Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas

As we approach the fourth birthday of Fab Lab ICC, something I notice more and more with all of our Lab connections is that it is our mindset that gets in the way of our success not only in the Lab, but in our lives. As I make observations outside of the Lab I see the same thing in all ages of people in all walks of life. From middle school students in the Lab to college students on the campus to participants in weight-loss programs to members of congregations and communities it is the lack of a mindset of self-empowerment that gets in our way of success and happines.

Knowledge and Effort Yield Positive Outcomes

This excerpt from “Who Owns the Ice House?”–the book used in my Entrepreneurial Mindset class–demonstrates that it is with a closed mindset that we blame our circumstances for our disappointments rather than our choices or behaviors.

“For many, there is a disconnect between knowledge, effort and outcome. Without realizing it, we develop a closed mindset, a mindset that dampens our curiosity and discourages learning. We become blind to new opportunities.

Many engage in behavior that perpetuates their circumstances rather than improving their lives. Some people become convinced that life is a lottery, and that they have been left behind. Like survivors in a lifeboat, they respond to the wind and currents and tide rather than steering for a destination reflecting their own desire. They feel no reason to be curious, to seek knowledge, to look for answers and to learn. Rather than accepting responsibility and reaching for a better life, they passively accept their circumstances. They stop trying

Some blame others for their circumstances. Rather than seeking knowledge that can help improve their lives, they tend to focus their time and energy blaming others for their disappointments while overlooking opportunities to improve their own lives. Without realizing it, they inadvertently adopt the position of weakness and victim-hood that renders them powerless to change. They become attached to an attitude that is at odds with their own self-interest.”

Knowledge is Not a One-Time Proposition

The excerpt comes from a chapter on knowledge and how knowledge is not a one-time proposition where you finish school and you’re done learning. Indeed, knowledge is a life-long process and we should be using all kinds of methods to improve our knowledge as we live.

 

 

Self-Empowerment is Pervasive

We see big improvements in the self-efficacy–sometimes I use a more intuitive term, self-empowerment–of those involved in Fab Lab making and learning activities. Interesting thing; self-empowerment from one activity or learning experience creates self-empowerment in other areas of our lives. So much so that our primary mission is now to improve the self-empowerment of all who experience Fab Lab ICC and our programs.

Given what we’ve learned about this in the last four years, it occurs to me that every agency and institution that helps people should shift their primary focus to one of inspiring self-empowerment within their constituents and stakeholders. From community colleges to K-12 education, from hospitals to medical clinics, from retail to service businesses; if we shifted our focus to empower those we serve, not only would those lives improve dramatically, but the things we measure for our own success would improve as well.

 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks.

 

Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas

We all work for customers of one kind or another. Businesses work for external customers who pay for goods and services that solve their problems. External customers pay for goods and services as needed and generally are free to shop around and get what they feel is the best value for their money. Employees work for internal customers and provide services that solve problems for their bosses or for other employees within an organization.

Competition is Everywhere

In a global economy where competition is everywhere, businesses that fall short of providing excellence lose customers. Providing high quality and exceeding expectations are the path to excellence. In the realm of employees and internal customers, competition is keen with people all over the globe willing to work for less money and robotics and automation taking over more and more of the work. Employees that fall short of providing excellence lose their jobs. A culture of continuous innovation can help businesses and employees prosper.

Customers Expect What They Expect

Customers have expectations regarding the solutions for which they are willing to pay and it is our job to communicate that we can meet these expectations for the agreed upon price, or wage rate. The mismatch of expectations and results is what causes lost customers and lost jobs. A basic level of competency and consistency is required of businesses and employees to even be in the game, but many competitors and job applicants also offer the basics so just getting in the game does not mean you won’t be replaced.

Surprises: Customers Love the Good, Hate the Bad

There are two kinds of surprises; customers hate one and love the other. Customers don’t like to be surprised by unmet expectations. It is essential that the offerings by a business or employee be clearly communicated so the customer knows what he or she is buying. Systems and practices are built to facilitate quality and make things go right nearly all the time, but when things don’t go right we have to communicate with the customer to a new or modified solution.

Customers love to be surprised by exceeded expectations. A culture of continuous innovation gets everyone in the habit of observing the customers and figuring out ways they can add positively to the customer experience. Many times this is a matter of looking at the customer with empathy (not sympathy) trying to fully understand the process that led the customer to seek a solution in the first place.

