Doing Your Part To Build The Economy

The United States is still in a bit of a hangover from the 2008 housing market collapse. Since that event, the federal government has attempted a number of stimulus ideas and other efforts to kick-start the economy, with mixed results.

While the intentions have been good, these efforts have all tried to bypass the most fundamental means of growing the economy: Entrepreneurism. When people see an opportunity to build a business, they may borrow money, build or renovate a building, buy equipment, purchase inputs, and hire people.

Each one of those steps builds the economy. The interest paid on the loan is returned to depositors. The construction workers, equipment vendors, equipment builders, and the employees all get paid. The money just keeps turning over in the economy.

So why isn’t this at the heart of any economic revival effort? The simple answer is time. Particularly in the case of elected officials, who want results in time to get another term in office, the planning horizon is so short that quick fixes are favored over grass-roots efforts that build sustainable growth.

But more powerful than that is the desire of elected officials to end suffering. An unemployed person gets little comfort from being told that a course of slow, steady economic growth will get him or her back in the work force in three or four years. They have greater concerns than that. They need a job now, and government officials desperately want to help them with that.

So the solution is to start those grass-roots efforts long before they are so desperately needed. If you aren’t content just earning your own paycheck and the economy is a real concern for you, don’t wait. Take some action yourself and start creating jobs before the need is desperate. Check UPS Franchise cost and see if that’s an option for you to start your own business. You’ll benefit your town and your neighbors in a variety of ways, as we’ve noted earlier.

First, you’ll need a space to operate. There is nothing more demoralizing to a community than having vacant commercial space. It just underscores the bad things about the economy when people see an empty building. When you take possession of that building, things start to look up. People get excited to see a “Coming Soon!” sign in place of a “For Lease” sign.

Next, your space will need work. You’ll have to clean it up, fix it up, and set it up for operations. Much of that work will require the services of plumbers, carpenters, painters, heating and cooling technicians, electricians, glaziers, signmakers, and more. Each expenditure you make with those skilled workers is spent with other businesses and workers, forming the base of an economic expansion.

Once your space is ready and you’re in operation, you’ll provide two other benefits. The first is income for yourself and your employees, who will both do the same as your renovation contractors and spend that money in your town, creating other jobs. But a hidden benefit is on the B2B side.

Elsewhere in your community, there is some fledgling entrepreneur who is spending too much time and money to ship and receive items. Too small to run their own logistics and too big to do without, these are the companies that make The UPS Store go year round. With your little operation, you don’t just help yourself. You help your customers. They save money on shipping, packing (and subsequent breakage loss), and time spent waiting on parcel pickup or driving further away to drop things off. That builds their bottom line and enables them to grow more rapidly.

The economy is an incredibly complex thing. No transaction takes place in a vacuum. Good or bad, it impacts others and in so doing, impacts the entire economy. It’s a slow but undeniable process, and it’s the only way to build sustained growth. And entrepreneurism is the most powerful engine to drive it.