used to be considered a normal part of a well-rounded education, back before everything got "modernized."

What`s interesting to me is some of the information coming out of robotics. On the one hand, we have digitally programmed robots, costing millions and millions of dollars. They use pre-programmed logic, where the operator must guess ahead of time, every possible set of conditions and program in a response.

On the other hand, we have so-called analog robots, costing about thirty bucks. They have almost no explicit programming, but instead use a form of aversion-attraction. They`re given a "task" to perform, and "learn" the best way to do it through trial an error.

A digitally programmed robot can perform countless types of tasks. The analog type of robot performs only a very small set of tasks, but does it a lot better and less expensively.

To my mind, "play" is like being an analog robot. You have pain-pleasure, and the driver of curiosity. If it works, it causes pleasure. If it fails, it causes pain. We tend to avoid pain, and move toward pleasure. However; using this trial-and-error system accomplishes a particular task only, until or unless we`re given a new task to learn.

"Learning" goes along with work, and seems to me to be the digital form of development. The problem is setting up the massive amount of programming, which would be the 12 years of schooling we start out with. It`s complex, expensive, not much fun, and carries no real pain-pleasure incentives. Yet the outcome is a much more sophisticated system.

My conclusion is that the best of both worlds is to a) teach children how to improve their adaptation skills, and b) focus on incentive-punishment systems, while all the time strengthening the Curiosity Factor. :-)

I too have been looking for a business idea that would be doable with 5-8 hours of work a day.  And like Marsha, I have Rheumatoid Arthritis.  I appreciate the positive encouragement everyone is offering. 

Maybe career/life coach for people with health and physical challenges?  Sounds like we need that!

SandraD

I saw your post and just wanted to wish you well. I think the concept of the career life coach for people with physical challenges could be a winner. There are so many people trying to piece their lives back together after facing a setback that the right encouragement and sound advice could go a long way.

Let me know if I can help you in any way.

Marcia

Just a thought about a comment on "web design" jobs as far as working from home: I may just be lousy at finding the opportunities... but I run my home business now because I have had NO luck finding web design work at all since the "internet boom" ended. I liked my web design job well enough (it payed pretty decent, best pay I had ever gotten) but the company laid off my whole department, turned the programmers into programmers/designers (yeah, that always makes for GREAT design). Did a few freelance projects, and I wasn`t making enough money to even keep up with it while working full time at lots of little "in between" jobs. Kind of stinks. I`d focus on something else than that one... just a comment from an ex-webdesigner.

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WORK AT HOME UNITED
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