Offshore Incubator. Literally offshore.

Does location matter?

This is crazy. I like it.

http://harshdeeprapal.com/2011/11/29/blueseed-incubator-the-pirate-entrepreneurs/

Sure, we have brain drain, but we keep growing more brains

Few entrepreneurs have influenced Web 2.0 as much Evan Williams. He started blogger, which was sold to Google. (He invented the word blogger.) His most recent move was to start Twitter. This guy doesn't just innovate, he changed the world. Twice.

Guess which creative urban center calls Evan Williams a native? The answer: Clarks, Nebraska (population 361, according to Wikipedia.) When he lived there, the community had one K-12 school. Williams moved irrigation pipes on the family farm before moving to the technology sector, spent some time back on the farm, then changed the world. (He did need to leave the farm, but he was smart before he left.)

So, latte-sippers who says Midwest farmers are backward have apparently never heard of Blogger or Twitter. And this is not an isolated story.

What happened to the Nauvoo Commuter?

This blog used to post daily. It has now trickled to two or three times a week.

Why?

Read Steven Pressfield's Do the Work, and you'll know the answer.

The Long Term

Here is an addendum to yesterday's post. 


If you are want to replicate the success of Austin, Texas by doing what they did 40 years ago, it means you might not see the fruits of your efforts this year. Or next year. By the time you create a community that others try to emulate, you might be dead. 


John Maynard Keynes was quite a quotable bloke, but his most famous quote was that "in the long run we are all dead."


That is why all governments use the bandage approach to governing, rather than creating long-term value. Voters insist on immediate improvement, so politicians give them cosmetic solutions. The politicians themselves probably want to see some value in their labor before they die, so they go along with the pressure for short-term results.


As a community leader, you have the same choice. You can build libraries, which build minds, which build businesses. Or you can organize monthly swap meets in your town, which will bring in revenue now. 

Focusing on priorities

Currently, my town is determining which of two priorities should be funded (like many communities, we don't enjoy limitless funds, so we chose to concentrate resources.)

The choices:
1) building a library
2) building a retirement home

To some people these might seem like random spending opportunities, but to me they represent competing philosophies about the future. So I've attached relevant defining slogans to the projects to represent the community:

"Farmington is preparing for a bright future"

                 - or -

"Farmington: a great place to die"

Senior citizens deserve our support and resources. They deserve our love. If we don't support them, we won't be supported when our turn comes around, and knowing that may make us less motivated to support our community now. A senior home here would make it easier for locals to visit their ailing parents, so resolve an inconvenience.

But the first option, the library, builds the community's productive capacity. It makes the community into a place people want to live in, so they will stay near their ailing parents instead of moving to where the jobs are. And it increases the likelihood of innovation. The retirement home option, but contrast, manages symptoms. Surgery vs. bandage. Vitamins vs. medication. 

And because Nauvoo, to me, represents any community that wants to move forward, I share the dilemma as a microcosm. Are you spending community coffers to make people comfortable, or to develop a better future?

Community Mission Statements

Before you start, perhaps you should write a mission statement for your community. You could call it a  Statement of Purpose or "What Farmington Means" statement.

Opinion: most corporate mission statements are poorly written. They tend to be descriptions of all the organization's purpose's, and try to cover all information possible. It should be a tool, but some are like a wrench that weighs as much as an automobile. It is too heavy and unwieldy, so no one ever uses it for anything. It hangs on a plaque in the lobby, read by visitors only if they are asked to wait for a long time.

The mission statement should not, on the other hand, be a marketing slogan. Here are some ideas that I like:

"Farmington is a place where people like to live, where businesses are encouraged to thrive, and where nature is encouraged."

"Farmington is the best place on earth because people support the community and the community supports people. We help each other."

"Pine Hill City strives to improve quality of life for residents and to offer meaningful diversions for visitors, and seeks to maintain safety for all."

Advice: keep it simple.

Artist Guilds

We're trying to build an artist co-op in our town. They will together build a brand.

The idea, structurally, makes sense.  They want to do the art, and let someone else take care of "back-office" functions. They would share the cost and effort needed for marketing.

I have some concerns. Artists can be erratic. They all have different opinions of what "art" means, as they should. But brands need consistency and unity. Conflicting types of art would cause confusion in the minds of consumers.

The idea of creating brands and guilds and co-ops is sound. Just remember, the execution is complicated.

I think we can do it.

Purposeful Tourism

(This is a repeat,as yesterday's post was lost due to a glitch)

Many small towns, seeking to reinvigorate local economic conditions, will create initiatives to increase tourism. They'll promote sites and amenities. I recommend taking that a step further.

A few months ago, I ranked people in the community according to their commitment to the community.

  - Passer-through (person who stops and maybe buys fuel)

  - Tourist (spends a week or a few months)

  - Citizen (born and lives in the area)

  - Citizen who has traveled widely (understands the hometown better than the homebody) 

A tourist is an outsider. But why not engage with the tourists, rather than merely accepting their money? Participative Tourism can add to your region's store of learning and energy.

