Old Guys Rule
Considering that we live in a youth oriented society, I always enjoy reading about an older person successfully pursuing their chosen profession. For example: I recently read about David Pelham, the Science Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. David is 90 years old, and refuses to slow down. He says he learns something new with every article he writes.
Pelham’s passion for pursuing a news story hasn’t slowed down one bit. He spent two weeks in the Ethiopian desert following fossil hunters around. He does say of this trip, “That was when I was younger…three years ago.”
Hats off to the David Pelhams of the world. I think we could use a little “wisdom-of-the-elders” right about now.
Person of the Week
Earlier tonight ABC Evening News with Charlie Gibson presented their “Person of the Week.” Here they featured one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Mark Johnson, with some of the Playing for Change folks. If you have read some of my earlier posts, you know that I have held Mark up as an example of the qualities that entrepreneurs should strive for. To see what I mean, take a look at an interview with Mark on the Bill Moyers Journal.
(email subscribers—view on my blog)
Obsession, passion, perseverance, capabilities—these are the necessary traits of a successful entrepreneur. We can all take a lesson from Mark Johnson.
Do Big Events Pay Off?
Does your town, or city, sponsor any big events? There is a small town in South Dakota that puts on an annual motorcycle rally that brings in enormous revenues. The event is held the first weekend of August and this year is their 69th event. The town is called Sturgis, and here are some interesting statistics:
• Population of South Dakota – 804,194
• Population of Sturgis – 6,442
• Number of event attendees – between 4 and 500,000
• Number of city licenses issued to vendors – 1,192
• Gross Sales for the 7-day event – $16.4 million
• Pounds of ice delivered to area – 6.7 million
• Tons of garbage hauled – 543
Obviously, this is a pretty big deal for this small town, but they have been doing it for 69 years and they have it pretty well figured out by now. Many of the local businesses make a good portion of their annual income and profit during this one week. How does your town/city stack up?
Oh yeah, they also issued 66 marriage licenses last year.
The Spirit of America
Mark Johnson is one of my favorite young entrepreneurs, because he exhibits the perseverance to follow his dream—and be successful. It’s the end of the week, so I thought I would post one of his latest videos, featuring two of the Playing For Change performers; Grandpa Elliott, and Louis Mhlanga, performing at Dodger Stadium. Even though he is blind, Grandpa Elliott obviously loves his country. This should give us all something to think about.
Mark Johnson’s dream is to bring peace to the world through music, and he is following his dream and persevering in spite of the challenges. He has carried this dream for 10 years, and worked steadily on it for the past 4 years—and he shows no signs of slowing down.
How strong is your dream?
Global Competition
The July 20, 2009 issue of Fortune magazine published its annual Global 500 special section, giving information on the performance of the 500 largest companies in the world. Some interesting things can be interpreted from this special report. Let’s take a look.
Top 7 corporations in the world, by Revenue:
- Royal Dutch Shell – Netherlands
- Exxon Mobil – U.S.
- Wal-Mart Stores – U.S.
- BP – Britain
- Chevron – U.S.
- Total – France
- ConocoPhilips – U.S.
Note that Wal-Mart Stores is the only non-oil company on this list. Is oil a really big business in the world, or what? Do we really think that big oil will support alternative energy?
Top 6 most profitable corporations in the world:
- Exxon Mobil – U.S.
- Gazprom – Russia
- Royal Dutch Shell – Netherlands
- Chevron – U.S.
- BP – Britain
- Petrobras – Brazil
Well, apparently, oil pays well, since the six most profitable businesses in the world are all oil corporations.
Interesting Observations:
• Of the top 100 largest corporations in the world, there are only 5 American manufacturing companies.
- General Motors – no. 18
- Ford – no. 19
- Hewlett-Packard – no. 32
- IBM – no. 45
- Proctor and Gamble – no. 68
• The two most profitable banks in the world are Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, and China Construction Bank.
