How many of us can truly say we found our life’s calling? Sewing found Johnny Wimberly as a teenager, long before he found this work as a small business owner, running Jed’s Custom Services in Sheridan, reports9News.com.

In 1992, Wimberly was convicted of aggravated armed robbery and spent six years in prison.

“I went to prison basically with no skills,” Wimberly said.

Then he discovered sewing in an inmate training program which led to several jobs in prison and work after his release.

“I didn’t go try to get a job that had anything to do with banking or money, because most people, their first thought of talking to a felon is that they can’t be trusted,” Wimberly said.

Since 1992, he has much more: a loving wife who eventually helped him start his own business, and a daughter who helps run it.

Even during a credit squeeze when getting a loan is unheard of, Wimberly is no longer alone in this new struggle.

“Everything I have is in this company. I can’t imagine doing something without it. So what do you do? You quit and take a loss? Or do you just keep going and depend on your customers to come and bring you work?”

Photo by 9News.com.

Send them some business

HT: Dane’s Blog

These entrepreneurs at D.Light have produced a solar lantern that sells for about $10, the Kiran.

Their theory is that if they can develop a needed product at a low enough cost (while still making a profit themselves), they can revolutionize the developing world and make lots of money themselves.  To quote the article “If you can serve developing markets with ultra-cheap, mass-produced goods, you’ll have access to massive profits while igniting economic development.”

Depending on whether you’re using the light at “high” or “low” intensity, one charge creates 4-8 hours of light. The light can be charged by leaving the lantern in the sun all day so that it’s ready for work at night.

For areas where electrical infrastructure is sparse, this device could expand the work day significantly or do things like allowing entrepreneurs in undeveloped countries to work during their peak efficiency hours while using otherwise “lost time” (dark hours) for reading or other activities to boost their business.

Hopefully it will provide it’s creators with significant profits while spawning economic development across the globe.

So who’s talking about the entrepreneurial recovery? This is the first resource I’ve heard, so I wanted to pass it along.

Toward An Entrepreneurial Recovery

As an entrepreneur, YOU are the key to a sustained recovery – to grow the economy, to create jobs, and to revitalize America.

For this reason, the Kauffman Foundation is spearheading the Entrepreneurs’ Movement to influence the dialog on the future of the country’s economy so that entrepreneurs and their specific needs are at the forefront of the policy decision-making process.

When you join the Entrepreneurs’ Movement you can expect to:

Receive news and information that is relevant to entrepreneurship and to the Movement

Be informed of and provide feedback on policies and programs that affect entrepreneurs

Connect with other entrepreneurs and hear their stories

Speak up for entrepreneurs!

You can join their email list here and also follow them on Twitter.

Here’s a video that is related as well:

You can go there to vote for 3 finalist small businesses that can win up to $100,000 in “grant and marketing support”.

In addition to their “core” business for making money, these finalist businesses are known for how their businesses “make a difference” in the community.

Oh well, it was a nice diversion. I’m glad to have been able to vote for one and – try – to help one win the prize.

There are three finalists, but it’s hard to choose. Each are interesting in their own way. One company though stood out in a negative way to me… they have been very dependent on federal loans for their expansion. As a result, they won’t be getting my vote. That’s not entrepreneurship as I view it.

So at least I’ve narrowed my choices down two… In the end I voted for the current underdog. It’s not as glamorous as the other two businesses. It’s a brick and mortar business. It doesn’t claim to be trying to save the world or a continent. It is trying to make it’s local community better in ways related to their core business. It was a hard choice, but I ended up lending them my support.

What will your choice be?

Check it out: Shine A Light

Kauffman’s motto when it comes to young people is that they make natural entrepreneurs. Their curiosity, energy, and that youthful willingness to take risks makes them “naturals” when it comes to asking “why can’t we do things differently”. What some see as that “teenage rebellious streak” can be harnessed to find “workarounds” to nagging problems older workers and business people accept as a given – however aggravating. Especially now when our economy is being battered and the only solutions offered are ones that minimize entrepreneurship, it’s crucial to point your young entrepreneur to the resources on the Kauffman.org site so they will not be brainwashed into accepting mediocrity. It’s good to see a foundation devoting its resources to helping young people dream a dream and then pursue it!

Believe it or not, this isn’t illegal as long as state and federal tax obligations are paid using Federal Reserve Notes, i.e. US Dollars. (Is anyone wondering if “Federal Reserve” is the new oxymoron of the decade by the way? Since it’s obvious there has never been a “reserve” just a printing press?)

I’ve blogged on that before here.

It’s a potential way for communities to keep value circulating locally and also transform bartered skills and services into currency.

If this is corrRussian analystect about the US breaking up into 6 segments/republics, you may need to know how to do this yourself one day…

It’s possible, this way, to help local micro economies get some liquidity without asking for a federal “bail out”.

