"Doing Business on American Land"

The article, "Doing Business on American Land", answers the question of what Native Americans do in modern day America in order to make money, as well as where they currently reside; whether it is the city or in their reservations. I learned from this article, that many Native Americans currently live in Arizona, almost 60%, and of those 60%, a majority of them are apart of a small business. Some of these businesses that are owned by these Native Americans are gas stations, grocery stores, convenience stores, arts and crafts stores, or smoke shops. However, there are other kinds of businesses as well, however these are considered  part of the 'invisible economy'. An invisible economy is over looked by society, but it is also very important to the Indian economy and people. An invisible economy may consist of the follow: a powwow, native arts and crafts producers, food vendors, vegetable gardening, and other small enterprises. One of the problems that often occur in Native American businesses; is that they do not measure wealth with money. They measure wealth with happiness, good help, good crops, and with the well-being of a community/family. Because of this, Native Americans have a few problems when it comes to equity, access to capital, and the cost of development. However, successful business have found that following are key to making a business: strategic vision, identifying with their own land, a well governed business, responsible, proud to be a Native American (using their own products goes a long way), involvement in politics.