School Schedules, Rigid Jobs, and the $3K Side Hustle Fix
The U.S. school day and the standard nine-to-five were never designed for working families — and the system isn't broken by accident. Pam Jordan argues 2020 forced remote-work acceptance but education stayed stuck, with better options still gated by income. Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley push on who's responsible for fixing it; Pam says government should step aside while individuals use YouTube skills and low-cost side hustles — Uber, lawn care, Etsy templates — to close the gap themselves. An extra $3–4k a month is life-changing, and the right vehicles to fund education alternatives are Coverdell accounts and 529 plans.
Timestamps:
- (00:00) Built to filter out – the work model never designed for working families
- (00:14) Education is broken – 2020 shifted remote work, school reform hasn't followed
Pam Jordan – Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn
Transcript
The nine-to-five never fit working mothers—or anyone juggling
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:field trips, sick kids, pickup at 3:10.
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:Pam built her ENTIRE
team around that truth.
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:But whether the system can be bent, or
must be broken—that fight starts now.
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:Jerremy Newsome: When do you see
the corporate shift here in the
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:US from the educational system
being shifted around dramatically
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:and the work system being shifted
around dramatically because I think.
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:I, I personally believe that the
traditional nine to five is totally
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:dead, and so many companies are
failing to see that presently.
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:And obviously the educational system is
100% deplorably broken because it doesn't
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:attach, Hey, this person has a job now if
it, if it is nine to five, and then this
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:education system, which is just broken
conflicts, the entire work schedule.
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:So that one person.
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:Has to always be changing anyway.
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:It would just make sense to me that
if we found a way to kind of come
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:together and go, let's blend both of
these so that it's a little bit more
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:flexible for the family unit, which
is compositionally comprised of all of
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:Americans, essentially, the majority
of them anyway, how does that change?
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:When does it change?
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:Do you see it changing?
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:What's this look like right now?
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:Pam Jordan: So I saw a huge shift in
:
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:had to go to remote work and a lot of
businesses realized, oh, this is possible
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:where I'd been doing that for four years.
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:And so I feel like 2020
definitely helped spur it and.
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:The education system is broken.
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:my kids do not participate in a
traditional education experience
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:because I do not believe it's
stand up, sit down, respond to a
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:bell, is what I want them to learn.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Mm-hmm.
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:Pam Jordan: so I think,
I think it is broken.
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:I think it is far from being fixed.
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:I'm seeing good trends,
but the problem is, is.
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:You can, there are
alternatives if you have money.
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:If you don't have money, you
are trapped in the system.
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:And so it's a self-fulfilling cycle
that if you're trapped in a job
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:where you don't have flexibility,
therefore your kids are trapped in an
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:education system that doesn't allow
flexibility and it doesn't solve itself.
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:So unfortunately, if you can't find
another way to get more income to
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:break either one of those cycles,
you and your kids are trapped.
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:so business owners need to invest
more in their team and allow them
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:flexibility so they can then give their
kids an opportunity to be untrapped.
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:Jerremy Newsome: And that's a
really, really interesting point.
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:'cause yeah, it is, it is
an income thing for sure.
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:Right there, there's, there's that
disparity that there has to be a shift
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:and kind of what your general thesis is,
or at least has been for a long time.
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:And again, one of the things I
like a lot about you is it's not.
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:Just necessarily income.
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:It can also be expenses for taxes, right?
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:'cause you draw a hard line
between the people making and what
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:they're keeping for a W2 worker.
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:Right now, cost of living
is up, wages are flat.
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:Maybe they're carrying some student debt.
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:How much of their financial stress
as a math problem they could actually
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:solve versus a structural trap
they can't escape on their own.
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:Kind of like what you just said.
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:Pam Jordan: I think it's a
hundred percent solvable for every
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:working American because there
are so many resources out there.
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:Call YouTube like you can, like, and
ultimately it's an income gap, and
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:so go to YouTube, learn a skill, get
a side hustle, solve the problem.
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:And you don't, and I think a lot of
people think that they have to make
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:millions of dollars to solve the gap.
