The lack of job opportunities to be found in the current economy has led some unemployed adults to retrain themselves for a position in the new economy while others get busy with yard sales, recycling cans and bottles, and performing odd jobs ranging from hedge-cutting to errand-running in an effort to keep the wolves away from the door.
Something else is stirring among Angelenos as they seek short-term survival, though. Many individuals are looking beyond the short-term, deciding to pursue one of America's greatest traditions: Self employment.
Courageously taking control of their lives, individuals are using whatever savings they have to launch start up enterprises.
Isabel Martinez recently started a breakfast burrito business in her South Los Angeles neighborhood after she got laid off as a home healthcare worker. Every morning, in the chill of the unfolding dawn, she waits patiently at an intersection where customers buy her breakfast meals on their way to work.
Compton's Ron Anderson decided to make a go at a carpet-cleaning business after being laid off from his job as a truck driver.
In the deepest real estate downturn in California in decades, Mitchell Carlson reactivated his real estate broker's license and opened shop in the Miracle Mile district of Wilshire Boulevard.
Then there are Austin and Derrick, former high school classmates who ran into each other in the unemployment office and discovered they shared a passion for the movie business. They formed a production company.
Why have these Angelenos taken the leap to go it on their own? Though the reasons vary, they share one thing in common — a desire to have more control over their lives. No longer do they wish to wait for the economy to reverse itself, granting them permission to once again advance toward their goals with gainful employment.
"I always wanted a food business," says Martinez. "This way I am making steps. They are small, and I have to sacrifice, but I am doing something and that makes me happy."
Anderson echoes her sentiments.
"I have just as much chance in making it on my own as I would have in finding a job — maybe even a better chance," he says. "I am tired of this employment treadmill."
Carlson says he's working around the barriers that come with age.
"I was laid off like many other real estate executives," he says. "I am 60 years old — the reality is no one is going to hire me when they believe they can hire someone younger and pay them less. I have a better chance of making it and controlling my destiny on my own. If I start now, I could have market presence when the industry heats up. "
History has shown that economic downturns prompt individuals to become astoundingly creative in identifying possibilities and assembling resources to accomplish them. We often compare our current economic recession to the Great Depression of the 1930s. We seldom recall that the 1930s saw the birth of many entrepreneurial start-ups that went on to become household names — Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, and Texas Instruments, to name a few.
Shortage and adversity are powerful stimuli for focusing the mind. More than a few Los Angeles residents appear to be harnessing this private stimulus in the face of the ongoing economic downturn. Indeed, these private efforts appear to be just as powerful as any new opportunities created by the federal government's stimulus plan.
Walter Melton is a writer for the L.A. Garment & Citizen.
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