Just a few ideas to get you started in thinking of an idea of your own:

 - living history exhibit programs
 - folk art training (much more engaging than mere folk
    art viewing)
          - how about classes on blacksmithing, rope making,
             wool spinning, etc.? These are suddenly very hip.

 - Outdoor recreation that focuses on groups

Building something significant--even reaching critical mass--takes a long, long, long time. So starting soon is a good idea.

CAVEs

Most communities have what are called "CAVEs," or Citizens Against Virtually Everything. These intractable folk oppose any initiative, even those in their own best interest.

Let's try to learn about them.

I hear progressive people (the opposite of CAVEs) refer to them as Republicans. That is actually not accurate. The CAVEs in my town are generally Democrats. That is important because being inaccurate is not useful. Here are my observations for why someone might be an intentional continual show stopper.

  -  Personality or character issues (this is irrelevant to political
     leaning...)
  -  Childhood trauma, which causes mistrustful sentiments
  -  Some might just need to be heard. They want their feelings
     and concerns to be acknowledged.

Trying to change hearts and minds through debate is rarely productive. "Seek first to understand, then to be understood," as Stephen Covey would advise, is a better strategy.  

Cultural Values

This week I was reading my copy of Mother Earth News and was intrigued by an article called "Great Places You've (Maybe) Never Heard Of." One of the six places jumped out at me: Floyd, Virginia because I had just visited Virginia a few days before.

The town, with a population of 432, has become a preserver of American folk music. Why not become a propagator of Rap or string quartets or Euro-electronica?

American folk has influenced all the music we now export around the world, and deserves to be preserved. But Floyd's choice wasn't random or based on the mayor's personal taste. Floyd lies in the heart of the region where mountain music started. It is what they are good at doing. They've cultivated themselves as a center, and now people gather at the Floyd Country Store on Friday nights for the music jamboree.

What are some folk culture traditions unique to your region? Are you preserving them? Can you create a business that does this?

If your business is in tourism or entertainment, then stick with something authentic to the area. Tourists and potential high-value residents love authenticity.

Becoming a Creativity Magnet

Richard Florida wants you to promote lifestyle options in order to attract creative people. Not just symphonies and operas, but trendy restaurants and bars featuring punk rock might be good. We want edgy people, the truly creative, to bring their crazy innovative ways to our city. Some cities have successfully done this. Others have attempted and failed. But the concept is sound.

You should try this. You can build some eateries featuring "California cuisine"in the cornfields and coerce someone into selling smoothies next to the grain silos on the edge of town. Maybe this will spark something, and it will bring in some creative types, who will bring in more "lifestyle" and it will build on itself, and soon your little town will be as hip as Austin, Texas.

But can you, out on the edge of the prairie, really do this?  It might actually work, given 150 years or so. But these things take time, especially when you are starting on such a small scale. We'll need to prime the pump in a quicker way.

So how can you do that?  Let's keep talking.

Futures and Options

Aldi is my favorite store. The Batavia, Illinois subsidiary of German grocery chain Aldi Sud sells cheap food. Really cheap. Like, a fraction of Walmart.

I don't like shopping at Aldi simply because of cost or because I like shoddy quality. I like Aldi because they offer so few choices. I can walk in, by the groceries I need, and get out quickly. 

We have been taught that having more options will make us happier. But it actually makes us less happy. 

When we have too many choices, we fret each decision. Of all these many choices, which options will I NOT choose? Sociology professor Barry Schwartz, who calls it the "Paradox of Choice," is one of the the voices verbalizing this principle. 

The marketing lesson from this is clear: don't overwhelm your customers with too many options. The more options offered, the likelihood a choice will be made becomes less. 

Why I write this blog

The cultural divide between rural and metropolitan continues to widen. City people are so enlightened, they would never consider uttering racial slurs. But slamming country folk is still very acceptable. That is wrong.

I have lived half of my adult life in the world's largest city. I now live in a town with population of about 1,000. I love both places. They are both charming. Both have smart people.

But the idea that "progressive" is smart and "traditional" is backward is a backward philosophy. I strongly disagree with the belief that a place failing to host the so-called SOB (symphony/opera/ballet) makes the residents lesser people. The idea is insidious. And I aim to disprove it.

Please stay tuned.

Bad news, good news

Bad news: seems as though quantitative easing has worked its magic. Inflation is here. Third World countries are in commotion, and families in the U.S. are strapped.

Good news: in commodity price increases are helping rural America. The majority of the world's grain is grown in the Midwest and Great Plains regions. And they cost more. So farmers are earning more, they are hiring more, they are spending in town more. Farm land prices are increasing.

A lot of that money is being redistributed to urban municipalities, so our schools and roads are not improving. But farmers are still doing well.

