Zaadz' Business Model: (aka: how we’re gonna make money)

Well articulated.  Great stuff.  Think big and execute one thing at a time.  You’re off to a great start!

bravo! =)

agreeing with both of the above!!  THIS is something I can get very excited about being a part of… well thought out, well planned, and with the power of intention behind this… success is already there… fruition takes time… manifesting something of this magnitude is pure magic!!

be well,
~K

Count me in, Bri!

Me too. If there’s anything you need help with, I’m beyond on board – inspired is an understatement. I know you wrote you’ll be transparent about this, but I’d still just like to make my committment explicit. Again, thank you. It’s incredible being here.

Hi there,

I was excited to read this - excited to see that there are other people thinking hard about what “integral business” might look like on the ground, I guess. And I’m stoked that you’re building (we’re building) a community of people who care about changing the world in an intelligent way (Care2Connect kinda makes me cringe).

All that said, you lost me at the end there, with the “Zaadz becomes Starbucks” part of the vision. Sorry, I know that’s a crude way to put it, and you deserve better than that. But to be honest, that part made me shiver. I hope you guys DO make good money doing work that feeds your soul, but I don’t want to see you become the one-stop brand for the people who are questing passionately to make themselves better people by spending money to build a new improved personality. I can’t really sign up for that. I’ve seen what happens when you cater to the market of people who can afford to spend money on their “enlightenment”.

Maybe that’s just what capitalism requires, and maybe I’m naive. But I’m not sure you’ll be able to do the Oasis and the Resorts and the Publishing and still be authentic. Maybe I’m the one who still doesn’t really understand the Integral Business Model yet - and if so, I’d be happy for someone to try and help me see.

Sorry to be saying all this on my second day as a member - not really my style, but I was called! :) I very much look forward to more honest and generative dialogue on this platform - I’m stoked about the tools and (most of) the vision you’ve built here. :)

Sarah

Hey again,

Many thanks for your thoughtful response. I blogged about this conversation from a meta level last night - http://sarahpullman.com/zaadz - but I’ve been somewhat stuck as to how to articulate the ways that the grand vision doesn’t sit quite right with me. (Plus I’m intimidated to be debating with a philosopher. ;))

I don’t think it’s necessarily that I believe that big = bad. But let’s be honest, there are a lot of examples of bad big out there. Big tends to lead away from local living economies, though I do believe that’s gonna have to change if we’re going to save the world… I guess I’ve just seen small ventures get big, and necessarily give up something of the vision and spirit that made them beautiful. And so I wonder whether the realities of growth are such that it’s just very difficult to do it “right”.

I was struggling to figure out how to explain myself and my feelings about big business, but just decided that that’s not actually the part that I need to talk about. What rubs me the wrong way is the part where you say We plan to create the world’s leading self-development company and the most recognized and trusted brand in the world.

I’m having a big debate with myself in my head and I keep writing things and then deleting them. I think I can imagine your rationale here. Part of me thinks that by aspiring to this, you’re just aspiring to profit from the masses of people who don’t understand what true personal transformation requires, and think that they can buy their way into it with vacations, books, etc. Living with spirit doesn’t require a “lifestyle of health and sustainability” with all its trappings.

But then part of me thinks that people are always gonna want vacations, and if they can choose a vacation package offered by an ethical company instead of a trip on a dirty polluting cruise ship or something, then hey, why not. If they’re gonna buy books as part of their ongoing efforts to reform their personalities and become better, more spiritual people, then sure, let’s offer them some books and better the money should circulate within a conscious community.

If your intentions are clear and your ethics are good, then I’m willing to get behind it and say “go for it”. If we don’t believe we can change things, then what are we doing? I just have visions of the middle-aged, upper-middle-class women who spend lots of cash on their spiritual betterment, and fear that you’ll end up being a bland, easy-to-digest brand that will have lost most of the people who signed on at the get-go long ago.

I realize I’m expressing some pessimism, which isn’t really what I want to identify myself with. I have to believe that the next couple of decades will see lots of business run by people I can relate to, connect to, believe in. My friends, my colleagues… maybe even myself. So I think this dialogue is important, and I’d love to hear other voices chime in, but I also don’t want to be pissing in the cornflakes of someone who’s really trying to do something right.

So bring it on… !

