The way I see it, business exists in three distinct forms: the one that creates, the one that makes and the one that transacts. People need and want, and unless the people can and choose to create and make, they will turn onto other people who choose to create and make to meet their needs and wants. For this to happen they transact. It is a simple concept that one can easily imagine in a remote-village-scenario where people get what they need and want from their neighbours.
Back in our complex world: people who need and want, meet people who create and make in very different ways. The earth provided us with geographic proximity and transactors provided those who create and make with a place to meet those who need and want. Then the internet came along and provided access to those who need and want against payment and further costs for those who create and make to establish a presence. Today with the rise of the Metaverse we can see considerable sums being paid for plots of land in a digital world!
The more artificial the environment gets, the more valuable transactions get. In prehistoric times the gesture of bartering provided a simple exchange of this for that with no hidden costs in the transaction, no rate of exchange or numeric pricing. Through the invention of money, and the various currencies, different stakeholders were created, such as banks for loans and exchanging currencies. Today NFTs have opened the gates for a complexity never seen before.
Presently real estate agents profit on every transaction they facilitate and retailers earn on every item they sell. Such agencies create, make and hold nothing, other than provide a transactional platform and store their value in the idea of brands. On the internet, it appears that such barriers have been in their majority eliminated and have provided an interaction that is more direct and local. In reality, everything is facilitated with transactors: sharing a job vacancy post on Facebook, benefits Facebook, as does selling on Etsy and Amazon.
The future promises more direct interactions between the sellers and the buyers through NFTs where transactions happen directly between one account and the other, but how many transactions are still happening? As of today, crypto-currencies are still not a viable financial instrument for all-purpose use, and exchanging crypto is inevitable. Minting and selling NFTs require processing power and gas fees apply.
In the end, I feel that in pursuit of profits, a good number of businesses are transitioning into transactional businesses and less into creating and making. Although platforms are providing opportunities for the masses and generating never seen before economies, I believe that in the future this trend will prove unsustainable and we will experience a shortage of quality creating and making.
