european model of maufacturing has proven better and more stable. Thats where skills and real craftmanship is valued. US style cowboy hire and sack (investment banking) destroys any valuable skills. Replaces by cheapest option ideally boosting borrowing. thats why there is no natural exports from US and other anglo countries and have to use military means etc to make a living. Only thing that works are hi tech stuff which changes like undies. I think this is structural problem and will not go away.
Interesting point you have made about franchising. I admit this is a tiny sample, but I live near a busy strip mall with about 15 tenants. All of them have turned over at least twice in the 8 years I have lived here, except for the grocery store, Starbucks and the one franchise, a UPS store. The UPS store is under the same management all this time. But, even if a franchise works, and I get what you are saying about false advertising by the franchisor, it is expensive to start these things. There was a post a short while ago about trades. In the less skilled occupations, a truck and a few tools get you started. I called 10 painters for an estimate. Four answered the phone, three showed up, and two gave me an estimate. One of them, who was actually not the cheaper one, but the one who communicated better, painted my house. $7K for four days work; he paid one helper. He was from Norway. You can see how hard it is for the homeowner to even find someone to talk to. I would think that if you show up and are honest, you will get business. The same company of about 10 Brazilians has reroofed most of the houses in my neighborhood. Interestingly, I have seen them a few times, when they are done working, cruising the neighborhood, going down each cul de sac, looking for houses that need a roof, knocking on their doors. Imagine that--they get busy looking for more work at the end of a long day. There was another thread some time back about the guy making $1000 per day washing windows. Working on the weekends and going to college full time, was how he started doing that. You need a vehicle and a few hundred dollars worth of equipment. If my kid wanted to start a business and needed a grand to buy ladders, squeegees, and some insurance, I would stake him in a New York minute. Housecleaning: $50-100 per hour in my neighborhood. A trade that is dominated by eastern European women hereabouts. Boring, a bit icky maybe, but not super demanding work. Lots of demand for people who are careful, thorough and honest. Entry requirements? A vehicle, some cleaning supplies, a vacuum cleaner, a little insurance, a smile. I notice it is people from overseas doing all these things. These are not easy jobs to do, but there is demand for these services, and in my opinion, pretty much all jobs are hard. Is it really so difficult to put food on the table, or are we Americans just too proud or too lazy?
Lol, I wonder why the lad didn't just forgo college and work fulltime? Imagine all the extra dough he could have saved up to start his own enterprise, or maybe even buy his own franchise in a few years' time.
I hate to sound mean, but apparently the company didn't really gain much from what the first manager was doing. Maybe he just didn't add value to his job. Maybe he could have done better. I don't know for sure of course, but some people do get by doing the minimum and collecting their pay, etc. I feel 100% confident that if my company replaced me with a new, inexperienced, lower paid worker, they would spend substantial time (years) and money getting the person up to my level, and then risk that person either asking for a raise or leaving anyway. I am trained in programming/computers, etc. and can do whatever is asked. I realize some people don't have a great education or skillset, but they need to try make a difference if they want to guarantee the company won't replace them - or will be hurt if they do. JJacksET4
Yeah, I know. Well, he probably did. He got a degree in Asian International Relations or something like that (he was not Asian), which is probably fairly marketable here in Seattle. Paid off his tuition bill with the windows. He sold his windows business customer list to another guy. There is this middle or upper class idea in the US that college paves the road to success and riches. As I look around at my friends' children with their graduate degrees, still trying to find a decent job or living at home without two nickels to rub together, I beg to differ. Education is not necessarily all it is cracked up to be. Unfortunately, a lot of degrees are not useful in the real world. And before anyone starts flaming me, this is not sour grapes; I have plenty of letters after my name. I just think there are lots of other paths. Not everyone is scholarly, and kids should not be forced into this, especially if they have other ideas or ambitions that are reasonable.