With best wishes and much respect,
Sarah

so what’s wrong with Starbucks? hahaha. seriously, just read this. still recovering from my vacation hangover. thanks Brian for addressing my business model inquiry. hats off to you guys for the transparency. if and when Zaadz hit it big, it could very well be a flagship example of what an “integral business model” could be like. godspeed.

I cringed at the same lines as Sarah. I think I sensed a potential: for your approach to become flip and formulaic. This often happens to business that are engaged in the LOHAS type market. When you talk about “hundreds of ‘zaadz notes’ on everything from goal setting to taoism…” I hear alarm bells. The way you state the goal above could be interpreted as a flippancy of attitude towards some very important subjects.

Taoism, sexuality, etc. These aren’t things that exist so you can crunch out well branded books. They aren’t things that exist to be options on the menu of an exlusive spa. They can be approached and addressed by books, and they can experienced in spas… but be careful not to reduce them.

I have worked as a journalist, and I’m aware of how the needs of a journalist can corrupt one’s relationship to people and important stories. The starving child becomes the great picture. The flood becomes the big story. The image of the saint is used because it “looks exotic.” This is exactly what happens to business like yours. Be careful.

Will the next zaadz notes subject be chosen based entirely on what subject is hottest? Will the author be chosen based on which has the most popular recognician? Are you really going to “pop” retreats into locations based simply on what is considered exotic? I would respect the initiative more if you were going to pick places that were most appropriate for sustainable development.

Are you selling spirituality? There are a million ways to do so, few of them don’t reduce spirituality in the process. I’ve been to the buddhis temples in Thailand, where they’re selling little plastic buddhas, fortunes, and everything else you could possibly sell in a temple. People leave the temple with their pockets full of junk. Is that what you hope to be, on a giant global scale? It’s very easy to justify doing so. You just have to say that the little plastic buddhas will remind them of Buddha. I don’t buy it.  

I think this will be an ongoing part of your work, keeping a hold of your real vision and values, and not letting them become pieces of the business plan. As a business owner I know this is a danger, as the needs and stresses of business can be overwhelming. The moment I become conviced that you’re seeing things through the eyes of the business plan first, and buddha is something to stick on a mug, I’m out of here.

All that said, I don’t see why you can’t do it the right way. I just joined zaadz and I’m hoping you’re the right people for the job. I would love to see you rise into an ecomonically influention position while keeping true to your real values. I think it is an incredible experiment, and I hope to contribute to it. :)

Much love and keep up the great work!

nick

Brian,

Thank you. I have a much better context for the lines I was reacting to. I still think you will face the challenges I mention, but you’ve given me more reason to think you can do it. (I’ve even signed up for your thinkarete newsletter).

I’ll take the time to look further into all of this. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and writing about communications and social networking… and would be thrilled if you were doing what I’ve wanted to see :)

Brian…

Thanks so much for writing your long response up there - I really enjoyed reading it and feel all fired up now. (which is a good thing, as you’ll know if you read my recent slightly pathetic blog post here on Zaadz…)

I’m excited to be an “early adopter” here on Zaadz and look forward to following along. How about making a single RSS feed for all the interesting stuff that happens around here? That would really save me some time. ;) (mostly kidding… i know you guys can’t read my mind. Yet.)

Sarah

Greetings Brian,

I am enjoying your words and the visions for your company.  I really appreciate your desire for posativity and creativity.  I have been communicating with David who I believe is on your team, or at least seems to know more than I do.  I read a bit about your plans and though I am seeing great intentions, I have some concerns.

I have been a member of Tribe.net for over a year and have participated in its growth.  I am also a community leader and co-founder of the Oracle Gatherings in Seattle (www.oraclegatherings.com).  The Oracle Gatherings itself is one organization in a strong network of free thinking and creative organizations that spans the west coast, and beyond.  In the beginning, I saw Tribe.net as a wonderful place to stay connected with the already existing network I have described.  Then I realized that each moment of our participation was generating value for Tribe.net to leverage larger advertisers.  Being a business man myself, I understand the process.  Now with ads in every post and very few of them representing the alternative lifestyles we actively create, I can’t help feeling like a cheap whore… even more so now that I have gotten so many in my community to participate.

So, I come to you after reading your plans to incorporate ads in the future of Zaadz.com.  I am aware that this is a business for you and your team.  I strongly believe that those who build great tools should be supported, and what I am seeing so far is beautiful and well intended.  My previous experience has me asking questions that I want to share with you in hopes that it will strengthen your mission and offer another perspective.

