In the bad old days, some folks were trapped in a poverty-inducing cycle, farming land they could never own. Rich landowners allowed (“allowed” !) tenant farmers to work the land in exchange for a share of the crop. The rich landowner, simply because he owned the land, received a share of the crops as well.
The sharecropper could never make enough to buy the land. The system was designed to keep the rich rich and the poor poor.
Eleven times a week I hear questions about “the best blogging platform.” And I read recommendations of, not only various free blogging tools, but even folks who consider their Facebook page or other social media presence to be their online marketing.
If you don’t own the land, you’re sharecropping, building someone else’s empire.