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This is a series of articles about studying general scientific ideas to
create a wealth building system that works according to the laws of the
Universe. These concepts come from observing our environment.
Scientists have discovered that the laws of nature follow certain
patterns. Some physical laws seem to be present everywhere, from the
tiny atoms to the enormous stars.
Everything on the physical realm tend to be influenced by these laws,
therefore they can be applied to your businesses too as you will see in
just a few minutes. The whole series contain the following articles . .
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1. Entropy
2. Life
3. Multiplication
4. Synergism
5. Inertia
6. Gravity
7. Diversification
Entropy also referred to as the second law of thermodynamics is a
widely known scientific concept. This law of nature is amazing! It
defines important aspects of the world.
The law of entropy establishes that the amount of energy available to
perform useful work within a closed system decreases with time. Entropy
is a universal tendency in the physical world. All things tend to
reduce their amount of overall potential energy. Systems become more
disordered, chaotic and disorganized over time.
If I would describe this concept in my own words I would said that
everything which possess energy constantly seeks to release that
energy. Everything in the physical realm is affected by this law.
Things get old, dirty, disorganized, fall apart, break down, etc.
From our point of view, there is a tendency to chaos in the Universe,
but if you analyze this further, you realize that this may not be the
ultimate truth about entropy. The truth is that energy “seeks” to be
released. It constantly “tries” to expand from areas of higher
concentration to areas of lower concentration.
For example, you take a gas and compress it within a container. That
gas will remain there for as long as the container can keep it
compressed. The very second that gas or part of it can escape the
container it will do so. Then its atoms or molecules will keep
expanding farther away from each other in an increasingly disorganized
way. They will move from an area of higher concentration to an area of
lower concentration.
The same happens with everything else that have potential energy. If
you suspend something on thin air with your hand, the force of gravity
will be acting upon it. This object or substance will have potential
energy. The second you leave it alone it will fall to the ground. It
doesn’t stop there. This object or substance keeps having potential
energy. It is made of atoms and molecules which are bound together by
chemical forces.
These molecules will tend to fall apart over time. The object or
substance will decompose and form simpler bodies or particles. The
process will keep on indefinitely. If the substance is a liquid for
example, it may evaporate if it is exposed to Sun light. It may become
a gas and its molecules can fall apart.
Common sense tells us that energy tend to go from areas of major
concentration to areas of minor concentration. It is a pattern. It
happens all the time. You rarely see a rock moving upward without
apparent reason getting back to the mountain and becoming part of it,
which is a most complex system. The opposite happens. The rock
separates from the most complex system (the mountain) fall down due to
the force of gravity and become part of a simpler system.
The rock particles fall apart over time turning into dust. This is a
slow process, but the tendency remains constant. Things tend to become
simpler over time. So, the more complex a system is the more energy it
will require to keep that level of complexity. Humans, like many other
living things are very complex organisms. That’s why we require
constant supply of energy to keep ourselves alive.
The energy (food and water) is used to keep our complex system (our
bodies) working properly. Even though we may eat all the food we want
and drink all the water we want, we still get old and die one day.
That’s because many changes occur since a person is born until it gets
old and eventually die. The same oxygen that we breathe and which keeps
us alive for a long time, produces free radicals and damage our cells.
The food we eat have this characteristics too. Furthermore, there are
external changes/mutations that tend to transform the body over time.
The same happens with everything else.
If you look at this from a pessimistic perspective you may think that
there is a tendency to chaos in the Universe, therefore nature itself
is against you. Maybe you struggle every day just to survive and you
don’t know why you have so many problems. Why is it so hard to make
money? Why can’t life be simpler?
I think that once you understand the universal laws you have a greatest
chance to change your life for the better. The way I see it is not that
there is a tendency to chaos, but that energy “seeks” to expand and
fill more space. This have been happening since the big bang. Galaxies
today are still expanding and moving apart from each other at very fast
speeds.
Some scientist believe that the Universe will reach a point of
simplicity where only lose atoms will exist and all matter will be
simpler and colder. They do not take into consideration the
obstructions to the second law of thermodynamics. These so called
obstructions make life possible. There is something within living
things that do not exist in non-living bodies, it is the genes.
Genes are biological information. They tell cells how to behave. They
define the biological processes of a living organism among other
things. Genes make animals and plants behave in a different way. Most
living things get energy from areas of lower concentration to maintain
and sustain their complex systems, they evolve over time becoming more
complex and they add value to their own life (system) plus the life of
others and the environment (other systems).
Then a living organism is the best example of an obstruction to the
second law of thermodynamics, but there are many others. The overall
tendency is for everything to fall apart and become simpler, but it
takes time for it to happen. Furthermore, these obstructions complicate
the process.
Living organisms are not the only ones who obstruct the second law of
thermodynamics. For example the most abundant element in the universe
is hydrogen. Stars like our Sun “create” energy through nuclear fusion.
Energy can not be created, but within a fusion reaction (when two atoms
are fused together) much more energy is produced in the form of heat
than the energy required to fuse those atoms together. This creates
self sustaining reactions within the interior of stars. Nuclear fusion
produces huge quantities of energy. Furthermore, lightest elements are
transformed into heavier elements this way.
This is another example of obstructions to the second law of
thermodynamics. There are many others, but the overall tendency is for
everything to grow, expand and become simpler.
Now, the important part of this article. How do you apply all this
knowledge to making money and acquiring more wealth? What does all of
this has to do with businesses and financial prosperity?
