I was sitting around this morning, listening to the Gym Class Heroes when I got to thinking that blogging about something on a low traffic site like mine, is in many ways, very similar to playing the stock market with out investing too much time in learning about it.  In both cases the person hopes for a good out come.  The blogger hopes the new post will attract attention to his or her site, and the person playing the stock market hopes that whatever new stock they have just gambled on will turn out to be a winner.

However, greater than 90 percent of the time, the post and the stock, does not preform as anticipated.  Why?  Well here are some problems.

The first is that the average blogger/investor is not intelligent enough.  They do not invest enough time in researching the post/stock, they do not check out who has written it before or where the company has been financially.  In most cases, the post/stock has already been over used.  The topic of the post was found, written about, and then “dugg” in a more primitive stage than you have learned about it.  If the topic was a web application, somebody was writing about it in its alpha stage.  If it was music, someone had stolen it and released the bootlegs for everyone three weeks before it came out.  It is the same way with the new stock you want to invest in.  Think about what has really attracted you to the stock?  Has it been all over the news?  Has it been shooting up recently because the company is making huge improvements or has recently merged?  If this is the case, then you’re most likely throwing you’re money away.  Sure you might be able to make some money if you stay in for a brief period of time, and get out right at the peak.  But those who made a killing have been in it from the beginning.

That brings me to the second issue of blogging and playing the stock market.  It IS all who you know.  Big bloggers typically work for big companies or have years upon years of experience in the field they are writing about.  Or if not one of these two, the blogger probably jumped on the bandwagon really early and has a large fan base due to comedic or learned informative value.  But back to the idea of big companies and years of experience.  Because they have either or both of these, the blogger knows people who can provide them with information.  The blogger is networked.  Friends keep him informed about the latest applications, games, gadgets, or whatever, that are coming out, then he or she writes about them.  Or the company that the blogger works for commands enough clout to get the blogger interviews with movers and shakers of the blogger’s writing topic.

The same goes for the ivestor.  The people making the money, reaping the benefits, are those who are in the know.  They are the people who invest for a living or know those who do.  They know about companies before the public does.  They have the opportunity to buy into the company and may choose to do so based on how the company is set up (the system in place) and who is running the company.  The investor educates him/herself about those two ideas, and makes a decision.  They know that once the company is in the limelight, that most of the money to be made is gone.  It is peaking, their money should have been in earlier, and those who buy now will most likely lose money.

In conclusion, blogging and investing are all about your education and who you know.  The more information that can be gathered and turned around the better, and the more contacts you have, also the better.

I do my best thinking while watching TV, or so I think.  I was watching Desperate Housewives last night–don’t laugh at me–when I was hit with the concept of the “parking space society” as I call it.  I was also receiving some mental stimulation from The Long Winters, which are a band.  I was struggling with the fact that I am supposed to get a job so I can earn money and pay for things.  However, I am not qualified for most jobs–having not completed much of college, I have very little in the line of marketable skills.  This means that any job I will get, will probably be boring, monotonous, and not too my liking.  Back to the parking space society thougth.

Eva Longoria on Desperate Housewives has been burdened with her newly blind husband.  With out getting into too much back story, she is used to being rich and getting her way all the time.  However, now she is poor and has to tend to her husbands most basic needs because he can no longer see.  One day she decides to take him on her errands.  She visits this place and that place leaving him in the car on the premise that she will be right back and can do things faster than he can because he is blind.  After this situation reoccurs about three times, he gets bored just sitting in the car and wanders off; asking some kid to take him to get some food.  When Eva Longoria comes out to find her husband gone, she freaks.  Then as soon as she finds him, someone starts harassing her about parking in a handicapped spot.  She clearly isn’t, but she says it is for her husband.  At this point her husband starts to reprimand her.  In return she says she is poor, incredably busy, and has a blind husband to take care of.  If she can get a handicapped parking spot because of that, she is going to take it.

My point is not to go get yourself a handicapped parking voucher, but to look into this situation.  Do you see the parking space society?  Everyone is supposed to fit into a standard square.  People who are different get the better spaces, whether it be that they are handicapped, rich, famous, or have just been at a company for a long time and now have a space near the door.  Whatever it may be, I don’t like it.  I don’t like the concept that we as a society should all fit into the same space.  We are channeled and driven towards a common goal–to make money for a company.  Why?  Why would I want to spend my time working for something that is not going to recognize me?  Why should I conform to a society where I park in a rectangle, buy my food at a grocery store, listen to the popular music and wear the fashionable clothes?

On a personal note, I don’t want a job that requires me to do the same things over and over again.  A job that is constraining is not beneficial to either myself or whatever company I will inevitably have to work for.  I will not do my best work in a forced, focused, path.  For me a job needs to do for things:

1. A job should teach you something new; constantly.
2. A job should let you earn money.
3. A job should constantly change environments; this promotes the first thought.
4. A job should be fun; if you don’t enjoy it, it’s not worth having.

Therefore, I urge you not to give into this parking space society.  Challenge the norm and do not conform completely to the ways of the system or you will be lost in it.  If you find yourself already lost in the system, make a plan to get out, or at least partially remove yourself.  Back out, pull out, push the cars, out of the way, do whatever you have to, so you don’t become trapped in the parking space society.  Park where you want.