Friday, October 29, 2010

The Importance of Owning Your Own Business – Dr. Boyce Video

Dr. Boyce Watkins and Danielle Douglas

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

In case you didn't know this, one of the things that most people think about every single day is how they are going to make enough money to get by. Life is tough and finding enough money to live can be even tougher. What's worse is that the black community's struggle to build economic institutions and obtain financial security are things that keep us from being truly liberated in a fundamentally and historically racist society. The link between civil rights and economic prosperity was the seminal reason for my book, "Black American Money."
The commitment I made to the black leadership and the audience at the "Measuring the Movement" forum this year (hosted by Al Sharpton and the National Action Network) was to promote the idea of black entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is not just a matter of having your own business. It can also be as simple as finding some extra streams of income in order to obtain critical financial security. In this economy, you have no job security if you've only got one job. You have to find (what I would call) "a side hustle."

 

Click to read.

The Invested Life – 10/29/10

 

Chicago:

(video) Tom Forde talks about whether a Roth IRA is right for him, and what he’s learned as he’s researched it:

http://bit.ly/aGO9uC

(text) while Matt Sapaula says that financial security is important, but insuring yourself is every bit as vital:

http://bit.ly/bhh8eC

Portland:

(video) Kathleen Lansing explains why her road to retirement is scary, but it makes the small business owner proud to hear about the value of her life’s work:

http://bit.ly/9XdF7n

(text) While Jenn Meacham looks back on the most important financial lesson she learned, at age fourteen:

http://bit.ly/cY3cUS

Los Angeles:

(video) Lisa and Brandon Schindelheim explain how switching roles taught her about finance, and him about he difficulties in being Mr. Mom:

http://bit.ly/bkM7w5

(text) While Candace says that’s it important to educate not only yourself about finances, but your kids as well:

http://bit.ly/aDm6yX

New York:

(text) Jennifer Sherwood explains why shopping in fancy stores might be a rush, but so is saving money:

http://bit.ly/cAQsyV

(text) While Dr. Boyce Watkins says that you don’t need to have big money to build a portfolio:

http://bit.ly/a4e8YR

Colorado:

(text) Michael Jake is glad to hear that his business has grown enough to start hiring, but has his concerns:

http://bit.ly/ajLbzk

Dallas:

(text) On our show, we’ve seen former NFL star Winfred Tubbs thinking about buying a house. In this new blog, he reveals that he’s had to scrap those plans and live in his condo instead until the real estate market improves:

http://bit.ly/bZNNn6

(text) While Ed Butowsky talks up the value of utility stocks:

http://bit.ly/cQiuZW

Miami:

(text) Suzan McDowell reveals her list of the 10 must-by priorities she can’t live without, and what she learned about herself while compiling it:

http://bit.ly/bWYiX7

(text) While Ben Tobias explains that if you don’t know what’s important to you, you’ll never effectively maximize your happiness:

http://bit.ly/9e6k3c

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Is Racism an Occupational Hazard for African Americans?

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

Most of us know Hanes Brands as the company that has Michael Jordan peddling underwear. The company is also responsible for other leading brands such as Champion sports apparel and Playtex, among others.

The company is now in the middle of controversy after an African American employee, Yunusa Kenchi, filed suit for discrimination. An embarrassing email has allegedly surfaced in which Kenchi was referenced using the n-word. The employee has taken the case public, and Hanes has yet to respond.

 

Click to read.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Black News: Magic Sells Lakers Stake for $35 Million

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

Magic Johnson has officially put an end to an important era of professional sports. Johnson, a long-time staple in the stands at Los Angeles Lakers games, is no longer an owner of the team. TMZ is reporting that while riding his private jet, Johnson signed a deal to sell his five-percent stake in the team for a cool $35 million.
The Lakers are the most valuable team in the NBA with a 2010 market value of $607 million. Johnson is also a valuable commodity himself, with a net worth estimated at half a billion dollars. This is the latest move in a series of impressive business decisions made by the NBA Hall of Famer.
I still remember that day 18 years ago when Magic Johnson announced on national television that he was HIV positive. I was standing in my dorm room with my two roommates and my girlfriend, who was in tears. She didn't know a lot about sports, but she certainly knew about Magic Johnson. It was a sad day for all of us, since we were counting the days until Magic would move on to the afterlife.

