Creating a Family Enterprise Zone
Creating a Family Enterprise Zone
Part One: The Concept - Surviving and Even Thriving During Economic Hard Times
Families today are hurting today.
The family structure is being torn apart
It's not a new phenomenon as recorded history shows that there have been significant periods of economic depression and general unemployment interrupted by brief periods of prosperity.
There are various reasons for less-than-desirable financial hard times. Sometimes it is simply the result of governmental regulation.
It’s Not Always Easy, but it is Possible
While it is true that even in more free and open economic societies there is suffering and pockets of poverty, opportunities to better our personal situations have always been available.
Even in the most economically depressed areas, we occasionally hear of those who have carved out a niche to serve others, thereby serving themselves.
It rests solely on our own shoulders to learn about and take advantage of the opportunities that we find around us in our present circumstances.
What is more obscure are the historical accounts of those individuals and families who have been able to survive and even thrive through periods of economic hard times.
How did they overcome circumstances to be able to cushion themselves against becoming the victims of economic recession and even depression?
What is their secret?
Are there specific things they do that anyone else can do?
It is a given that most will not do anything. Even if they know that they have the means to change their own circumstances.
Human nature gravitates toward settling for “comfortable misery”. I’ve been writing about this in a series on Personal Transformation.
But, a few will make the effort to change.
The goal of this article is to look at the main ingredients for beating the odds during times of economic hardship (or any time for that matter).
This is not designed to be an exhaustive treatise on financial independence, but some quick guidelines to get your thinking headed in the right direction, something to spur you on, and to enable you to see what is possible.
First, let’s cover what a Family Enterprise Zone is. Then lay out some thoughts on how you can create your own Family Enterprise Zone.
What is a Family Enterprise Zone (FEZ)?
Enterprise zones began to be promoted in various cities across the US during the 1970s as a way to encourage entrepreneurship and attract young professionals to participate in the economic revitalization of declining urban areas.
Individuals or groups of business people would be given incentives to relocate to or open new businesses in economically disadvantaged areas.
From restaurants to shops to various service-type businesses.
Synergistically, a successful enterprise zone would attract clients and patrons, which in turn would boost the economy of the local neighborhoods and business districts involved.
One of the most successful revitalization projects I have seen is in the downtown area of Greenville, SC. It has a vibrant business district with dozens of restaurants, sidewalk cafes, boutiques, unique shops, hotels, bed & breakfast accommodations, and a wonderful public park.
In other words, people who have taken some risk, utilizing their particular talents or skills to live out their dreams of success through serving others.
On any given day or night, you will find multitudes of people from all walks of life enjoying and benefiting from these businesses.
In this article, I want to apply the enterprise zone concept to the family.
There are a few things that need to be assessed as you contemplate turning your family into an enterprise zone.
I believe there are three areas that family members need to clarify individually in order to pool talents and resources to create a successful Family Enterprise Zone.
I call these the 3P's of life: Passion, Potential (abilities), and Personality. I have also written about these in The Focus section.
Finding synergy between each of our unique sets of 3Ps is key to creating a FEZ.
Assess the opportunities that present themselves in your community or sphere of influence.
What needs do you see? Is there a niche that is unfulfilled? Be observant.
Opportunities are literally everywhere for those who have a focused eye. Train yourself to see what others do not.
Evaluate the talents, skills, and abilities of your family members. Are there opportunities that overlap with various family member 3Ps?
Even the younger ones will begin showing a leaning toward certain abilities and desires by the time they are 8 or 9 years old. Sometimes younger.
What are your natural tendencies? What does each one enjoy doing?
Some will have more intellectual leanings than others. Writing, finances, counseling, and things of that nature.
Conversely, some will be more inclined toward using their hands for building, repairing, growing, or creating.
Still, others will utilize a combination of both in areas such as music, art, and teaching.
The bottom line is that everyone has specific talents, abilities, and leanings toward a certain area.
We should help our children discern their 3Ps and draw them out into usefulness as they grow.
One of the wisest men ever to live said it best:
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6).
Literally, this means to direct a child's life according to how they are made (Personality, Potential, Passion).
What is their natural bent?
Are they more introverted or extroverted?
What talents or inclinations do they display?
Fourth, it is up to parents, as the primary teachers, to have a keen eye to assess these things and then direct their education to enhance them.
By this, I don't mean just formal education. It will take a combination of formal and informal (self) education.
We should encourage our children to discern what their passions and abilities are.
Then, we really do need to assess and enhance our (and their) knowledge of opportunities and resources to utilize God-given talent, skills, and abilities.
Passion Plays a Big Part
When we were younger, every one of us had dreams of growing up to be something or someone unique.
