While millions of young Americans are drowning in college debt and degrees that don’t always lead to well-paying jobs, a growing number are proving success doesn’t require a diploma — just grit, skills and the free market.
“What America has, I think, is what the freedom economy is really leading us back to in America. We want a merit-based economy, we want merit-based hiring, we want merit-based success, and that is the most gratifying thing,” RedBalloon founder and CEO Andrew Crapuchettes told Fox News Digital.
“It’s going to ripple throughout the rest of the economy because most of us are still capitalists, no matter what they’ve been saying over the last five or 10 years. And when people see success, they wanna follow that,” he added. “And I think the whole world is gonna watch, they’re gonna see it and they’re gonna want to get back to a merit-based economy.”
“I think it’s important that people know they have options: college, trade school or both. That way everyone benefits – the student and the workforce,” New York hairstylist and trade school graduate Briana Delvecchio also told Fox News Digital.
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“Hands-on training is huge, and it helps you,” Delvecchio’s boss, salon owner Ashley DiMatteo, chimed in. “You come out of school ready and prepared to work.”
Ahead of the August jobs report, the “non-woke” job board RedBalloon and PublicSquare released their quarterly Freedom Economy Index, which found that Main Street is shifting from survival mode to growth mode; high prices are still the top concern for business owners; and while hiring is on the rise, qualified talent remains scarce.
More than 40% of the polled business owners plan to expand hiring but report that little has changed about the difficulty of finding skilled workers.
“Why are businesses struggling with this output? They said if you have someone who’s coming out with an undergrad in psychology, they don’t have any real-life skills, and they’ve been trained as a bit of an anarchist by a Marxist university. So why would I want to hire that person and put them within my four walls and have their culture potentially infect my great employees who are already there?” Crapuchettes said.
“That’s the moment we’re in right now, where universities are going to have to change their mindset significantly,” he continued. “Because the [number of] graduates coming out of universities without the skill sets that small businesses want is making it really hard to hire.”
Delvecchio and DiMatteo represent successful products of trade schooling and applaud vocational programs for prioritizing “foundational” skills like communication, professionalism and time management.
“For me, college didn’t feel right, but beauty school did. So I followed my passion and built a career that I love,” Delvecchio said. “On Day 1, I started as an apprentice, but I was job-ready, earning an income. People I knew with degrees were still trying to figure out the next step.”
“I come from a long line of entrepreneurs,” DiMatteo noted. “My dad has owned his own business for the past 40 years. I’ve always watched him, and seeing the freedom and flexibility he had was something that I definitely wanted – to have my own business and creativity.”
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Crapuchettes shares a similar background – he started programming computers at 13 and, by 16, was hired by a Bay Area tech company. While his high school friends were preparing for college, Crapuchettes “had a convertible Mustang, and they were driving their parents’ station wagon. So I felt like I was winning.”
“I had the opportunity to earn money instead of pay money,” he said. “By the time I was 21, I was traveling all over the world, speaking at conferences and teaching classes. It led to a career where I’d been able to start a lot of businesses, have a lot of success, and I don’t know that I would have had that same success if I had gone the traditional degree-seeking path.”
“A lot of people stereotype us,” Delvecchio admitted. “But as a commission-based stylist, my chair is a mini-business. Every person who sits in my chair directly impacts that business. It’s not just about coloring or cutting hair and going home. It’s about building relationships and confidence. That’s the real reward.”
“I feel like now there’s a lack of work ethic. Everybody just wants to come in, get paid and leave,” DiMatteo said. “There’s no true passion or hard work. They don’t want to put the work in.”
Crapuchettes put the onus on parents and higher education institutions to change the conversation around what he calls “mixed-collar” work, while DiMatteo and Delvecchio urge younger generations to pursue their passions.
“Main Street employers would love to actually meet with higher education,” the CEO said. “Not only do you have the mindset of the value of education changing, you also have the demographics. Colleges and universities need to take notice, or they’re going to go out of business over the next five to 10 years.”
“Parents need to invest in their kids. The baby boomers and even their kids would say, ‘Oh no, you don’t want to be a plumber or electrician, that’s just a dirty blue-collar job.’ But blue-collar jobs are what make the economy run,” he continued. “So we need parents to change that mindset. If you do that, you’re going to see this country succeed at levels we haven’t seen in a long time.”
“The beauty industry is always here to serve, regardless of the economy’s ups and downs. I’m always optimistic,” DiMatteo added. “I try to keep up with the trends, keep stylists in education to better themselves and improve the client experience.”
“This is about opportunity and independence. With hard work and skills, you can create financial freedom, your own schedule and your own career path,” Delvecchio said. “In the back of your head, there’s that thought, maybe I should have gone to college, maybe a desk job would be easier. But no… I wouldn’t be able to express myself through art and creativity.”
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