“The Innovative Kids of America Project”

Over Memorial Day weekend, I had the distinct pleasure of launching my newest concept to teach America’s kids how to become young entrepreneurs. “The Innovative Kids of America Project” was an absolute hit with fair attendees at The Sacramento County Fair. The idea is based on my series of kids’ books, “How to Become an Entrepreneurial Kid" that I wrote to share my own kids' success learning the lessons of starting a business with their very first yard sale cookie stand. The transformation of my kids after their first entrepreneurial endeavor was enough to inspire a nation, and that is just what I plan on doing!

"The Innovative Kids of America Project" provides an opportunity for kids all over the country to have an outlet for their creative ideas by teaching parents and kids how to achieve the American Dream of having their own business. Last weekend, ten kids between the ages of 3 through 18 each had their very own booth at the Sacramento County Fair. They had a few weeks before the fair to come up with what they wanted to create and/or resell. Every child made money, some more than others, but this experience was unbelievably successful for all who participated. The interaction with customers and each other was beautiful. What a great opportunity to use their academic skills, master communication with customers, and even learn about success and failure. (It was most interesting to watch the kids reinvent themselves when their product was not selling.) I had grandparents come up to me crying, “I wish I had this opportunity when I was a child; my life would have turned out differently!"

The American school system does not teach economics, and even worse, it preaches that kids have to prepare to become employees, not an employer’s! If you know anything about economics, you know that 80% of this country's economy is based on small business; they are the job creators in this country, and the lack of focus on this fact is frightening. We do not inspire kids to think like job creators anymore, we expect them to just get good grades and go to college, and then what? Get a job and work for a small business? 50% of college graduates can’t find a job! If America does not start cultivating entrepreneurs, its brilliant innovators will become extinct.

The government's anti-small business environment is deterring many Americans from becoming excited about starting a business. There will always be certain entrepreneurs who will succeed in going against the flow of this socialist-style movement, and who will remain solid and successful, but because very few Americans are offered the opportunity to realize the possibilities of being their own boss, we have so many people voting for big government. They really don’t understand that no one is always going to take care of them, and that freedom is about self-reliance not dependence.

Children are America’s great hope! Kids are natural entrepreneurs, and it only takes one entrepreneurial experience to awaken that spirit that dwells in so many of us. This opportunity to present “The Innovative Kids of America Project” to Sacramento Fair attendees proved to be the launching ground of a national movement. I plan on working with fairs all over the country to inspire kids to start their own businesses. "The Innovative Kids of America Project" changed those ten kids' lives forever, and the sky is the limit for success. This was America’s entrepreneurial spirit in action, and the parents were thrilled! Help me work some Great American Magic, and let’s create a pro-small business movement and take back our country one small business at a time!

Dianne Linderman can now be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show. “Everything That Matters” Visit her online shopping cart.

How Entrepreneurial Kids Can Save America

Just imagine a thriving American economy, full of happy business owners on the constant lookout for great employees! Imagine kids, instead of standing on street corners looking for trouble, standing in line for their business licenses. And imagine what the attitude of our country would be if the school system looked at our kids as potential leaders instead of as potential losers. We would wake up in the morning full of vision, dreams and ideas, and our employees would feel like part of something gigantic, as if a huge nest egg were about to hatch. But instead, so many in our workforce today have contempt for the very people who give them their paychecks. They have been trained to expect instead of perform; they have been indoctrinated with the idea that the American Entrepreneur is the monster in the closet.

I hear it every day, “My son or daughter is running with the wrong kids,” “I have no control over them,” “They used to be good kids, now they are taking drugs and not coming home at night,” etc., etc., and it never ends! We all scratch our wooden heads and ask ourselves: Where did we go wrong? What happened to my beautiful child? Let’s reflect. From a very young age, did you give your kids everything they ever wanted? Do they have all the latest electronics and distractions, all the designer clothes, or do they have nothing but their friends, no money for anything, no direction, but find out that if they hang out with the wrong crowd, they can have it all the wrong way? Do you give your kids money when they need it? Do you know what type of people your kids hang out with? What do you see in your child—a spoiled couch potato with no interests; a lost soul wandering from person to person looking for inspiration, or a young man or woman full of ideas and dreams, and not afraid to take on the world with gusto?