Please, can you address my insecurity with your model of selling pieces of my attention to the buyer of your choosing, even if you are choosing them wisely?  What will stop you from becoming a new age Tribe.net?  Are there any other models like premium memberships without ads that might allow people more control over their experience?  How can users like myself be of value to you beyond the value of my attention?

There is a large network of creative thinkers looking for a place to share, connect and grow without entanglement in the system we are trying so hard to recreate.  How can we participate so we don’t fall victim to the Tribe.net bait and switch?  How can we help you create a strong and effective tool for raising consciousness and creating real change now?

Thank you for your time, and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor.  I am excited to participate and watch Zaadz.com develop.  I am available to share ideas and discuss possibilities.

Sincerely,

Osiris Indriya

Now I can stand behind this… There’s no shame in making money doing what we love… It’s the American Dream in action… Too often, people have to “sell thier souls” to the dream while others other sell “others’ sould” to make thiers happen…

In this business plan you plan on doing neither… Your sponsor will be promoting things that your base will not only use, but enjoy using…Now that’s good marketing…I would love to see this community grown… I know it’s still in the infantile stages… But as Brian said to me when he invited me here… “I can’t wait to tell you what we have in store.”

Rock on!!!!

Great initiative, great stuff here already, give me a shout later on when I’ve settled in some. Convivial capitalism, like a triangle of sorts, where ecology, economy and education are the three corners, and people and community is somewhere inside that triangle. But that’s just me, plenty of other geometric figures around, at least that’s what the math teachers I’ve met have told me. Best wishes towards both meeting and exceeding the numbers Brian.

John

Hey all,

been reading your business model and thought I’d put in my 2 pence worth into the discussion on spirituality and capitalism

ok, well I’m not overtly anti-capitalist as such and I fully understand the need to get paid to live and make things happen within the current way of things.

However I do wonder just how much real and meaningful change can come about with out challenging to roots of the system we are currently living within.

If you accept that the way we now live is unsustainable and that it is capitalism and consumerism that are the current driving forces behind our unsuitable living,
then an uncritical embracing of capitalism is in my mind a risky thing because you  could end up becoming  that which needs  to  change…

however  I  have been reading a book call the 3rd wave be A. Toffler, in it he talks about the spend of agriculture as the 1st wave and industrialism as the 2nd and make s the point that both Communist and capitalist industrial countries are-
(or where, the book was published in 1980) -equally drive by market forces..
and when i think on it then I’d say that I believe it is the classical economic model of ‘progress’ as define almost exclusively by GDP and market growth that is the real danger.

I guess what I’m unsure of is whether this is intrinsically tied to capitalism or whether we just perhaps need to redefine our relationship to capitalism from a more holistic and integral point of view.

perhaps we need to define a new more just and sustainable economic model and then name it so that when we talk about making money we can draw a distinct line between the new model and much of the harm cause in part by the old.

sorry bit of an rant but I’d be interested to know how you feel / think

all the best

Jon.

thanks for posting this rather then leaveing folks in the dark. i find it all a bit scattered at this point but maybe i’m just reading your excitement wrong :-) so all i have to add from what i’ve learned in my online experience is this:

don’t let the egos take over, listen to the people (i see you’re already doing this) and never foreget the little guy especially when you reach the top…. and you should do great things.

with great power comes great responsibility ;-)

I’m the little guy.  I’m just a chihuahua

I’d like to mirror my sentiment to what Jon just wrote about making a clear difference between “the new model and much of the harm cause in part by the old”.

The word Capitalism, no matter what, has a negative connotation for many people.  As does Socialism.  But aspects of both are invaluable.

Great ideas and good luck.  Sounds like something that I’d love to get behind.  Make a posting if you guys ever decide to go public.

As I see that the question of ‘integrity’, of being integral, is making it’s way around, I’ll add this excerpt from a post that was added to this thread:
http://fizay.zaadz.com/blog/2006/1/sionara#comments

My post at 33days later - excerpt from The Elephant in the Room:

“The drug addict thinks in the short term, forgetting about the harm to his or
her body or the destruction of friendship, love and trust that the habit
inevitably entails. In the same way, the growth addict ignores the damage to
the planet and the erosion of any sense of civilised community that arises from
the relentless drive for economic expansion. The products of growth never
satisfy the individual, and the pursuit of growth makes societies increasingly
dysfunctional and destroys the possibility of global co-operation. Growth
creates the illusion of potential abundance, but makes inevitable a dog-eat-dog
competition for ever-more scarce resources. The principal casualty is the
planet and the only true beneficiaries are economic elites.”

