Despite the constant insistence by many in the media over the last few years that the U.S. economy is doing great, most Americans today can see it’s not.
Inflation has run rampant since the pandemic, and the cost of everything has skyrocketed as a result.
To put this in perspective, while these increases have been discussed in generalities, the real impact became glaringly obvious when people on social media recently started posting current grocery receipts alongside receipts for the exact same orders from just a few years ago. The difference between the two is staggering—totaling 400% or more in many cases.
Several other statistics shine additional light on our economic foundation, revealing significant and growing cracks that threaten every one of us financially.
To resolve this problem, several entrepreneurs, companies, and non-profit organizations have recently stepped up to help reinforce the small business community because of the critical role it plays in America’s economic performance. Small businesses employ 45.9% of the U.S. workforce and have contributed 55% of the total net job creation from 2013 to 2023. In other words, the success of the small business community is critical to the health of our entire economy.
The Junto Program, an organization that partners with thought leaders on financial, entrepreneurial, and self improvement topics to provide education that helps Americans build more productive and financially rewarding lives for themselves. These thought leaders have been selected for their reputation and contributions to their respective fields.
This organization sprouted from an idea that Eric Scrivens, a high school teacher and coach in Osceola, Florida, came up with to personally help his own students improve in these areas by providing a library of books on financial literacy topics.
“I wanted to help my students, first and foremost, so that’s how this all started. I saw kids that didn’t understand basic financial concepts, and from the conversations I’ve had with the parents, I discovered they grew up not learning these topics either. It’s not their fault, but it’s something we have to change for future generations,” Scrivens explained.
The idea quickly evolved into something much larger, and several prominent experts jumped at the opportunity to help educate the future generations of Americans on these critical topics. Noted financial experts—both known for their support for initiatives like this, Carol Roth, Dr. David Phelps, and Kim Kiyosaki were three of the first.
Roth, a highly respected TV commentator and self-described “recovering” investment banker known for teaching the importance of financial literacy, said,
“Freedom and wealth are closely linked. But over time, it seems like the path to attaining that and the American Dream has been cluttered with more obstacles. Coming from a blue-collar family, I have been able to seize that American Dream, and I have fought to help preserve that opportunity for every American. Financial literacy is a great tool to help clear the path and let more individuals pursue economic freedom and wealth-creation opportunities foundational to the American Dream”
Phelps, who runs the real estate investing community, Freedom Founders, and recently helped the Florida Department of Education develop its new K-12 financial literacy curriculum, says,
“I’ve always been passionate about helping others achieve success and financial freedom because I know firsthand how hard the path is, so when I was asked to be a part of this program, I was happy to help. The sooner we can start educating people on these critical topics, the more their lives and our economy as a whole will improve,”
Phelps also runs a second community, called NextGen, that teaches children and young adults the same financial principles he teaches in his investing community.
The non-profit start-up incubator, Action Zone, is another organization supporting the movement by serving as one of its library locations. It was founded by Army veteran Valerie Ellis to help fellow vets launch and grow their own businesses upon returning to civilian life through education and networking.
“We have a tremendous number of people coming through our facility every day, including veterans looking for help launching their businesses, as well as their spouses, children, and sometimes even family and friends, so we knew we could help put this valuable information in front of a substantial audience,” she explains.
The program is still in its early stages, but Scrivens says the goal is to impact as many people as possible by expanding across the country. To achieve that goal, they will need more library locations.
He then said, “Everyone we’ve asked to donate books has been more than gracious, so I don’t see any challenges on that front, but I do anticipate challenges finding new locations to place these libraries. It’s not that people don’t want to help—it’s just that they don’t know about this, so we definitely need some assistance getting the word out so that people who are willing to host a library can reach out to us”.
Right now, these libraries are relatively small, starting with five copies of 9 titles, including:
- Inflation: The Silent Retirement Killer
- What your Next
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad
- The War on Small Business
- You Will Own Nothing
- Can’t Hurt Me
- It’s Rising Time
- Rich Woman
- The Unseen Journey
That’s a total of just 45 books, so the library doesn’t take up much space, and keeping track of the books as they’re checked out is as simple as downloading and printing out log sheets from the organization’s website. Scrivens said efforts are also underway to further simplify this process for those hosting these libraries by implementing an online logging system.
“The focus right now,” he explains, “is connecting with like minded people who have space to host these libraries so we can help educate more people and give them the tools to improve not just their own lives, but the lives of generations to come.”
