Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

The times we live in today, where economic crisis and Wall Street woes indicate dark and dreary days ahead are always the times when creativity blooms.

Whether out of sheer will or necessity, the creativity of the entrepreneur is always evident.

Many people are launching start-ups through the sheer need to find something new. We know the entrepreneur is given to adventure in one form or another, and many of us are at our best when the times are tough.

While so many people are crying the blues about the economy, others are bracing up to find their entrepreneurial calling.

I have found, more often than not, that the original vision an entrepreneur begins with can take on a life of its own and before you know it you are exploring avenues you may have never considered before.

As a sip my morning coffee and scan the business section of the L.A. Times, I do so with the enthusiastic zest in knowing that, like many of you, we are following a dream and we are in control of it.

If crisis fuels creativity, then being an entrepreneur in times like these fuels the spirit and experience of liberation.

Alysyn Bourque, CEO
www.homelandtvnetwork.com



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Alysyn Bourque
CEO, THE GRIFFITH CENTER

I think this is a great point. In difficult times, our more creative side is called to act, since solving problems the normal way probably wont work as well.

We are thus forced to think up new and different ways to solve problems, and look for new opportunities for new ways to earn revenue.



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Motivation for Entrepreneurs
Entre-Propel.com

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but the economy may be the mother of innovation .... I think that we will see a leap in new ideas, products and concepts within the next year as people try to find new ways to be visible and productive.


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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

The government is spending unprecedented fortunes on preserving the status quo. I`m not sure things will change much.

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Making limitless possibilities much more limited.

Matt, change is inevitable. The question is: in which direction will we change?

Already we are seeing a tendency toward a more socialist mindset, contrary to the course set by our founding fathers.  As one generation dismisses history as irrelevant, allowing the next to become passive and ignorant of it`s power to direct the course of our culture when it strays too far from it`s origins, we discover that "we, the people" seem too often to be in the minority. I hope I am wrong.  As I`ve heard it said, "it is far easier to pull someone down off of a chair than to lift them up onto it."

Change, indeed, is coming.  How prepared are we to confront it?  It is that same creativity and innovation we are witnessing in the midst of economic crisis that gives me hope for our future.



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Alysyn Bourque
CEO, THE GRIFFITH CENTER

Good subject alysyn.   In this moment of time, there are bound to be changes that affect entire demographics and new trends will emerge.   These trends can be opportunities for an observant person. 

I was listening to an NPR Business pod cast that was very interesting.  It was all about how grocery stores were performing, in light if the economic down turn.   What is happening is that people are eating out less and instead, are buying simple, ready made meals.  Groceries that have in-house cooks/chefs that  prepare these meals are benefiting from this trend.

 

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Brendita`s Body Works - Organic Skin & Hair Care Products

The government is spending A LOT of money to keep these business afloat, NOT to flourish. Ultimately, consumers determine which businesses are the good ones and which aren`t. Perhaps these businesses have an unfair advantage... call me an optimist, but I think in good time the more innovative businesses will succeed and these static businesses will fail.


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Motivation for Entrepreneurs
Entre-Propel.com

RE: MattThomas: 

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Making limitless possibilities much more limited.

Matt,

Our founding fathers, for all of their flaws, founded the greatest country on earth. Every nation in the world looks to the United States when they need help. Whether it is the middle east, Europe or Asia, for all of our faults, our nation has been there. We were called into World War II, not only because of Pearl Harbor, but because the growing threat of National Socialism was devouring Europe on a grand scale. Had we been isolationists, we`d be doing the goose step today, along with our allies. National Socialism was defeated and today we seek to defeat Islamic fundamentalist extremism, which has taken pages out of the Nazi playbook ever since the days of Hitler.

If you believe that socialism is a good direction to take, I am surprised to find you on a forum devoted to entrepreneurial ventures. Capitalism and socialism can not coexist truly without one being devoured by the other.

To tackle your positions on race and the place of women in the early years of this country, I would remind you that every civilization and every culture evolves and moves toward progress. We will continue to evolve and progress even further. That is part of the responsibility of society.

Our society is one that has been rooted in the opportunity to succeed and reach the full potential of our dreams. Why should someone who works hard share their wealth with those who are waiting for someone to take care of them? The person who works hard should only have to share their wealth out of conscience and a desire to do so. NOT BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT wants to spread the wealth to society-at-large.

Show me a poor person who has been able to create jobs or lay the foundation for our art museums or universities.

The Rockefeller family was once the most hated family in America. The socialist mentality then is the same as it is today. We owe many endowments, museums and institutions of higher learning to the wealth THEY CHOSE to give away. But for the government or any political faction to dictate when and who I give my money to is anti-capitalist and if that makes me greedy...so be it. I know my conscience and I know what our responsibilities are with regard to our communities. I also know that what the government spends in grants, loans and education, the opportunities exist to succeed. And, if you are a minority and not a white man...the opportunities are even more vast. Despite how politically incorrect that may sound, it is the truth and a truth that makes me proud to be an American. It shows that America, for all of its problems, holds a lead over other nations when it comes to  our opportunities for business.

No, its not 1776...but you don`t throw the baby out with the dish water Matt. You don`t look at the negatives of our history and then refuse to admit that we have made progress and have corrected the human rights evils of the past.

Greater government? Listen to yourself. It is government and their bent for sleeping on the job that  HELPED get us here. Now you want to trust them with more regulation and more of your money?

Think about that closely.

Will Griffith

www.griffithcorp.com




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Will Griffith
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS TRIBUNAL

The founding fathers did create the greatest nation on the planet. But, it had to evolve to maintain that position. We have made progress. That was my point. We had negatives in our history and corrected them. My argument is that maybe the course we`re on is the right one. We can`t view the founding of the nation through rose colored glasses. It was better than anything ever before it, but it wasn`t perfect. It`s getting closer, though. All nations seem to be running a parallel course.  We`ve all suffered and corrected largely the same social issues, in varying degrees. We all started as tribes. We all progressed to monarchies, with the onset of the industrial revolution we all progressed to nearly pure capitalism. There was the communist experiment that`s largely proven a failure. Meanwhile, most all of the west has gone socialism, in varying degrees. I mentioned it in another thread, but it applies again here. I think mankind is on a philosophical railroad. I don`t know what`s coming next, but I do believe socialism seems to be the current stop. Hopefully it`s not the last stop. History is the story of people trying and rejecting forms of government trying to find the best one. We haven`t found it yet. We tried laissez-faire capitalism and we didn`t like it. We need to move on. When the current situation isn`t desirable, it isn`t desirable to look back to the last undesirable situation you were in and replicate that. The answer to our problems is in the future, and not the past.

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Making limitless possibilities much more limited.