Update/Context: I first wrote this column in 2018, then repeated it at the beginning of 2021 as we ended the Covid era. Each year is going to include situations and experiences that make us wonder what the new year will bring. Whether or not it will be a good year is entirely up to each of us. We even have the means to make it awesome.

 People who know me know that I don't use the word "awesome" very often.  While so many others have made it a tired cliché, I use it very rarely to describe only exceptional situations. How could we possibly have an awesome new year with everything that’s happened to us over the past few years?

We Have Control of the New Year

Every one of us has total control over whether the New Year will be awesome or not.  The quality of the New Year, indeed, the quality of our lives is determined by the choices we make, not only in how we respond to adversity but in how we choose to move forward. The quality of the new year is also determined by the relationships we develop and the people we help along the way.  There are examples all throughout history of people in every kind of situation who choose triumph over adversity.  From minor inconveniences to major tragedies, it's our choices of how we respond, not our circumstances that control the outcome of our lives.

In the Entrepreneurial Mindset class, featuring the Ice House Entrepreneurship program, we learn that one of the traits common to successful entrepreneurs is this realization that we can choose to control our personal destiny through the choices we make.  We talk about taking time to respond to situations rather than acting immediately in knee-jerk reactions.  Through all kinds of adversity, these entrepreneurs, not only the ones we study in the video interview content, but also the area entrepreneurs we bring in as guests, have chosen to control their outcomes through what we call an internal locus of control.

Positive Thinking Amid Negative Messaging

One of the choices we need to make is to think positively, expecting good things and not bad things to happen.  I know several people who have actually told me they expect the worst things in life.  They get what they expect.  Our society teaches us to expect the worst, once you pay attention to the messages.  The pharmaceutical companies bombard us with messages telling us how sick we are and that we need to go to the doctor to prescribe their medicine for us.  The news media quotes so-called "experts" telling us there's a good chance we'll suffer one kind of calamity or another. A high school teacher told us, in driver’s ed class, that statistically one out of two people would die in an auto crash before the age of 50. He then said, “Look at the person next to you and decide which one of you it’s going to be.” Although he meant no harm, it was a terrible message to present to a class of 13 and 14-year-olds; an example of the subliminally negative messages still pervasive in our society.

Thinking positively doesn't mean we won't ever have a flat tire, but we can choose how we react to the flat tires of life and make decisions to minimize the number of flat tires we'll have. Maybe we also learn that maintenance and care of the things we use every day can minimize the number of flat tires and breakdowns we may have in life.

It will be an awesome New Year if we believe it will be and we make the choices and decisions to make it so.

In 2025, the Entrepreneurial Mindset class, will be offered by Life Skills Academy, a part of Innovative Business Resource Center (IBRC.) We plan to offer the next class in the latter part of March. To know when we set the schedule, find and follow the IBRC page on Facebook.

Update/Context: The article “Go Ahead—Count Those Chickens Before They Hatch,” published in May 2017, remains relevant today because it challenges limiting beliefs about waiting for good things to happen by chance. In 2024, the importance of mindset, intentional planning, and positive goal-setting is critical for personal and entrepreneurial success. The idea of writing down goals as a powerful tool for achieving them, along with embracing setbacks as learning opportunities, continues to resonate. This mindset shift is crucial for anyone looking to take control of their future, both personally and professionally.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” I’ve heard that one all my life. Here’s what the Cambridge Dictionary has to say about this old adage; “you should not make plans that depend on something good happening before you know that it has actually happened” 

This is a terrible message for any of us, especially our youth, it implies that any good thing happening is a matter of some kind of chance or luck; that life is some kind of lottery where good things happen randomly only to the “lucky” ones. When something goes wrong or we otherwise suffer, we think it’s just bad luck. In the United States, our society is full of messages that tell us we’re supposed to suffer. The pharmaceutical ads tell us that we’re either sick or we’re going to become sick. One ad the other night showed individual shots of children, sad faced, each shot including a numerical statistic showing the chances that the child would contract some terrible disease. In high school once, a teacher told us that fifty percent of us would be involved in a horrible auto accident. He said, “Now, look at the person next to you and think about which one of you it will be.” 

