The obvious and twisted statistics of unemployment

There are times when we make an argument by pointing out the obvious. There are two reasons why it is important that we still test the validity of these arguments. Firstly, obvious things (what we perceive as such) must be proven as obvious (true), and constantly re-evaluated. And, secondly, the devil is in the details and we must’ve been wrong about something somewhere along the way. So, we must do all these statistical and econometrical analyses to prove to you what you already knew while also showing you what you did not see.

And this is why I shortly want to reflect on one of my latest findings.

I was working on a paper about flexicurity analysis – surprise, surprise, I’ve been working on this for years. However, this time I wanted to look at it from the start-up and self-employment angle and argue that we should integrate basic business statistics in the analysis of labour market, because being self-employed or owning a business is the new form of employment.

The “Life After [..]” Trap

Since we are little we all get questioned by others:

-What will you become when you grow up? // Life after childhood

-What will you study after you finish your school? // Life after school

-Where are you going to work after you graduate? // Life after university

-What will you do next, to get promoted? // Life after being in low position at your work

-Where are you going to travel next? // Life after work

-When are you going to have a baby? // Life after being just married

I never thought there could be so many future-oriented questions! But they are all around, all the time. And unfortunately this is not always helping us to become better or reach highest mountains. I see more and more people (including myself) struggling to answer these questions and not because they (and I) don’t know the answer, but because they (and I) are fed up with social pressure and standards of having one or the other way of living. As well as, the paradox – whatever you answer, others will always have comments on it!

There is no such thing “I found myself” or 2 years of Solo-traveling

The great results often come with great sacrifices – that is the point a lot of people forget when being amazed by my pictures from cities I have visited. I will leave this story of sacrifices (like being in danger or depressed) behind the scene but I will tell you what else I have learned, while traveling.

Solving a business problem in 4 months with newly built team – is it possible? 8 lessons to be learned.

Since February this year I have been involved in the project called DEMOLA. They say they are an international organization that facilitates co-creation projects between university students and companies, either locally or internationally. The basic idea is that a company (called partner) gives a real business case for students to solve. Students at the same time are collected all over, from different universities and faculties. By default teams are built in a way that no-one has ever worked with other teammates before.

Here is the team I was working with

From the left: Signe, Valters, Zanda, Lilita, me, Elza, and Arturs.

So here you are – unknown business, unknown team and 4 months to solve the problem.

What were the lessons learned?

Net Present Value of Going to the Sea-side

One of the courses where I give lectures during the spring 2015 is the Risk Management. What is the first thought that comes up hearing “risk”? I would say “something unknown” and “something you cannot fully control”. The interesting nature of human is that most commonly (this is my assumption, not observed experimentally) everyone looks for safety and, therefore, studies, works, makes family and friends, and dies (this one is certain for sure – no risk involved). But at the same time everyone is looking for adventure. Some people do sports (that can hurt you), other are gambling, other are traveling, other perform on stage in front of auditory etc. If we google “adventure” (and of course Wikipedia is there for us to explain the term) it says it is an exciting or unusual experience. It may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome.

Life is a Risk Management. You balance your risk-averse and risk-taking habits.

This was what we did with my sister on Sunday, February 22. Dace is good at photography, I am good at reading, sitting, smiling and laughing, and looking to camera. This was the risk-averse part – we only did that we thought we are good at. But we did it together in this “photo-taking project” manner for the first time, and that was a risky part. We had no clue what is going to come out from our project. So we took a chair from home and went to the sea-side. Before we left, my Mam said – don’t get cold! What she meant is “do not risk too much”.

We all do, oh, yes, we do! So I smiled back quietly. Comment: it was around 15degrees and windy outside. Here are some pictures that came out of our project.