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Contracting vs Wage Earning

We’ve worked with several college students over the years to help with projects in the Lab. From cleaning to organizing there’s always more that needs to be done than the three of us Lab employees can get done. Some of the students have been in a “work study” program. In work study, the federal government provides funding to pay hourly wages to students to help with projects within various college departments. Results have been lack-luster at best. Even though some have been really good students, their skill set and engagement has been lacking. While the point of work study is to develop skills by doing, many have been disengaged and seemingly not interested in learning new skills. Like many employees in the marketplace, they punch the clock and bide their time until it’s time to go. Some quit showing up regularly as scheduled.

Our First Student Entrepreneur

A couple of years ago, we met a female first-year student, Alyssa, who was very interested in working in the Lab, but her family’s income was above the threshold, and she did not qualify to be part of the work study program. We ended up helping her create her federal business ID and she became a contractor for some of the Lab work we needed done. Instead of paying her by the hour, we paid her by the project. We identified the scope of a project, then negotiated what project completion was worth to us and to her. She worked on the projects on her own time, completing them in a reasonable amount of time as determined by her customer (the Lab.) Some of the projects were computer based so she could work on them in the Lab, in her dorm room or even from home during school breaks. At the end of each month, she prepared an invoice for us with a line for each project completed and the agreed amount. We paid the invoice directly to her.

Student Benefits of Contracting

This arrangement worked out much better than most of the hourly work study students. Alyssa learned many positive lessons by being a contractor instead of an employee. First was the satisfaction of solving problems for a customer and receiving payment in return. Second was the idea that if she figured out better, quicker ways to do the work, yet maintained high quality, she still got the amount agreed upon. Third, she controlled her schedule. Even though some of the projects had deadlines, she got to choose when she could find time to work on them. Fourth, she learned a lot. When there were projects requiring new skills, we helped her learn them. The payoff for learning new skills was direct and quick, coming with the next invoice payment.

Since discovering the “magic” of contracting vs wage earning, I’ve had a vision of working with several student entrepreneurs at the same time, each working various pieces of our projects. Each learning to manage their time and the billing process as they would create invoices for the work performed. Despite this vision, we’ve rarely worked with more than one or two student entrepreneurs at a time. As it turns out, few students have any kind of concept or reference point of what it would be like to work for themselves and be their own boss. Instead, the reference point is one of looking for a wage-earning job, most that pay by the hour.

Becoming a Wage Earner is Deeply Engrained

The concept of becoming a wage earner is deeply, deeply engrained in our culture and it permeates all elements of society. For the past 70 plus years, our message to youth has been to get a “good education so you can get a good job” working for someone else. Many people don’t realize how deeply engrained this message is, but if you start paying attention you’ll notice. From advertising messages to teacher and guidance counselor messages to “career pathways” programs, we are telling young people to figure out something they like to do, the earlier the better, and get a job doing it for someone else. We pressure them to start figuring out their career choices as early as 6th or 7th grade.

Rarely does anyone involved in this indoctrination of telling youth to plan early on getting a job talk about who is going to own the businesses that will provide all these jobs. We are finally realizing that everyone doesn’t need to go to college. Many politicians tout the trade school instead of college. We need more skilled trades people, but why don’t we suggest to these young people that they can OWN the plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning or construction companies instead of working for them?

Every Kid an Entrepreneur

There are some really good youth entrepreneurship programs. We participate in one sponsored by Network Kansas called the Youth Entrepreneur Challenge. Although these programs are very good, they still only reach a fraction of the K – 12 student population. Every kid, through school and/or family should launch a business at least once or twice during the K – 12 years. I’m not talking about selling sausage, cookie dough or pizza for some fund raiser. I’m talking about each student discovering a problem that needs to be solved and then setting about to solve the problem with customers paying for the solution. This would at least give everyone some learning about the entrepreneurship experience to compare and contrast to the constant message about getting a job. Some will become employees, and that’s fine, while others become the business owners that hire employees.

Jim Correll can be reached at (620) 252-5349 or by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of Fab Lab ICC or Independence Community College. Archive columns and podcasts at www.fablabicc.org.



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