Many psychologists know that people actually have a lot of control over the outcome of their lives by learning to think positively and consciously making plans for good things to happen. The brain has a way of driving you toward your goals, indeed, a good life once you make a decision to change it for the better. There are plenty of people that have taken control of their lives by the choices they make and a change in the way they think. Life does not have to be controlled by circumstances or bad luck. 

Good things come about when we think about them, working toward making them happened rather than “not making plans that depend on something good happening before it happens.” As we’ve learned over the last couple of years, the first step in making those plans, which depend on good things happening, starts with writing them down. There are many examples of the power of written thought in a book by Henriette Anne Klauser called “Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It.” Writing down your goals can also help clarify them. A banker friend of mine once told me he liked to tell kids visiting the bank that he was going to give them a magic wand to make their dreams come true. Before the kids left the building, he gave them all a pencil and told them the “magic” of making their dreams come true is to write them down. We all need such a magic wand. 

Thought is powerful and writing down the thoughts makes them more powerful, but we don’t always control the time-table on which our thoughts produce the results we think we want. The rest of the equation has to do with the way we respond to set-backs and delays in realizing our dreams. Having a growth mindset means that the journey is more important than the end result. If we spend our lives always learning new things as we take incremental steps toward our goals, we’ll have the persistence to accomplish those goals. And, we’ll have the wisdom to realize, that what we wanted or needed in the past may not be what we want or need now. It’s okay to change our goals along the way. 

Our youth, and all of us, need to know that it’s okay to count our chickens before they hatch, that is, we should all make plans based on the good things that we can make happen, not waiting around for good things happen by chance. 

Update/Context: We’re seeing positive changes in how we guide our youth toward becoming productive, self-supporting members of society. The message has shifted from the old model of "find a job at a big company and retire with a pension" to the more open-ended "you can be anything you want to be" and "follow your passion." While this is progress, there’s still more work to be done. Instead of asking young people what they want to be, let's ask them what problems they want to solve. This mindset shift can empower them to think entrepreneurially and create meaningful impact in their careers and communities.

It's All About Problem-Solving 

All of this has to be within a framework of providing some kind of useful service to others, whether bosses, coworkers, customers or society. To be useful, the service has to solve problems for others. Hence the emphasis, when I was at Fab Lab ICC, in all our classes on problem-solving as well as in all our activities and projects. Indeed, as related to career building and making a living, all educational institutions should be emphasizing problem-solving as the primary objective, not how much salary can be drawn from an employer or how much profit can be extracted from customers. Don't misunderstand, salaries have to be right for the work performed and profits have to be sufficient to provide for the sustainability of the company and the satisfaction of the investors and/or stock holders, but money and profits should be secondary to an objective of solving problems in the best, most innovative and efficient ways possible. 

Challenge Youth to Change the World 

At every opportunity, we challenge youth to start figuring out how to change the world and "you don't have to wait until you get out of school to start." We are not challenging them to make large salaries or become rich. We are challenging them to figure out ways to change the world by making it better. The challenge will be met by solving problems of one kind or another. This kind of challenge will tend to lead these young students to a life of work solving problems by doing something about which they are passionate. There's nothing wrong with making a lot of money and/or becoming rich but that's not the primary goal. If you've built a life around helping others, chances are that you'll use whatever money you make and wealth you build to help others throughout your life. 

The Best Life Is One of Serving Others 

You can follow your passion as long as it solves problems in ways better than any other solutions available. You only get to follow your passion if people individually or in our society are willing to pay for your solutions. You can't make a living following your passion if no one else cares about or benefits from the fruit of your passion. 

If we can continue to change the message to our youth in this way, eventually we'll have a society of people concerned with making the world around them better, many of them following their passion. The best way to have a happy and fulfilled life is to figure out how to serve others by solving problems while doing work about which you are passionate.