A related alternative is the “Time Dollar” method and time banks.

Set up your own in your community and you could become a powerful center of influence and referrals for your business and the business of others.

“Friday morning at 9 am sharp, I drove down Hettinger’s Main Street, and pulled up to park in front of Dakota Cabin Quilts. I paused to enjoy the beautiful autumn morning and noticed other merchants arriving at their shops, keys in hand, opening up for the day. Across the street, someone swept leaves from the sidewalk in front of the insurance agency. To the north, I heard the wet sound of a window being washed, followed by the squeak of a squeegee. I gazed with pride at our storefront, our pretty window displays (thanks Ellen!), and saw some of my favorite quilts hanging from the ceiling near the front of the shop.

Our small town is blessed with a vital, healthy, busy Main Street. Hettinger has very few vacant buildings compared to communities of a similar size. Our Main Street businesses include: a grocery store, a variety store, a NAPA, a print shop, an antique shop, White Drug (with great gifts too), a KB Jewelers (with gift and books), Prairie Rose Floral, three hair salons, two banks, three insurance/investment agencies, three bars, two restaurants, and a dry cleaner.

Main Street Hettinger has a couple of great non-profits, including the “Clothes Closet”, a second-hand shop staffed by volunteers, stocked with clean, inexpensive clothing and housewares. Profits generated by the Clothes Closet are donated back to the community. And, a few years ago, the Hettinger Theatre Board and local tradespeople came together to build a wonderful theatre in an empty building on north main. On the weekends, the smell of popcorn wafts up and down Main, and local teenagers have a tradition of meeting at the Sunday matinee.

I like to think of our end of the street as the “Arts & Crafts” area, as the Music Studio, Fried Photography/Scrapbook Shop, Wild Crocus Embroidery, and the Quilt Store are clustered together on South main.

Just north of us, the largest building on Main is KMM, a manufacturing company, and the second largest employer in town (after the medical center). KMM is a family-owned high tech manufacturer, based in Kildeer, ND, and one of their regional facilities is in Hettinger. At KMM, workers assemble small components that go into military equipment and air craft, and the company has contracts with Boeing and the US Department of Defense.

The phrase “From Wall Street to Main Street” has been ubiquitous this Election cycle, endlessly repeated by politicians, pundits, and news reporters. There is no doubt that the economic downturn is directly affecting Main Street businesses across the nation. As a business owner, I can’t help but worry about the economy. But, as a consumer, I know that I can make a difference by carefully choosing where I spend my dollars. From groceries to gasoline, clothing to housewares, and for holiday gifts, I have renewed my commitment to shopping at the small businesses in our region, and plan to do my online shopping at small specialty e-stores rather than large chains.

If we all work together to support “Main Street USA”, we will make a difference.”

Sign up for Laura’s ezine here.

HT Boomtown Inst

They originally scheduled two days of “gleaning” – allowing free picking of vegetables left over after the commercial harvest of their potato, carrot, and leek crops.

They expected 5,000 or perhaps 10,000. 40,000 showed up!

Though a 600 acre farm isn’t you’re average “home business” … this is certainly one home business that’s making a difference.

But take note that they are talking primarily about high overhead super market venues.

Local farms that sell regionally and directly to customers have an advantage here.

1. They build relationships with their customers

2. They are getting the retail and middleman’s mark up

3. They are not paying for expensive retail grocery space

4. They do it for love, not just money

5. They can usually eat/barter/freeze what they don’t sell

6. They are marketing not only food but “experiences” and regional travel

7. They may be marketing directly to restaurants who provide steady demand

While people may not want “designer organic foods”, they want SAFE foods. They are tending to want LOCAL foods.

In other words, people with the resolve to run a family farm who know how to market probably started relatively poor and know how to live that way. Often they are there by conviction regarding quality of life issues and (if Amish for example) religious convictions.

So many have a resilience that a chain store with stockholders don’t have.

We wanted to take a moment to let you know that Web Worker Daily will be participating in the second annual Blog Action Day, which will take place this Wednesday, October 15th.

Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters to post about the same issue on the same day. The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. The theme for 2008 is Poverty.

The organizers of Blog Action Day ask that we “examine the issues from our own unique viewpoints and perspectives, look for solutions on the small and large scale, and ask how the individual and the collective can make changes.”

We hope you’ll join us in this worldwide grassroots action to sensitize people to the myriad issues and stories of poverty.

I like Kiva, but the other bunch of “charities” they’re supporting are questionable for me. I for one don’t want to waste another penny on anything passing through the United Nations and don’t even want to be associated with anything that has their name attached as a legitimate entity even indirectly.

But you might like Blog Action Day.… I might even blog about poverty that day. I believe that only by increasing the right to private property and the rule of law and by lowering taxes can poverty be overcome. That’s rarely a “structural” change some of these folks ever talk about.