6. Business (definition)

NOTE: if you’re new to Ground-Up Governance, or are finding anything a bit strange or confusing, you might want to START HERE.

A business is the act of taking an idea – or a product, or a service – and selling it.  Some businesses are temporary. Think of those boxes of CDs, or teen magazines, or baseball cards, or whatever, sitting in your basement or storage unit. Maybe you could make some money selling them. There you go – you have a business! When you’ve sold them all, it’s over. You’re out of business. Meanwhile, maybe the person who bought your collection of 90s teen heartthrob cover photos buys lots and lots of 80s/90s/00s/10s memorabilia and sells it to other people who will pay even more. That person also has a business, but it’s going to last a lot longer than yours did. In any case, it’s a business!  Usually, the point of a business is to make money. Sometimes it’s to help people. And sometimes it’s just to make sure that important stuff keeps happening. We’ll eventually learn more about all those types of businesses.