In Tough Economy Teens Embrace Entrepreneur Mindset and Start Businesses

YOUTHpreneur partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Phoenix and Fry's Food and Drug to conduct a gumball machine business pilot program. Dozens of kids participated in the test program with the goal of placing their gumball machines in a local business, monitoring its success, maintaining it and competing with each other to generate the most revenue. All proceeds went directly to fund other Boys & Girls Club programs. Participants also learned business etiquette skills by practicing BE FAB: Back Straight, Eye Contact, Firm Hand Shake, Ask Questions, Be Bold.

Honestly, I think this is fantastic. I really do. I hope to see more of these kinds of urban education programs being enacted for teens and adults all over the country. However, why no mention of teaching these kids business ethics?

Research Confirms Giving Is Just Plain Good For Us: "Researchers have found that the act of donating to charity triggers the release of endorphins (the brain's feel-good chemicals), making givers feel glorious. According to a New York Sun article called "Why Giving Makes You Happy," the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey of 30,000 American households revealed that the people who gave money to charity were 43 percent more likely than non-givers to say they were "very happy" about their lives."

The Christmas season is a real boon for these kinds of stories. It will be interesting to see how the news about giving is shaping up in, say, February.

http://www.kansas.com/news/story/775133.html

What do you think: Will our adjusted spending habits, in response to this recession, create a generational change in consumer behavior? Or, do you think we will drift back into our old spending habits?

"The Great Depression witnessed a generational change in consumer behavior, when learning to live with less became a habit. Now some research suggests that as Americans are downshifting their spending habits, they are seriously reassessing their consumerism for the long term."

This Giving Season Takes Us Back To Layaways, Frugality: "My mother financed all of her Christmases this way, back in the day before everyone who walked and breathed had a Visa card. I admit I've never used it myself. I prefer charging and then paying off the bill each month.

But using credit presents two problems. It's easier to spend more money when you pay with plastic, rather than cold, hard cash. Plus, you have to have the willpower to pay off the bills before you end up owing more in finance charges than your original purchases were worth. Layaway is also a good exercise for developing a tolerance for delayed gratification. My generation once had such restraint, but we've largely forgotten it. Succeeding generations never had a chance to learn."

Um, I'm thinking Liz Soares (the columnist) must be either a Boomer or an X-er (like me), to which I have ask: When did those generations ever have the restraint of delayed-gratification?

http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=2214

Studies are showing that wellbeing and fulfillment, of both ourselves and those around us, are directly related to what we frame our lives around.

The evidence from wellbeing studies ... show that people who live their lives framed around extrinsic values of self-focus, image, greed and acquisition, and are suffering from 'affluenza', are diminishing their own wellbeing as well as those around them. They also tend to have far higher environmental footprints than others. Conversely, those whose lives are focused on intrinsic values such as personal (not economic) growth, emotional intimacy and community involvement, have far higher levels of wellbeing and lower footprints.

For Tips On Frugality, Look To India: "Watching Americans try to make themselves frugal is like watching Mongolians try to make Bordeaux wine."

Ha! That gets my vote for the funniest line of the year! Great article, read the whole thing.

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/04/21/2009-04-21_replace_greed_wit...

Stop the presses! Is the government really going to use taxpayer money in a way that will generate a positive return for our investment?

There will be 175,000 new opportunities to [serve] thanks to the public service bill President Obama is to sign today. ... The Act encourages everyone from school kids to seniors to join in. [In this Act], the taxpayer comes out more than $150 billion ahead in a year.

Apparently so! For every $1 invested in this Act, there will be anywhere between $1.50 and $3.90 in direct, measurable benefits. It's exciting to see Americans being encouraged to freely produce something rather than encouraged to consume.

The Science of Shopping: The Way The Brain Buys: "Scientists used to assume that emotion and rationality were opposed to each other, but Antonio Damasio, now professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California, has found that people who lose the ability to perceive or experience emotions as the result of a brain injury find it hard or impossible to make any decisions at all. They can’t shop."

Another false dichotomy bites the dust.

Trust me, read the whole article. It's really juicy. Scientists are peeping into shoppers brains, private corporations keeping scientific breakthroughs secret, supermarkets tapping into your cell phone signals and video-taping your in-store movements...oh yeah, good stuff.

