March 1, 2012

• Have a dream?

  (Time stamped and edited, I really shouldn’t try to write at night, I don’t pay enough attention.)

   

  Anybody that knows me well knows that I am a bit of an economics freak. I love them. I fell in love with Muhammad Yunus in 2006 when he won the Nobel Peace Prize along with the bank he founded, Grameen Bank. I will post a full blog on him someday, as he is one of my heroes, but for the purpose of this post just know he was a pioneer in microfinance. 

  The economy is suffering here. Job growth is slow, unemployment is high. It is hard to feel secure with the job you have (if you have one) and terrifying to think of becoming an entrepreneur. The cost of starting a business and the uncertainty of the lending environment is a huge risk that many of our best and brightest will not take. What a loss of creativity, intellect, and new ideas for our nation.

  Times, they are a changing. There are new programs to help foster and fund ideas. Games, products, movie ideas, musicians, you name it. You can fund it all if you have a good business plan and a great idea. Who is going to fund your idea? Your peers, or other like minded people that have an interest in your product or idea.  Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com) is an organization that connects budding and potential entrepreneurs with potential funders. I have seen game ideas be proposed with a budget of $15,000.00 raise nearly $200,000.00. You can also fund other entrepreneurs, and will only be charged if the project you support reaches its goal. For example; you see a cool game idea and would like to buy one, provided it can be funded. You can choose to fund as little as $5.00 – there are incentives to fund, such as the first 100 people to fund $5.00 will receive a copy of the game. That’s a bargain if you really want that game. 

  Everybody has a book to write. With the increasing popularity of e-readers, more and more authors are writing their book, self publishing, and selling digital copies (only) to see if they can build a following and send their book to print. Amazon has done so much to promote e-readers and e-book formats that you can find and buy new authors and new books for as little as $1.00. I love to read and discover new authors, so this is a bargain for me. Enough curious readers purchase a new book, and the author has the funding needed to print. 

  Want to further your education? Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) are a new and growing form of education. These are free, web based courses that are evidence based education. For example, if I take a MOOC on subject X, I can use evidence to support that I have learned the material (there is a plethora of educational resources that are provided free to students including webinars, suggested readings, etc) and you are judged by your peers, not your instructors, whether or not you understand and comprehend the subject matter. This is new, controversial, and the jury is still out for most. Some professors are offering MOOCs and some field professionals are offering MOOCs. These courses are for the self directed learner, they are not structured or graded. Though these are not yet proven or popular, it is my personal prediction that as tuition costs rise and information is more freely available, in less than 20 years, people will be able to obtain their entire education with no money, just hard work, and have their work be recognized. I am working on my digital portfolio and will use this as a tool to offer any employer or potential client. 

  Care to volunteer but don’t have the time? Are you a non profit that needs assistance? Sparked is an organization that connects volunteers to volunteer projects, local and international. You do not have to make a time commitment that is large or ongoing, you can choose to edit a video for a start up nonprofit, 2 hours of effort, and make a difference to whatever cause strikes your fancy. This is online micro volunteering.  My husband helped an organization in Kenya create their website, a few hours of programming, and they were up and running. He received thank you videos and recognition, made a difference, and gave up enough time to watch a B-Rated movie. 

  Times are tough, but we are tougher. If you have a dream, a wish, a desire to better yourself or the world around you, you can do it. Just get off your ass for an hour a week and do something that pushes you towards your dream, and you can make it come true. 

  • 9:30 am
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