Update/Context: Originally published on April 5, 2017, this article's message about the necessity of continuous innovation remains as relevant as ever. In today’s fast-paced business environment, those who stop improving risk being left behind. The case of Dixon mowers serves as a cautionary tale for businesses and organizations alike: even revolutionary products must keep evolving to maintain their edge. The principles of reinvention and innovation continue to drive success across industries, highlighting the timeless importance of adaptability.

We’ve all heard it “There’s no need to reinvent the wheel,” It makes me cringe as much as fingernails on a chalk board. A statement like that indicates a desire to find someone else’s solution and call it good enough. Entrepreneurs almost never leave well enough alone.    

Reinventing the wheel doesn’t necessarily mean creating a wheel like no other, ever. Most of the time, reinventing the wheel means making continuous improvement to existing wheels. To reinvent something requires that it was an original invention at some point. Many times, original inventions are a result of mistakes or accidents. We don’t really know much about the caveman (or woman) that invented the first wheel. Maybe it was a joint effort. Could be that in moving a big rock from point A to point B, someone discovered that when pushed on a round stick, the pushing got easier. Through continuous improvement, the big rock eventually was suspended by two big sticks with round rocks on the end of each; axles and wheels. For eons, wheels have been reinvented and made out of various materials. Until relatively recently, the rides from all various materials have been bone-jarring. Finally, we discovered rubber and developed the inflated tires on our wheels today. We can all be thankful that so many people over so many years didn’t say “There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.”  

What we’re really talking about here is the need for continuous innovation and constant improvement. In today’s competitive world, if you leave well enough alone, someone will likely reinvent your wheel and leave you in the dust. When you get a good thing going, you had better keep improving it and always be developing the next big thing. 

As a teenager in the 1970’s growing up in western Kansas, I remember seeing the TV commercials for the Dixon Zero-Turn lawn mower. Revolutionary; it turned on a dime, allowing very close mowing around tress and other obstacles. Mowing time was cut in half. When I moved to southeast Kansas in 2000, I discovered that Dixon mowers were made in Coffeyville. I toured the plant once in about 2003 and saw mower bodies stacked to the ceiling. It had been a slow year. For thirty years, Dixon was king of the zero-turn mower market, especially for residential mowers. Then something happen, perhaps a patent ran out. Overnight, new zero-turn mowers flooded the market from manufacturers everywhere. Dixon, apparently, was caught with no new innovations. In the next couple of years, after layoffs, the Coffeyville plant closed and what was left of production moved to a new owner’s location. Dixon mowers are still made, but long ago lost their dominance in the marketplace. Maybe there could have been a different outcome had the company recognized the need for continuous innovation. 

We all need to be like the entrepreneur who can’t leave well enough alone whether we own a small business or work for others. The businesses, organizations and government offices that don’t recognize the need for continuous innovation run the risk of being deemed obsolete by a demanding marketplace for which “good enough” is no longer good enough. 

Update/Context: Building on the first article, this second part dives deeper into the systemic reasons behind the life skills gap in today’s youth. From cultural shifts to changes in parenting styles, we discuss the societal factors contributing to the problem. This article emphasizes the importance of community and educational programs that focus on developing life skills in young people, ensuring they are equipped to handle the demands of adulthood and thrive in an increasingly complex world.

In part 1 we discussed the way the education system in the United States was forever changed in the late 19^th century by the Committee of 10. The goal of this committee was to divide students by age and class rooms by subject matter so as to teach them all the same subject matter one subject at a time through their school day. Industrial production was the primary motivating factor and the committee felt that workers should possess basic reading and math skills so they could understand basic instructions about how to run various machines and do various processes. There was not much, if any, thought about preparation for life skills outside of working in the factories. In that era the country was still recovering, less than 30 years after the end of the Civil War. “Making a living” was a challenge so many people settled in for the factory work and it kind of made sense for schools to give students just enough knowledge to do their work efficiently.

Fast forward to the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s and pretty much the same subjects were being taught in schools, however, wood shop and auto shop classes offered some hands-on knowledge that could translate into life skills. Girls rarely took these classes. For girls, there was home economics, home-ec, teaching life skills of the household. In the 1980’s, 90’s and 2000’s many of these classes started to disappear from high schools yielding to budget pressure to keep the traditional academic and athletic programs going. Today, we’re nearing two or three generations that lack basic life skills to “participate fully and independently in everyday life.”

