Hey! Go see JessaLu Knits and help her sweetie raise money to benefit their local community. It won’t cost you a penny. All you have to do is follow the link on her site to a local bank that is making grants to the non-profit organizations that win the most votes. One vote per person. BONUS: JessaLu is offering a skein of her handspun in a drawing if you leave her a comment before January 31 saying you voted. That’s Sunday, folks, so go do it and then come back. Don’t tell me you can’t think of a thing to do with a skein of handspun yarn.
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My universe shifted the other day. I received the latest Vermont Country Store catalog in the mail and randomly opening it, landed on a page where they’re selling these (WARNING: not work safe). It just seemed weird to find these next to the cast iron kettles, foldable farmer’s purses, flannel nightgowns and Beeman’s gum.
It’s like catching your grandparents doing it.
I wonder if parents are hiding the VCS catalog from their kids?
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From a morning perusing an online database: There are roughly 25,000 employers in our metro area. Of that, 15,000 or 60%, have 4 or fewer employees. If you add the next size category, 5 to 9 employees, the total is 19,000 companies. Translated: 76% of potential employers have less than 10 employees.
No wonder everybody says jobs come from small employers. They own the marketplace.
So why do we spend so much time targeting the large well-known employers? Because they’re the low-hanging fruit. They’re easy to find information on and chances are we know somebody who works there, or by degree of separation, know someone who knows someone.
As for those employers making up the 76%, I have to believe their pay and benefits are generally less than what you’ll find with the bigger companies. If you start to look at the sales/profits figures based upon company size you can extrapolate that there isn’t a lot of room for raises, decent benefits or promotions within the company. And while 19000 companies seems like a wide-open opportunity for employment, how many of those are just hanging on in this environment and have no intention of hiring in 2010?
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I busted out the spindles again last night, it’s been months since I touched them. I also pulled out all the bits of proto-yarn I made when I was just learning to spin and dumped it all in a basket. My boy cat needs a cushion all his own for the office that I can train him to sleep on instead of insisting that my lap is the only place to be. Trying to work around him and keep him from falling on the floor leads to really bad ergonomics and I usually end up with achy and strained muscles. Perhaps if he has his Very Own Cushion, we can reach a compromise.
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Welcome to my brain.
Thanks for the shout-out!!
R worked for a small company for 15 years before being let go last fall -he was making very good money for his profession. I think if you are working for a small company and they are doing well, you have a better chance of also doing well yourself. Larger companies don’t really ’see’ the little guy. (IMHO)
Good luck with the kitty cushion! I hope it works! ;o)
I’ve been thinking the same thing about my cat! I even cast on last night, three strands of yarn on size 15s, but I think I need bigger needles because this is a project I don’t want to spend a lot of time on.
The feminine wash by a company called ProSeed has me a little afraid… and I really want some maple syrup now. Thanks, Diane!
buwahahahahahahah.
*ahem*
But you might have sore muscles after working hard all day.
Or something.
Doesn’t surprise me – you Vermonters are a lively bunch! Good luck with the cushion. In my experience with pets, they rule the roost and I’m just there to do their bidding. Of course, that’s because they’ve trained me that way
[...] Diane! Leave a comment on my ‘Contact Me’ post and I’ll reply to you so we can [...]
you may want to check my blog…maybe…you might find today’s post particularly interesting…maybe. ;op
I used to have a little black and white cat who was *always* in my lap. Usually trying to sit inside of whatever I was working on. While it was stinkin’ hilarious to watch him going round and round in a basket I was weaving, it was a little difficult to knit a hat…
Oh, my gosh. Were we separated at birth? I love love love your blog. BTW, training a cat? Oh, please keep me posted. I need a little giggle;-D
Vermont Country Store??? Yikes.