ECONOMIC MOVES

What can you do now with what you already know, have, and can reach?

Seven Years of Change looks at a person's real economic environment—not only jobs, assistance, or training—to identify the strongest lawful economic moves that appear usable now.

The goal is practical: turn what you can already do, what surrounds you, what people and institutions are already paying for, and the barriers standing in your way into a researched 90-day action plan you can actually use.

You do not need to understand Seven Years of Change before beginning.

START WITH FIVE QUESTIONS

Where are you?

What can you already do?

What would you like to do or change?

What is making that difficult right now?

What do you already have access to—people, tools, time, transportation, skills, equipment, relationships, space, credentials, or other useful resources?

You do not need a résumé, business plan, diagnosis of your own problem, knowledge of government programs, or understanding of 7YOC before we look.

WE LOOK AT THE WHOLE FIELD

Behind those simple questions, Seven Years of Change performs a 360° Transaction Scan.

We look for real demand, customers and payers, paid work, learning attached to work, transportation, care, food, housing, information, licensing, tools and equipment, pooled purchasing, useful exchange, institutional capacity, Green savings, financing, productive assets, ownership pathways, and other connections that may affect whether a real transaction can happen.

Not every category applies to every person.

The point is to look before deciding that the answer must be another job search, another training program, another application, or another institution.

YOUR 90-DAY ACTION PLAN

The scan may identify one strong move, several possible moves, or no move that presently clears the evidence threshold. We do not force every person into the same set of choices.

When evidence supports an economic move, your plan is designed to be usable without ongoing case management.

It includes, where applicable:

• your situation and the opportunity being tested;

• the strongest economic moves we can presently identify;

• exact actions to take;

• verified organizations, employers, customers, programs, businesses, or other contacts;

• phone numbers, email addresses, application pages and relevant links;

• known costs, requirements and operating choices;

• practical decision rules for when to continue, change direction, or stop;

• a simple phone-friendly record of what happened; and

• the central question at Day 90: What remains?

What remains may be income, lower recurring costs, a customer, operating history, knowledge, relationships, a credential, equipment, productive capacity, an asset, ownership, or simply better information about what is and is not worth pursuing.

GIVE US 90 DAYS

We will look at what you can do, what surrounds you, what is already being paid for, what is preventing you from participating, and whether there is a lawful way to help you earn, keep more of what you have, build something productive, or begin owning more of the value you help create.

There is no guarantee that an opportunity exists.

There is no guarantee of income.

The commitment is that Seven Years of Change looks at the whole field instead of automatically putting the person into one institutional box.

The research burden belongs to Seven Years of Change. The choices remain with the participant.

SEE WHAT AN ECONOMIC MOVES PLAN LOOKS LIKE

These demonstration plans were created to test the Economic Moves process before it is used with a larger group of people.

They are examples, not testimonials, and they do not claim that a particular result will occur. They show the level of local research, specific contacts, decision rules, operating choices and 90-day actions the process is designed to return.

SAMPLE 1

TAMARA — BUFFALO, NEW YORK

Goals: Sewing, repair, reuse and paid instruction

Tamara already knows how to sew, alter clothing, perform basic upholstery work, and repair clothing and household textiles. The plan asks whether those existing skills can reduce household costs and produce real paying repair, alteration or teaching opportunities before she spends significant money on equipment or business expansion.

READ TAMARA'S SAMPLE 90-DAY PLAN — PDF

SAMPLE 2

BARRY — PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Goal: Flexible remote work and direct customer testing

Barry already has bookkeeping, spreadsheet, scheduling, customer-service and administrative skills, but conventional onsite work conflicts with caregiving responsibilities. The plan tests flexible remote employment and direct bookkeeping/administrative customers while addressing the actual barriers rather than automatically prescribing more training.

READ BARRY'S SAMPLE 90-DAY PLAN — PDF

SAMPLE 3

JAMES — DULUTH, GEORGIA

GOAL: James wants to move into paid solar/electrical work now and eventually build enough skill, equipment and experience to own productive tools or part of a business.

An immediate path into paid solar + storage electrical work, backed by a broader electrical-apprenticeship route so the work itself can build documented experience, technical skill, employer relationships and knowledge of which tools may eventually increase his earning capacity and control.

READ JAMES'S SAMPLE 90-DAY PLAN — PDF

SAMPLE 4

JOSHUA — FORT WORTH, TEXAS

GOAL: Joshua wants to turn occasional landscaping, minor repair, painting and hauling jobs into a legitimate recurring business with repeat customers.

A 90-day path that begins with the customers, equipment, van and reputation he already has: convert existing customers into recurring work, record the real cost and return from every job, establish the correct business and insurance structure, use additional workers lawfully, and consider equipment or working capital only after repeated demand proves what the business actually needs.

READ JOSHUA'S SAMPLE 90-DAY PLAN — PDF

SAMPLE 5

SUZIE — CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA

GOAL: Suzie wants to earn approximately $1,500 a month in additional income from food she already knows how to make and eventually build a small food business.

A low-cost path to test real paying demand first: determine which foods can lawfully be produced from her home kitchen, use preorders with people already connected to her, test whether prepared meals require a different permitted pathway, use existing church or community infrastructure where lawful, and let repeat sales determine whether additional permits, kitchen space, equipment or transportation are actually justified.

READ SUZIE'S SAMPLE 90-DAY PLAN — PDF

THE FIRST PUBLIC TEST

Seven Years of Change is beginning with a small number of personalized plans so the process can be tested, corrected, and improved before it is expanded.

The first 25–30 personalized Economic Moves plans will be prepared without charge.

Participants will be invited to tell us what happened - positive, negative, incomplete, or unexpected - so the evidence can improve the next plan. Participation in that learning process does not require a positive result or testimonial.

The purpose is to determine whether a whole-environment search can help a person identify and act on a real economic move more effectively than sending that person into one predetermined institutional pathway.

REQUEST AN ECONOMIC MOVES PLAN

connect@sevenyearsofchange.org

Submission does not guarantee that a viable opportunity will be found or that income will result.

Please send only the information requested. Do not send Social Security numbers, bank or card information, passwords, medical records, or other sensitive identifying documents.

If sensitive information is submitted, Seven Years of Change will delete it and will not use it to prepare the plan.

LOOKING AT YOUR COMMUNITY RATHER THAN AN INDIVIDUAL PLAN?

Visit Places You Live to explore current place-based opportunities across 10 states and 21 local economies.

WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE ECONOMIC IDEA UNDERNEATH THIS?

Read You Are Already the Economy and The Work.