With the continuous instability of today’s economy, one has to wonder what we will need to do in order to create something consistent in an inconsistent world. One of the side effects of these troubled times is a surge of entrepreneurship. More and more people are creating their own businesses in response to a world that won’t hire them. Sure, Facebook started small and exploded, but that doesn’t mean individuals can’t make a successful living out of smaller investments too.

1. Bakery

If you are a parent, you know that teenage kids crave all kinds of food at different times. Why not use that scenario and make money off of it. Opening a business that caters to the college demographic could be a very lucrative affair. Everyone knows that undergraduates line up at Pizza shops circa 2am, but kids cramming for tests are also looking to snack in the wee hours of the night. Ice cream, cookies, and other sweet treat ventures could be your golden ticket to entrepreneur heaven.

2. Cutting edge electronic repair

I-phones, Kindles, and Blackberrys oh my! Everyone has them, but no one really knows how to fix them in a pinch. True, Apple is the official go to, but what if you are strapped for time, or the costs are high. An extensive knowledge of fixing today’s cutting edge technology could result in a huge money making operation.  This is because it is a very specialized skill pertaining to products that many place in high importance. No one wants to live a minute without their i-Pad or laptop, so if you can create a platform that caters to those needs, you’ll be set.

3. Personal training

Personal training really provides a number of advantages. The hours are flexible, the range of creativity is limitless, and the earning potential can go to infinity and beyond. If you are in shape and motivated enough to create a workout routine that’s unique enough, that business will grow. To boot, many working parents are looking for effective ways to work out amidst a busy schedule, so that is another angle to consider.  Trends in exercise are constantly changing, and new ideas and methods emerge every year. To develop a system that bests those trends or creates new ones, can result in something green to really flex those muscles at.

4. Health Products

These days, special water can go for over $3 a bottle at high end supermarkets. That means, healthy is in, and therefore it sells big. This popular trend has bled into other aspects of the industry, meaning energy drinks are also great candidates in the quest of the healthy thirst quencher. Many energy elixirs, such as Monster and Red Bull, have drawn controversy because the “healthy” aspect is debatable.  This is a great opportunity to throw your hat in the ring with an improvement on the formula. If not energy drinks, then perhaps create some other healthy food option that is marketable.

5. Customized Products

Due to the increase in compact electronic products, individuals may be looking for ways to tag those devices with something that personalizes the experience. Whether it’s i-phone covers, lap top jackets, or customized inscriptions on a blackberry, the possibilities are endless for a business of this caliber, if you are willing to devote the time and creativity.

With Halloween approaching, fall is full swing. The leaves are changing, there’s a welcome chill in the air, apple pie is baking, and most importantly, the pumpkin is having its day. Nothing screams fall like a smattering (or a heap!) of that good old pulpy orange gunk. Here are a few healthy ways to add pumpkin to your current dishes, or make use of the vegetable in innovative ways.

1. Pancakes

Pancakes are also a fall/winter staple, so what better option than to fuse the two together. They can often be a bit on the unhealthy side, but with a few tweaks that can be resolved. If making from scratch, use whole wheat flour, which will greatly up the nutritional value. There are also various box mixes that now incorporate whole wheat. Along with the pumpkin, swirl in some nutmeg, cinnamon, or vanilla extract to bolster the flavor without adding a ton of sugar. Those spices while enhance the pumpkin presence to boot! Use skim milk or buttermilk when mixing to cut more fat content. Buttermilk has a thick consistency and tangy taste, so it works very well. Garnish pancakes with fresh nuts, and use pure maple syrup in doses. Stay away from familiar brand name syrups, (Aunt Jemima, Log Cabin) as they are mostly just sugar laden colored corn syrup.

2. Soup

A bowl of Pumpkin Soup is a great way to get cozy on a brisk autumn afternoon. That said, many are heavy cream based, which doesn’t look so great on those thighs. This can be resolved by using low fat milk, or perhaps even a lighter cream. Still, some of that fat may remain, or cause a watery base. As an alternative, a carrot puree or a butternut squash puree may help thicken in a fat free manner. Mixing some applesauce into the soup can also help. If things taste a bit bland, spice up pumpkin soup with curry or another bold spice such a red pepper flakes.  Typically, there is a garnish of sour cream on top, but again, that can easily be replaced by a spoonful of low fat yogurt.

