Moderator: Demothy Tien
Producer: Kimberly Lopez Chavez
Anchor: Alan Cardoza
Social Media Editor: Zaira Garcia
Reporters: Kenia Arevalo, Monica Campos, Alan Cardoza, Lauren Cienfuegos, Zaira Garcia, Kimberly Lopez Chavez and Demothy Tien
Starting a business has never been an easy task. In this day and age, it can be argued that it is becoming increasingly difficult. However, this new generation of business owners has found a way to benefit from social media, by using it to build brand awareness much more easily. Regardless, succeeding with a small business is still a tall task, requiring more than just brand awareness in this new age of entrepreneurship.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says about 20 percent of small businesses fail within their first year. By the end of the fifth year, roughly 50 percent of small businesses have failed. After 10 years, only about one in three is still around.
For those who are able to make it past the first year, it’s not the easiest thing to get off to a running start.
“It’s not like Field of Dreams, [where] if you build it, they’re just gonna show up,” Opulen Studios owner Christiana Lucratif said. “It’s marketing, and trying to get everybody to spread the word. One of the biggest things was just being willing to take the risk, and just dive in.”
In this new era, the use of social media has become one of the biggest tools for entrepreneurs as they try to find new customers and partners, and then keep them. A 2017 survey of marketers showed that 66 percent of internet users between the ages of 18 and 24 are more loyal to the brands they follow on social media.
“We’re scrolling on Instagram, or whatever it may be,” Scarlet’s Addiction founder Sadee Mondino said. “I know I have to use it all day because of what I do for a living. That’s how I find most of the brands I want to work with. That’s how I find people I want to work with.”
However, an online presence can’t be the end all be for these aspiring entrepreneurs.
“If Instagram were to shut down, [you’d have to ask], ‘can you still stay in business and how are you exporting those followers and those customers to your actual CRM (Customer Relationship Management)’,” said Lucratif. “That’s why I do a lot of the marketing directly through my own text messages and emails, versus just social media. And then people that I do find on social media, [I work on] gathering their contact information, and putting them into my database.”
Moderator: Monica Campos
Producer: Lauren Cienfuegos
Anchor: Kenia Arevalo
Social Media Editor: Zaira Garcia
Reporters: Kenia Arevalo, Monica Campos, Alan Cardoza, Lauren Cienfuegos, Zaira Garcia, Kimberly Lopez Chavez and Demothy Tien
The United States is the only industrialized country that doesn’t guarantee its citizens paid family leave. Eighty-five percent of American voters say they support paid family leave. That support seems to cross party lines. Perry Undem and Bellwether Research & Consulting conducted a survey of 1,004 registered voters, and found that 94 percent of Democrats, 83 percent of Independents and 74 percent of Republicans support paid family leave. This includes voters of all ages, races and income levels.
Even in Washington, D.C., both Democrat and Republican leaders recently expressed support for some form of a paid family leave program at the federal level. “We are seeking to build consensus around policy that can garner enough votes to be passed into law,” Senior White House advisor Ivanka Trump said.
Experts agree that parents need time to recover from the physical and emotional challenges of giving birth, and bringing an infant home. One in nine women suffer from postpartum depression in the U.S. These women need even more time to recover for themselves, for their families and for their newborn, but it’s essential for all new mothers and fathers to have time to bond and to rest. “I would love to have more than 16 weeks off,” working mother Jackie Valdez said. “Going back to work was difficult.”
Paid family leave is good for businesses, too. “There is a lot of evidence that indicates that employees, when they go back to work after having paid maternity leave, are more committed to the organization,” David Nazarian College of Business and Economics Professor Sigalit Ronen said. “They are more satisfied; they engage more frequently with the citizenship behavior.” Ronen said paid family leave is a good investment for businesses, as it gets fully returned when employees come back with motivation and satisfaction.
“There is probably a long term effect to measure and capture,” David Nazarian College of Business and Economics Professors Daniel Degravel said. Having strong families may strengthen the social fabric and economic health of a society, and ultimately decrease crime.
The odds of Americans getting paid family leave have never been better. California, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island have recently passed laws. California is extending paid family leave to 18 weeks, the most generous policy in the country, but it’s still far less than in many countries in the world.
Moderator: Zaira Garcia
Producer: Lauren Cienfuegos
Anchor: Monica Campos
Social Media Editor: Alan Cardoza
Reporters: Kenia Arevalo, Monica Campos, Alan Cardoza, Lauren Cienfuegos, Zaira Garcia, Kimberly Lopez Chavez and Demothy Tien
Getting a flu shot can save your life.
According to the World Health Organization, between 250,000 to 500,000 people die every year from the flu. The most common flu symptoms are fever, cough, sore throat, chills, runny nose and a headache. Urgent care physician’s assistant Vanessa Guzman said the flu can also lead to pneumonia.
The vaccine is made, often using egg-based technology, and adjusted every season by drug manufacturers, working in collaboration with the WHO and the FDA, to test and improve the effectiveness of the shot depending on which viruses are expected to be in circulation.
But the National Opinion Research Center reports that in 2018, 41 percent of Americans said they did not plan on getting the flu vaccine. Some people say they never get the flu, or they don’t believe in vaccines. And about one in three say they choose not to get vaccinated because they believe the flu shot will make them sick.
“It is really impossible to get the flu from the flu vaccine,” said Mercedes Gallup, Nursing and Clinical Supervisor at CSUN’s Klotz Student Health Center. She said most of the time people who do get sick had been exposed to the virus prior to the vaccination.
Gallup recommends getting the shot before flu season begins, because the immune system takes two weeks to build itself up from the vaccine, leaving a vulnerability period in which you can become ill if you’re exposed to the virus.
Other people don’t get vaccinated because they worry about side effects. The most common are a sore arm or bump. The CDC recommends that those with allergies to eggs should take precautions, but may be vaccinated.
Even after the shot, people can still limit their exposure to viruses, and decrease their chances of getting sick, with some simple precautions like washing hands regularly and avoiding people who are ill.
“You can do your best to minimize and mitigate the chance of an infection, from not just the flu, but other things as well,” Medtronics Inc. associate scientist Simrat Kalsi said.
The Klotz Student Health Center offers the flu shot at a low price, and with medical insurance students can get the vaccine for free at most pharmacies.
Moderator: Monica Campos
Producer: Demothy Tien
Anchor: Alan Cardoza
Social Media Editor: Kimberly Lopez Chavez
Reporters: Kenia Arevalo, Monica Campos, Alan Cardoza, Lauren Cienfuegos, Zaira Garcia, Kimberly Lopez Chavez and Demothy Tien
