Work, Family Economics, and Entrepreneurship
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Editor’s note:
Originally posted in March 2016, the insightful Frontline special, which started in 1991, follows two families of different races, now updated through 2024.
Blessings to the late Jackie Stanley and Bill Moyers.
Somehow, the lead word in the first line below seems woefully out of place in 2025.
Good work environments exist in the corporate world and small business sectors, but programs, such as PBS’ Frontline, document labor policies and the reality that many workers and their families experience all too often.
From an entrepreneurial viewpoint…
In an attempt to earn money to pay mounting bills, Milwaukee resident Terry Neumann bought a beauty
care products for resale after her husband’s high-paying job was outsourced to another country.
Seemingly down-to-earth, an outgoing people person, viewers watched as Terry attempted to sell the products to a neighbor.
It was sadly awkward.
She later lost her investment in the products, says host Bill Moyers.
Initially, a stay-at-home mom, Terry took a low-wage job to help pay the bills. After finding a position as a security guard, at one point, with higher wages and benefits, she appeared happy with the nontraditional work and seemed to enjoy driving a truck.
The Stanley Family
Claude and Jackie Stanley took the entrepreneurial leap, even the children, to some extent, after jobs kept folding,
Jackie Stanley earned her real estate license and struggled in an industry with a color line.
Commission paychecks would often fall through if deals were not finalized, which seemed to happen often.
The real estate industry in Milwaukee is riddled with policies based on race, and an infrastructure that affects even her qualified clients attempting to get mortgages.
It’s a circumstance that lessens the probability of closing a sale and earning her fee.
Residential sales in upscale neighborhoods were closed to her because she is African-American,
according to the documentary.
Jackie’s passion and enthusiasm for the art of selling are evident, but I saw nothing in the program that
answered the question of why she chose real estate, other than that it was what she had studied while she was still employed in the early 1990s.
After buying a building so that Jackie could open her own real estate office, her husband, Claude, joined
with and her opened a home inspection business, but the ventures were not successful.
Son Keith, 15, when Frontline first filmed, started a lawn mowing business with his brothers.
Now in his mid-30s, a college graduate with a government job, he continues with other sideline entrepreneurial pursuits.
The Stanley family’s work ethic and strong values were passed to their children, and their son Keith, who seems to have developed the ability from a young age to choose ventures that filled a marketplace niche.
But insight is not evident in the entrepreneurial fields chosen by his parents, which were highly competitive with no evident niche being addressed.
Had the couple started from home or opened in a business incubator, they would have at least
trimmed startup costs and had the opportunity to test their ideas in the marketplace.
Jackie Stanley said she felt like a failure, but she has strong managerial, sales, mentoring, and
communication skills. Skills that may not be the best entrepreneurial fit for real estate in
Milwaukee, given her considerable talents.
Terry and Jackie may belong in fields they have never considered or know little about, choosing instead traditional paths, which do not allow for their full potential.
For instance, Jackie loved resale fashion, and Terry might have belonged in a children’s tutorial endeavor…she seems to have wonderful interpersonal skills that are not being utilized.
References
What’s Happened to Two American Families?
Pbs.org/wgbh/frontline
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/whats-happened-to-the-two-american-families/
University of Milwaukee SBDC
https://uwm.edu/sce/small-business-development-center-at-uw-milwaukee/
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