Every business exists to solve a problem that you either can’t or don’t want to solve yourself.

But the reality is that you probably do not need what 90% of businesses are offering.
You just feel like you do.
In order to convince you of this, corporations have to convince you of 3 things:
- You have a problem
- You don’t have a solution
- They can provide you with the best solution
Maybe all of these things are true, in which case you should become a customer.
But the first step is the most important. You must first be convinced that you have a problem.
There are really only a few things that most people need. Think about your essentials. Things like water, electricity, food, waste management, etc. I would even throw knowledge in there as an essential. I’ll explain why later on.
Yet people continue to spend insane amounts of money on things that they don’t need, don’t bring them any joy, but seem to solve a problem in their lives that they feel they couldn’t solve themselves.
Take for example, alkaline water filters – many Asian women in Malaysia have been convinced that these filters are the secret to optimal health. I know this because my mother is one (she has the best intentions).
What problem is it solving? Your body is too acidic. By my understanding, it leads to a dysfunctional metabolism. Your cells function best at a slightly alkaline pH [1].
Okay so there we have a problem. Our body is too acidic. Alkaline water makes us more alkaline, assuming it works as advertised. The perfect solution! How did we ever survive without this?
You believe you don’t have the solution. There is no other way for you to make your body alkaline. So you pay a rather large amount of money for a water filter that also alkalises your body. Problem solved right?
Well it turns out, nature has given us all the tools we need to live optimally. Because our bodies are in fact meant to be alkaline, nature has provided a simple way for us to achieve this.
One that doesn’t cost any money. One that is more effective than any man-made solution.
So, how could you alkalinise your body?

It turns out, you can simply walk outside, and place your bare feet on earth. You’ll draw up negative charge from the earth and viola, your body is now alkaline, your mitochondria are firing more efficiently, and inflammatory markers going down.
You definitely should be using a water filter, and there certainly isn’t any harm to drinking alkaline water. But do you need it to solve the problem it claims to solve?
Probably not, and certainly not for the prices that they are sold for – the ones that work anyway.
There are many examples where this is not the case, where corporations convince you that they can solve a problem that they have convinced you exists. Or that their solution protects you against the thing that causes the problem.
For example, many people are convinced that sun exposure causes melanoma. Melanoma is a terrible disease, you would do well to avoid it. Luckily Big Skin has your back. The solution? Artificial chemical sunscreens. Even if we assume that the problem (melanoma) is caused by sun exposure (which I do not believe is the full story), there are plenty of simple solutions to the problem. Simply seeking shade being one.

Since the introduction of chemical sunscreens, skincare companies have doubled down on marketing how essential it is that you protect yourself from the sun. They would have you believe you need to be applying and re-applying sunscreen multiple times a day, every day, even if it’s cloudy. All so that you go through their product even faster and make them even more money.
The right kind of knowledge can empower you to take more control over a key aspect of your life, your health. You can do this for free most of the time.
There is an abundance of examples of how we have been convinced we have a problem and need expensive external solutions:
You’re not attractive enough? Buy our skincare products.

You’re overweight? Buy our weight loss drugs.

The weather is changing? Buy our electric cars.

I’m sure you can think of many more.
Sometimes, as is the case with obesity, the problem is very much real. But most of the time, the only lasting solution has to come from you. In the fundamental problems of life – health, wealth, and relationships, the best solution is the one that lasts and that can consistently be implemented, even if it takes some time to find. Sometimes the solution is very simple, but you have to understand the problem to realise why the simple solution works.
“What if society stopped telling us to buy more stuff and instead allowed us to create more space to breathe and think? What if society encouraged us to reject what has been accurately described as doing things we detest, to buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like?”
― Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Knowledge is one of the few things that is well worth the money you spend on it. And many businesses do provide genuine value. But it seems to me that in a lot of cases, humans have invented problems in order to sell the solutions.
So before you buy anything, ask:
What is the problem this is solving?
Is it actually a problem?
Are the business interests aligned with my own?
Does this product or service actually give me the benefit it says it does?
And most importantly, is there a simpler solution?
You will probably find that there is.