(Hat Tip: Kruse Kronicle)

http://campfire.theoildrum.com/node/5320
Jason Bradford provides an interesting matrix to classify an addiction as either healthy or unhealthy. He asserts that all of us have addictive tendancies, so it's best to channel that addictive behavior toward something that is healthy, and provides more satisfation in life.

The bottom line is that I don't believe we can keep from becoming addicted to something. Once we accept this fact of life, the issue becomes whether we can work on controlling what we are addicted to--making it healthy and inexpensive rather than destructive and costly.

He focuses his concerns to the addictive nature of consummerism.

As an American, I'd actually like to destroy the idea that we are a nation of consumers. We need a new identity.

So, what are you addicted to? And, according to Jason Bradford's matrix, would it be considered healthy or unhealthy?

In response to the e-mail I sent out yesterday highlighting our efforts to collect food and clothing for homeless teens in Oceanside, Ca, I received this response from a (now former) member:

"they can get jobs like most normal people !! dont send me your bull**** !!!"

Of course, I replaced the last four letters with stars : )

But I'm wondering, why all the anger? I don't think this person is really upset about receiving an e-mail from Twoshirts, but more about something regarding the poor and homeless.

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, violence against homeless people are on the rise nationally, and this story in the Detroit News covers the murder of a homeless man by two young teenage boys who were allegedly involved. The motive remains a mystery, and in all fairness, we presume their innocence until they're proven otherwise.

Wow, this is a really exciting development in getting the message out to the world: Prosperity cannot be sustained (or achieved) through the consumption of stuff.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/UPDATE-2-Geithner-to-...

Finance ministers and central bankers from the G7, which groups the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, meet on Friday afternoon ... US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will tell fellow finance chiefs from rich countries on Friday that they can no longer rely on a free-spending US consumer to fuel global expansion.

Bad Economy Can Teach Kids How To Cope: "'We shield youngsters from so much adversity trying to keep them happy that we deprive them of the practice they need navigating rough waters," he said. "There's no other way to develop resilience except by facing adversity. It's a paradox that the first benefit of holiday belt-tightening is the valuable practice kids will have coping with disappointment.' Cooper suggests parents acknowledge the family's reduced resources and encourage their children to share their gifts with each other."

I know this story is a bit old, but I thought it was worth reading.

Leaders in business are starting to see the flaws of our current profit-driven economy. Many CEOs are starting to embrace a triple bottom line: People, planet, and profits.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/04/24/mass_ceos_pledge_t...

Expressing concern that business is getting a poor reputation in the wake of the current economic downturn, leaders of some Massachusetts businesses in sectors ranging from higher education to pharmaceuticals yesterday pledged to help create a "sustainable economy," focusing on business practices that consider not just profits, but people, and the environment.

Joshua Boger, the chief executive of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said struggling businesses may realize the 1990s model of maximizing quarterly profits is flawed, and prompt them to focus on socially responsible long-term investments.

The mantra for many at the conference was adhering to a "triple bottom line" - people, planet, and profits.

The picture at left is pretty much what it looked like at the coat and hat giveaway today on the west side of Columbus, Ohio.

We've been reaching out to the residents of a small low-income housing complex consistently every month for the past three years - mostly by giving away groceries - and during that time we've witnessed the incredible growth of one of the most explosive new populations in the city: Somalian refugees. The transformation during that time has been amazing.

Somalians now number over 45,000 in central Ohio alone, and more continue coming to America. 15% have become U.S. citizens, they have an average family size of 7-8 members, and 99.99% are muslim. They're friendly, yet quiet and suspicious. They're colorful and desperate, and during outreaches like today they tend to adopt an incredibly aggressive tactic of swelling forward in a mad frenzy to get whatever they can. It can be a bit overwhelming for people unaccustomed to it.

Poor Economy Blamed For Rise In Shoplifting: "It's never been as bad as it is now," said David Malefsky, senior vice president at Cambridge Security Services, which works with several national chains. "When people start panicking, they revert to crime."

Quick, now's your chance to blame the economy for all your bad behavior!