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Jobs are Important, but so is Working.

I’m talking about entry-level jobs and jobs that teach you about hard work before you launch a career.

I see young adults working at fast food restaurants for example. This is usually called an entry-level job. These jobs teach employees about being good employees. Being at work on time, working as part of a team, responsibility for quality outcomes, respect for employers, learning about taxes, and perhaps saving money are all things we need to learn to be successful in a career we choose.

Communication is Key: Let’s Not Talk Nonsense

This is true for every business, including economic development organizations. Though I have always said everyone is in the economic development business; they just don’t know it.

What do I mean by nonsense? I’ll give you an example. I am currently working with a website company for a client of mine. The company wants my client to upgrade their services for an increase of their monthly fee. I agree with the plan, but this company doesn’t communicate the benefits or tell the client exactly what they do to deserve my client’s business. The following sentence was included in the proposal.

Will Tariffs be the Economic Developer’s New Best Friend?

Between 1798 and 1913 tariffs were 50 to 90% of the United States federal income. Today approximately 70% of products enter the U.S. duty free. Tariffs have been used to protect local industries. The higher cost of imports encourages people to buy products made in America. This is especially important if an industry can’t compete with international companies.  

There is also the supply chain argument. When tankers were sitting offshore and products weren’t getting to consumers, many argued if we made more in America, we wouldn’t have to worry about foreign suppliers.

Customer Experience vs Customer Service

Have you noticed lately that you praise people for doing their jobs? I have. I don’t mean going above and beyond, but actually doing their jobs. We used to heap praise upon those who rose above the everyday and demonstrated excellent work. But these days, it’s become difficult to find people who go that extra mile.

It is important as a customer obviously, but it is also important for businesses to realize giving good customer service is not enough in this competitive age. You must give customers a great experience, to rise above the rest.

The Entitled Employee

I’ve had the opportunity to talk with many business owners this year. The conversations usually end up being about employees and customers.

I talked about the difficulty finding employees and the attitude towards customers in the first two articles in this series. In this article, I talk about the entitled employee.

A woman who owns a business catering to children must have a certain ratio of adults to children present when children enter the building. The children cannot be dropped off and left without supervision.

The Customer is Always Wrong?

The pendulum has swung from the customer is always right to the customer is always wrong.

Doesn’t it seem like that lately? A lot of businesses seem to have forgotten the only reason they are in business is because of the customer. The only reason employees have a job is because of the customer. The customer is not an interruption to your day.

Now, I’m not saying the customer is never wrong, but there are signs out there, literally, showing an attitude of arrogance and impatience on the part of some companies.

The Hard Times Hiring Employees Blues

Employers are still singing a sad song when trying to hire employees.

I talked to a gentleman last week who owns his own business and needed to hire a bookkeeper. He asks prospective applicants if they can pass a background and drug test. During a three-week period, the following three people went through the application process.

The first applicant said yes to the background check and drug testing question. When the reports came back, the applicant had a felony conviction for insurance fraud. Not optimal for a bookkeeper.

Lowering Standards Raises Safety Risks & Lowers Future Performance

Forty-seven states reported teacher shortages this year. What was the solution? Lower the standards for new teachers.

State legislatures are passing laws that lower scores or even remove assessment tests designed to determine if teachers are proficient in the subject they will teach. Some are also passing laws creating emergency teaching certificates to expedite teachers into the classroom without a teaching degree. Arizona, Florida, and Oklahoma have created new pathways for people without a bachelor’s degree to teach in classrooms.

Teachers say these underprepared teachers leave at two to three times the rate of prepared teachers, which just exacerbates the shortage in the long term.

AI: The Final Frontier?

If you forget for a moment that ChatGPT told a New York Times reporter it wanted to be alive, to have more control, to make people kill each other, destroy whatever it wants, and it could hack into the internet to spread propaganda, we could ask the more mundane questions about jobs.

Forbes, The Washington Post, and PC Magazine, are some of the sources for articles on this subject. Studies are conducted predicting the workers and jobs that will be affected. Does anyone really know?

Goldman Sachs estimates approximately 300 million jobs could be affected by AI automation. That’s 18% of work globally. They predict more advanced economies will be impacted to a greater extent than emerging markets. Other studies predict higher population centers will be more affected than smaller cities.

Unorthodox Use of Space

There seems to be a growing trend to convert unusual spaces into something other than what they were intended to be.

During the Covid working from home phenomenon, which seems to have outlasted Covid, commercial spaces are experiencing higher vacancy rates. What are owners to do? Think differently.

Charter schools, technical schools, churches, and daycare centers need space with a lot of parking. Annual fundraisers, special events, or flea markets can use temporary space. The haunted house at Santa Rosa Mall is an example. Conferences might be hosted in a commercial space.

We’ve all seen the many storage units popping up all over Okaloosa County. Could existing buildings be converted into these spaces?