 

Click to read.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Meet Dr. Boyce Watkins

Q: What do you stand for?

A: I stand for fairness and doing what is right.  I am not a Finance Professor who happens to be black, I am a black man who happens to be a Finance Professor.  There is a great deal of inequality in America that runs along racial lines.  This is due to the fact that our country has built a 400 year social, financial and educational infrastructure that promotes the advancement of one group over the other.  It is my job as a public scholar to challenge this imbalance and work to find solutions to these problems.  My primary tools of choice are education and economic empowerment.  I work hard to teach youth, especially African Americans, the value of being highly educated and the additional value that comes from becoming Financially independent and empowered. Those were the choices that changed my life and gave me the freedom and strength to express myself honestly, creatively and (some think) intelligently.

I also want to challenge the NCAA to rethink the way it treats college athletes.  As a Finance Professor, I am not sure how we can justify earning millions for our coaches and administrators,  while allowing the sources of labor (the athletes) and their families to live in poverty.  This is wrong and unAmerican, for capitalism should give us the rights to freely negotiate our wages.  When we engaged in our campaign on CNN, ESPN and CBS to challenge the actions of the NCAA, people thought I was trying to attack them.  The truth is that I don't enjoy attacking anyone, I only want to fight for fairness.  One thing that my students have always said about me (whether they love me or hate me) is that I am fair.  I call it for what it is.


Q: Your work can be controversial, why do you do it?

A: I ask myself that question every single day!  Personally, I believe that the role of the black scholar in America is to work hard to uplift our communities.   Our intellect is needed, and in addition to engaging in scholarly research that lies in dusty academic journals, we should become active in our communities and throughout the world.  I believe strongly in the concept of Scholarship in Action.  The thing about Scholarship in Action is that it requires the combination of intellect, creativity, curiosity, commitment, passion and courage that stands at the root of all true genius.  I do not consider myself a genius, but I wake up every day thinking "I am one day closer to my last day on this earth.  How can I get the best return on my investment?"  That is what keeps me going.

Click to read more.

Friday, October 15, 2010

New Birth, Eddie Long’s Church, Gets Sued Yet Again

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

A woman who was once employed by the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church is suing, alleging that other employees retaliated against her when she complained about being sexually harassed. Tama Colson filed suit in the U.S. District Court of North Georgia, with the suit asking for unspecified damages.
Colson says that another employee showed her a picture of a penis on a cell phone. She says that when she complained about the incident, other employees retaliated against her. She is claiming that the church is responsible for the harassment she experienced, as well as the retaliation and emotional distress.
"New Birth has a strict policy against sexual harassment that requires employees to report the complaint within 48 hours of the abuse," Long and church spokesman Art Franklin told CNN.
"Tama Colson's complaint allegedly happened in October of 2009," the statement said. "Although, Tama Colson was aware of the New Birth sexual harassment policy she did not make her complaint known to New Birth authorities until August of this year. New Birth moved swiftly to launch an investigation that is ongoing.”

 

Click to read

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Dr. Boyce Watkins: Black America Must Outgrow the Jay-Z Business Model

"Boyce Watkins"

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

Jay-Z is an amazing rapper.  Some think that he’s been in the game for a bit too long, but I don’t agree.  Personally, I think “Jigga” simply reflects the fact that hip-hop itself is aging.  Jazz was once solely the domain of rebellious teenagers, but now you’re sure to hear it playing in every old folk’s home across America.  The same is going to be true for hip-hop.

Jay-Z has said repeatedly that he will stop making music, and I’m sure that one day he will.  However, there is one area in which we need to retire Jay-Z: In his role as the pre-eminent black businessman in America.  It’s not that Jay-Z is a bad role model, it’s just that he’s been exhausted.

Don’t get me wrong, Jigga has made significant amounts of money by busting rhymes on his left and selling clothes on his right.  Good for him.  But is he really the best business role model for young black males, who are already consumed with a culture that teaches them that all they can be are rappers or athletes?  No, he is not.  Young black women also find that their leading role models in business are women like Oprah and Beyonce, both of whom keep us hyper-fixated on the entertainment industry.   It’s time to make a change.

