Summary
- Social entrepreneurial tools
- contests
- micro-finance
- philanthropy
- media
- music
- videos
- writing
- comedy
- food
- green
- art
- modeling
- photography
- social networking
- games
- etc.
Overview
Selfport is designed to improve living standards, at home and abroad, and for everyone, at any income level.
To do this, Selfport is developing new ways for people to earn a living, through collaboration on media, education and other projects.
Playing in Selfport contests helps set the stage to Change the World, for the better. Plus, they're just fun.
Change the World
The statement that we can "Change the World," and "improve socio-economic conditions worldwide," is absolutely genuine. This is the literal intention of Selfport.
Although many people and organizations are doing good work, at the same time, statements about changing the world are so often just talk, hot air and wild exaggerations. How can Selfport actually do this?
We are making a new form of micro-finance. You will notice that you have an account in your profile, which supports actual financial transactions. This will allow for our unique form of person to person investment.
Micro-finance has been around for about 30 years. Since Muhammad Yunnus started the current model for micro-finance, it has spread around the world, and now serves about 100 million people. About $30 billion a year is invested in small entreprenuers using this system. And that's great!
However, there are still billions of people in poverty world wide. And huge numbers of people out of work even in first world countries. Why isn't micro-finance spreading even further, faster?
Because, entrepreneurs still need to make businesses, and up until now, there hasn't been a robust enough set of "entrepreneurial tools," that anyone who wants to climb the economic ladder on their own effort and creativity, can reliably do that.
This is the problem that Selfport is designed to solve. We are offering multiple forms of business model templates, and the tools to implement them. Some people have felt that the site is complex. But that is because there is more than one way to make a living using Selfport.
Like making a movie, or a conventional business, or a society, people play different roles. The first roles Selfport is modeling to allow people to make a living, revolve around a community created media industry. These roles are media creators and talent, sponosrs, managers, and active audience, or promoters and judges. All of these parts can be played for free and for fun, or to earn and win money.
This is the foundation, on which we will build and offer many more entrepreneurial tools, such as learning and teaching, making events, even creating your own "microcosmic world." Some of these tools are already on the site. Others are yet to come.
Profit and Philanthropy
Selfport is a business approach to improving socio-economic conditions world wide. The theme of the product is "an entrepreneurial tool set."
Selfport could be characterized as philanthropy for profit, and has elements in common with Kiva, Prosper, Facebook, the idea of "social business" as defined by Muhammad Yunnis, or social entrepreneurialism, as seen through the Skoll Foundation, Ashoka, Endeavor, etc.
All that said, our first products will revolve around entertainment, and look more like American Idol than some a charity. After all, we are moving towards a golden age in which Kurzweil's "law of accelerating returns" will allow for a higher standard of living for everyone that has ever been experienced by anyone, even today.
In this world soon to come, creativity and imagination will translate immediately through technology to experiential products (a la Second Life, full sensory vr, and tools like emachineshop morphing in to assemblers.)
And Selfport is designed to help set the stage, along with lots of epi-phenomena of technology, from web 2.0 to nano, giving beings the socio-economic paradigm to rapidly improve their lives, and our environment and world, through mutual benefit.