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:Jerremy Newsome: No.
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:No.
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:Pam Jordan: an extra three to four
grand would do to your household.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
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:Pam Jordan: most households,
that's life changing.
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:Well, three to four grand also completely
changes the story for your children's
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:education and future wealth growth
so that they can avoid college debt.
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:And a lot of which, if you, depending on
how you structure it, can help with taxes.
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:Jerremy Newsome: tell me more on that.
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:Pam Jordan: So there's things called
a Coverdale IRA, which you can use
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:after tax dollars to put money in and
it can go towards your kids' college.
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:There's 5 29 plans, which is
pre-tax dollars that can go
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:towards your kids' education.
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:So there are wealth
building tools out there.
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:That you can use that extra couple grand.
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:I mean, do face painting at carnivals?
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:Do balloon animals like
learn how to change tires?
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:I make my kids work for money.
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:They want something they have to work.
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:Like my son is getting a weed eater
because that's how he's gonna make money,
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:Jerremy Newsome: Mm-hmm.
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:Pam Jordan: Do a task.
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:And far too often.
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:People.
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:Again, it comes to mindset like,
well, I work really hard and I, and
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:I come in the door at five 30 and I'm
dragging, and my kids are complaining.
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:I gotta make dinner, blah, blah, blah.
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:Yes, so do all of us.
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:somewhere you sit your butt down
and start scrolling, or you turn
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:on the TV and in that hour to
two hours, what if you created a
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:template in Canva and sold it on Etsy
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:Jerremy Newsome: You can do that.
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:Pam Jordan: at 5 99 a piece?
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:You sell a thousand of those.
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:Do the math.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
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:Come on Pam.
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:You're talking about language.
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:Talking about language.
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:Pam Jordan: so many little things,
and the problem is, is everyone
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:gives, well what if, what if the why?
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:The library has free wifi in computers?
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:Don't tell me that you can't
come up with a side hustle.
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:You have a walking computer on your
cell phone, you can make a business.
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:And so it is an income gap and the
problem is, is far too many Americans.
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:Working, hardworking people.
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:We're not set up with the mindset and
the ability of education and skills
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:and job training to make the income
they need to survive, and they feel
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:stuck and they don't know how to do it.
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:Learn a skill.
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:Find something that can bring in
a couple hundred dollars a week,
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:a couple thousand dollars a month,
and all of a sudden you have a
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:different storyline for your family.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Agreed.
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:Yeah, agreed.
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:I posted this on my Twitter and I know
what Dave has a question, but like 17
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:hours ago, screw your penny saving plan.
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:The solution to your money
problems is make more money.
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:You know, it's, it's doable.
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:Like my sister right now.
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:She, she's, she's driving Uber
on the side at night rather than
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:watching movies or watching tv.
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:She's driving Uber making an extra
$185 a week right now, which is
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:helping, at least in her current
situation, so it, it's available.
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:we talked a lot about, you know,
Dave and I talked a lot about the
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:gig economy and what you just broke
down is so realistic for individuals.
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:And I just wanna say it again for
anyone who's listening, if they feel
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:like they're in a struggle, a Canva.
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:Template for a skill that you
have, and I'll insert, let's just
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:come up with three random ideas.
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:It doesn't matter if you're a
stay-at-home mom, stay-at-home dad.
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:If you say, oh my gosh, here's the
perfect way to cut a pineapple.
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:Or, here's how to, clean your oven with
supernatural products, or, here's a
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:way to keep your vegetables cleaner, in
your refrigerator or, or, or healthier
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:or longer, or not get rotten, right?
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:You create a Canva template.
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:Which can take you 18 minutes
or, or 18 hours, but it's doable.
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:Within a week.
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:You post on your Facebook, you share
it, you spend some time distributing
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:it, and like you said, if a thousand
people buy a thing that costs $5,
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:unless my math is wrong, that's 5,000
more dollars for you and your family.
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:It's a chip away at a debt to,
you know, to spend on, to spend on
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:dinner or nights out if you want to.