Film Explores the Deficiencies of Conventional Education

Many would say that not only are these generations without life skills but also lacking the career skills needed for our current and future society with automation, computers and artificial intelligence able to do many things previously requiring humans. A 2018 documentary by Greg Whitely provides an excellent commentary. Here is the Amazon description.  “Most Likely to Succeed examines the growing shortcomings of conventional education methods in today's innovative world and explores compelling new approaches aimed at inspiring communities to reimagine what students and teachers are capable of doing.” The film is centered around an entirely project-based high school called “High Tech High” and chronicles students’ journeys through this very different school and the skills it gives them to better deal with the future both in their professional and personal lives. It is worth the five-dollar rental.

Adding Hands-On Through Fab Labs and Maker Spaces

So, what do we do in the meantime, while we’re waiting for a version of High Tech High to become available in our area? We engage our youth in Fab Labs and Maker Spaces to gain hands on experience making physical manifestations of their ideas. When kids are making something they are interested in, they will learn whatever is necessary to make it work. We should also lobby for shop and home economics (now they are called Family and Consumer Sciences) classes to return to our high schools. When we do have the kids gathered in the Fab Labs and Maker Spaces for hand on activities, we also take time out to give them some practical information about other life topics.

REALity Fair Adds Sample of Life Skills to STEM Camp

In the Verizon STEM camp—for middle school girls-- recently completed in the Fab Lab and on the ICC campus, camp leaders did just that. They had what they called a REALity Fair. Girls “chose” a career from a list provided, noting the income that could be expected. They then spent a couple of hours making the rounds to various stations that had information about various topics, financial planning, clothing and wardrobe, cellular and data services, entertainment, banking, transportation, utilities, life surprises, housing and charity. The information included how much these things in life cost. They had to try to make the income from their “chosen” career stretch to buy the things they wanted/needed. Adult volunteers from the community came to be at the booths to help disseminate the information.

The girls were asked to list a point or two about their experience with the REALity Fair.

“Today I learned that money isn’t endless and that I should start saving for the future.”

“I thought it was really fun to walk around with friends and learn how to help each other with finances and real-life problems. This gave me a bigger understanding of the world and how things work with dealing with finances, which I didn’t think much about when I was choosing a career.”

“Phones and Internet are expensive! Melissa talked to us about getting the most with our money and choosing plans wisely.”

“I learned at the grocery station that eating at home and cooking healthy is much cheaper than eating out all the time. It’s important to budget for eating out and entertainment too.”

“Jim and Lori talked about ways I could save money buying/renting a home and getting an affordable vehicle. I found out I might not need such a big car after all.”

“I am thankful for the people that came in and helped us plan for our future. I learned that it is important to save money. All the people that were there were very informative. The people were soooo nice, especially Gavin, they really helped me.”

Young people want to learn life skills. All we need to do is work out ways they can learn them. It’s time to incorporate more hands-on, project-based and practical learning into our education system even if it means reducing the time and resources spent in preparing these kids for the next round of standardized tests.

Update/Context: Since this first article was published, the gap in basic life skills among today’s youth has become even more apparent. In this first part, we explore the fundamental skills that are lacking, from financial literacy to practical decision-making. As traditional education focuses more on academic achievement, critical skills for daily living are often overlooked. It's crucial to revisit how we prepare young people for the real world, emphasizing hands-on experiences that build self-reliance and resilience.

Patriot Story

One of my favorite movies, released in 2000, is “The Patriot.” Mel Gibson plays Benjamin Martin, a widower and past war hero with a remaining family of three or four kids. The story starts just before and runs through the end of the Revolutionary War. He struggles with the decision of whether to leave his family and join the war effort. For him, making a living consisted of growing crops and livestock and attempting to perfect a rocking chair design so that he could make and sell chairs, adding cash to his agrarian “income” to use to purchase food and supplies that he and his family couldn’t make for themselves. At that time, the economy was mostly agrarian, with people growing, raising, and making much of what they needed for everyday living, although there were artisans and crafts people that made things to sell. There were no assembly lines or economies of scale as would come with the industrial revolution in the late 19^th century. Everyone had life skills and young people learned them while growing up, required to do so by the realities of everyday life.