3. Salad

Salads really are the perfect platform for the creative individual. All you need is a base of greens, and the rest is entirely yours to imagine. Pumpkin seeds are an excellent alternative to sunflower seeds in a salad. You could even roast them for 10 minutes in the oven with some salt and pepper give the dish some added pop. Cubed pumpkin, in small squares, can also bring a very fresh and lively taste to a fall oriented salad. Keeping with the theme, add some apples, craisons and walnuts to the mix, perhaps accompanied with some goat or gorgonzola cheese to garnish. Pumpkin Puree can also be utilized when making a homemade dressing. For something lighter, combine some with oil, vinegar, and pomegranate juice. Greek yogurt makes an excellent base for a creamy low fat dressing, so the puree could also be mixed in to that effect.

4. Face Mask

Listen, if your kids are carving multiple pumpkins, and you are looking for something to do with the gooey insides once they’re scooped out, look no further. Place the vegetable in a food processer, along with some honey and fresh brewed antioxidant tea. Perhaps add some cucumber into the mix, which produces a soothing cooling effect, and carries a reputation for promoting healthier, tighter skin.  The final result is an antioxidant face mask rich in vitamins A, C and Zinc. Not only does pumpkin taste great, but it’s also making you look younger. What can’t this stuff do!

Ahoy landlubbers! It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and what better scallywag be there to attend school online?  Whether ye be lasses or lads, tis the day to pillage your way to an education. Though some twould devise that only gentlemen of fortune can afford an education, there are many a pirate who sets his sails to surf both Davy Jones’ Locker and the internet for many a degree.

Th’ internet be everywhere these days. Ye have it on planes an’ trains so why nay on th’ high seas? If ye have th’ ambition to be a captain of your destiny an’ sail your own ship, you’re goin to need to learn as much as ye can.

Pirates live on th’ sea. They don’t settle down! That’s why gettin’ a degree online be blastedly perfect. It can be lustily hard find’n time b’tween pillag’n villages an’ steal’n virtues to go to school. So, me hearties, why nay take your education sail’n with you when ye be chasin that horizon?

Maybe you’ve always wanted to try nursing school, ye know, as a back-up plan in case your ship mutiny’s an’ ya need a new job. It’s nay like pirating comes with much job security. An’ th’ health benefits? Well, how many pirates do ye know with a jolly good dental plan? Gettin a carbunculously good education be a way to help ye attain a job that gets ye th’ finest treasure in all th’ land!

Keeping Kids Safe Online

Posted by BrittanyL on Sep 19th, 2011 in Family, Helping Others, Kids | 0 comments

Child predators are at the top of the list of every parent’s worst fears.  As a parent, you want to (and should) know what your child is doing and where he or she is at all times.  You might not think that your child is in danger when sitting in the same room as you, while he or she is on the computer.  Think again!  Most of us have seen the Dateline show, To Catch a Predator, with Chris Hansen.  It happens all the time – many innocent kids fall victim to sick and twisted adults who take advantage of their naivety via the internet.  According to an article on Mashable.com, the FTC wants to crack down on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by making stricter rules.

The article notes that the FTC wants to revamp the definition of ‘personal information’ to include geolocation.  Well, this shouldn’t strike as too out of the ordinary since it seems like social media sites like track their users’ every click and personal information in order to cater advertisements to them.  The goal would be to not let this happen to children.  Currently, COPPA mandates that all websites geared to children under 13 years old, and those with knowledge of young users, get consent from parents before collecting or using and personal information of a child.  The FTC also wants the definition of ‘collection’ to allow kids to be participants of interactive communities without parental consent, as long as operators of the websites take great care to protect and then dispose of children’s personal information.

