It was made by my grandpa. My grandfather was a master teacher and wood worker. He carved this and then we cast it in bronze. It’s kind of a family hand-me-down. It represents a hard-work ethic and what our ancestors did for us. I have a pioneer heritage; they came West because they were persecuted. That’s the core of what the government has given me and my family: we can believe the things we want to believe and we can worship, we can vote, we can have our own voice.
“I see my joy in my family. Coming home and being with friends or family, that’s what real happiness is. That’s what real joy is and those things are discovered through the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I try to center my attention towards those things instead of getting caught up in the fast-paced life.”
I want a balance. If you truly work hard while you’re at work, then you can be at home with the family when you’re not. When it comes down to it, my family is the most important thing to me. My wife and I have three kids — an 8 year-old boy, a 5 year-old girl and a 2 year-old girl. We’ve been married for 12 years. We go to a great church and live in a place where people are always looking out for each other.
Tomas Sereda/iStock
I’d say my faith has taught me about the importance of self-reliance. If I could disconnect my entire life from the grid, as they say, I would do that. As it is, I just spend less than I make. My wife is at home with the kids, so that puts a lot of pressure on me and my job. We want to make sure that if a rainy day comes long, we could last six months without needing an income. So, we budget carefully. We also have a cold storage where we have about six months’ supply of food. I think the key to real freedom, and when real wealth is generated, is when you get completely out of debt. Then your paycheck is coming into your pocket and it’s staying there.
“We go to a great church and live in a place where people are always looking out for each other.”
I’ve learned a lot from my dad. I didn’t realize it when I was growing up, but he was always putting challenges in front me — to make me stronger, to get me to think harder. I think back to the times when my dad would have me go outside and dig a hole just to fill it back in again, or move a rock from one side of the yard to the other, and I realize my dad was teaching me hard work in those moments. I try to do similar things with my kids. When we go on vacation, we usually go camping. Sure, we could take them to Hawaii or Disneyland, but I want to teach them skills they can use. When we’re outside, I can teach them different things in nature, how to build a fire, how to survive. These are the things they will remember.
“I see my joy in my family. Coming home and being with friends or family, that’s what real happiness is. That’s what real joy is and those things are discovered through the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I try to center my attention towards those things instead of getting caught up in the fast-paced life.”
Chris Schmidt/iStock
In my job, I look at myself, first off, as an employer. I am someone who has direct reports and is an important part of the chain. I have people that rely on me to try to make the right decision at the right time, so that they can live and function and work. I’m a person they depend on, and I have a role in this little piece of the economy that provides food on the table for them, shelter over their heads and people to talk to while they’re here working. In my role, I help people develop so they’re able to improve themselves and improve their families. Wherever they end up, they’ll be helping some company or some business grow, which will help, in other ways, more people to strengthen the economy, because everyone is becoming better at their skill or trade. Mastery is very important to me.
“I think the key to real freedom, and when real wealth is generated, is when you get completely out of debt. Then your pay check is coming into your pocket and it’s staying there.”
I have to admit that I’m not a fan of politics. I’m not a fan of contention. With government and politics, I tend to check out because when I look at it, the debates seem to go on between individuals and nothing gets done. There are important things that happen but most of the time it’s about politicking and the changes are of no benefit to the average citizen. I try to form my own opinions, and I look more to my church, where I can see an impact and real leadership. In the Mormon faith, we are all striving for virtuous prosperity. I do believe however, people should vote and support the initiatives that are core to them. For me, this is family. It’s my driving force. For the Mormon Church, it’s the recent push for homosexual marriage. We strongly believe that marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and woman.
Roman023/Shutterstock.com
The American Dream used to mean, for a lot of people, owning your own home. But to me, the American dream is to live a life that you want to live. To some people, that is having an amazing career where they are CEO of a company. For others, like my wife, it is to be a stay-at-home mom, to raise the kids, to be there when they get home from school. It’s not going to be the same for everybody, but as long as that’s what your dream is, go for it.
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For this set of interviews, we focused on working, middle-class Americans. Building on the work of our colleague Richard Florida, we looked for individuals across two broad job categories: creative jobs (which involve independent judgment and decision making) and routine jobs (which do not). We also attempted to recruit people working across Michael Porter’s industry types: local industries (which serve the local population) and traded industries (which sell outside the local area);
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In each group, we have attempted to match typical characteristics (age, gender, race) against the typical demographics of that industry group. We have also attempted to balance participants by region (as much as possible in a small sample).
One-on-one, ethnographic interviews were conducted to understand our user. Topics were wide-ranging, but typically covered the economy, education, politics, government and the American Dream. Some stories may contain inappropriate content for children.
Routine
Local
Creative
Traded