Young People (and Many Old) Lack Life Skills

A recent news story talked about the fact that young people don’t have “life skills.” I’m not sure about the exact definition of life skills but according to a source on Google, and we all know we can trust Google, a life skill is “A skill that is necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life.” So, generally, participation in everyday life can mean having and maintaining a home as well as some sort of transportation mode. It also means being gainfully employed (the gainful part means taking in more money than you spend) or owning a profitable business. It also means knowing how to manage one’s finances (i.e. checking account) with a savings plan to build a nest egg and have an emergency fund available. In my mind, maintaining a home would mean having some knowledge about and basic tools on hand to fix a lot of the little things that break or need maintenance. Finally, knowing how to cook is a life skill. Knowing how to shop to have food in the house and how to prepare it is certainly essential to “participation in everyday life.” Knowing how to grow food, i.e., gardening is also a plus.

How We Got To This Point

Somehow, somewhere along the line, our young people—maybe not just the young people—have gotten the idea to specialize in some kind of career, thus, not to worry about learning skills beyond what is needed for the career. If you picked the right career, you could make enough money not to worry too much about life skills. You would be able to afford a nice home and car and you could hire people to fix anything that broke. You wouldn’t have to worry much about keeping food in the house or knowing how to prepare it. There would be supermarkets readily available and there would be nice restaurants.

Committee of 10 Story

As the industrial revolution developed in the 19^th century, machines were used to speed up production and provide a consistency not possible with hand made products. After the Civil War, factories wanted higher production and workers that knew how to run machines, not really caring if they knew much else. In 1892 the “committee of 10”, mostly Ivy League university representatives but also including a couple of high school principals and what was called the “commissioner of education” from Washington DC convened to restructure the education system. This committee changed the face of public education in America forever.

Schools were divided into classes based on the age of the student. The need for basic math, reading and writing skills was recognized but the main goal for the rank-and-file students were to teach them enough that they could follow instructions to produce items in America’s factories. Everything back then was about production, more of it and faster. The emphasis was on providing efficient labor for industry not so much on making the individual flourish.

Much of this legacy culture remains in academia today even though it does not well suit our current economy or the young people coming up through our education system. We now have a couple of generations not interested in the kinds of repetitive assembly line work of the past. They want to do something that matters, and many want to be their own boss, even while not possessing the skills to “fully participate in everyday life.”

Pandemic Story About Supply Chain Frailty

The shortages experienced in the 2020 pandemic demonstrate that our supply chain is not nearly as robust as we may have believed. The idea that we can concentrate on our jobs and count on enough money to buy the food we need at the supermarkets and restaurants may prove to be fallacy the next time something happens to disrupt our supply chain; supermarket shelves empty and restaurants closed. It would behoove us all to gain some more life skills and become more self-sufficient in the event of disruptions in the future.

How to Inspire and Teach People to have Life Skills

In part 2, we’ll look at how we can greatly improve the life skills of our young people. In involves more project-based learning and, you guessed it, activities in a Fab Lab or maker space.

Update/Context: I have published this message several times during election cycles when politicians make campaign promises about providing free college for everyone. It is a misguided notion to use taxpayer money for free college or to pay off student debt., a cousin to free college that began to appear in 2023.

I get a little nervous when I hear politicians, policy makers and educators talking about making college free for everyone.  Free college is a bad idea and here are some reasons why.  By the way, these principles apply not only to government programs but also to many parents who are killing themselves trying to provide a totally free ride so Junior can attend college with no “skin in the game” of his or her own.   