In these questions are the answers to our country’s future success or failure. We have become a nation of spoiled, entitled people with only ourselves to blame. We have failed our children by allowing the system to dictate to our guilt what we should think and how we should act and feel as Americans. The system has betrayed us, and it has lulled us into a sleep that has created an epidemic of politically correct zombies—followers who act without ever truly thinking.

History shows us that we used to be a country of fearless entrepreneurs, and kids learned by becoming apprentices. We now spawn leachy, ungrateful kids who think they know everything, and even when many of them have the opportunity to go to college, they graduate without knowing how to write a check and end up flipping burgers. Strangely, they take up the quest of fighting for the government's protection so that the system's nanny-like qualities will always be there to care for these dulled, dumbed-down students who step into reality for the first time in their lives completely clueless.

I am convinced that deep down inside each and every true American is a yearning to be free and independent, whether it is planting a garden, designing and building, or creating a dream business. I truly believe that each and every American wants to be self-governed and self-reliant, but then why do we believe in the system that takes this all away? It is the system that does not inspire self-respect; the system is in the discouragement business, not the encouragement business!

I have found a secret that cures most of what is hurting our kids and, believe or not, it is beyond simple—teaching a child as young as five years old the art of entrepreneurship! Kids are already natural entrepreneurs. Just help them set up a lemonade stand and watch their innate ability to create, sell and promote their product, and the end result, self-respect. If the American school system could turn out entrepreneurs and leaders instead of employees, we would have the perfect balance of economic strength and the true American Dream!

If we inspire our youth to be self-reliant, we will spoil the plans of the enablers and grow a new country within a country. We will awake the sleeping giant of the Entrepreneurial Spirit which is the engine of the American Dream and strength.

Dianne Linderman can now be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show “Everything That Matters.” Visit her online bookstore HERE.

Sure Glad Cows Don't Fly

Don’t look up now—it’s too late! The B.S. was coming down in buckets as Nancy Pelosi and her posse took advantage of hard-working entrepreneurs who were too busy making a living in order to pay for the millions of unemployed Americans. Maybe that’s part of the plan, keeping the American work force and business owners so busy trying to foot the bill for our country’s bad money managers that we don’t have time to protest or read the 1000-page health care bill. I don’t know about you, but I woke up on Sunday morning to find out that 220 people had stolen a piece of my children’s future. I would love to plant a few of the money trees that our new health care system is going to require.

Many of us have become a society of believers in a dream. Not the American dream, but a twisted dream where you wake up and have everything you ever wanted, without working for it. I have been blown away listening to people who think that we are actually going to have free health care for all. These are the same people who sign up for every free give-away that pops up in their e-mail, buy hundreds of dollars of lotto tickets, and gamble away their life savings in slot machines never wondering whose money is jingling around inside. Drunk with visions of their own freedom through gifts and entitlements, they are betting that they will win, never believing that they will most definitely lose. They want to believe in a lie because they don’t believe in their own abilities to achieve the real American Dream. Instead of grasping onto the reins of their own horse, these people believe that the fairy godfather is going to deliver them happiness and equality without their ever having earned it.

The do-gooders, who are the (mis)leaders of our country, paint such a pretty picture for their followers. These followers don’t really want the truth anyway; they love the excitement of the lie. The misleaders have been trained in engage in deceptive warfare on good Americans and with such sureness, they explain to the hopeful that the money to pay for all of the freebies will not come from taxpayers.