Scrivens says the ideal locations are somewhere that more than a handful of people will regularly pass through. His library is in his classroom, where hundreds of students will enter and leave, and even more will have access to throughout the day. In Action Zone’s case, it’s in a shared collab space with several other non-profit entrepreneurial organizations. The idea is to put these libraries in places where the people most likely to consume and implement the knowledge will be. That could include:
- Classrooms
- Collab workspaces
- Entrepreneurial organizations
- Chambers of Commerce
- Virtual office centers
A side benefit that the hosts receive from this program is increased exposure, as pointed out by Dr. David Phelps. He explained that he has already seen a small but noticeable increase in his own book sales since the program was quietly launched just a few weeks ago, and can attribute a percentage of new website traffic and newsletter subscriptions to it as well.
“I donated my books because I wanted to help people achieve the financial freedom and success they deserve. It wasn’t about making money, but it’s nice to see it work out that way because that allows me to serve even more people since my costs are offset by new revenue. More importantly, this demonstrates to the younger generations how the free market works because they see us being rewarded for providing value in the market. This is something I know that Carol Roth talks about a lot too, and she’s someone I have a tremendous deal of respect for, so it’s an honor to be a part of this together,” Phelps explained.
The program has currently been implemented in six locations so far, and the group plans to set up libraries in 25 more locations by the end of 2024.
- St. Cloud High School
- F.W. Springstead High School
- Action Zone
- Entrepreneur Collaborative Center
- The Nest Colab
- NextGen Community
Scrivens says that people with suitable locations who are interested in hosting a Junto Library can contact the organization directly, through its website. A complete list of the books is also available on the website, as well as information about the authors and links to their websites.
Sharon Weiler, creator of the nationally syndicated TV show, Daily Flash, takes a very different approach to solving the problem with a new lineup of financial literacy and business programming. She says she wanted to create something for today’s entrepreneurs that didn’t exist when she started her company. If it had, “it could have saved her from a lot of mistakes and losses,” she shared.
“Entrepreneurship is hard, but you can make it a bit easier by learning from those who have already been down the path you’re starting on. They know where the land mines are buried and how to avoid them, and while we’re all going to make mistakes and suffer losses from time to time, the right advice can help you reduce both dramatically,” she said.
Weiler is kicking this initiative off with the launch of a weekly recurring segment on business credit, called Fund&Grow, hosted by Amanda Webster, who is COO of the business credit firm by the same name—Fund&Grow.
“Funding is the lynchpin that can make or break a business—in fact, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, insufficient capital is the number reason companies go out of business. That’s why I was so excited about the opportunity to share my knowledge with the Daily Flash’s audience and help them get the funding they need to launch and scale their businesses,” Webster explained.
Webster was tapped to host the segment earlier this year, based on her expertise and reputation within the credit industry.
While Daily Flash covers a wide variety of topics that are relevant to a majority of Americans, just like the typical morning show, its programming has slowly been adding more small business content to its programming over the last few years. Weiler said that really resonated with her audience, and she realized that a lot of entrepreneurs were still struggling since the pandemic.
She said, “Between growing inflation and dwindling consumer confidence, a lot of entrepreneurs are barely hanging on in today’s economy, regardless of the industry. I remembered what I had to go through to get where I am today and I thought ‘I can help at least some of these people to avoid some of that,’ so we buckled down to make that happen.”
Webster’s segment is just the first part of this mission. Weiler says the show has more business-focused programming coming soon, and she’s also collaborating with other experts to provide even more resources for entrepreneurs.
This type of content is much needed, and at the same time, it’s essentially an untapped market because the vast majority of TV programming is purely for entertainment. The demand is there, and people want to consume this information in video form over any other format. In fact, researchers estimate that upwards of 82% of all internet traffic today is from video content.
That creates a tremendous opportunity for entrepreneurs like Weiler to establish a leading position in a relatively new market, but perhaps more importantly, it’s also an opportunity to help improve the businesses of millions of entrepreneurs, and in the process, help save millions of jobs.
And Ellis, who I mentioned earlier as a host of one of the Junto libraries and founder of the startup incubator Action Zone, has taken a similar approach to educating and empowering entrepreneurs.
Her organization leverages the expertise of seasoned entrepreneurs to provide actionable advice and mentorship to budding business owners, and to help them avoid common pitfalls to become more successful, more quickly.
While this often takes place during in-person workshops at her facility in Tampa, Florida, the organization often hosts virtual events as well, and she and her team emphasize the importance of building a strong network, and even facilitate introductions to valuable connections.
“We require our program facilitators to be entrepreneurs so we can ensure real-life experience is brought into the classroom, which empowers us to help founders navigate the early stages of development and growth of their businesses so they can avoid costly mistakes. The facilitators’ shared experiences, along with the expertise of other subject matter experts we have access to through our relationships provide invaluable insights and mentorship. This blend of knowledge not only equips our founders with the skills needed to overcome challenges but also fosters a supportive environment that drives innovation, resilience, and long-term success in their entrepreneurial journeys,”