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:Pam Jordan: Exactly, or take your
kids to Disney World or whatever,
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
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:Pam Jordan: what it comes down
to is it's a money problem.
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:You can solve a money problem.
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:Do you know how you solve a money problem?
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:More money and how you solve.
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:How you get more money is you produce
something that the marketplace wants
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:and they will give you money for it.
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:Babysit, cut grass, drive for Uber.
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:Make Canva templates like there is so
much you can do to add a couple hundred
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:bucks to your bank account every week.
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:That adds up to thousands of dollars.
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:That really does change the story
for your family between having to not
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:have groceries, to having groceries,
to paying down debt, to being able
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:to afford a tutor for your child.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
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:Dave: So Pam, one of our central
arguments in this series and what
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:I'm also hearing from you is
that in that there's transition
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:costs, retraining, pivoting,
starting over, and those costs.
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:What I've heard from you,
what I've heard from Jeremy
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:in the last 10 minutes or so.
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:Those costs land almost
entirely on the individual.
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:You've watched people pivot.
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:What does it actually cost a
person to make a major career
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:transition in, in real numbers?
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:And what's the role of government,
the role of companies, the role of
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:academia, the role of institutions,
the role of communities?
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:Thank you.
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:If any in this.
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:Pam Jordan: So I'll break that down.
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:The cost could be nothing 'cause you could
go on YouTube and learn how to make, how
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:to use Cam, the free version of Canva.
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:on YouTube.
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:Learn how to create a store on Etsy.
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:I think Etsy's 20 cents
per listing a month.
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:Like.
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:Minimal, or you can pay a thousand
dollars for some kind of course.
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:My mom right now is going
through a transition.
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:She's been retired for a long time, but
she has a passion and a hobby called
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:quilting, and she makes beautiful
pieces and she wants to monetize that.
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:So she made an investment in a course
so she can share her designs, and I am.
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:through the, paid a, I think, a
thousand dollars for the course.
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:She's using free Canva.
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:We're using free Claude, and she's
gonna have a store in Etsy in the
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:next month that for 4 99, you can.
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:Purchase her quilt templates with
all the patchwork and whatever.
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:So it could be pennies or it
could be a couple thousand.
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:But I do agree it is falling
on the individual and that's
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:where people are hesitant.
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:'cause they're like, well,
I don't have anything.
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:Well, you also went to McDonald's
today, or Starbucks today, or whatever.
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:Okay, well that $5 could
be your Etsy store.
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:Right.
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:It's, it's, there's minimal
startups to a lot of these.
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:Now, if you're gonna start a lawn mowing
business, yeah, that's a couple, you
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:know, a couple hundred dollars to buy
a, a used mower on Facebook marketplace.
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:But it just depends.
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:Where does, government lie with this?
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:I don't think they have a role.
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:I think they need to get outta
the way and let people produce.
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:I think businesses, not employers, but
businesses have a huge opportunity to
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:capitalize on these people that want.
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:income.
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:So if there's something that you can
bring to the market that can teach
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:people, bring value to them so they can
then go do learn from you, and then go
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:make money, it's a great opportunity.
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:So that's a gig itself.
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:It's like I can help you
come up with a side hustle.
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:I can help you redo your resume so that
you can get a better, higher paying job.
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:That's a job like, that's a side
gig that you could do at night.
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:Review resumes, help
people get other jobs.
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:I feel like the, the responsibility
lays relies on the person that
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:wants to do better for themselves.
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:I think academia cost way too
much, college cost, way too much.
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:so I think that's, that's a, so I've
got a 17-year-old, we've already done
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:college tours and that was painful.
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:we've got two 14 year olds that are
staring at this, but I'm gonna have
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:three kids in college that my husband
and I are gonna have to pay for.
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:And so we are doing things
now intentionally to.
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:Make sure that they don't come out
of college with debt, but they're
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:also not going to, going to colleges
that cost 80,000 a year to become,
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:to make 40,000 a year like in a job.
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:So.
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:Academia costs too much, and I don't
understand why when people are leaving
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:and going into the job market, teachers
are making best case 40 grand when
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:they after, as soon as they graduate.
