The financial crisis in small towns

Most small towns missed out on the recent run up in the USA national economy. And when we were struck with repeated crop failures and a horrendous local economy, the rest of the nation certainly didn't notice. So, how is the national financial crisis affecting small towns? Well, it's a mixed bag. And it's still evolving.

Small town banks report "business as usual"

Let's start with the view point of Jack Schultz. Jack is a legend in the small town economic development field. No one has a better feel for what is going on in small town economies. He also happens to be chairman of the board of one of his hometown banks in Effingham, Ill. At the start of this crisis, in his Sept 30 Agurban e-newsletter, Jack pointed out that small town banks are completely different from Wall Street investment banks, even though both are called simply "banks." Jack also reported the results of an informal survey of small town bankers from across the USA.

This year [at our customer appreciation event] I made it a point to ask every banker that I talked to (about 8 in all) if the current Wall Street crisis was affecting their lending to small businesses on Main Street. Only one of the eight said that they had tightened their loan underwriting "slightly". The rest were all"business as usual."

The photo here is an actual newspaper ad from our home-town Central National Bank of Alva, promoting their stability.


Not far away, The Woodward News quotes a couple of local bank presidents.

“This is a great time to be in Oklahoma,” he said and chuckled a bit. “The banks here and also in the Midwest in general, are well capitalized,” [Stock Exchange Bank President Bruce] Benbrook said. “ They have been sticking close to home, making good loans to the good people here and we are not in the condition that these other institutions are.”

Those opinions were mirrored by Central National Bank of Enid-Woodward Branch President, Steven Jones.
...
“Especially in the Midwest region, the banks are sound and well capitalized and most of that negative publicity is not going to affect these banks across this area.”

If you detect a note of smugness, there is good reason for it. The answer goes back to the 1980s farm crisis. Here's how small town banker Bill Wyckoff explained it in the Wall Street Journal.

A community bank used to rely on participating loans with large metro banks. For example, if my bank had a regulatory loan limit of a million dollars and I made a two million dollar loan, I would "sell" the over-line to a large bank. These large banks suddenly suspended and called all rural credits. This is probably similar to what is happening to borrowers who use super-large banks in today's panic environment. There was nothing wrong with these loans but every small bank suffered from this irrational wrath.

A group of fellow bankers formed an ad hoc loan-pooling arrangement and we traded loans. Not a dime was lost, no borrowers were sold out and we didn't need a government bailout. It did instill a fierce sense of independence and self reliance.

Now the small town bankers are less than enthused about the bailout plan of today.

Cattle, commodity prices drop

So if our banks are OK, our basic commodity prices aren't. And that hits us where it hurts. The Woodward News quotes Dale Moore, a local cattle producer and feedlot owner-operator.

Moore said he believes the current stock market trend has trickled into the commodities market, such as cattle and wheat, partially because there are some traders in both the stock market and the commodity market and some of those same people are selling everything.

While our local economy may ignore national trends, changes in commodity prices will affect us directly.

Reduced liquidity hurts state and local governments

While the news coverage has focused on the investment banks and individual homeowners, you might not realize that your state government is actually a huge investor in the stock market. Where do you think they keep the state retirement funds?

Here's another report out of Oklahoma, from the Enid News and Eagle:

On Thursday, state Treasurer Scott Meacham said the financialmeltdown is causing Oklahoma’s pension systems to suffer losses andthreatens bond programs for roads, bridges and other vital programs.

Meachamsaid state pension accounts alone face potential losses of $73.4million because of the failure of Lehman Brothers. He said the stockmarket’s tumble this week has increased the losses.

According to Meacham, instability in the country’s financial system is making itmore difficult to sell bonds needed to fund state projects, such as $300 million in road and bridge improvements.

“There are just no buyers out there for bonds; there’s no liquidity,” the treasurer said. He said the lack of financing will drive up the cost of selling the bonds.

Besides the state government, you have local foundation endowments, all manner of pension funds, and every private investor.

Local governments are getting caught in the tight credit market, too. The Woodward News reports that the City of Woodward (a client of mine), is paying higher interest on one new loan, and is having trouble accessing new credit.

“The initial source that we go to as communities for low interest loans for infrastructure can’t access any money-they are unable to provide any types of loans grants for funds to any community till a time unknown at this point,” Riffle said “So yes, we are being impacted in a lot of ways.”

