In this forum, we are trying to develop the:


 - individual
 - community
 - region


Do these goals stand in opposition to each other? Do they complement each other? Certainly a strong individual in a weak region has an easier time being a genius (reference St. Ambrose, who was considered to be a super genius because he could read without moving his lips.) But an individual or community in a super-region has more opportunities for leveraging ideas, capital, encouragement, and role models. 


Living in a less-developed region is not a success killer. It is just different. 

Blogging for Free

Here at the Nauvoo Commuter, we publish a regular blog and ask for no money. That's fine. It would be a little weird if we did.

I am advising my daughter on starting a business. One option is to follow the course suggested by a prominent incubator: start a free service. After a large number of people are hooked, then find a way to monetize it. You can offer an upgraded (premium) pay service, offer advertising space, sell other information, etc. But you monetize only after the system becomes an institution.

This is something YOU can do.

The quote of the day comes from Jeff Bezos: “you can’t put into a spreadsheet how people are going to behave around a new product.” 


I believe that our over-reliance on proforma tools is caused by our fear of failure. They are either attempts to control the future, or to predict it in order to prevent failure.


But you really can't see how a potential product or service will work unless you can watch a customer, in a natural purchasing setting, decide whether or not to purchase the product. If it doesn't work, then try adjusting the value proposition by changing the price, distribution method, or how you advertise. If it still doesn't work, then scrap the product or service rather than launching it on a full scale. If you don't launch it, then move on to the next idea.

Sustainable Frugality

Or would calling it Frugal Sustainability be more appropriate?

Creative accounting might indicate the recession is over, but the real results of recession: unemployment, general uncertainty, etc. linger. Further, since Central Banks had each attempted to cure a hangover with massive consumption of whiskey, intoxication remains. You can't cure a debt problem by multiplying the rate of borrowing.

So perhaps your next business plan should involve assisting people through both economically stagnant and resource-depleted scenarios.

 - Selling wood heating stoves or becoming a Chimney Sweep
 - Re-upholstering
 - Recycling
 - Upcycling
 - As people are reluctant to purchase real estate, try home repair or
   remodeling (help people "love the one you're with")
 - Sell mopeds
 - Teach homesteading
 - Develop a farmers market

"Use it up, where it out, make do, or do without," as they used to say in frugal times of earlier generations. 

Industrial Recruiting

When a woman has an affair with a married man, and finally convinces him to leave his wife and marry her, she never realizes that when she becomes the new wife, he will eventually cheat on her. "But he loves me. He never loved her." Adultery is rarely based on finding someone you love more. It is based on an illness or character flaw.

As a community leader, you might think you are so attractive with your low wages and educated work force that convincing a corporation to love you more than the current host community is a great idea. But eventually you will be the old wife, and another community with lower wages will woo them away again. Your town will be ex-wife #2. Or #3.

Every professional in the economic development realm seems to now agree that any effort spent recruiting factories to your community is a waste. 

Further, other problems exist with choosing the future of your local economy by 

How can you choose which industry is best suited for your region?

How can you decide which industry will be best situated for coming macro-economic changes?

How can you use taxpayer money to bribe corporations to relocate?

If recruiting factories is dumb, then trying to recruit a low-wage call-center operation is even dumber.  

I Like Pie

Do you view the pie as finite?  If someone gets a larger slice, does that mean your piece will be smaller? Or do you believe that by cooperating with other pie-eaters, you can increase the size of the pie?

This topic has been discussed by several commentators, but it really is a philosophical difference that divides humanity.

If a tourist visit a neighboring town, does that mean you have missed out on that revenue? Or could you work together, multiplying the tourist stream by many times what you could by yourself?

In tourism, the key to community development might be regional development.

Scapegoats

When the Black Death swept across Europe, the scale of death and suffering was so great, and the cause so invisible, that people could not cope with the horror. They needed a scapegoat.

So Jews were often rounded up and killed. It was not rational, but when you need to direct anger away from yourself, a scapegoat can be very convenient. Governments have used Jews for centuries to deflect blame for incompetent governing.

We still do it. The U.S. government created a ginormous credit bubble, then told investment banks they would be protected if they made stupid investment decisions. Those are the two main causes of our current crisis. Of course the people who control the microphones blame deregulation, corporate greed, or other sideline issues. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," the White House yells.

But we also see this problem even in small communities. Local economies are being ripped apart by unstoppable global forces, but unfortunately we often look for local scapegoats to blame. Immigrants, city councils, mayors, racial or religious minorities, infrastructure, brain drain, school principals, climate....

Blame is easier than solvency.

Ebay and Socialism

Dar eBay: you are not a monopoly.

Your company continues to act the part of a socialist government, envious of any citizen who turns a profit.

The company learned that some of their sellers are earning profits, and seek to harvest them. So you again raise your rates. Your announcement was couched in doublespeak. More sellers will flee to competitors. And you will raise them again in the future. And lose more sellers that time as well.