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:how can you charge $80,000 for
them to go to school a year and
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:then expect them to pay you back
when they're only making 40,000?
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:In a year.
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:Dave: So I, I, Just help me understand
what your views are on this.
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:Because when we look at the
rest of the world, they don't
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:say, hey, you're on your own.
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:the rest of the world, there's
a, there, you know, government
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:is involved, business is involved,
communities are involved.
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:It's not just the individual.
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:And, and I, I, you know, from
what we see from like the rest
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:of the world, they kind of look at
the American model as, hey, you've
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:already proven that that doesn't
work, you know, like that's barbaric.
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:And so I, I'm trying to
get at, you know, what
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:is the American system?
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:How is it working?
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:And what could we do be
doing better, if anything?
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:Pam Jordan: So I think it's not working,
so I think what needs to be better is.
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:Organizations, nonprofit for profit
need to do better, to have options
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:for these people in the marketplace
to do better for themselves.
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:But I think the problem is, is
if you expect the government
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:to fix it, won't work.
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:The people have to want to do better
for themselves and their family.
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:They have to wanna take the
initiative because there are tons
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:of grants and programs out there.
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:For people to get into different
industries and get training, but
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:if the person doesn't wake up and
say, I want today to be better
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:than yesterday, it doesn't matter
what programs are available.
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:I think it starts with the
person and their personal drive.
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:I do think that as a free market
economy, there needs to be options
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:for them and there are options.
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:But unless somebody wakes up and
wants to do better for themselves
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:and pay, you know, get outta debt and
increase their wealth and have a better
264
:situation for their kids, it doesn't
matter what the government offers.
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:But I think the marketplace has things out
there that people just don't know about.
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:And there's a lot of nonprofits
that do job training, free welding
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:classes like certifications.
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:Community college do amazing things
to help people get ready for trades.
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:if the person doesn't show up
for the class, it doesn't matter.
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:Dave: Well, I mean, let's just
say somebody has that desire.
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:They have, you know,
the capabilities.
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:You work with mothers, right?
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:Like, they're, they're, you know,
like, their, their biggest,
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:resource, their most finite
resource, like a lot of us, Time.
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:Pam Jordan: Line.
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:Dave: I, you know, I, I certainly
see that, that our government
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:is set up for a very, very few
people to do very, very well and
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:not necessarily the vast middle
that is, that is struggling.
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:And so I'm, I'm still trying to
wrap my head around of, there
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:are plenty of willing people.
281
:Plenty of people that, that want
to do better and everything has
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:seems to be, is seemingly set up
either against them or not for them.
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:I feel like that there's still
something out there that, that
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:we aren't doing as an American,
that we aren't providing solutions.
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:If anything, we might be providing
more hindrance than anything else.
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:Would you agree with that or no?
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:Pam Jordan: Gimme some
examples of hindrance.
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:What do you, because in
my experience, I've like.
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:And I'm very much in a nonprofit
world outside of my W2, so
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:I see lots of resources.
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:So help me understand where
you're seeing hindrances.
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:'cause in my local community, I can
tell you where to go if you want help.
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:So help me understand where
you're seeing hindrances.
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:Dave: so, for, for instance, we've,
we've, we've done lots and lots
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:of shows, and, and one of the,
things that came up in our, gun
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:violence, space was that there are,
there are 50, There are 50 zip
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:codes in the United States that
have most of the gun violence in
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:the United States, and those 50 zip
codes are in urban environments, and
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:those urban environments have young
men who are shooting each other,
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:and there are programs that cost
only a million dollars in order to
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:ensure that those young kids can,
can learn Thank you for watching.
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:Conflict management and can learn
how to deescalate situations
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:and that is not something
that communities are actually
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:willing to put money towards.
305
:It happens very, very, it
doesn't happen very often.
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:Another item might be is
that, I live in Miami.
307
:We have terrible public
transportation, so the people who
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:need to work in these big, beautiful
buildings behind me have to figure
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:out how to get to where they need
to go when we did an entire series
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:on those who are incarcerated.
