In my last blog post, I shared my journey that culminated in founding Simbi. Today, I want to introduce you to our big idea:
The old economy isn’t working, so we’re building a new one.
Here’s the thing: over the last hundred years the corporate economy has relentlessly commodified human labor and “externalized” everything from pollution to justice to love. This has shifted wealth and power dramatically to those that move money or oil or data, but who don’t actually DO anything of value for their fellow humans. So you either join the game and become a banker, or opt out and struggle to get by. An abundant life for a normal hard-working person becomes an increasingly distant fantasy. It doesn’t seem fair or right.
I don’t think we can fix the current economy, at least not without far more enlightened politicians running the show. But here’s the secret: we don’t have to fix it. We can change the game completely. Together, we can build our own economy on top of the broken one. We call this the Symbiotic Economy.
Here, we create wealth by contribution to society, not extraction. Generosity and gratitude are our central bank. We run on deeds, not dollars. And our standard of living is love.
Our site’s credits, simbi, are the way we track our contributions and make sure that people give as much or more than they take. You earn simbi by providing whatever you’re amazing at, and you spend it on whatever will make your life better. You can also trade directly with someone if you find a match of wants and needs.
I like to think about it like this: you have your dollar income to spend on rent and groceries, and you have your simbi income to spend on living your best, more fulfilling, most healthy life. The great thing is that many of those in the Symbiotic Economy gain as much from providing services as receiving them since they give what they love. Someone may be an accountant by day, but they teach salsa through Simbi on the weekends.
Day jobs pay the rent, Simbi services feed the soul.
Our members include bakers, yogis, bike mechanics, hiking sherpas, Latin translators, and thousands of other service providers building our economy today. We’re so glad you joined us and are thrilled to welcome you in. Whatever we’re doing must be working, as we don’t yet have a single banker on the site.
Symbiotically,
KJ