 

No One Wants to Make Another Appointment

For example, many auto repair businesses don’t fully realize the inconvenience their customers experience in bringing a vehicle for repair. Many times, it means taking time off work or business to take the car to the establishment. Sometimes this means a friend or family member has to also take time off to give a ride to and from the establishment. The last thing I want to hear when I pick up my vehicle is “OK, we fixed your problem with your gadget, but we noticed that your widget needs attention and we encourage you to schedule an appointment really soon to have it fixed.” While the expectation of repairing the gadget was met, this business missed an opportunity for the good kind of surprise by not calling me about the widget, allowing me to authorize additional widget repair rather than having to go through all the inconvenience of scheduling another appointment.

New Wheels Not Always Required

Continuous innovation doesn’t mean you have to always be reinventing wheels and inventing new products and services. More often continuous innovation can be a habit of empathizing with customers and employers, trying to anticipate ways not only to solve the requested problems, but also related problems and inconveniences.

 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks.

 

Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas

Four years ago, while preparing for the grand opening of Fab Lab ICC, we saw that other Fab Labs around the world were outfitting large trailers to be mobile Fab Labs. The idea was to have a small Fab Lab self-contained in the vehicle so it could be moved around to remote areas, making the Fab Lab experience available to people in those areas, especially students in the schools.

Mobile Labs Can Be Expensive

Large trailers are expensive, at around eighty-thousand dollars, let along the equipment inside and a vehicle with which to pull the trailer. We knew we would have a mobile Fab Lab at some point in the future although we weren’t sure the source of funding. As we’ve learned with other situations and projects, funding is a status element, not an essential element to a project. We went about the business of building Fab Lab ICC with the mobile lab on our wish list. In 2017, a Fab Lab ICC program to lower barriers to women initiating full or part time businesses became the means by which to obtain a mobile Fab Lab.

The Origin of Women 4 Women

In the second quarter of 2017, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation solicited applications for their “Inclusion Open” grant program. Kauffman has always been about promoting and supporting entrepreneurship around the world. The Inclusion Open is an effort to make entrepreneurship and small business ownership available to diverse populations who currently represent a fractional percentage of business ownership in the nation, including minorities, veterans, those with disabilities and women. We enlisted Joanne Smith of Fab Creative Services to help write a grant proposal for what we named “Women 4 Women.”

In the application, we proposed a series of events targeted toward women, some pure “maker” events where women would make things; some, educational events covering various business and entrepreneurship topics. Part of the proposal was to purchase a mobile Fab Lab van or trailer so we could host such events in neighboring towns.

In September of 2017, Kauffman notified us that out of around 800 applications, we made it to the top 21 to receive funding of $82,000 to launch Women 4 Women.

Procuring the Mobile Lab

The grant, although sizable, had to fund the program for two years and included a total of $20,000 for the mobile Fab Lab. We figured on starting out small with a van to haul equipment and upgrade to the bigger enclosed trailer later. Then, at a Fab Lab conference trade show in March, 2018, we learned that Fab Labs were trending away from the large trailers and toward smaller vans to transport machines and supplies to remote locations. Seems the larger vans were never large enough to hold enough people and some people didn’t like the idea of being in an enclosed trailer anyway. We’d been on the cutting edge of the new trend without even knowing.

It took a while, but Romans Motors in Independence found the right vehicle for us. It’s a 2014 Dodge Ram cargo van outfitted with bins and drawers for supplies and plenty of room for two or three pieces of equipment.  After wrapping the van with the Women 4 Women and Fab Lab ICC logos, we’ll be ready to outfit it and hit the road.

The use of this Mobile Fab Lab will not be limited to the Women 4 Women events. We see great opportunities in using it to visit schools, institutions and to host other kinds of maker events.

Next Women 4 Women Event

The next Women 4 Women event will be Thursday, September 27 from 11:30 to 1PM at Fab Lab ICC. We’ll be talking about “Building Your Online Presence.” The event will include a complimentary lunch.

 

Thanks to the grant funding most of the program is offered free of charge to participants. Anyone interested in attending the September 27 event is encouraged to RSVP to Joanne Smith at fabcreativeservices@gmail.com; 620-330-3006.

 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks.

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 off-shoring 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 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 work place.

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.

 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349, by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu or Twitter @jimcorrellks.