Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Perks of Being An Entrepreneur

Because of the current state of our economy, some economists believe the best way to get out of the financial crisis is to create new goods and services, which promote growth. This can be seen in the form of entrepreneurs, people who take risks and have new ideas to create new products. The desired effect of this, the article declares, is more competition in the market and more jobs.

However, it seems like this is a solid long-term solution rather than an immediate solution. Data shows that since 2000, approximately 5 trillion dollars have been spent on research and higher education (crucial steps that lead to innovation), but employment has remained the same and even fallen in some areas.

Perhaps the key is to be patient (but still stay determined) in these trying times.

-Molly Cheng

4 comments:

Britney Tsao said...

I think it really depends on what you're doing as an entrepreneur. If your goods/services aren't useful to the public then of course you won't get very far. Sometimes taking the risk isn't worth it because it won't work out. However, if it's something really useful to people (like post-its! something you know people will use) then the entrepreneur will be successful. In my mind, I have always associated innovation with money because innovative people think of things (and ways to make these things) that other people don't. Sometimes these things are good enough to make money, or they're just cool.

Sabrina said...

as you mentioned, molly, since 2000 there have been many resources put into research and higher education. this statement actually reminded me of an article i read somewhere on the internet (i really hope it wasn't on this blog or that will be embarrassing) that talked about the decreasing value of a college education. since so many people are getting college educations now, they are starting to mean less. this is quite scary because, as you also mentioned, the employment rate is staying the same. so, more people are graduating college, which therefore means that more people are accruing debt that needs to be payed off, which means that, with employment levels staying the same (instead of increasing) more people have to live in debt without paying it off for longer (due to their lack of employment). as a student who will be in that situation in approximately 4 years, news like this frightens me. it looks like I need to start thinking of wacky/very handy creations to sell in the future...

Mona Khemici said...

This sounds very familiar to an article I read not too long ago. It compares lazy people to hard workers, saying there isn't much of a difference when it comes to their opportunities for a job...then it lists on things that would help you stand out when it comes to getting a job. It was pretty interesting:


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/5234289.cms

Mark Sherwood said...

The only problem is that recessions and economic crisis are the hardest time for entrepreneurs. Although the government is trying to encourage such activity by keeping interest rates at an all time low, risk taking is just that risky. When many people have lost there primary income and investors are more stingy then ever, it is hard for such entrepreneurs to find capital to fund themselves. Furthermore, they are even more wary to do so because failure is ever more disastrous when the economy is bad, stocks are low, and their current job will probably not available for them to come back to.