People Don't Value Free 

People don’t value things they receive for free.  Many times, it’s because the free things are really of little value.  This gives people the impression that free things don’t have much value so that even things of value are not appreciated.  Giving things away does little to build the recipients' ability to be self-reliant, or build their self-efficacy, a form of self-confidence that leads to better life-long decisions.  “Habitat for Humanity” is a program that helps people have affordable housing, affordable but not free.  The reason the program is successful is that everyone has to contribute to the house being built for them in some way.  This “sweat equity” is what makes people value the program and the homes they receive from the volunteers who help make them possible.  A college education should be affordable, but not free. 

Not Everyone Needs College 

Another reason free college is a bad idea is that not everyone needs college.  Don’t misunderstand, everyone needs to be educated, and everyone needs to be committed to life-long learning, but there are lots of ways to become educated besides going to college.  After decades of a societal message that everyone should go to college, many of us now realize this is not the case.  There are plenty of examples of people that have made huge differences in the lives of others, indeed, the world, without a formal college education. 

Stop Saying No College is Inferior 

Some politicians and other members of society are finally starting to realize that college is not for everyone. Their message is not right, however. If you begin to listen, you’ll hear this societal message loud and clear, “You don’t have to go to college, you can go to technical school and settle for a job working for someone else your whole life.” No doubt there are plenty of technical jobs that pay double what the new college graduate will make, but why are we telling these young people they can’t do any better than working for someone else? We have to have people willing to start new companies in the trades and technical areas and people without college will be just as apt to make a success of a new business than those with college.  

Higher Education Needs Change 

Finally, with more than fifty percent of college graduates unemployed or under employed, we need to re-engineer higher education before we make it free and infuse even more unemployable graduates into the marketplace. The college degree needs to include training and knowledge about how to be agile and adaptive to a changing world.   As the world changes and career paths come and go, we need our educated people to be able to change course and thrive rather than hit the unemployment line while waiting for the next job in a career that is no longer of value to the marketplace. 

College Should Be Attainable, But Not Free 

Scholarships and financial aid should be available for those willing to work in exchange.  There’s nothing wrong with the idea of students working their way through college.  Students having their own “skin in the game” will take their education more seriously and will tend to make sure how and what they learn will serve them well in a future world of continual change and disruption. 

It’s the Mindset, not the Degree, That Will Change the World 

We should be instilling a growth mindset in all youth, college or not, employee or entrepreneur. We need to instill a curiosity about the world and how to make it better. From the great book “Creative Confidence by David and Tom Kelley, “When you open your mind to the possibility that your capabilities are unlimited and unknown, you already have your running shoes on and are ready to race forward.” 

Update/Context: There are still humans, therefore there are still problems to solve, just as in this article last published in January, 2019. Today, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will add the disruption in the work place already being affected by automation in 2019. References have been changed to a couple of new concepts on the drawing board, "Life Skills Academy" and "Applied Entrepreneurial Mindset." You can see more information at correllcoaching.com.

Today’s vast bodies of knowledge, available at our fingertips, along with stunning new technologies give us greater-than-ever potential to solve our problems; personal, commercial and societal. Humans aren’t perfect and as long as humans are in the mix, things won’t work right, things will break, products and services will be lack-luster.  No matter what happens with new technology and greater knowledge, there will always be problems.  We need people that are better at recognizing problems as opportunities and finding creative solutions for them. 

Whether we know it or not, we’re all in the business of solving problems.  In our work lives, whether we’re working for others of working for our customers, we’re supposed to be solving problems.  In our personal and student lives, there are problems too.  Better problem-solving skills make us better in our professional lives and happier in our personal lives.  As we become better problem solvers, we become better decision makers, realizing that the successful outcome of our lives depends on our choices, not our circumstances.  The psychologists call this special kind of self-confidence “self-efficacy” and increased self-efficacy is the primary objective of Life Skills Academy and our Applied Entrepreneurial Mindset Training Program. 

Successful entrepreneurs—the ones that have identified problems, found creative solutions and offer those solutions to customers—have this special kind of problem-solving ability and outlook on life.  We could all benefit from looking at the world and the problems of the world the way entrepreneurs do.  Studying entrepreneurs has been a challenge.  Ask them to explain how they think, they can’t, let alone write it down.  Most know they think differently, but often don’t realize they have a better way of looking at things.  Indeed, many have felt isolated as their differences in thinking have not fit in with society’s thinking. 

