Why “Ordinary People” should be optomistic about the economy!

This is a great question. I will answer it with a few stories and hopefully those stories will give you an answer to your question.

The answer lies in the fact that each and everyone of us are “ordinary people”". The most wealthy and successful people in the world are the same as the poorest people in the world. We can (or should at least) only eat three meals a day. We all put our pants on one leg at a time. We fall in love and we fall out of love. We try to be good to our parents, we try to be good to our children, and we try to look out for the people around us. We worry about our health. We worry about our children. We all grow old and we all die.

(Yes, I know that not 100% meet the above description but – in almost 50 years of life – I haven’t met more than a handful of people who are different than this. Practically – evil or greedy people don’t exist in my life – they only exist in that I need to be prudent and careful but not frightened nor paranoid. When I do come across them – I just run the other way.)

This doesn’t mean that the wealthy and the successful people view the world and the economy the same way as “ordinary people” and that is the difference between the two. By “ordinary people” I am assuming you mean people who rely on a pay cheque and the amount of that pay cheque is decided by others.

So let me tell you three stories from which I think you should be able to derive the answer.

Armand Hammer – founder of Occidental Oil – lived from 1998 to 1990. He lived through every economic cycle and the most turbulent times imaginable. He made fortune on top of fortune. Each fortune  is a great story in its own. Each fortune came what appeared to be a disaster.  Armand Hammer graduated medical school while making a fortune. What was the disaster? He was forced to work while in medical school because his father had been tossed into jail. He learned his medical studies because his room mate would take notes during the classes and teach him his studies at night. Even this was part disaster – Armand didn’t speak to this room for years because he found the roommate in bed with his fiance. Another story which could be relevant in this time of financial uncertaintly – Armand went to the Soviet Union in the 1920′s to help out in the famine there. One thing led to another and he built a pencil factory and made a fortune. When Stailn came to power – Armand had to leave and liquidate his holdings. Unfortunately, the Soviet government wouldn’t let him get his cash out of the Soviet Union because they needed the foreign currency to purchase goods. A deal was struck and Armand was able to get his money out of the country through valuables such as paintings, precious articles made by Faberge (eggs and other things), religious Icons, jewels, dishes and other things from the homes of the Czars and the royal family. Armand tried to sell the items in a normal gallery type setting and was terribly unsuccessful.  He then struck a deal with department stores (like Macy’s) to sell the valuables. What is critical to you and me – is that he sold these items during the early years of the depression. Yes – ordinary people in the 1930′s were purchasing art work and things for their homes during the depression. They were spending money on things to make their home special and unique. This was an economy where 25% of “ordinary people” were out work and people were wandering the country looking for work. No matter how poor the economy – there is still opportunity.

Mary Kay Ash – the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics - was born in 1918. Her father had tuberculosis. Which at the time meant that he was an invalid. Mary Kay at seven years old was responsible for feeding him dinner. She would call her mother who worked at a restaurant and the mother over the phone would teach Mary how to cook what her dad wanted for dinner. She told Mary – “I know you can do it.” Let’s fast forward fifteen years later to after the second world war. Mary has three children – her husband comes back from the Second World War and tells Mary he wants a divorce. So in 1945 – Mary is a single mom with three kids. As far as I know – the father was never heard from again. Mary starts working in Direct Sales (what we call network marketing now) for a company called Stanley. She chooses this profession because it lets her be home for her kids before and after school. Mary sold the wares at “Parties” in people’s home. Imagine what the neighbors thought of Mary’s kids waiting at home while their mother went out to “Parties” at night. Lets skip forward to 1963. Mary gets married again and is finally able to “retire” – meaning she can relax and be supported by a husband (which was typical of the time). Mary and her husband decide to invest all their savings into creating a cosmetics firm. They are reviewing the papers and making some decisions when her husband has a heart attack and dies. Mary goes to her accountant and lawyer and they tell her – sell everything and recover as much of the capital as you can. She doesn’t listen to them and goes into business with her 20 year old son. Thirty years later – Mary Kay has created a billion dollar company.  Mary said she had three priorities in life and they were in this order Gd, family and work.

Here is a bit of my story - in the 1980′s I worked for Litton Systems in Toronto. Litton Systems was part of Litton Industries. Some division of Litton Industries was heavily invested in oil and gas and lost a ton of money. Litton Industries was then told each of its divisions that they had to make up the shortfall. Litton Systems in Toronto then told each of its departments that they had to save money and reduce headcount. Now Litton Systems in Toronto treated its employees as best as it could – but some of the new guys were let go. One of these people was a real old fellow (must of have been around 50) who was brought from another country to work on an R&D project. He was let go. On that day, I decided to become an entreprenour because I realized that if I didn’t look after myself – nobody else would. It hasn’t been easy and I haven’t been as successful as Mary Kay or Armand Hammer – but, I have totally controlled my own destiny. Now in this economy, I have the brains, the experience, and the knowledge that I will find my way through it.

So Rashmi, the answer to your question is why do some people have reason to be optimistic? They are not optimistic. They are realistic. They know there is a solution to their problems. They may not know what that solution is. They may try many different approaches. But there is a solution and they will find it.