“We are only getting this loan finalized on what they callreputation risk factor,” Riffel said. “It is a credit thing with them [Bank of America] now and lots of local governments are wanting money from Bank of America and not getting it.”

Clean up your personal finance

In case you didn't realize, this should be a big wake-up call for cleaning up your personal financial issues.

But [Central National Bank of Enid-Woodward Branch President, Steven] Jones said this is indeed a time for Americans to take a look at their debt and use debt as the management tool, the way it was designed to be used, especially going into an uncertain national economy.

“Certainly the smaller the debt load the better,” Jones said. “Basically if you are making a lot of payments to me, you are not benefiting from your own money as much. They need to manage their debt and make sure it is not managing them.”

Bottom line

So what is the bottom line? Small towns are not taking the brunt of this blow. Our banks are sound. But we are far from immune, especially in our commodity-based economy. Besides the direct effects on our own investments, our charitable foundations are hurting and our state and local governments are stressed.





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Find your local entrepreneur group

Your business can't survive alone. You can greatly improve your chances by networking with other entrepreneurs. My hometown of Alva, Oklahoma, is working on this, with Fast Forward Fridays.

Alva Area Chamber of Commerce Director Alexandra Mantz explained, "We hope to bring budding entrepreneurs in the region together to talk and find resources that will help them get started."

That's exactly the right reason for small town entrepreneurs to attend these kind of networking events: to make local connection, to share resources, to succeed. 

The coalition of groups working on this event are Oklahoma's Partners for Progress, including:

• Alva Area Chamber of Commerce
• Woods County Economic Development Committee
• Northwest Oklahoma Alliance
• Northwestern Oklahoma State University
• Northwest Technology Center
• Rural Enterprises, Inc. 
• Oklahoma Department of Commerce Business Solutions
  

This is not their first event. Earlier in the year, they hosted a couple of great workshops.

What are the entrepreneur events in your area? Are you participating?

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El Dorado Promise

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Dr. James C. Fouse directs El Dorado Promise. The promise... go to school, graduate, get a scholarship. He was the guest speaker at the NWOSU Foundation annual donor appreciation dinner, and I asked him about the promise, about how small business can play a role in education, and about El Dorado, Arkansas (population approx. 25,000).

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Small Business: You've got what the global brands want.

Scanning through my feeds today, I came across Beck's Mixer posted at b5media. Beck's beer has created a site where you can mix and match tracks (rhythm, bass, atmosphere and hooks), save them, create your own and share them with others. (You can spend a lot of time there, too.)

I thought, Well, that's cool. It's well done. It fits Beck's brand image and community.

But, don't I wish that something like that is possible for a smaller brand, one with lesser budgets for their customer experience.

And then I thought...well what if a florist allowed you to mix and match your flowers to create a bouquet. What if ProFlowers (maybe they do) created a site that allowed you to create stem-by-stem, flower-by-flower, an arrangement of your own design.

And then share it on their site.

And what if customers, not so blessed with time or creativity, could vote on which one they really liked and then...what if these same customers could buy these arrangements and what if their creators were paid a nominal fee.

Now you have an army of designers, and a community of followers, all talking about THEIR designs and ideas using...YOUR service. Oh. And buying them and telling everyone about them.

That's buzz. That's customer engagement. That's community. Now you've got a loyal and dedicated sales force AND designer team.

Ok. Great. I used ProFlowers, a large well-funded company, to illustrate another example of a digital community site which engages the customers in creating their brand experience. And have fun, and share their story and make a little money.

Ok. You're not. You're a brick and mortar company in a small town.

Let's take the same example. What if you allowed your customers to create their own spring bouquet...AND...what if you photographed their creation and shared those photos on a board at your store?

And you included their name and their photo.

What if you named their design to honor them?

And what if you took those photos and put them up on the photo-sharing service called Flickr. It's free. It's easy.

And what if you created a blog (Forget that static website. It's not doing anything anyway.) You uploaded those same photos you posted at Flickr to your blog, every 3-4 days. You wrote a little story to accompany each photo of how that design was created....The post can be a couple hundred words.

Ok. You're busy. You don't have the time to: A. learn this digital stuff. (Come on. That's what you're saying to your self: digital stuff.) B. Do this digital stuff.

Here's the solution: Hire a high school student to intern and handle this digital stuff for you.

Here, in my rural community, it's expected that high school students intern at local businesses as a graduation requirement. Oh. And they do this for class not for pay. (And no, I've not done it yet. Why? I'd never organized that data with a plan. And the high school is...well, I watch their marching band and football team practice from my house every day.)