We found a method a few years ago that makes studying successful entrepreneurs not only possible, but interesting, inspiring and fun.  Best of all, it doesn’t require reading any long, dull text books or writing research papers.  “Entrepreneurial Mindset”, a class different than any other, is generally offered a couple of times each year. 

At the same time, we recognize that employers are looking for people with critical thinking and problem-solving skills that go far beyond just knowing how to do one kind of work. The most competitive companies and organizations need to be staffed by entrepreneurial thinkers, using innovative and design thinking to help solve the problems of these organizations and those they serve. As technologies come and go, we believe workforce training should involve introductory training in a variety of technologies and disciplines all centered around entrepreneurial thinking. Our Applied Entrepreneurial Mindset program provides a buffet of technology introductions coupled with Entrepreneurial Mindset. All the training includes healthy doses of experiential, project-based learning. We are working to offer our participants a digital portfolio. This can include images, still and video, of projects and collaborations. An prospective employer can look into the insights of job applicants as they show off their projects in the digital portfolios, demonstrating how they overcame project-related challenges and the knowledge gained by solving the problems in completing the projects. 

This kind of learning, using entrepreneurial mindset and design thinking to solve problems in an experiential, project-based learning environment will unleash hidden talents and abilities of many people who have not done well with the traditional teaching methods we’ve used in the United States for the last 100 years. We like to say about Applied Entrepreneurial Mindset, “Work force training for the rest of us.” 

To remain competitive in a global economy, heading for massive disruption as new technologies and automation take over the factory floor, companies and organizations will need everyone to be engaged in solving the problems that will continue to come up in spite of or because of this disruption. 

Update/Context: First published March 17, 2018 at a time when, to most people, "Economic Development" meant recruiting big employers to come to a town and provide jobs. The US Economic Development Administration (EDA), with a mission to provide jobs in communities, recognized that supporting entrepreneurship and small business start-ups could also provide jobs. 

Expansion Building Coming Soon 

We blinked before New Year's Day and now we are already into the second twelfth of 2018. While we race into the New Year, we inch steadily toward the ground breaking of the new Fab Lab ICC expansion building. We use the term expansion building to indicate it's not a building we'll move into, but rather expand into. So, in addition to the nearly 8,000 square feet we occupy now, we'll be adding an additional 6,400 square feet. The new building will house a paint booth, a few welding stations, a business incubator and a new studio into which we will move our wide-format printing, still image and video studio and our electronics work stations. We're expecting to put the project out for bid during the first part of February, 2018 with completion by August 1. 

At $700,000 the project is not huge as far as building projects go, but it is the first new building on the ICC campus in about 20 years. It's quite remarkable that the concept and related funding for this project has come about in just two short years. Interesting to note is the fact that the project did not come about with a primary purpose of serving academic programs. This project is a part of our development of a new tool in rural economic development; assisting entrepreneurs and small business owners in starting and building their businesses to collectively make substantial contributions to area employment and, indeed, rural area economies.  

Economic Development is Changing 

There's a continuing nationwide debate about the effectiveness of the traditional model of economic development that involves luring big companies to come in and build large facilities that will employee many people. In the northeast, they call this "chasing smoke stacks," a reference to the businesses that used to characterize the industry base in the northeast. The challenge is the concessions and abatements necessary to get the "smoke stack." Many times, when the benefits of the concessions and abatements are exhausted, the smoke stack leaves after engaging in a new auction to see who will pay the most to attract it to a new area. 

Entrepreneurship Can Help Large Numbers Even in Tiny Markets 

Entrepreneurship and small business ownership has the greatest potential to help the largest number of people, world-wide, even in areas too tiny to effectively bid on the smoke stacks. One-hundred small business owners are the equivalent of a company coming to an area, bringing 100 jobs; only the small businesses generally don't receive abatements and financial concessions. Some of the 100 businesses will grow to need employees and thus we have a tool to grow from within. We offer access to Fab Lab ICC and our services through memberships available to anyone in our "community" without geographic or other limitations and this includes many entrepreneurs and small business owners working to start and grow their busiensses. 