311
:Those that were coming out of,
of being incarcerated have so many
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:things that are stacked against them
from, not being able to, to qualify
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:for jobs, even if they've, they've,
they've served their time, right?
314
:Like they, they're, you know, like
they, they have paid for the price
315
:and now they can't get a job.
316
:and we see this in just in
this series, which is like
317
:now that companies are starting
to loosen degree requirements.
318
:They're actually getting a
different mix of people in this.
319
:So when I say that there seems
to be a lot of headwinds,
320
:I'm saying, yes, there are
certainly solutions out there.
321
:Yes, there are certainly
things out there.
322
:I personally disagree with the
idea that the energy that we
323
:see being put forward from the
government, from governments, from
324
:academia, from institutions, from,
from local governments to national
325
:governments seem to be geared
towards, Not the most number of
326
:people and how we can all flourish.
327
:And so I struggle with the idea
that it's all on the individual.
328
:I feel like that there's a lot
more that we could and need
329
:to be doing in order to solve
problems in the United States.
330
:Okay.
331
:Pam Jordan: I hear you.
332
:I hear you.
333
:Absolutely.
334
:But that's where I think the
marketplace needs to come into play.
335
:Because if we're, we as business
owners want good workers, need
336
:to create resources and make it
easy for them to come work for us.
337
:Dave: Fair.
338
:Pam Jordan: And we need to create ways
for them to contribute in the marketplace
339
:as business owners, the government,
I'm not a strong fan of them, meddling.
340
:Jerremy Newsome: They're gonna
mess it up anyway, essentially.
341
:Right.
342
:I mean, to, to your point, Dave,
and, and probably even to Pam's,
343
:what I think that's missing in
the political space is really our
344
:leaders giving us these exact ideas.
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:Right.
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:If, regardless if you had government
intervention or not, if we have a top
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:down political advisor, administration,
individuals, governors, senators, house
348
:of Representatives, pouring into the
communities doing exactly this, where
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:you're telling them, Hey guys, I know
it's tough and here's how I did it.
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:Here's how I broke free
without government assistance.
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:And here's how you can too.
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:It's available.
353
:It's possible.
354
:It's a mindset.
355
:It's a, it's an awareness that
you don't have to sell drugs
356
:in order to make more money.
357
:you can, you can, but you don't have to.
358
:Right?
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:You don't have to resort to violence.
360
:There are other ways to appropriate and
to create value out of seemingly thin air.
361
:And granted, there's always gonna be some
places in the world, pockets of places
362
:that are always gonna be a challenge just
because of in general poverty, right?
363
:Poverty is the biggest correlator to
violence that there has ever been known.
364
:And that correlation's also
gonna stem from lack of fathers
365
:in any particular homes, right?
366
:If you have a lack of father, if you
have no father figure in the household,
367
:the children, regardless of race.
368
:In regards to zip code have an
85% likelihood to go to jail.
369
:So whatever systemic issue there is
in that aspect, I think it can not
370
:specifically generally be solved, but
I think it can be at least declined or
371
:potentially alleviated if we have voices
of power telling people what to do.
372
:And that's the beautiful
part about this series.
373
:And to your point, Pam,
education is way too expensive.
374
:Way too expensive and we're
telling people, Hey, this is,
375
:this is the only way to get out of
the, the quote unquote rat race.
376
:This is the only way to get out of poverty
is that the only way to better yourself
377
:is to go into debt, to get a college
degree, to get a job that's not gonna
378
:be able to pay for your college debt.
379
:That's the only way to do it,
and that's the general consensus
380
:of most of our politicians.
381
:Pam Jordan: And I think we are relying
on politicians who are not business
382
:owners, who don't know how to build
something, hire people, manage money.
383
:solve a money problem, relying on
politicians to solve a business problem.
384
:Alex: Pam leaves one hard
truth hanging—solutions exist,
385
:but only for the WILLING.
386
:If that reads as personal responsibility
dressed as inspiration, next comes the
387
:AI disruption rewriting the rules for
everyone who thought they'd cracked it.
