End of Small Businesses?
More than half of respondents (57%) state age as the reason most often given when a small business decides to sell or close. With the ever increasing flow of people retiring over the next 15 years, will the era of small businesses come to a close?
Buying or starting a small business today can be a daunting task. Even though small businesses (defined as 25 persons or less at the job site) still dominate the employment percentage in most states, competition from the Internet and large chains such as department or grocery stores make it difficult for a small business to find its niche. The corner convenience store, once owned by “mom and pop”, is now multi-state conglomerate with franchise fees too large for most newcomers.
Starting a restaurant without the backing of a franchise means finding loans to pay for buildings, equipment and marketing just to name a few things. Is it realistic to find sufficient patrons to meet monthly obligations when there is so much competition?
When you have been in business for the past 20 or 30 years, it’s a lot easier to have down months when you own the building and have most of your debt paid. Unfortunately for the newcomer, such is not the case.
Small businesses will never totally disappear but the era of community store fronts and locally owned eateries may become in short supply. One external event that may turn this around will be an energy crisis where people flock back to cities and small towns instead of pushing for more urban sprawl.
While no one embraces the thought of an energy crisis, it would be comforting to have communities again.
Are We Teaching Investing?
Maybe you have seen these kinds of statistics before: 1% of the population owns 40% of the world’s wealth while 50% of the population owns 1%. Do you really believe that people became wealthy slinging burgers and running up credit card debt? (Winning a lottery would be helpful.)
If there is one mandatory program that all high school students need to attend is investing and saving. Do people really understand how long it takes to pay back $5000 on a credit card when they are only making the minimum payment? Is 19% interest rates really a good deal?
What a great way to teach math: here’s the secret to becoming rich. Invest, save, and invest more while learning to live within your means (also known as pay as you go). Some solid courses in managing debt, understanding mortgages and proper use of leveraging to increase wealth would go a long way to helping the next generation. The very worst outcome would be to have all students capable of reconciling their checkbooks!
Are You Teaching Ethics?
Over 60% of teenagers in a recent study said they have lied at least once to a teacher. (Survey of 13 to 18 year olds by Deloitte and Touche and Junior Achievement Worldwide) Another 22% say they routinely cheat. Over 80% feel the pressure to succeed justifies their right to lie and cheat. Overall, 42% of high school students think a person has to lie or cheat sometimes to succeed. Fifty percent of males and a third of females agreed with these findings in separate studies.
Cheating is pervasive in American culture thanks to our political system and our fascination with athletes and celebrity. What adds “insult to injury” are the lies that accompany cheating. How many times in 2006 did you read about an athlete caught cheating who claimed that someone else was at fault? Or the celebrity who blamed alcohol for their socially irresponsible behavior?
As long as success is measured by money, cheating will prevail. Did any professors at the
Unfortunately, the media has also taken the stance that as long as you can’t prove them wrong, then it must be right. Does the absence of a challenge to a lie make an opinion the truth?
Spending time with students helping them understand that good citizenship starts with honesty and integrity is a classroom necessity. It used to be that “cheaters never prosper.” Somehow schools need to get that saying back in vogue. Not getting caught doesn’t make lying and cheating right.
GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE
© 2007 3 Minute Learning LLC