I believe that it is closely related to it. I see it everyday in my
businesses. I see in other enterprises as well. Some people obey this
law instinctively while others do it consciously. I will show you now
how this law of nature have a lot to do with businesses and making
money.
The first application that we can extract from it is that there are not
free lunches. Inventors tried to create an over unity machine for
centuries. The idea was to make a machine that recycled its own energy
or which output energy would be bigger than its input energy. The
device should allow people to then connect the output to the input and
have the machine work indefinitely and produce useful work at the same
time.
Some people still try to accomplish this today. If you understand well
the concept of entropy you can realize why none of his machines will
ever work. You can not create energy and there are no free lunches.
How does this applies to business? It applies in the following way.
Most people become rich by adding value to the lives of others in some
way. They may create a new technology that didn’t exist before. They
may improve an existent product and make it better, etc.
You can not create matter, but you can change matter in such a way that
it becomes more useful to others and to yourself. The problem is that
when you discover a way to make things more effectively others will try
to copy your technique. You will face competition.
If something makes money, other people will try to do it as well.
That’s for sure. A few years after you make your discovery, invention,
etc; you will probably have several competitors. Of course you can get
a patent, but they will try to design around that. They may even make
you an offer if they perceive you are a potential danger/competitor to
their business.
Now, remember something. Everybody tries to get more than they give,
even if they don’t notice it. People since they are born are tired of
observing how they have to always put more energy into something, than
the apparent benefit they get from that thing compared to their
efforts. Let me explain.
People complain about the high gas prices, car insurance, taxes, paying
a mortgage and being in debt. People perceive that their efforts
surpasses the benefits. They may be right in many aspects. That’s how
the world works. Some of the energy is always spent/loss in
unproductive work.
That’s why people love to receive free stuff, but there is nothing
completely free, there is always a catch. When you do receive something
free it means that someone else paid the price for you, but there is
always a price to be paid. Whether you pay the price yourself or
someone else pays the price and give it to you as a gift, that’s
optional. The point is that someone, somewhere, somehow had to pay the
price, even if you can’t see it.
Now, let’s get back to business. It would be great to find a way to
make a lot of free and easy money without having to exert any effort at
all to get it. Wouldn’t that be nice? On the other hand, we live in a
different world. It is often easy to lose/spend money and usually hard
to get it.
That’s why people will give you their money only when they perceive
that you are offering them something which exceeds in use value the
amount of money that they are giving you for it. Did you understand
that one right? People in general want to get more than they give. It
is a natural human tendency. This is one of the reasons why many
business people get frustrated.
An exchange happen when the buyer feels hat he is getting more than he
is paying for and the seller feels that he is getting more than what he
is selling. This leads to lots of fraud in today’s society from both
buyers and sellers. The truth though is that you don’t have to deceive
nor beat up anybody in business.
Then how can you give people something that exceeds in use value what
they are giving you in cash value without deceiving or stealing from
them? Furthermore, how can you be happy about the transaction and feel
that you are getting a higher value too? The answer is Leverage. This
is a concept that I explain under Synergism in one of my other articles
on this series.
Leverage multiplies your efforts. Leverage can be a machine, system,
technique anything that helps you make more with less. If you use
leverage you can give people what they strive for and become rich at
the same time. You can make more money with less work.
The most effective leverage is that which obeys the physical laws. Let
me give you a few examples so you get an idea of how it works. Imagine
that you want to make money on the Internet. You want to start an
online business. You think that one of the most profitable products you
can sell is information.
So, you write an e-book and try to sell it from your website. Now, how
are people going to know that you exist. You may invest in advertising,
but that could be quiet expensive. There is simply too much competition
in this field! Then what you do about it is to use leverage by giving
people things for free and allowing them to give them away for free to
others as well.
You give away free content in exchange of free traffic. Remember you
will have to put in more energy than you expect to get, but by using
leverage you multiply the results that you receive from your efforts
many times over. Leverage works in the business world like nuclear
fusion works in the physical world. You still need to realize some
efforts like you still need to fuse hydrogen atoms together if you want
to receive huge results.
The difference is that you can be very effective by doing this. For
example, you can write articles and let other people use them with the
condition that they post a link to your website at the bottom of each
article. You can also write an e-book and give it away for free with
your affiliate links on it. People get to read the e-book for free and
you get to have all the affiliate links seen by thousands of
individuals all over the Internet. Whenever someone purchases something
from those links, you get paid a commission.
This is an example of how to use the second law of thermodynamics to
your advantage. If you give people something useful (information is
very useful) and allow them to share it, they will probably share it.
If you use that gift as a backdoor to your products and services your
profits may increase exponentially over time.
Those articles can spread out all over the Internet. You make an effort
once and benefit many times. Furthermore, you can write often, to
gradually increase your exposure. Another method you can use is to join
an affiliate program and offer a commission to anyone who sell your
products. Also you can offer a preview version of the product that you
are selling.
You can offer a newsletter to grab the e-mail address of your prospects
and follow up with them. Most Internet sales today are generated
through opting e-mail marketing. Remember that 98% of people who visit
your website won’t purchase your products on the first visit. On the
other hand, if you follow up with them for several days or weeks, then
your sales will increase.
You can do this automatically. You can use an autoresponder. This is
another way to use leverage to your advantage. The autoresponder will
send the messages for you automatically. Once you program it, the
program will take care of the work involved.
These are just basic examples of how you can apply scientific laws to
your businesses and become more profitable. On this article I shared
information with you about entropy and a little bit about leverage. You
can learn about other physical laws and their applications to wealth
building techniques from my other articles.
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