More links to info and perspective on my tribe page: http://people.tribe.net/skeyeopener

And here are two links in regards to an integral aspect, if not the truly defining one, of a conscious business venture: the ecological footprint http://www.footprintnetwork.org/
Take the quiz: http://ecofoot.org/

Great stuff!..Global PIcture and demanding  an entrepreneurial nexus in the biggest context, individually and collectively.

I want to invite you to OpenBC, I am sure. many, many bright business owners, people iwith understanding of CI and Social Cpaital, Cultural Creatives and LOHAS specialists, from Europe, Asia , North America and  ROW, from NGO`s and politics, culture, business and science, with fantastic potentials are curious about this Project! Vice versa evolutionary and integral perspectives are wating for be beeing cross fertilized with entreprenuerial know How, competences, momentum and Focus…

OpenBC is the fastest growing Business community with now over 1 Million members in less than 3 years.

Feel free to ask me, so you could connect fast…….

www.openBC.com

http://www.openbc.com/go/invite/3331352.1e2314

Greetings from Germany/Berlin

Albert Klamt

Wow!! - some vey insightful people Bri…… Taking all these different points of view and heart felt expressions and cultivating them into your plan, will hopefully bare the true fruit so many souls need in todays greedy life styles. This has the potential to address many needs in a more caring avenue.

Namaste

Greg

Hi Brian - well your plan certainly sounds promising. I do share the sentiments with previous posters concerning the creation of more consumerist spiritualism. I live in NYC where “red strings” and Om T-shirts abound yet seldom meet those who are willing to deeply look within. I want to (and must) believe that the model you set forth is doable. If so than I am excited beyond measure by the possibilities.
Wishing you prosperity on all levels and to us all…

Melis

“He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.” - Confucius

A friend suggested I post a link to my first blog post since it is addressing this mainly.

Brian: I hope you know that ‘you’ are not being attacked or disrespected, I admire the heart and initiative that is felt to be a part of this endeavor, but I also feel to share perspective on this. I will be delighted if such an endeavor can truly prosper in real sustainability that is cohesive to all.

Peace…

What you’re doing is something really fantastic.  And i completely understand capitalism’s role in all this.  Money in itself is neutral and can be used as a tool to create some good.  I think we all know that.  Wow.  It’s wonderful that zaadz has a lot of depth in it!  I can’t begin to express how this changes my respect for zaadz.

Every ism is a trap. Rather than thinking in terms of capitalism, why not simply follow logic. Logic dictates that any entity requires resources to grow. The resources that may be useful at one point in the evolution of an entity may be poisonous to it at another.

It’s NEVER about the money - it’s only ever about what you do with it.

To say zaadz is a proponent of capitalism is to build a position that at some point in the future may no longer be relevant  - and if you make it important now, what will happen to the entity if at some point in the future it is no longer relevant?

That’s what usually presents as an identity crisis.

I understand the motivation behind what you are doing - and have provided marketing and business support to many organisations with similar aims in the past.
Where they usually fall over, which you appear to have handled, is that they forget that triple-bottom-line accounting covers off on social, environmental and financial sustainability.

At every given point in time, the only question you can ask is is this true?

If it is, then you may not be guaranteed to have an easy time of it.

But if you don’t tell the truth you are guaranteed to suffer.

To those who have an issue with capitalism, money etc, the important thing to remember is that, if you want to look at money as coming only from certain sources, you are doomed to failure.

There is no good or bad money - just money. The arms dealer buys cocaine from a street dealer who buys his coke from some really ‘bad’ people but spends the money he makes on a suit that this guy tailored in a sweatshop while saving money to send his daughter to college who goes on to become a nobel peace prize winner.

Get over the moral high ground and you will see that what you do NOW is the only place where you have any influence at all.

I’ll pass over the pulpit to someone else now ;) 

Hello everyone,

  I have been in a position to think about spirituality and capitalism for some time now and my conclusion is as follows: “Capitalism can merge with a spiritually oriented community only so long as those contributing community members financially gain from their input into the community”.

  What does that mean ?

