Why do projects/ideas that begin with good intentions, service, and a contribution mindset turn into profit-focused businesses with selfish motives?
What is the tipping point that triggers this change?
What is that milestone when greed takes over?
What are the factors that influence this change?
Is it the admiration and validation?
Is it the ego boost?
Is it that point when one realizes they have found ways to earn quick bucks with minimal effort?
Is it due to the pressure from investors or competition?
Is it due to the relentless pursuit of growth?
In Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna classifies action (karma) into three types based on the spiritual influence and growth:
(1) Sattvika Karma - Selfless actions. Actions to help others, actions performed without ego or attachment, and actions where there are plenty of beneficiaries.
(2) Rajasika Karma - Selfish actions. Actions performed for the fulfillment of personal desires and gains. Actions where the beneficiary is oneself or close family/circle.
(3) Tamasika Karma - Harmful actions. Actions with Selfish intent that cause harm to others. Actions taken without any regard to consequences of loss, injury, or hurt to others.
Ideas and initiatives that start as Sattvika karma eventually downgrades to Rajasika and Tamasika karma. This downgrade seemed to have accelerated in the past few years, especially in social media-driven businesses.
Having observed and followed various "influencers" (food, lifestyle, productivity, health, fitness, habits, parenting, family, relationships, personal finance, careers, etc) on Instagram/YouTube, I noticed this consistent pattern. The same people whom you earlier admired for their supposedly good intentions turn into greedy, selfish, and arrogant folks, with the sole purpose of minting money from their followers through every little gimmick from the marketing playbook, leveraging inherent biases of humans, scarcity syndrome, FOMO, tall promises, building a personal brand that is based on extreme ideologies presented in an idealistic and aspirational way.
They do a fabulous job in marketing to lure the audience, but when it comes to the actual content/offering/product/service, they fail miserably as there is hardly any value being offered apart from a mish-mash of content haphazardly put together.
What is surprising is that there are enough people who fall for such gimmicks repeatedly.
Is it because of their lack of self-esteem and self-belief?
Is it because people expect quick fixes, shortcuts, and easy readymade solutions that work for someone?
Is it because they do not want to put in the hard work to read up, research, and find solutions for their unique life challenges?
An unorganized industry has come up in the past 3-4 years where a lot of easy/quick money is being made by the so-called influencers with barely any investment (time, resources, knowledge, etc). Wonder if they even pay taxes on the lakhs and crores of money they earn through such channels.
Many questions in this write-up but I have no answers. In Tamil, we say a proverb - "yemarravanga irukkara varaikkum yemaatharavanga irupaanga" ("As long as there are people to be fooled, there will be people to fool you").
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