When the FTC talks about parental consent, they are referring to procedures such as signed and scanned consent forms or video conference consent.  It sounds like a hassle just to allow a kid access to a website, but many believe it to be the best precautionary measure.  One of the last provisions discussed in the article is that the FTC wants members of all safe harbor sites to be audited and reported each year.  That could create another hassle for some, and what will it really change?

I believe that it is important to protect children and their personal information, but is this going above and beyond?  It may seem a lot easier and less of a headache to simply monitor your child’s time online.  Don’t let him or her sign up or join any sites unless you have approved of it and participated.  Just like you wouldn’t let your young kid wander around some public place without any supervision, you should never let them do so on the internet either.

ask kate| where are the tech girls?

by kate on September 19, 2011

I am interested in getting a degree in some kind of information technology area. I just hate all the stereotypes about guy geeks in IT, and I’m worried about how people will act toward me when I get a job in the computer field?

-Cherise

Stereotypes usually exist for a reason, Cherise, though not always a good reason. In this case there are a whole lot more guys in the tech fields than women. There may even be a fair number of males who fall into that “geeky” genre. But certainly not all of them, and there are a few women out there, too. If it is your calling, then go for it, and just be ready to deal with some people finding you to be a mold breaker. Because you are, and that is awesome.

Marissa Mayer, VP, was in the first 20 hires at Google and the first female engineer on Google staff. She spoke up in a Huffington Post piece recently about the dearth of female web entrepreneurs and programmers, giving her opinion that an unglamorous life of becoming one with your computer comprises a life in the tech field. She’s certainly free to have her opinion, but that rings pretty doggone shallow to me. I would venture an educated guess that female students are not encouraged to enter Silicon Valley engineering trades at the same level as their male counterparts. 

However you stack it, less than 20 percent of working tech engineers and computer science majors are of the female persuasion in this country. The percentage of Computer Science degrees awarded to women has been dropping off since the mid-1980s, but the percentage of graduate degrees for women in computer and information sciences has risen slightly over time. In both cases women do remain in the minority by far.

Girls and boys, women and men, use computers at about the same rates. Some surveys indicate that females have more negative “computer-related attitudes”. The gender disparity that we are seeing is probably due to attitudes, but not just that females think that computer work is “geeky”. Could be they are not seeing a space for them because of societal attitudes. Be a pioneer and carve out space for other women!

-Kate

Do you have a question for Kate? Then ask! askkate@earnmydegree.com

Minority students perform better in classes where their instructor is of the same minority group. This is the claim made by a paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research entitled, “A Community-College Instructor Like Me: Race and Ethnicity Interactions in the Classroom.”

The study, performed on a group of community college students in the San Francisco Bay area of California, found that minority students were nearly three percent less likely to drop a course taught by an instructor from the same minority group. It also found that minority students were about three percent more likely to pass a course when a member of the same minority group acts as the instructor.

The authors note that as recently as 2010, the United States Department of Education found that African-American, Latino, and Native-American students had overall lower test scores, lower rates of high school graduation, as well as lower rates of college attendance and graduation.

They offer an explanation for this phenomenon that has been put forth by others in the past. Less than ten percent of all full-time college instructors in the U.S. are of African-American, Latino, or Native-American descent. Consider that nearly 33 percent of the college-age citizens of the U.S. are African-American, Latino, or Native-American, and the discrepancy becomes too large to ignore.

The authors explain that social scientists have hypothesized that because these minority students aren’t able to view many positive role models in an educational setting, they aren’t able to properly model positive behaviors. They also point to language and cultural differences that may help minority students learn more effectively from members of their own minority group.

This paper is somewhat unique, not only in the fact that it investigates the possible connection between minority instructors and the performance levels of minority students. It is also the first study to look solely at community college data. The authors feel that this is especially important, since more than half of all public university minority students start out at a community college.

With President Obama’s call for increased funding for community colleges, which hopes to add 5 million graduates by the year 2020, this type of research is especially timely and important. Community colleges are a gateway for many to a four-year university, and finding out how students learn best is the first step to ensuring that they succeed in their educational journeys.

I’ll be real with you here: As long as you want today to be a good day, it will.