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Curtis Ophoven's eBooks

 How the Global Economy is Dependent on Christianity


 Why America May Never Recover From the Recession


 Save Money Homeschooling


How to Begin Thinking More Like an Entrepreneur and Less Like an Employee

By: Curtis Ophoven

5/13/2010 - 7 Comments

A few years also I was considering getting my MBA.  But I realized that the future of America is going to be much more about startups then it will be about growing large businesses.

The economic trouble facing our nation, brought about by a complete failure of government, has led the nation into a deepening recession and remains on the path to hyperinflation.

Eventually, our politicians will be forced to change directions and cut government entitlement spending like Greece and other European nations have began.

At that point, which is fast approaching, the nation will finally face up to the facts that we have been spending beyond our means for decades. 

Big businesses are going to be in big trouble, many are already cutting staff and the only reason they are still open for business is because of government stimulus.  Once the government is forced to cut spending, they are going to cut employees like hot cakes.

So the reason I chose not to pursue my MBA is because my economic analysis and my business trend research showed me that MBA’s are not going to be needed in the foreseeable future.  The economy will not need people that are trained to grow large businesses because large businesses will be crumbing. 

The deepening recession needs people that are trained in entrepreneurship.  People that are capable of started a business in the garage while living with their parents, with less than $5k.

And this is why I didn’t pursue my MBA.  But don’t get me wrong about education, I love education and strongly believe that education is always the path to economic growth.  But that education needs to fit the current economy conditions and MBA’s are no longer needed in this economy.

Steve Blank is a retired entrepreneur and he has figured out what I have, that entrepreneurs need a difference education.  Here is an excellent video presentation of Steve explaining his findings.  

Link to Video: Startup Lessons Learned (Why Accountants Don't Run Startups)

Steve predicts that the MBA schools will be converted into entrepreneur schools, but that will take several years, which leaves only one other option for struggling families that are caught up in the recession. 

That option is to learn how to start a business in your garage by trial-and-error, on the job training.  And if the jobs are not going to come back because the economy is not recovering, then the sooner you start a business the sooner you will start gaining the training that you need for the future.

A lot of people are saying that the government should provide funds for retraining people to transition into new jobs, but the training that people really need isn’t being taught in the schools. 

Therefore the only way to get the training you need is to start a business or join someone else that is starting a business.

In the video, Steve says that entrepreneurs are not organized like accountants, but are more focused on a mad search to find a business model.   Employees are trained to follow a process, work a 9-5 schedule with a virtually guaranteed paycheck. 

Starting a business is completely different.  It’s very hard to forget everything you have been trained to do for the last decade as an employee and start thinking like an entrepreneur, but that’s what we need to do as a nation.

And it’s even harder to remain employed and continue thinking like en employee, knowing your job is not going to last and preparing for your exit by thinking like an entrepreneur building your startup on the side. 

That is the challenge that I am in.

To make matters worse, the current administration is making it much harder for startups to find a business model.  Much of Obama’s policies include new taxes, health care reform tax, investing tax increases, energy taxes and the increase in regulations make it harder and harder to find a successful business model. 

Most of these will need to be completely reversed before the economy will ever recover.  And that means waiting for the next President before these barriers can begin to be removed and people can start finding business models. 

Until then, if you lose your job and don’t have the savings to pay the bills, you’re screwed.

Copyright © 2010 PennyJobs.com. All rights reserved.

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Reader Comments

Comment 1
sally Says: on Thursday, May 13, 2010 6:08:48 PM

http://gigaom.com/2010/05/13/video-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur-listen-to-naval-ravikant/
"Video: Want to Be an Entrepreneur? Listen to Angel Investor Naval Ravikant
By Chris Albrecht May. 13, 2010

When it comes to starting a business, it’s hard to top Naval Ravikant’s CV. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded Epinions.com and Vast.com; and as an angel investor, he’s helped fund companies like Disqus and Twitter. We wanted to find out what makes an ambitious man like this tick, so we asked him to sit down for a brief video chat about entrepreneurship.

If you have aspirations to start your own business, watch the video as Ravikant discusses:

The three traits you need to look for in a partner
How important it is to be in Silicon Valley
How to get a meeting with an investor
Whether you should be public or private with your idea"


Comment 2
steve Says: on Friday, May 14, 2010 8:12:35 PM

"There's a potential solution to the Gulf oil spill that neither BP, nor the federal government, nor anyone — save a couple intuitive engineers — seems willing to try. As The Politics Blog reported on Tuesday in an interview with former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister, the untapped solution involves using empty supertankers to suck the spill off the surface, treat and discharge the contaminated water, and either salvage or destroy the slick."

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/gulf-oil-spill-supertankers-051310#ixzz0nxpy8yrc



Comment 3
A bomb it like the ruuskies Says: on Friday, May 14, 2010 8:18:22 PM

Barack Obama sends nuclear experts to tackle BP's Gulf of Mexico oil leak

The US has sent a team of nuclear physicists to help BP plug the "catastrophic" flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from its leaking Deepwater Horizon well, as the Obama administration becomes frustrated with the oil giant's inability to control the situation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7726142/Barack-Obama-sends-nuclear-experts-to-tackle-BPs-Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-leak.html
Why isn't this on the news?


Comment 4
tommy lutz jr Says: on Saturday, May 15, 2010 9:57:26 AM

i like the last sentence but disagree.

"Until then, if you lose your job and don’t have the savings to pay the bills, you’re screwed. "

your forgetting unemployment, which from what i have seen around me, they will pay for that for years. lol.

Good article, its been exactly my mindset the past year ,year and a half. check out my start up. http://snacksquare.com


Comment 5
Chen Says: on Monday, May 17, 2010 7:05:49 PM

http://politics.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978230126
40l(k)/IRA Nationalization Quietly Moves Forward

"The U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comment as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are spearheading the effort.

They want to "get people to invest their 401k's and IRA's into annuities, or likely into U.S. T-Bonds, which are in the biggest overvalued bubble the world has ever seen.

They are doing this because they will have $2 Trillion Dollars in bonds to sell this year, and foreign buying is drying up. China doesn't want them.... Do you?

Who's behind it? The White House and a powerful network of Congressional activists, and the highly-influential Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. They are engineering a new regulatory and tax-incentive. The purpose is to herd and ultimately force Americans to convert their 40l(k)s and IRAs into government-directed retirement accounts.

The 40l(k)/IRA de-privatization plan is the brain-child of Teresa Ghilarducci of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis " "SCEPA", who is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

The extreme tactics used to ram Nationalized Health care down the country's throat are a blueprint for what could be the biggest asset grab in history. This is exactly what took place in Argentina. Yes, Argentina was once a powerful nation; the 3rd wealthiest nation until the 20th Century. Another reason as to why our government needs to nationalize retirement accounts...

Is reported by the New York Times, "This year, the system will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes, this important threshold was not expected to cross until at least 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office." The trickle of red ink will soon become a flood under the pressure of 78 million retiring Baby Boomers....

Less money going into the system! Who will you need to Trust in the Handling of your money?

The March 9 edition of Business Week notes that new federal regulations designed to "promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams" would help drive cash into government-controlled entities such as American International Group (AIG), which was bailed out to the tune of $182.3 billion.

You Do Trust AIG.. right? The Real Question Is.. Is there a safe haven for retirement accounts?"



Comment 6
mo Says: on Monday, May 17, 2010 7:09:24 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8687064.stm
"A heterosexual Austrian couple have embarked on a court battle to have their relationship legally recognised as a "registered partnership" - a new form of civil union for same-sex couples."


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