Category: economy

business, Business Week, economy, history, hope

My Year of Hopefulness – Let’s Get a Little Crazy

Christa Avampato

“We would not be where we are if our ancestors had not been kind of crazy.” ~ Edward Tenner, historian of technology and culture

I’m part way through the cover story for this week’s issue of Business Week, Case for Optimism. One of the people who worked on the story asked me and 12 other readers to take a look around our neighborhoods to provide examples of why we feel optimistic about the future. The quote above appears toward the beginning of the article, and references a very positive outcome of economic downturns: if we can look past the gloom and doom, we’ll find that economic downturns give us the freedom to get a little crazy. In other words, they give of the freedom to pursue our biggest dreams. Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft in the midst of a recession. Same goes for Steve Jobs and many others whom we now hold us as some of the most successful thought-leaders of our time.

When the world goes haywire and we lose our footing and live to tell the tale, something inside of us shifts. All of a sudden we realize that the leap we just made, whether by our own volition or not, didn’t kill us. We’re encouraged to take another, slightly larger leap, and then another. Before you know it, we can’t contain ourselves. We realize that the biggest risk is not taking a chance on our dream; it’s being paralyzed by fear and never pursuing the dream at all.

So here we go – off into the great unknown with a heavy, though hopeful, heart. We’re in the midst of a grieving process. Long gone are the fat times of real estate always being a sound investment and Wall Street being the dream of every bright, ambitious college graduate. We’re bidding a fond farewell to life on Easy Street, welcoming in a new era of innovation and creativity that our ancestors, the ones who got a little crazy, would be proud to acknowledge as their legacy.

There will be some bumps and bruises along the way, some near-term and long-term. We may have our dreams fall down in mid-flight, and we’ll have to get new dreams. The resilience we are building today will serve us well tomorrow, and for many tomorrows to come. My bet’s on us.

change, economy, home, moving, New York City, recession

My Year of Hopefulness – While You Were Out

Christa Avampato

Today I went to pick up all of the keys for my new apartment. At 9am tomorrow, I’ll be happily skipping around my new, renovated, larger, cheaper apartment a mere four blocks from my old one – a very positive, unintended consequence of the recession.

I was too excited sleep this morning, so I was up and out the door early. I missed my old neighborhood, even though I’ve only been gone two weeks. I wanted to take some time to walk around before meeting my new landlord.

When I hopped off the train and walked a few blocks, I was surprised to see how much has changed. More store fronts have closed up, and a few formerly vacant ones are now occupied. A 10-story condo building is going up a few doors down from my new digs. The 96th Street subway construction looks like it may actually be finished some time relatively soon. And two blocks away, I’m not just getting a Whole Foods (which has me smiling widely) but an entire retail complex called Columbus Square (get it?) that includes a Crumbs (gasp)! I may never have to leave my new little haven of hope.
I’m one of those folks who’s always surprised that any place I’ve been changes while I’m away. The way it is in my mind at last sight, is the way it remains frozen, captured in time. Like my friend, Brandi, I should be walking around with a camera at every moment so that I can quickly snap images of our ever-changing world. Tomorrow everything could be different.
My experience today makes me realize why exhibits like Camilo Jose Vergara’s beautiful tribute to Harlem are so powerful, poignant, and necessary. Just as we are always in a process of becoming, so are the communities where we live. Just as we want to tell our own stories, so do our cities.
The image above was taken by Ruby Washington/The New York Times.
career, economy, Examiner, finance, financing, job, money, personal finance, women, work

NY Business Strategies Examiner – Interview with Amanda Steinberg, Founder of DailyWorth

Christa Avampato

“No one is going to fix financial inequity for women. We have to recognize our own self-worth, ask for higher salaries, invest more aggressively, and build our own wealth.” ~ Amanda Steinberg, DailyWorth Founder

For my interview with Amanda, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m7d15-Interview-with-Amanda-Steinberg-Founder-of-DailyWorth

business, career, economy, entrepreneurship, Examiner, job

NY Business Strategies Examiner – Is corporate America on its way out of style?