But these misleaders aren’t wearing their own boots because they have been bribed to wear someone else’s. In their greed and cowardice, they have chosen not to represent Americans, but to represent the special interests of those in our highest offices. They have been promised the same twisted dream that they have been asked to sell to us, and even though deep down in their toes they know the truth, they have given up any desire to stand on principal. They have been promised that their elite positions will be protected if they just all stand together. They have been told not to show fear and to charge forward no matter what the silly American people want or think.

This type of bullying can be seen in every schoolyard. Just last week my 12-year-old daughter had to stand her ground with a pushy 14-year-old who uses her personality, cuteness, and over-bearing aggression to get exactly what she wants from the whole class. She has learned that all it takes is pure irritation and an overzealous personality and the understanding that, when she gets people mad enough, she can point her finger at them as the problem and then she is in control.

My daughter was able to take her on because she did not get irritated. Instead, she spoke up with love and conviction, showing the other girl that she was actually the problem and not accepting her craziness. My daughter gave her a dose of correction, and put the controlling girl in her place and did not think another thing about it. She left that girl in a daze, because when you stand up properly, you affect the weak confusers, leaving them without a handle.

Now is not the time to get mad but to get strong. Don’t be confused by the misleadership in our country. These misleaders are betting on your anger and confusion. Try something new; confront them with conviction, strength, love of country and understanding of your rights. Never give them the upper hand by doubting your beliefs, your passion and your true love of the Red, White and Blue!

Together we stand!

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Give A Man A Fish

No one is ever going to convince a far-left liberal to see the sense in conservatism and true capitalism. We are always going to look like evil, capitalist pigs and nothing we can do will ever change their hearts, minds or feelings about conservatism. They don’t get the simple principle, “If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.” They like this version, “If you give a man a fish, he will owe you for a day. If you promise a man fish for a lifetime, he will give you his allegiance forever.” Why do they think that it is their job to make life fair for everyone? Why don’t they think that America represents fair opportunity for all when we are left to be creative and innovative? I am beginning to put together the reasons why the left feel they owe it to feed every hungry person, build them new homes, and provide them with money, gas and a even college education instead of allowing these same people the opportunity to get all of the above for themselves. The answer is simple: It’s about pure power and elitism.

What would be the difference between a person standing in a huge marketplace throwing handfuls of money up into the air and the government handing money over to undeserving people who lack initiative to earn their own money?

To the givers, it would feel the same in either case: They would suddenly rise above the people they had helped, feeling good for saving those poor fools, and they would be traveling on the highway to heaven and to ultimate control. Giving something to an undeserving person is a form of waking hypnosis. The giver becomes the master and the recipient becomes obligated and loyal. These so-called givers don’t really want others to have self-respect and free spiritedness but instead want to enslave their devotees, trapping them into a lifetime of servitude. I like to use the example of a parent who thinks that if he could keep his child happy by giving the child everything, he would have some power and influence over the child’s life. What we all know is that when a child is given everything he wants, he becomes angry and frustrated, and you end up with the opposite effect, arrogant rebellion of the worst kind.

Less is more with kids. They love to be independent, and they love to be self-reliant. If parents can resist trying to make their kids happy and instead trust them with their own interests and the outcome of their choices, then they will set their kids up for success instead of dependency and failure. Teaching kids how to earn money and encouraging them to believe that they can do anything they put their minds to is what real trust and love are all about. Giving irresponsibly to undeserving people and undeserving kids is the same thing as saying that you don’t trust them and they are not capable of achieving anything in life.

They begin to look to the givers for everything, and when the givers are out of resources, the dependents will turn on their masters and bite the hands that feed them, becoming the worst type of people. Through my work with troubled teenagers over the past 27 years, I have come to understand that truly helping someone in life is helping them discover self-respect and responsibility. Once a person finds he is capable of anything, he transforms into a strong person with visions and ideas of his own and, in turn, will become a more useful part of society. Some even become leaders, not leaches!