I remember the first desire I had when I was around four or five.
When I was a toddler, my mom would put me in a playpen out in the front yard (yes, you could do that safely back then). Every week, the garbage collection service would come through the neighborhood.
One of the men would ride hanging on to the back of the truck, jump off, pour the trash from cans into the back of the truck, swing back on, and keep going.
I don't recall the real name of the man who was almost always riding the back of the truck, but from the time I was probably a year old until 4 or 5, I would see him once a week. I was usually crying or fussing and he would always say, “hush baby”.
So, he became forever known to me as Hushbaby. I would eagerly wait for him each week. His eyes lit up when I would call out, “Hey, Hushbaby”.
He was my hero.
I thought he had the coolest job ever. I could not wait to grow up and ride the back of a garbage truck.
In my dreams, I would swing down and grab cans single-handedly, dump the trash, and set it down right back where it was without ever missing a beat.
As I grew, my dreams morphed into other things like being a truck driver, a soldier, and a pilot, etc.
In other words, I had quite a fertile imagination. Almost all children do, regardless of their circumstances.
Children seem to be very adaptable to their environment.
There are some children who grow up in extreme poverty and adverse circumstances, yet they become immensely successful.
The life of Farrah Gray, author of The Reallionaire, is a very inspiring story.
According to his Wikipedia biography,
Gray was raised on Chicago's South side. He began his entrepreneurial career at the age of six selling homemade lotion and hand-painted rocks door-to-door.
He had become a millionaire in his teens and is now an international businessman, motivational speaker, and philanthropist.
Most who escape a poverty-level youth will tell you that they created another life in their minds and believed it so strongly, that it literally became a reality.
One man who comes to mind is Dr. Ben Carson.
He grew up in a single-parent home. His mother worked 2 and 3 jobs just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
She pushed her boys to be all they could be and warned them about hanging out with the wrong crowd.
They literally had nothing, yet from an early age, he had wanted to be a doctor and later realized that he had the patience, gifts, and talent to become a neurosurgeon.
All his efforts and activities centered around fulfilling that dream.
You can read his fascinating story in his autobiography, Gifted Hands. There is even a movie out now with the same title.
There are many others, but the point I want to make here is that we all dreamed of being something.
Maybe you know what it is you have always wanted to do, but life got in the way.
Or maybe life has buried your dream so deeply that you don't even remember having a passion for anything.
Though I am not necessarily writing with religious intent, there are a couple of scripture verses that speak to this that I believe are profound in their pronouncements.
First is Romans 12:2, a verse that I often quote,
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Second, Proverbs 23:7 starts this way:
As he thinks in his heart, so is he …”, reiterates the fact that we are what we think about.
That in itself is a very sobering thought.
In other words, we have the capacity to redirect our lives by how and what we think.
This is crucial to understand to fulfill your passion and destiny in life.
First, you have to believe something is possible before you can accomplish it.
Tiger Woods dreamed of being a champion pro golfer years before he actually became one.
Later, he would visualize playing each course, hole by hole, and make shots before he actually played.
We accomplish things in our heads before accomplishing them with our hands.
The Three Ps
Again, these have been covered extensively in other articles, so just a brief overview here -
Passion
I want to encourage you to reach back and find your passion. What is it that occasionally surfaces for brief moments, takes a deep breath, and dives back under the ocean of life again?
Take some time alone to contemplate the things that get your attention, spark ideas, and spur mental rabbit trails.
What would you do “if only . . . ”?
My guess is that your passion lies somewhere within that realm of thinking.
Potential
While Passion is extremely important in keeping us focused and motivated, alone it is not enough to enable us to be successful.
Passion dies when it has nowhere to go. Our passion must have an outlet, a way to express itself. Our expression of passion becomes evident in our propensity (abilities, skills, talents, gifts).
Personality
We all have one . . . how can we make it serve us?
Merriam-Webster defines Personality as
a: the complex of characteristics that distinguishes an individual or a nation or group
especially the totality of an individual's behavioral and emotional characteristics
b: a set of distinctive traits and characteristics
The question is, how does our personality mesh with our passion and potential to direct our focus in life?
Keep in mind that things will change as we mature.
I think a big mistake parents make is to “choose a path” for their children instead of helping them discover their own path.
We always hear of parents who try to live vicariously through their children, perhaps directing them to do the things they, themselves, wanted to do, but didn’t.
Nine times out of ten, this is a disaster waiting to happen.
The next article in this series on the Family Enterprise Zone (FEZ) will get more into how to turn our 3Ps into viable streams of income.
The meat and potatoes so to speak.
Until then, my friends …