Christa Avampato

Every generation is defined by a world event. My grandparents were shaped by the Great Depression. My parents by World War II. My Uncle Tom by Viet Nam. Me by the crazy 80’s. (I recognize that my world event is not on par with World War II, but that’s the brakes!) So now I look at my niece, Lorelei, who is 18 months old. Her life will be shaped by the aftermath of the digital age and the Great Recession.

For the full article, please visit:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m7d12-Are-big-corporations-staged-to-fall-from-grace

books, business, economy, free

My Year of Hopefulness – Getting to Free

Christa Avampato

This week, Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, released his book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. Odd that given its title the cost of the book is $26.99. It might have been a good marketing angle to give the digital book away for free. That aside, his point is well taken. Consider all the ways in which the concept of free services and goods have infiltrated our society. Craig’s List, online news, Twitter, Facebook, Meet-up. Nearly all information on any topic anywhere on Earth is free. Google it. Bing it. Email an expert in the area you’re interested in, and chances are you’ll get a response.

This puts all of us as we consider our careers and accomplishments into a new frame of mind. What can I give away and what can I charge for? How long do I need to give things away before I see a return? What is the cost and benefit of free?

I’m at the very earliest stages of beginning a social enterprise. I’ve yet to spend a single penny on it, outside of the cost of my time. I’ve have friends who are experts in the field that the business is in, and I’ve solicited their feedback and gotten a lot of it, no charge beyond a heartfelt please and thank you. (I mean a very heartfelt thank you – the feedback has been really incredible!)

I’ve wanted to start my own venture for a while and the part that kept tripping me up was the pricing. How could I make money on these ideas? Chris Anderson’s book showed me that we have to develop a new way of thinking about how we earn our living and the companies we build. The answer was very simple once I looked at it from the free point-of-view. I can’t make money off of my idea, initially. Much of the value proposition for the enterprise relies on the services it offers being free. The money comes later when the services are rolled out to a wider, wealthier audience, perhaps through some speaking and writing engagement, or some incremental products that are developed as a result of the initial free service offerings.

The enterprise I’m interested in is in the education field so let’s consider an example whom I greatly admire, Sesame Street. When I woke up this morning and flipped on my TV, I had forgotten that the last channel I watched last night was Public TV 13. So it was a wonderful surprise to have Elmo pop up on my TV this morning. Sesame Street set out to be a free service to urban children in lower-income families. They wanted to use TV as a way to better prepare pre-schoolers for kindergarten. Joan Ganz Cooney and other early believers did a lot of the beginning work on Sesame Street for free. Eventually, they had sponsors and grants, and now of course have a full licensing unit, DVDs and books for sale, etc.

What the example of Sesame Street, and many other businesses that start out on the basis of free, shows us is that many start-ups require patient capital. Founders often need to keep a day job. Those first customers require a pro-bono project to help a new company build a portfolio. Writers, artists, musicians, and young academics often have to give away their work for free to get some early publicity. In the new economy, free is the best way upward and onward to profit.

So if you’re starting a new business, the first question we’d ask used to be “how can this generate money?” In the new economy, the first question may become something more like “how can we get people to try this product or service and then get them to tell many other people about it?” or “what can we give away for free in order to get people to buy an added product or service later?” The most exciting part of things being free is that it opens up the creativity valve for us. It requires new, innovative ideas. It frees us up from getting bogged down in the numbers too early on. It helps us keep our eye on the horizon ahead while also letting us make up the story as we go along.
business, career, economy, environment, nature

NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: A look at Adam Werbach’s book, Strategy for Sustainability

Christa Avampato

Adam Werbach wrote a short piece for this month’s issue of Fast Company. In the article he outlines nature’s ten simple rules for survival. They apply not only to nature, but companies as well. I’ve listed the principles below and added some commentary on how each applies to our day-to-day working lives, specifically focusing on entrepreneurship.