Anyway.

The theme is the same with the bricks and mortar flower shop as the global brand and its digital site. It's just more expensive with the global brand and its digital site.

Oh, and the community of users at the global digital brand remain a lot more anonymous. They're known by 'user names'; not real names.

And there is your HUGE advantage. Your customers aren't anonymous. A personal relationship exists. You know them by THEIR...REAL...name, not user-name, and you know them by face. You know how their day is going just by their posture when they walk in your store.

It's the connection the large global brands obsessively seek. And there you have it as part of your normal day. And all it costs is the time it takes to smile and say their name in greeting.

Hey Becky! Hey John. Hey TallDude. Hey Paul Chaney!

Bottomline. (What is the bottomline?) The bottomline is as a small business in a small town you have what the global brands lust for, pay a lot of money for to, in-effect... fake. And that's a personal connection that's created, a REAL community that's created, all from your daily and personal 1-to-1 experiences, where you're able to make a personal difference with very little expense: smile and say their name when they walk in your store. ( You can do more. But that's where it starts.)

And now, with some free or inexpensive digital media, digital stuff, (Flickr, blogger ) and a high school or college intern, you can expand on your community without losing its foundation: the personal connections.

Chop-Chop. What, or who, are you waiting for?

Ok. That could come across in writing as obnoxious. But...there's nothing holding you back except that first step you haven't taken. So, take it. Have fun. Show me the photos of your friends and customers.

New ideas for your shop local campaign

Our friend Rob Hatch sent me a link to Do the math with your gas, about keeping your gas cost down by shopping locally. It immediately made me think of your small town, shop local campaign. This is a great new reason to mention when promoting the benefits of shopping locally.

You do have a shop local campaign, right? Whether it's your own business, or your whole community, you need to be reminding people why to buy from you in your small town.

More shop local campaign resources:

• Best "Shop Local" campaign ever!
• Top Ten Reasons to Shop Local 
• Local stores worth 3 times more than chains

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So, You Want to Start a Farmer's Market?

One of our readers left us a comment, with this question, "I live in a small town and I would love to start a community Farmer's Market that would be on the line of a 'Flea Market'. Where do I start?"

Great question! Here are some ideas to get you going.

First you need to decide whether you want a Farmer's Market or a Flea Market. They are not necessarily the same thing. Although, they may each have features of the other.

Try your County Extension Agent for ideas on the Farmer's Market. The Agent may be willing to work with you and can run interference with local authorities. Then try to learn who in your area is actually growing more produce than needed or who is willing to. Maybe there is a garden club devoted to vegetable growers. On second thought, fresh flowers would be a very nice addition to a Farmer's Market.

For a Flea Market, once again, you will need to find who is already doing this sort of thing. Maybe a geographic search for your town or county on one of the auction sites might tell you who has "stuff" they are wanting to sell in your area. They might be interested in a "show."

For either type, you will need to ORGANIZE.

• Find a location; map out each site; 
• decide how much rent to charge for each site; 
• determine the local laws regarding your location; 
• check your liability for accidents or incidents; get insurance if necessary; 
• pick a date;  
• advertise; advertise; advertise; 
• if your location is outside, find a "rain" location (do everything again for the optional site); 
• advertise; advertise; advertise; 
• keep good records of which seller will be where and double check their understanding of the agreement between you and the seller; 
• advertise; advertise; advertise.  

This is just a start.
Good luck.

[Farmer's Market in Frankfurt, Germany, photo by Becky McCray.]

Promote your rural place online

Guest post by David James Nicol, Shetland Islands 
Photo by David Gifford, used by permission. 


My name is David James Nicol, and I make my living running a web design business, NB Communication Ltd (http://www.nbcommunication.com).

I live and work in the Shetland Islands, which lie about 100 miles (160km) north of the nearest point on mainland Scotland. It is a great place to live, but the population of approximately 22,000 is now beginning to decline, in part because the North Sea oil industry is slowing down. The Shetland Islands Council (the local authority) is very keen to maintain and ultimately increase the number of residents, and they commissioned my company to build a website - http://www.shetland.org - to help to spread the word about the fantastic things our islands have to offer, and to get more people to move here.


In this post I will highlight some of the lessons I learned from the www.shetland.org project, and I will cover some of the ways that this remote group of Scottish islands is trying to encourage inward migration. I hope that my experiences might be of some use to anyone involved in promoting a 'rural place', whether that is a town, a region, an island, or whatever.