  Well basically the problem is that if one company (zaadz.com) is making all the money off of a community of people sharing their hearts and souls for the betterment of themselves and mankind that just feels icky, and ultimately not very fun. It seems to me that it is hard today to make a living as a spiritual provider (teaching, bodywork, books, art, etc) and that those who do make a living doing such deserve to get paid, supported, by the community of people who consume their content. Therefore, I have for some time now believed that the next truly successful spiritual online community is going to find a way to pay those spiritual artists/teachers/leaders who come forward to offer their content (insights in writing, audio or video) to the greater community. That is my model of a progressive spiritual community. The community itself is charged some small monthly fee in order to support the content that the community has access to.  If you provide content and it is meaningful to people and they ‘use it’ then you will get paid for your efforts. Zaadz.com (or whatever vehicle drives this system) gets some cut of the money to continue to offer the infrastructure to make it all possible and that is fine and understandable…

    Ads are hard to imagine, even only “spiritual” ads, because it is hard to say what for one person is spiritually worthy, and for another just cheap (a.k.a plastic buddhas). Do you really want the responsibility of picking what ads make it and what don’t ? Granted that there are some material products which people will find relevant to their spiritual development, but lets not decieve ourselves, no material object is going to provide true spiritual growth, so why showcase them on a spiritual growth site ?

    Again, it seems to me that the only authentically spiritual revenue model for an online spiritual community is membership, and that membership is divided up between the hosting companies necessary revenue (to pay the funders, and to keep the community growing) and the content providers.

    This is what enlightenment.com (the spiritual community website I have co-founded) is all about - it is our dream to pay people money who contribute content which other community members watch/consume/play, while at the same time taking only enough money out of the monthy dues to grow the company and community infrastructure.

    I often wonder if it is at all possible to do this in a for-profit company, since your legal duty is first and formost to your stockholders… I often find myself feeling like my first and formost duty is to my community, so perhaps the company should be a non-profit. I’d love to hear about your thoughts in regards to your duty to your stockholders, for it is a question I cannot easily resolve.

    I feel like there is likely a solution which maximizes profits for stockholders while at the same time maximizes spiritual growth for the consumers/visitors/community members, but I have not had that vision yet.

    Anyhoo, a bit of rambling, but hopefully you will find some meaninful questions in my post, thanks for providing a very cool community infrastructure and making the effort to figure out this most important sector of business,

Gabriel DeWitt

(just some guy, on a blog, blurting something out …)

after reading through this thread, i'm moved to share a sentiment i felt as a very young boy.

this just “popped back up” and is something i've never shared before – just a naive child's musing.

it stumped me, as a kid (maybe 5 or 6), pained me, to look around and notice all the aching, lonely, stranded  souls in our midst who really are most in need of our society's love, attention, resources …  i though of people in jails.  hungry people.  sick people.  otherwise “distressed” people.  and i could see some other folks, just a few people, to  whom lavish, inordinate amounts of love, attention, and resources flowed – more than plenty.  the whole setup seems so “topsy-turvy.”  and i could imagine, from my kid's-eye view, grabbing up one of these “few” by the ankles, and shaking them out across the human landscape, and redistributing (though that word was not in my tiny head) all that “extra” love, attention, and resources out to all those “other” people to whom, in my child's mind, it really “belonged.”

i was carted off to a baptist sunday schools as a kid.  many some new testament blurb,

“In as much as you have done these things for the least among you …”

had touched my heart.

later (maybe i was 10), i can remember watching a documentary about john david  rockefeller, and recall especially a clip that showed “jd” handing out dimes to all the kids he met.  i learned a new word that day: philanthropist.  and i decided then and there that, “when i grow up, i want to be a philanthropist.”

later still (my early 20's), i read andrew carnegie's, “gospel of wealth” – a tome against inherited wealth, and a call to “give it all back.”

more recently, i've read with great enthusiam, paul hawken's, “natural capitalism.”

anyhoo(!), now 47, i'm not too much more sophisticated or much less naive about “economic models” and “resource allocation” than i was as a boy.

just moved to share …

i applaud brian & co.  i looks great to me.

rhobherto

some typos.  pardon.  it still reads.