We Need More Start-Ups 

New business start-ups across America are down and we need to do something to inspire a new generation of problem-solving entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses. We need to change the mindset from one that thinks new businesses require massive planning and funding to a mindset realizing that 98% of new businesses have always started small—with $10,000 or less in start-up funding—validating their markets early and then growing, some to become large employers. 

Expansion Building Funding 

This is the reason the United States Economic Development Administration is funding 50% of the Fab Lab ICC building expansion. They see the need to have more business start-ups and they believe the Fab Lab can be a catalyst toward that end. The Independence Community College board of trustees will provide $250,000 toward the matching funds required for the other 50% of project cost. The remaining $100,000 has come from individuals and a couple of non-tax based organizations. 

New Model for Work Force Training 

In addition to our efforts to grow small businesses, we will provide a new brand of work force training, called Fab Force, that will emphasize entrepreneurial thinking, a variety of technical knowledge skills and experiential project-based learning. Eventually this kind of learning will be a big attraction to traditional students looking for an exceptional and affordable experience during their first two years after high school. 

We believe the combination of the Fab Lab maker space and entrepreneurial mindset can be an economic driver in rural communities all over the United States and world, even those too small to afford the cost of attracting large employers. 

Update/Context: First published in 2017 and revisited in 2020, this article continues to be highly relevant as the national conversation around minimum wage intensifies. Since then, some states have gone beyond the $15 minimum wage, with one recently implementing a $20 minimum for certain restaurants and food establishments. This has had significant consequences: some businesses have been forced to close, while others have raised prices dramatically, with a simple hamburger now costing over $20. As we look ahead, the rise of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) is adding a new layer of complexity to this issue. While higher wages aim to support workers, they may also accelerate the shift toward job automation, creating a difficult balance between fair pay and long-term economic sustainability.

Mandatory $15 Minimum Wage and Unintended Consequences 

Some states have already mandated it.  It sounds good, at first, but the mandatory $15 minimum wage may have some unintended consequences, many of them, well, not so good. 

Automation and robotics are coming to the workplace and they are coming fast.  Entire warehouses are served by robotic carts retrieving merchandise to be sent to customers.  Fully ambulatory robots are programmed to do some of the mundane tasks on the assembly line; mundane tasks currently being performed by minimum wage earners.  The cost of such a robot is about $22,000 and it will last five to eight years.  That’s a bit more than the current minimum wage for one year, but less than the $15.00 mandatory minimum wage.  A current commercial offers a franchise opportunity where the main feature is a robot that will serve your yogurt creation.  (This is a terrible business model.  In a year or two, robots will be serving all kinds of items in all kinds of restaurants.  Robots will become more common.) 

In spite of what any politician says about “bringing jobs back to America”, the minimum wage jobs will not be coming back.  There are too many people in the world willing to work for much less money than the current minimum wage, let alone a new $15 minimum wage. 

All this does not bode well for those earning the minimum wage at current levels.  States raising the bar to $15 incents businesses in those states to do more automation and offshoring of low-level jobs, thus reducing their employment levels. 

We can expect higher unemployment among those in the minimum wage sector; especially youth in the urban areas that need “starter” jobs to learn and enhance skills.  Is that really what we hope to achieve with this clamoring to a higher minimum wage? 

Minimum Wage Jobs Are Starter Jobs 

Minimum wage jobs are supposed to be “starter” jobs.  People take them to get “started” and then aspire to excel in the way they do those jobs so they can begin to move up the ladder into higher paying positions.  The minimum wage was never supposed to be a fully “living” wage. 

Somehow, in our society, we’ve raised a generation or two of people that have the idea they should be able to take a “starter” job and have a comfortable life without aspiring to grow and improve their skills and wage level in the workplace. 

Our schools and training programs can help by not only providing technical knowledge and skills, but also providing the aspiration for life-long learning and self-improvement so our citizens won’t expect a minimum wage job, no matter what the hourly rate, to give them a comfortable life.