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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Yet another choice

Another choice: either you are living in a sparse area, the place in which you have lived for a long time, or you moved there recently (or plan to do so as soon as you can).

The two situations need to be approached very differently.

If you are a long-term resident, you have a support network, you know how to get things done, you are familiar with all the local resources. You are less likely to step on the toes of locals.

If you are a newcomer, you have the outsider (lateral-thinker) advantage, you are not encumbered by “that’s how we do it here,” and you probably have access to outside resources.

Good businesses for the old-timer:
Something that caters to locals
A venture that involves hiring locals

Good businesses for the newcomer:
Internet sales
Something exported to the type of people from your old neighborhood
Tourism-based businesses

I often see newcomers establish businesses that sell to locals. But they don’t understand local needs, networks, old alliances, or who is still angry with whom for a diss in middle school. Sometimes they get caught up in old feuds they don’t understand.

Often I see people who have always lived in the town. They want to start a business, but cannot think outside the box. They try to do the same thing they have always seen done. So they compete with an established business, dividing up a market barely large enough to support one business.

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