Seven job seekers contacted me yesterday looking for assistance in finding something in the region. California, Texas, Georgia, and Richmond are where some of the seven currently reside, but want to move to Roanoke.

You can look at it in one of two ways. Unemployment is on the rise or people are beginning to find out about the RNR (Roanoke and New River Valleys) and want to move. From our Roanoke Connect database, we are finding more people on sites like Wikipedia and Ask.com that are bringing people to our database. Certainly, we find many people looking to go from underemployed to gainfully employed especially as inflation continues to rise.   

Jobzcafe.comhas been trying to tap into helping these folks with their new site and Talking Tuezday events. Other efforts, such as The Roanoker magazine, are being proactive in assisting and encouraging the relocator. 

All of these efforts appear to be merging nicely and viral activity is taking over. Keep talking it up, blogging it, mentioning it at functions, and staying involved in the process. Thanks for your time and efforts.  

Roanoke, Virginia native Cameron Johnson is down to the final three in Oprah’s Big Give with the final episode this Sunday evening, April 20 at 8 pm on ABC.

A CNNMoney article recently examined how entrepreneurs, like Cameron, have an advantage on these TV reality shows.

More than having the advantage on reality shows, having more residents with an entrepreneurial spirit differentiates your regional economy and allows it to compete in the global economy. We must have more entrepreneurs working for themselves rather than working for someone else. Cameron is our poster child for the young professional/ young adult movement in Roanoke and entrepreneurial spirit needed in the 21st century.  

I read an intersting article in this month’s Fast Companyon Aaron Patzer’s company Mint.com - a site to help young adult manage their money. In this article, it said that on average Americans under 35 spend 16% more than they earn. Wow!

Mass materialism, image building, consumerism, keeping up with the Joneses, brand affinity, access to credit all contribute to this issue. From this statistic, it is becoming a problem. Why can’t we live within our means? Why can’t we differentiate between needs and wants? Why?

Perhaps we must create a local program in the region to better educate young adults on these personal finance issues or at lease drive them to Mint.com. Any thoughts are recommended?