namaste

OK, Let's talk business.
Really. We all have it our lives, we all want to make the most of what we have and it seems many of us here, have great reasons for searching this spot in the universe out. I have been around for a long time, and was an early subscriber to Bri's Tinkartete…it changed me….made me look at things anew, and moved me in a direction that feels more right than I ever have….that was three years ago now. I can say that making money is important to me honestly…I need cash. We all do, I thi nk the business model sounds great, I know I will probably never get to go to a retreat, or spa, or whateverelse, but those that can afford such activities will. If the intention behind the information delivered is TRUE, then we should all be able to make a living, without shame…or greed.
These are some of the things that I ask myself before I came on board on this much larger project…is the fact that I being a poor atist, will never be able to afford to fo to the spa/retreat part of Zaadz is that important to me. I really don't care, I can have a spa treatmeant at home and read information that chages my life, but honey we all got to have big plans, ways to sustain, and ways to grow. Staying true to the cousrse, and being transparent about the process is key to creating change that will and can effect the entire planet, rippling out and inspiring others to want that change in their lives too….so they go out and do it. Inspiration is what ZaadZ is really about. Becoming, finding the people, tools and skills to become the human I was born as and then more. I trust Bri's vision, even if I don't understand all of it, but I trust this Man and what he is trying to do with this platform. We can make it whatever we want…branding, marketing, and making money are part of that process too. Moeny is not evil like was said up there in another terrific post, sorry, I can't remebr who said it, but it's true. Where and how you spend your time, and your money is power.  Like the 4% theory that Gore brought up….I read that on another great blog here too…anyway, I'm rambeling, but my 2 cents is this…Bri is consitant, in his actions and works, and words. That matters to me, because that is the change that is needed worldwide…being who we really are, and learning that's ok…tolerance and faith, and because it's simply fucking rare in this world today…which makes it valueable. I do think providing tools that are affordable to the masses is one of the best ideas for money making and have been fully behind that part of the project from the start…empower people with tools and information and the world changes on it's own…it's organic, natural and right…and different for each of us. Again back to open minded tolerance, and healthy ruthlessness, the mixture is fine, it's weather you use it for the power of good or the power of destruction. Choice. I chose to co-create this little universe because I know that the simple fact is that I was helped, for no profit, and for no gained, and that has spawned inspiration in my world, and the people that come into contact with it…then they go off and spawn some more, and it really does work, because I am livng proof that it does work. Now on to the Biz talk….

Here's my questions for this topic…love to hear feed back from the whole on it.
Much love ,
Heather
we have had some great posts about making a living and doing it on your own being a creative of some sort, I actually can't thnk of anything that could not be described as being creative…but anyway, let's talk. What's working for you as far as your marketing? Where are you spending your Power (time & money)?
What makes you feel great about being out there on  your own, and what is the hardest part?
What is the mission statement of your life as it is today?
Where does the balence of work/home come from if you live and work in the same place for you?
What motivates you to keep at it?
Anyone? this is Zaadz…this interaction, debate, and revoulution…not a passing pahase, how do you plan to make it in this new world? I hope to hear from you about this…be well,
Heather

You’ve got a great vision ahead. Be flexible with change, but never lose sight of the destination. You have all my support.

ethical obligations in business

that's sure to raise some eyebrows.

to quote anita roddick, former bodyshop CEO:

“In terms of power and influence, you can forget the church, forget politics.
There is no more powerful institution in society than business –
I believe it is now more important than ever before for business to assume a moral leadership.
The business of business should not be about money, it should be about responsibility.
It should be about public good, not private greed.”

In my experience, if you consider you have the best value product or service in a given market you have an ethical obligation to DOMINATE that market.

Stories about artistic and visionary integrity are bulls**t if they become an impediment to achieving the result.

this is not to say that the end justifies the means, simply that in business, as in life, many great ideas fall over because there is no attention on the money

perhaps it would be wonderful if zaadz was fully funded by a group of visionary billionaires who were happy to keep tipping money into a project because it felt good, and we all got to play and pray and stay for free

but that is not the reality

so how about starting a forum dedicated to the raising of specific ideas for the generation of capital resources and financial sustainability, and leave this forum for posturing and philosophising.

this portal requires capital - it may do this through:
banner advertising
sponsorship
subscription only areas
newsletter subscription
daily sms
events
webinars
seminars
affiliate linkage [from here to others]
provision of services to businesses associated with this portal

further, it can offset some of the costs of ongoing development and running through sponsorship of core services via appropriate businesses

when the portal is big enough, you can be guaranteed that telcos, IT hardware companies and the like will be interested and we all need phones and computers so there is no possibility of a banner ad for HP being inconsistent with the aims and intentions of zaadz

am on a bit of a rant - but have really watched so many projects fall over [as mentioned in my last post] because of a lack of real financial leadership, and feel that it's time we all stopped behaving like amateur proctologists and looked for real answers to the questions being asked by this forum

no apologies for being direct