Your base might be growing as the market grows, but your share of the market is shrinking. Someday you'll be Chrysler, a company still probably atop the minivan market.

Selflessness and Creativity

Want to be more creative? Of course you do.


Uber-author Dan Pink shared a great story this week, highlighting a recent research report on the topic. Apparently we are more creative when we are solving problems for other people than for ourselves, according to a study conducted by  Evan Polman and Kyle J. Emich. Quoting from the synopsis:


"...In Study 1, participants carried out a structured imagination task by drawing an alien for a story that they would write, or alternatively for a story that someone else would write. As expected, drawing an alien for someone else produced a more creative alien. 
"In Studies 2a and 2b, construal level (i.e., psychological distance) was independently manipulated. Participants generated more creative ideas on behalf of distant others than on behalf of either close others or themselves. 
"In Study 3, a classic insight problem was investigated. Participants deciding for others were more likely to solve the problem; furthermore, this result was mediated by psychological distance. These findings demonstrate that people are more creative for others than for themselves and shed light on differences in self-other decision making." (see the report here.)

In rural areas we have fewer people to help us solve our problems, fewer people on whom to test ideas. That is not a problem, because now they've invented something called the internet. You can connect with peers globally, and solve each other's problems.

Someone might steal your idea

"Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; 

and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."

Be careful, or someone might steal your business idea. Of course, if you focus on protecting your idea, it will not grow. If the thought of someone stealing your idea makes you anxious, then please release yourself from the thought.


Tell people your idea. Ideas are cheap. You might think your idea is so brilliant, but if so, why aren't you making money off of it? You're hiding it under a bushel. Share your idea with as many people as possible.


   - helps investors hear about it
   - commits you to following through (later, you'll be embarrassed if
     you didn't make progress when people ask, "so, what ever 
     happened with that idea?" ) 
   - gathers potential supporters, allies, and employees


Your biggest competitor is yourself. You can stop you before you've ever begun. Go ahead and spread the idea. 

If by chance you succeed...

If you succeed, if you "knock the cover off the ball," then your life will change.

   Some people will envy you, and stop being your friends.
   Your leisure time will decrease.
   Your stress level will increase.
   Your personal financial risk will increase.
   You might become a selfish workaholic like your father/
      neighbor/role model was.

You might not think you are thinking about the downside of success. But a little person inside you head is afraid of these risks, so will try to stop you from succeeding. That person just wants to protect you. He might be small enough to fit inside your head, but is still powerful. 

Burnout

I define burnout as the state you eventually reach when you give, give, give without receiving. You lose your energy, your passion, your umph.

Most magazines and books on entrepreneurship generally mention advice on avoiding burnout. Take time for yourself, don't push yourself too hard. Communicate with your spouse about expectations. Pace yourself.

But sometimes you will need to push it. You will need to work 24 hours without stopping in order to finish a project under deadline.

Just don't do it too often. Don't pace yourself based on fear.

Spork

You only have enough funding for one program. But several projects need cash to launch.

So we are often tempted to create a program, build a facility, or plan an event that covers several potential projects. It becomes like a spork.

A spork is a combination of spoon and fork. Fast food restaurants sometimes provide them, but they are more cost effective than providing both for salads and soups. But the talked-up spork is not excellent at anything. We often end up trying to cut our steak with a spork, rather than reaching for a knife.

Multi-use programs sound attractive, but for a tough steak you want a real knife. 

Why we need Nauvoo

The Nauvoo Commuter blog is produced in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the Midwestern U.S.  It behooves us to introduce our town.

Nauvoo was first settled by Mormon refugees, who bought the area from land speculators. They had come with the intent to build a utopian society. The community flourished for several years until economic competition with a jealous neighboring community led to religious persecution. The Mormons decided to leave. At gunpoint.

The city was then settled by European immigrants seeking a better life. A few years later, another utopian society settled the area. The Icarian movement from France developed a communal society here in Nauvoo.

In my line of work, I interact with business leaders, hedge fund managers, political technicians, and market traders around the world, and I hear a lot of discouragement. Nauvoo is an antidote representing idealism, the concept that a community can be formed to bring about some ideal society for which we yearn. That is our message to the world.

I can't see into Nauvoo's future, but of one thing I am sure. The world needs Nauvoo. 

Dear Nebraska

Dear Nebraska,

Warren Buffett won't live forever, so you might consider re-branding your state.

The entrance to the state in Interstate 15 indicates you are the home of Arbor Day. But we don't observe more trees than in Iowa or Missouri (you certainly have more than Wyoming, but Wyoming has meticulously landscaped the entire state east of the Tetons to resemble the moon's surface. The effect is chilling but remarkable, and few states have the resources to replicate such a grand scheme.)

Do you have other trees we cannot see from the interstate? Why don't we know about them? You cannot compete with naturally forested regions in tree numbers, but you CAN be the state that plants more.  ...or claims to plant more.

Part of your job is to tell us you are special.