Suicides, divorce, anxiety attacks, depression, and displacement of children from homes and schools are not what we associate with the mortgage foreclosure crisis. But we should.  Instead of following the money, we should pay attention to the human side of the crisis.  

In this third year of the mortgage tsunami, while we debate about who profited and which federal agencies should have better monitoring, we ignore how people now choose between buying medicine for chronic illnesses and mortgage payments, or paying rent after foreclosure, and how communities are dying. 

On the ground, agencies that offer financial literacy workshops for current owners and potential buyers, mortgage loan consultations, legal aid advice for those in foreclosure, and bankruptcy counseling may prevent future catastrophes, but short term, they are ill prepared to respond to the human suffering, and  provide professional mental health counseling or make referrals.

Conventional wisdom states that any act done consistently for 21 days will become a habit. I would have to agree with that statement because as a young man and a greenhorn to penitentiary life I had to quickly learn to adjust and not deviate from my new habitual routine in order to survive. Today though, I’m no longer a ward of the state, but a writer. I’m no longer that piece which helps pessimistic puzzles pieces connect together only to taint family and community. On the contrary, now I’m a literary lover who has served notice to those prison bars, and I’ve linked to today’s world of the Internet in order to see my dreams come true.

Presently, I’m a small company – Crying Scrolls Publishing. I’m the first and only author signed to the company. I’m still naïve to legal business, but I have the sense to know that when marketing a product, the marketer needs promotion in order to help his product sell. I have no idea who invented the World Wide Web, but I am grateful for the day he or she was born. The Web has become the primary tool I use to gain notice for my Crying Scrolls Publishing in the vast world of literary publication.

A  free Internet marketing workshop for  small business owners and leaders of community development organizations takes place  5:30 pm-7:45 pm July 29th, 2010  at Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center (UROC), 2001 Plymouth Avenue North in  Minneapolis.

The University of Minnesota’s Business & Technology Center (B-Tech Center), is collaborating with Go Virtual Media, a division of Virtual Global Media Group (Minneapolis/Toronto), LLC to offer this introductory Internet Marketing Workshop. The workshop will teach small business owners and leaders of community development organizations how to use the Internet to effectively market their business or organization.

The workshop will cover topics such as, Social Networking; Google Rankings; Blogging techniques for your Business; Social Bookmarking; How to reach millions of Internet users with a click of your mouse; and “Publish a press release about your business or community organization – for free!

Registration: Contact Brandy Churchill at 612-624-3404 or bchurchi@umn.edu

“What I hope to do with this book is reach out to anyone who wants to get a leg up on their own careers… And more than anything else, it’s a book meant to remind readers that they will prosper from making the right choices, from conducting themselves in the right way, no matter what stage of the business world they happen to occupy. I’ll look back and offer examples from my FUBU career to illustrate certain points… My hope is that readers walk away from this book realizing it’s not enough to talk the talk. You’ve got to walk the walk, if you mean to get and keep ahead.” -- Excerpted from Chapter One (pgs. 29-30)

At 41, Daymond John might not seem old enough to be writing his second autobiography, but after perusing The Brand Within, I’m convinced that far more important than chronological age are a person’s accomplishments and ability to share pearls of wisdom in an engaging and informative fashion. John definitely achieves all of the above in this combination memoir/ marketing handbook written in a culture-crossing style that ranges from street to sophisticated.

Existing small business owners and entrepreneurs with hopes of starting up continue to seek access to capital in the form of bank loans, yet are still struggling to land credit. Only half of small businesses that tried to borrow last year got all or most of what they needed, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. In the mid-2000s, 90% of businesses said they got the loans they needed.

To help support small business and its business members, Sam's Club has announced that it is testing an online program with Superior Financial Group, the Nation's leading Small Business Administration (SBA) lender, which would make $5,000 to $25,000 loans available to its members who qualify. In a November 2009 state of small business survey conducted by Sam's Club, nearly 15 percent of its business members reported being denied a loan to run their operation, up from 12 percent in April 2009.

DEED program will provide up to $20,000 for start-up businesses

Returning military veterans who want to launch their own businesses in Minnesota may be eligible for new interest-free loans under an expanded and renamed program administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Department (DEED).

The Minnesota Reservist and Veteran Business Loan Program will make loans of up to $20,000 available to veterans recently separated from military service who are seeking financial help for starting small businesses.