July 21, 2010
I want to draw your attention to a great article in the July/August edition of Inc. magazine. Beginning on page 76, Adam Bluestein and Amy Bartlett present a Special Report entitled, “OUR HIGHLY PRACTICAL, EMINENTLY DOABLE, TOTALLY RESONABLE PLAN TO REVITALIZE THE AMERICAN DREAM. BRING ON THE ENTREPRENUERS!”
The title seems grandiose but when you get into their recommendations, many of them are what we have been discussing in this Blog for well over a year. I want to summarize their recommendations in a tabular form, because they make so much sense and should be shared.
| Area of Recommendation | Further Explanation | |
| 1 | Business Schools | Teach how to start businesses in all undergraduate school. |
| 2 | Immigration | Change our Immigration Policy to allow “Talent” to get in. |
| 3 |
Education |
Studies have proven that students who have been taught entrepreneurship are four times more likely to start a business. |
| 4 | Incubators | Create safe havens for start-ups, where they have access to counseling, business services, etc. to increase their chances of success. |
| 5 | Manufacturing | Create specific incubators for manufacturing enterprises where they can experiment on high tech manufacturing equipment to create products. |
| 6 | Student Loans | Give students who start a business a break on student loans. |
| 7 | Taxes | Give tax breaks for investors in new and developing businesses. |
| 8 | Business Plan Competitions | Organizations should offer meaningful prizes for winners of prestigious Business Plan Competitions. |
| 9 | Bureaucracy | Eliminate all bureaucratic obstacles for starting a business. Remember bureaucrats do not create jobs. |
| 10 | Energy Policy | Create meaningful incentives for companies that create new energy sources and conservation systems. |
| 11 | Federal Contracts | Revise the Small Business Innovation Research Program to provide seed capital and contracting opportunities for younger companies. |
| 12 | Venture Capital | Follow New Mexico’s example of committing funds for venture capital if a venture capital firm establishes an office in that state. |
| 13 | Government 2.0 | Offer prize money to spur innovation or simply provide access to previously walled-off data controlled by governments in order to initiate new ventures. |
| 14 | Research and Development | Fund “pure science” ventures that have given us the internet, satellite navigation, fuel cells, mapping of the human genome, etc. |
| 15 | Employment Contracts | Loosen non-compete clauses in employment contracts to enable new startups. |
| 16 | Small-Business Lending | Because of the recent financial crisis, banks have made lending more stringent on Small-Businesses. This is patently absurd because these companies did not cause the crisis; large institutions caused the crisis. Small-Businesses create the majority of new jobs in the country and they need the loans to prosper and create more new jobs. |
None of these recommendations are wild and undoable. In many cases they have already been done, but on a smaller scale by individual companies, organizations, state, local and federal government entities.
What is needed is leadership. We only have one President of the country at a time and right now, whether you agree with his production or not, President Obama is the person who has the best position to lead this no nonsense movement. We should all push to get him interested in these recommendations and then to help them be fulfilled.
Doing these things can be costly at times but generally cost is not the issue. The will to accomplish something that first benefits others, possibly at the expense of ourselves, is the greatest necessity.
Let’s covenant together to do what is right, establish the fertile ground upon which new businesses can be birthed, and then enjoy the prosperity that emanates from these new businesses.
Tool of the Week, Day, etc. – The tool this week is a link to the article in Inc. magazine outlined above: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100701/revitalizing-the-american-dream.html.
That is it for today. Post your comments on the Blog and let us stimulate the discussion.
Thanks,
Ted S. Miller