In the March 29th issue of Time Magazine, the focus is on the current recession and how employment will rebound across the country. President Obama, in his State of the Union address called jobs his " No. 1 focus and proposed repurposing bank-bailout money to lend to small businesses, which would then, presumably, generate jobs".
Though this statement sounds really good, this strategy will not necessarily solve the unemployment problem in the U.S. in the long term. The federal government may be able to assist with creating jobs in the short-term by hiring people directly or buying goods and services. However, if we are to create more jobs in the long run, it is not this simple. To create and sustain employment, there must be a demand for services and products. We need to get back to basics, so to speak, and realize that small business and the law of supply and demand are at the heart of job creation in this country.
The issue becomes how to create demand in the current economy? The answer lies in creating products or services that are unique in the sense that they offer something better. Where are these unique services and products offered? They will be offered by individuals and small businesses across this nation and by utilizing people's "personal genius" and making connections in communities.
It stuck me that approaches such as Customized Employment just make sense, whether the state of our economy is in the black or in the red. According to this article, the projected annual growth in employment over the next four years "will rebound differently across the U.S. In West Virginia, it is projected to grow less than 1.5 percent. Additionally, West Virginia is a state with the highest rate of "disability" and one of the highest unemployment rates. This is why we really need to "think outside the box" and find solutions to our unemployment crisis.
This article gives us reason to hope-in the example of how one man created a business five years ago and now has $120 million a year in sales. HomeAway was born out of one man's solution to a dilemma. He was puzzled as to why he could not go to one website to find a comprehensive list of houses for rent, so he and a business partner set up their own site. This is the stuff of what we term "personal genius"-seeing a need and fulfilling it by using our innate talents and perservering.
When reading this, I thought of the wonderful talents the job-seekers I have worked with have and of how excited I am to be assisting them in their endeavors, whether this includes wage or self-employment, or educational attainment. Each of us has this inside of ourselves, even if we don't always see it and finding this can unlock may doors. Doors that may have been closed to many of us for any number of reasons-prejudice, misunderstanding, labels people have place on us and so on.
There is reason to be cynical right now with the sad shape the country is in economically speaking. There is also reason to be positive and to learn from the experience. Let's begin listening more and talking less. Let's embrace people's personal genius and help them to put it to good use in order that they may make better lives for themselves and for others. Let's put America to work one person, one business at a time!
Though this statement sounds really good, this strategy will not necessarily solve the unemployment problem in the U.S. in the long term. The federal government may be able to assist with creating jobs in the short-term by hiring people directly or buying goods and services. However, if we are to create more jobs in the long run, it is not this simple. To create and sustain employment, there must be a demand for services and products. We need to get back to basics, so to speak, and realize that small business and the law of supply and demand are at the heart of job creation in this country.
The issue becomes how to create demand in the current economy? The answer lies in creating products or services that are unique in the sense that they offer something better. Where are these unique services and products offered? They will be offered by individuals and small businesses across this nation and by utilizing people's "personal genius" and making connections in communities.
It stuck me that approaches such as Customized Employment just make sense, whether the state of our economy is in the black or in the red. According to this article, the projected annual growth in employment over the next four years "will rebound differently across the U.S. In West Virginia, it is projected to grow less than 1.5 percent. Additionally, West Virginia is a state with the highest rate of "disability" and one of the highest unemployment rates. This is why we really need to "think outside the box" and find solutions to our unemployment crisis.
This article gives us reason to hope-in the example of how one man created a business five years ago and now has $120 million a year in sales. HomeAway was born out of one man's solution to a dilemma. He was puzzled as to why he could not go to one website to find a comprehensive list of houses for rent, so he and a business partner set up their own site. This is the stuff of what we term "personal genius"-seeing a need and fulfilling it by using our innate talents and perservering.
When reading this, I thought of the wonderful talents the job-seekers I have worked with have and of how excited I am to be assisting them in their endeavors, whether this includes wage or self-employment, or educational attainment. Each of us has this inside of ourselves, even if we don't always see it and finding this can unlock may doors. Doors that may have been closed to many of us for any number of reasons-prejudice, misunderstanding, labels people have place on us and so on.
There is reason to be cynical right now with the sad shape the country is in economically speaking. There is also reason to be positive and to learn from the experience. Let's begin listening more and talking less. Let's embrace people's personal genius and help them to put it to good use in order that they may make better lives for themselves and for others. Let's put America to work one person, one business at a time!
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