The good news has not yet improved life attitudes among rural dwellers. But a lag time usually exists between statistical improvement and the trickle down to people's lives.

Clans

Each community is composed of various clans.

They might be people connected by blood (why I always say "don't talk badly of anyone in your town, because you might unknowingly be talking to their cousin.") They might be unrelated people combined into a special-interest group. They might be allied by their mutual disdain for a certain institution, person, or project.

Clans might be permanent, they might be temporary. Some are obvious, some are clandestine. All are joined by some need:

   - need for alliance to accomplish a task or rally to a cause
   - need for companionship
   - need for opportunity to exert leadership or just to be heard
   - opportunity to socialize
   - loyalty to family

Understanding all of these connections are very important, you want to see progress. (Hint: you probably understand them less than you do.) 

Visioning

Here are some thoughts about a Community Improvement Visioning process. This is a different approach from what I normally see done. Make a chart of your key metrics, and describe the before and after situation (current vs. five years from now.)

This is super simple. As it should be.

You could add other elements, or replace the above with other elements.

  - stakeholders
  - community relationships
  - industry development
  - publicity
  - demographics
  - shopping, convenience, etc.

   1) Don't try to do too much. Visioning processes that fail
       were usually too ambitious. Or too weak.
   2) Get agreement on this vision early, and get unassailable
        commitment to those agreements, before you create strategies
        to reach the vision. 

Our Neighbors

Your town has two types of residents: (1) those who cannot leave, and (2) those who choose to be there because they like it.

(We usually think that conservatives are the ones who want change, but they might be the original residents who can't leave. They want to make the town better. Those who resist change are often those considered to be more liberal: they moved to the town because they liked it. Why change what we like into something we don't like? So many of them fight change. The point: don't pigeonhole people. The ultimate show-stoppers might be people you never suspected.) 

To create positive change, you need a strong, motivated coalition of people who will not give up when facing protracted opposition. You can't avoid the opposition. If the person who challenges progress the most were to suddenly die, another person would rise up to replace the deceased challenger. 

One hint: stick with a few goals you can accomplish--low-hanging fruit--and thrash early. 

Thrashing is the term Seth Godin uses to describe the “apparently productive brainstorming and tweaking we do for a project as it develops.” You have to so this during the conceptualization stage. Projects that allow tweaking at the end are never completed. You can tweak forever. You need to force agreement on that one issue: after we agree at the beginning, no one is allowed to derail the project by opposing it at the end. (That is much easier in a company than in a community. But without following that rule, you cannot succeed.)

Quality of Life

I haven't ben researching this, but the question just popped into my mind: what elements or conditions improve quality of life in a community?

The popularity of professional spectator sports has been declining for thirty years conversely with a rise in the popularity of the arts (consider who advertises during sports matches: mostly beer and Dorritos.) Spectator athletics are still very much alive, but they are now one of many entertainment options. Yet municipalities continue to fund the construction of arenas, using the term "economic growth" to justify it. That is not growth, but wealth transfer from the taxpayer to the players (economists have done plenty of research in this area.) It might improve the fun leisure options for a few people, but does it increase the overall quality of life for all residents? No one can answer "yes" with a straight face.

The issue is irrelevant for rural municipalities anyway. The original question remains unanswered: what can you do to improve the quality of life for taxpayers?

- upgrading transportation infrastructure
- improving elderly care facilities
- creating outdoor recreation facilities
- developing leisure options

Another note: what CAN you do and what SHOULD you do are two different questions. Rarely are either of those questions answered correctly, hence we have unfinished projects (no CAN do) and unused facilities (no SHOULD do). 

Government spending in rural areas

What you've been told is wrong.

Government spending in rural areas is not only lower, but lower per capita. That squares with what I've seeing in my county, where we pay exorbitant property taxes, but little of the money stays in our community.

Check out this story with the details.

That doesn't necessarily mean we need to demand more, it just means we are doing better by ourselves than we thought we were. 

Education

I've been following the education industry for several years. The issue affects both rural and urban dwellers, and yes, it is an industry.

I'm afraid that higher education is headed for a crisis. In the U.S., schools have gradually shifted focus away from academics to athletics. (NCAA Section IX didn't solve the problem: it shifted emphasis to women athletes, rather than away from sports.) Athletics can help build character etc., but that is not what inter-mural programs are designed to do. They are PR programs. Schools are forgetting their original purpose, which is academic training.

Another problem is that declining youth populations have decreased demand, leaving schools with empty seats. They have compensated by aggressively recruiting foreign students, but overseas schools are starting to catch up in academic quality. They still have a long way to go, but they are pouring resources into the classroom instead of the stadium, so watch for them in the future.

When the auto industry focused on side businesses such as finance and on union problems, foreign firms were able to catch up by focusing on manufacturing automobiles.

Your local public schools could be training tomorrow's innovators. Are they doing that, or are they chatting about next Friday's game with a rival, another tiny school?