Tag: mindset

Being an entrepreneur takes a different mindset. Most of us have been taught to take orders, follow the rules, think in the box… When someone breaks out of the box and comes up with what they think is a crazy idea, their colleagues just shake their heads and wait for their friend to come to their senses.  That is until the economy changed everything and the consequences for following rules doesn’t mean you keep your job anymore. There is no security and the rules have all changed.

With good jobs going away, middle class downsizes. Jobs that pay well are going away and are not being replaced by similar jobs. The middle class is shrinking. Corporations are cutting back on their work force and continue to send jobs oversees. Some of the jobs that are being cut are accounting, good-paying union jobs, and technology jobs. When you are out of work and there are no jobs, no unemployment benefits, you take any job — even a low-paying job. With little money, people are barely making it by, losing their homes, and not spending money. This is the trickle down effect people were talking about.

What happens to our communities? to the families? Houses go into foreclosure, people don’t spend money so stores go under, people move and take their children out of school. Without enough students, schools close or teachers are laid off. This is that trickle down effect but not the way we were thinking it would go.

You can feel sorry for yourself or you can take control of your life. What if you could make another $500+ a month? Could that help you? I just read “Put more Cash in Your Pocket” by Loral Langemeir who I met at the Make Mine a Millionaire $ Business Conference.

Loral writes about taking the skills you already have and make a business venture using those skills. This is not the idea of starting a new business around something you have no experience. Did you ever sell lemonade in front your house? It’s the same idea. Just make some extra money to pay off some bills or save for something you really want. Loral provides a long list of possible ventures. Here’s a few off that list and a few I added:

• Tutoring
• Web site design
• Scrapbooking
• Dog Walking
• Calligraphy
• Quilting
• Gardening
• Music Lessons
• Organizing Closets
• Personal Shopper
• Setting up Home Theaters

What do you like to do? What are your skills? Do you have any hobbies you wouldn’t mind doing more and making money off of them?

Change how you think and think like an entrepreneur. You can make extra money  while you have a job. If you don’t have a job and are on unemployment, try your hand at doing something you love and see what it feels like to make money off of it.  Interested in learning more? Buy Loral’s book and take a chance.

Care2′s article Are American children growing less creative? shared Tests since 1990 show a steady decline in the creativity levels of American children, despite the fact that IQ tests indicate they are getting smarter.

The focus for the last 9 years has been on increasing student achievement based on standardized tests. Maybe our children are learning how to memorize facts and increasingly doing better on spelling tests and Jeopardy games. Even the TV show “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” encourages students to recall facts. There is no problem-solving, critical thinking or creativity involved in these activities. The 5th graders on this show are stoked when they get the answer right but there is only one right answer.

Life doesn’t always work that way. What we need are students who come up with the questions and are able to take some risks, find multiple ways to answer any of the questions or solve problems. They need to be able to think on their feet and jump in with new innovative ideas. Who knew even five years ago that people would be listening to mp3 files with an iPod or that cell phones could access the Internet. Email is old school. Now people text, use Facebook and Twitter to communicate. Traditional schools are closing because of so many reasons and, in my opinion, we need to rethink what a school is and redesign our learning environments if we want our students to be productive 21st century citizens.