Click to read.

Monday, October 11, 2010

CBC Joins Dr. Boyce Watkins in Call on Black Unemployment Issue

Congressional Black Caucus

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

From Black America Web via Clutch Magazine

On the heels of September's mixed unemployment report, the Congressional Black Caucus renewed its call for President Barack Obama and Congress to do something to specifically address the nation's high black joblessness rate.
The country's unemployment rate remained stuck at 9.6 percent, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. The economic monthly report was a mix of good news and bad. The good: The private sector added 64,000 jobs last month. The bad: Government agencies cut 159,000 jobs, many of them federal Census workers and state and local employees.

 

Click to read.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Dr. King vs. Obama: What Would One Say About the Other?

by Mike Green, Huffington Post

When unemployment in Black America topped 16 percent and Black teen unemployment skyrocketed to an outrageous 45 percent this summer, the voices of outrage were muffled in the pockets of a few media that cared to cover the crisis. The majority of media wrung their collective hands over 9 and 10 percent unemployment challenges in White America, with overall teen unemployment hovering at 23 percent.

Dirty Secret

"A dirty little secret is that many jobs are not going to come back," says Johnathan Holifield, founder of Trim Tab System, LLC, a personal development and organizational leadership methodology, which applies innovation concepts and tools to generate exponential impact.

"Under the old model, recovery meant increased productivity, which meant increased hiring, Holifield said. "That is no longer the case. Because of the ingenious uses and applications and adoptions of new technology throughout our economy, we will continue to experience productivity growth but we will not have the level of job replacement and hiring that our recoveries in the past have been accustomed to."

Dear President Obama ...

Dr. Boyce Watkins, founder of Your Black World, underscores Holifield's point. He wrote a public letter to President Barack Obama that stated in part:

"In addition to massive unemployment, wealth inequality in America remains a persistent problem, causing African Americans to bear the brunt of this economic crisis in ways that are unimaginable to other Americans. Our homes are facing foreclosure more often and we are less able to rely on a source of background wealth to help us get through the toughest times.

"Yet, while we are the least prepared for the recession, we are being hit with a downturn that is twice as forceful as that being experienced by the rest of America. In fact, even after the recession is over, our unemployment rate will probably be as high or higher than the rate that white Americans are agonizing over right now. The United Nations has investigated this issueas a human rights violation, because it appears that we live in a nation that accepts a black underclass as a default way of life.

"To this point, your administration has remained disturbingly silent on the issue of black unemployment. The silence is deafening, but the economic hardship is loud and clear. I am concerned that many of your key economic advisers are unable or unwilling to process and empathize with the depths of black economic misery in America."

Never-Ending Recession

Dr. Watkins called on President Obama to institute political efforts and policy measures that would help create urban jobs through congressional legislation and generate more government contracts with African American companies.

At theLoop21.org, Dr. Watkins made a compelling case that suggests even when the economy recovers, the burden of unemployment for Black America will still be in double digits while the nation celebrates a long-awaited return to prosperity. He states:

"Our country spent 400 years firmly placing black folks at the bottom of the social totem poll, only allowing us to recently participate as laborers in the American economic system.

"The conclusion is that even during good economic times, it is acceptable in the eyes of the Obama Administration for black unemployment to be worse than it is for whites during a recession. The recession will never end for us."

 

Click to read.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Lack of Funding is a Huge Hurdle for Black Entrepreneurs

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse UniversityScholarship in Action 

Danielle Douglas, an entrepreneurship expert and CEO of Inspire Enterprises, conducted a survey of African Americans interested in owning their own businesses. The survey,which can be found here, was qualitative in nature, asking questions about the pitfalls that people run into when trying to become either full-time or part-time entrepreneurs.
Douglas made it clear that the greatest obstacle that African Americans face when trying to start their own business is a lack of access to capital. In an interview with AOL Black Voices, Douglas said this:
"Overwhelmingly, respondents number one frustration is lack of financial resources as it relates to start up capital , access to capital in general, and identifying viable resources to help them attain capital."

 

Click to read.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010