I have concluded that the left’s secret weapon is to wear the guise of caring, thoughtful, giving as they demoralize the weak and needy by confusing them with gifts and asking for their loyalty in return. It seems so innocent, but this is the perfect weapon, and it sneaks up on even the unsuspecting. The left should beware, though, because America is a nation of independent innovators full of vision and passion. Beams of light will always shine through its people. The strongest of us will survive, and what will separate the weak from the strong will be the willingness not to except the bribe!

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THE EMPEROR'S (PRESIDENT OBAMA'S) NEW CLOTHES

Many of us look at the leader of the free world and are frozen in our footsteps, watching in amazement, as our country’s history of freedom is unraveled like a ball of yarn. The millions of good men and women who gave their lives for our freedom are not only being taken for granted, but are actually being looked down upon as if they were part of the problem and the builders of an evil empire. We all think that President Obama is the reason for the massive attack on our freedom that we are witnessing, but if you really think deeply about why a perfectly intelligent and even somewhat intellectually brilliant human being could give away our beloved country with the ease and confidence of an Acorn employee dishing out advice to a pimp and a prostitute and not get caught, you would come to understand that President Obama is just a puppet in a world of deeply distorted demonic power managers. These people care nothing about Obama as a person, but only see that he is the perfect tool to destroy America as we know it!

A few days ago, I was teaching entrepreneurship to a class of sixth and seventh graders, and our project was to transform the school into a fair. The first lesson they needed to learn was how to run an event. I explained that they needed to choose a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. First, I asked all of the kids who were interested in being president to gather around me, and I explained what their responsibilities would entail, telling them they would have to be a good leader and direct people, as well as organize different committees, etc. Then each one stood in front of the class and spoke a few words about why they wanted to be president and what they could do. I was sure that this one young man would be chosen because he was so confident, strong, and had a lot of experience with making his own money. I just knew he was the one! Each student caste a vote on a slip of paper, and when the votes were counted, to my absolute shock, the kids had chosen a boy who was silly and had no abilities or experience, just a cute personality.

I was disappointed because I knew that this boy could not do the job, but the kids were thrilled with their decision. This boy had a few friends who had rallied the other kids in the class to vote for him, and he rose to power. After that, they voted for treasurer, and again, they voted for the weakest candidate. I was shocked again. I talked to my friend who is the headmistress of this school and asked her how this happened and why people are so invested in personality and not in character and ability? She said something that was so true, “Dianne, the kids who won the election stand for nothing; they are everyone’s friend and they are all things to all people. Even though the kids like the boy who they elected president, he will not make it past his first task!”

I had to take a step back and think. I saw what had happened in that classroom is exactly what had happened in our country’s Presidential election last fall. Candidate Obama had done nothing really clever, and he actually warned the country that he was going to make some fundamental changes that would transform America into a new nation, and we sort of heard that but disbelieved our intuitions’ warnings. We need to give a big “Thank You” to the mainstream media for leading America to believe that Obama was a middle-of-the-road Democrat. Because they had an agenda of their own, they never pointed out any of his deceptions but only his warm, charming qualities and personality. Where in the world are the principled Democrats who will tell the Obama administration that the President isn’t actually wearing clothes, only make-believe suits that many of us actually see through.

Even though the Obama administration thinks that many of us, including Sarah Palin, are dumb mobsters who want to make trouble, we are able to see the simple truth and are not going to allow him to make us, or our kids, believe that he is fully clothed! Many of our elected officials, both Republicans and Democrats, degrade us daily thinking that we are not aware of their own lack of clothing. We all see through their pretentious agendas and the backlash they are witnessing now is not going away. Americans are acting like true Americans again.

We will remind them in upcoming elections not to mess with our freedom, and, oh yeah, they had better get out of their see-through clothing and put on the uniform of freedom again with the badge of honor pinned carefully to their principles, because us multi-tasking, entrepreneurial dads and moms are about to make some changes and would like to remind our elected officials that they work for us, and they are going to be fired!