To Be a Benevolent Capitalist

What does it mean to be a Benevlent Capitalist?

Benevolent Capitalism a way of looking at how to create money from a different point of view. You look at how you can create money, not just “getting your share” of the market, and you look at how you can do the least amount of harm to create the greatest result for everyone involved.

How do you begin to function as a Benevolent Capitalist? You don’t have to have money to be a Benevolent Capitalist. What you do have to do is be willing to function as 4 things: Question, Choice, Possibility and Contribution.

A Benevolent Capitalist is always in the question

A Benevolent Capitalist will always look to what currently exists and use everything available to their advantage. Being in the questions means asking “can I change this?” Most people desire to fight the banks, the tax system, city hall. Can you change the banks and the tax system? Not really. So what can you do with them? Can you use them to your advantage? How could you use them to your advantage?

A Benevolent Capitalist never concludes that they have a problem or a limitation or something they have to fight against. They look at what is available around them and they ask “how can I use this system so that it works for me and not against me?”

A Benevolent Capitalist is willing to look at what their choices create

Every choice creates something, whether its’ good, bad or ugly. As a Benevolent Capitalist, you have to be aware of what you are creating with the choices you are making.   You need to look at the choices you have and ask, “If I choose this what will my life be like in 5, 10, 15, 25 years from now?” “What will my life be like in 5, 10, 15, 25 years if I don’t choose this?”

Most people never look at how the choices they are making now create the future they will have years from now, especially with money. We aren’t taught that you can spend your money to create more money. We are taught to spend it to feel good.

Start asking, “How could I use my money to create a better life for me and my business in the future?”

A Benevolent Capitalist will maximize possibilities rather than maximize profit

A restaurant I know decided to cut costs to increase revenue. They went from cloth napkins to paper napkins. Then they cut down the quality of the food that they were making. Essentially, they diminished the quality of their restaurant to maximize profit, but in so doing they eventually lost revenue from lack of customers.

A Benevolent Capitalist never lives from the conclusion of “I have to cut costs” as way to maximize profit. Instead, they look at what they can be or do different that would create something greater, knowing that profit is a side-effect of continuing to maximize possibilities.

 A Benevolent Capitalist honours the contribution of others, and contributes continuously

To honour someone means ‘to treat with regard’. When I get a really kind and attentive waiter, I tip them well because when someone comes along who is willing to treat me with regard and contribute to increasing the ease and joy in my life, I am grateful!

What most people don’t do is look at how something contributes to their life. They want to know what they ‘get’. That’s the viscous form of Capitalism:   “If I do this, what do I get in return?” or “What’s my share of the pie?” That’s not contribution, that’s an exchange system.

Benevolent Capitalists are willing to contribute constantly to the people around them, because they know that when the people around them prosper, they will also benefit from what others are able to contribute as a result.