• America has 6 of the top 10 money-losing companies in the world, and only two of them are financial institutions.
• Since 1998, the number of American companies in the Global 500 have dropped from 185 to 140, a 24% decrease.
• Since 1998, the number of Chinese companies in the Global 500 has risen from 6 to 37, a 616 % increase.
What can we learn?
First, it is obvious that big business in America has trouble competing in the world market. If it wasn’t for U.S. oil companies, our position would be even more abysmal. Considering the declining number of U.S. companies on the Global 500 list, it is easy to conclude that the future for big business in the U.S. is pretty dismal.
The good news is that small business can pick up the slack in world trade left by the big guys. Every small business in America should be factoring world-wide trade into their business plans. From a sales and marketing standpoint—think globally!
Home Businesses…Beware!
Seventy percent—around 21.1 million—U.S. businesses have no employees, and many, many of these businesses are conducted out of the owner’s homes. This practice has been ongoing for generations, if not centuries. It is a time-honored and normal entrepreneurial endeavor.
However, that may be coming to an end, at least in part. I ran across a post in makezine.com, by Robert Bruce Thompson, a chemist with several books to his credit, among them, An Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments. Thompson’s post is a little scary, and should be soberly considered by all entrepreneurs who work in their homes. Excerpts would not do justice to Thompson’s post, so I will include it in its entirety below:
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that Victor Deeb, a retired chemist who lives in Marlboro, has finally been allowed to return to his Fremont Street home, after Massachusetts authorities spent three days ransacking his basement lab and making off with its contents.
Deeb is not accused of making methamphetamine or other illegal drugs. He’s not accused of aiding terrorists, synthesizing explosives, nor even of making illegal fireworks. Deeb fell afoul of the Massachusetts authorities for … doing experiments.
Authorities concede that the chemicals found in Deeb’s basement lab were no more hazardous than typical household cleaning products. Despite that, authorities confiscated “all potentially hazardous chemicals” (which is to say the chemicals in Deeb’s lab) from his home, and called in a hazardous waste cleanup company to test the chemicals and clean up the lab.
Pamela Wilderman, the code enforcement officer for Marlboro, stated, “I think Mr. Deeb has crossed a line somewhere. This is not what we would consider to be a customary home occupation.”
Allow me to translate Ms. Wilderman’s words into plain English: “Mr. Deeb hasn’t actually violated any law or regulation that I can find, but I don’t like what he’s doing because I’m ignorant and irrationally afraid of chemicals, so I’ll abuse my power to steal his property and shut him down.”
In effect, the Massachusetts authorities have invaded Deeb’s lab, apparently without a warrant, and stolen his property. Deeb, presumably under at least the implied threat of further action, has not objected to the warrantless search and the confiscation of his property. Or perhaps he’s just biding his time. It appears that Deeb has grounds for a nice juicy lawsuit here.
There’s a lesson here for all of us who do science at home, whether we’re home schoolers or DIY science enthusiasts. The government is not our friend. Massachusetts is the prototypical nanny state, of course, but the other 49 aren’t far behind. Any of us could one day find the police at the door, demanding to search our home labs. If that day comes, I will demand a warrant and waste no time getting my attorney on the phone.
There’s a word for what just happened in Massachusetts. Tyranny. And it’s something none of us should tolerate.
Here is an interesting follow-up from Mr. Deeb’s daughter:
I am the daughter of Victor Deeb and what they did and took from my father is not only unfair but devastating to an old man whose life for the last 40 years has been chemistry. They not only took all of his chemicals (which he used in his research for non-toxic sealants for baby food jars) but 20 years of notes that were valuable only to him. Now his research notes have magically disappeared into thin air. Can someone tell me where the justice is in that?
-m deeb
What do you think—could anything like this happen in your town…in your neighborhood? Homeland Security and the Patriot Act have changed the landscape in the U.S., and it does make a person wonder…….
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