To read the full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d30-Natures-10-simple-rules-for-survival–a-look-at-Adam-Werbachs-Strategy-for-Sustainability

business, economy, entrepreneurship, Examiner, technology

NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: Entrepreneurship’s 10 Commandments

Christa Avampato

Today, Tom sent me a post by Guy Kawasaki, founder of Garage Technology Ventures among many other accomplishments, that details Entrepreneurship’s 10 Commandments. It’s clever and witty and inspirational. My advice is to print this out and post it by your desk, whether or not you work for yourself or for someone else. They are tenants to live by in our working lives.

To read the full story, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d16-Entrepreneurships-10-Commandments

business, change, economy, Examiner, fame

NY Business Strategies Examiner: Stories of the famous and fired who are now better off

Christa Avampato
In relation to my column yesterday, I read a story today about Harry S Truman. He ran a clothing that store that went bankrupt. After that bankruptcy, he made the jump to politics which led him to win the highest office in the land – when many naysayers said he could never win a Presidential election. I wondered if there were other people who were fired and now live a better life because of it, so I went to Google and did some poking around.

business, economy, Examiner, invention

NY Business Strategies Examiner: Layoffs as an opportunity to reinvent ourselves

Christa Avampato

“I have come to believe that job security is one of the worst things a person can have, especially early in their career. Getting fired gives you a chance to reinvent yourself. All of a sudden you have the whole world in front of you and you can now leap to a career that you may love more.” ~ Nolan Bushnell, Founder of Atari


China, dreams, economy, entrepreneurship, future, money, social entrepreneurship

My Year of Hopefulness – A $7 lunch and off-balance sheet assets

Christa Avampato

I’m working on some new product ideas especially for the Chinese consumer market and for some perspective I turned to my close friend, Allan, who was born and raised in Beijing. With his drive and intricate understanding of the markets, I am eventually handing all of my money over to him to manage, and if I ever need a board member, my first call is to him. Allan never agrees with me right off the bat about anything – he doesn’t give me an inch of wiggle room. Allan, in his characteristically curious way, questions me incessantly on detail after detail. And I am deeply grateful for that.

Today, our conversation flipped from Chinese vs. American culture (a favorite topic of ours) to the state of our jobs to future plans and then to social enterprise. While everyone on the planet is gushing about the promise and bright future of social enterprise, Allan is skeptical. Today he forced me to take him through the concept of social entrepreneurship, step by step. The financials, the motivation, the benefits, the short-comings, the operational challenges.

Allan took all this information in and to wrap up, he got to 1 more very simple question and 1 very simple conclusion. Allan’s last question: “Christa, are you okay with having a $7 lunch for the rest of your life as opposed to a $70 lunch like those guys on Wall Street?” My answer: “Yes, I’d prefer it that way.” Allan’s reply: “Good. Then you are a perfect candidate to be a social entrepreneur.” Allan’s conclusion: “Seems to me that there must be some off-balance sheet assets that must be accounted for.” How true that is!

For the rest of the afternoon, I thought about the role of off-balance sheet assets that we must consider in every aspect of our lives; how we spend our time and with whom, our happiness, the amount we laugh everyday, and our sense of purpose are all assets that are tough to value in dollars. And yet, they are critically important – I would argue far more important than our salaries (provided our salaries cover our basic needs). These “other” assets, the ones we can’t hold in the palm of our hand, are the stuff that make our lives worthwhile.

Allan and I trekked up to the castle that overlooks the Great Lawn in Central Park. I was grinning from ear to ear and Allan asked me, “What does that view mean to you?” I looked out at the people relaxing, smiling, and enjoying the simultaneously simple and complex act of being alive. A small oasis of hope in a city that is seeing its fair share of challenges. This view is off-balance sheet assets personified. And from that view, their value is very easy to see.

The photo is from Pbase.com/mikebny