1. Assume That No One Knows Anything About You
When planning and developing www.shetland.org we assumed that many (if not most) visitors to the site would know very little about Shetland. To address this we included a 'Learn About Shetland' section to give people a quick overview, and we offer plenty of links to other sites where people get further information about specific topics.

If you are promoting a rural location, it makes sense to assume that no one knows anything about you. Make sure you tell them who, what and where you are.

2. Focus On Strengths But Be Honest About Weaknesses
Shetland has a lot going for it:

• stunning scenery
• internationally important natural environments (Shetland is a birdwatcher's paradise, and it  was recently voted the third best island group by National Geographic Traveler - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/photogalleries/island-pictures/photo2.html)
• fascinating history, a unique cultural heritage, and a thriving arts scene
• a vibrant and world-renowned musical tradition
• state-of-the-art leisure and education facilities funded by 'oil money'
• worldwide 'brand recognition' via Shetland ponies, Shetland sheepdogs and Shetland (and Fair Isle) knitting

In www.shetland.org, we try to get all these points across to make readers interested in finding our more about Shetland, encouraging them consider moving here to experience all this for themselves.


However, we made a conscious choice to be honest about Shetland's shortcomings. For example, we are very open about Shetland being quite windy a lot of the time, and about our latitude of 60 degrees North leading to very short days in winter, something which many people might find hard to adjust to. Further to this, just as our location offers many advantages it can also cause problems, especially with regard to the cost of getting to and from the Scottish mainland.

So, we don't pretend that we can offer everything that is available in big cities or elsewhere in the UK, and we don't gloss over the inevitable downsides to our location, but we are bold and confident about making sure that we do tell people about the many things that we do have to offer.


A Picture Paints A Thousand Words
A picture paints a thousand words, and we think this is certainly true when trying to explain what Shetland is like. We spent a long time trying to find the right images for the site, and we think that the ones we chose (especially for the homepage) convey more information than we could ever hope to get across using words alone.

Again, we think that any place trying to promote itself should pay close attention to photography.

The Importance Of Ongoing Communication
The site is not a one-time, all-or-nothing sales pitch. We don't expect anyone to visit www.shetland.org once and then immediately pack up everything to move here. It is simply not realistic to expect one visit to a single website to persuade someone to make such a significant decision.

Instead, we take a more long-term approach. We aim to get people sufficiently interested in Shetland to make them sign-up to our mailing list. We will be able to send them monthly updates about what is happening here. This should help to keep Shetland in forefront of their minds and, if and when the time is right for any of these people to make a big change in their lives, Shetland will hopefully be one of the places they give serious consideration to.

Again, this is something that any rural area can learn from: keep reminding people about all you have to offer, and they may well consider moving to be with you whenever the time is right.

Make It Easy

Our aim is to get people to move to Shetland, and we try to make this as easy as possible for them by providing all the information they might need, including details about housing, education, travel, and such like. This content is contained in the 'Move To Shetland' section of the site. We hope that this will remove many of the obstacles that might stand in the way of someone moving here.

If you want people to move to your town or region, give them as much help as you possibly can to make their journey easy and painless.


To conclude, I have to say that www.shetland.org has been live for only a month or so, and it is too early to tell how much impact it might make on the local economy. That said, the initial signs are all very encouraging, and I am confident that we'll see some great results as the site grows and evolves. I hope that this post might provide a couple of ideas for anyone who is looking to promote their own town or region, and I welcome all your feedback.

Cheers for now
David James Nicol, Managing Director, www.nbcommunication.com

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Abatements and Incentives: Where are they for small business?

I live and work in a small town in rural southeast Iowa. It’s just like the small towns in rural areas for many of the readers here. A town square. Dedicated, selfless members on the town council and school boards and county supervisors. Friday nights are all about high school football. Parents love their children and want the best for them.

And the business community is made up primarily of small companies with under 25 employees. Their customers are loyal. Their service is personal; it’s their neighbors they serve. Local charities and projects like the library expansion and a new civic center and a community rec center, depend on the support of these small businesses and their generous donations every year. The small businesses support them as they make their community what they are.

And yet…civic leaders in these communities, mine included, swoon like a teenager in the throes of first-love at the prospect of a big corporate company bringing their operations to town. Oh, they run after ‘em and buy them gifts and talk sweet nothings in their ear with offers of abatements and deferments and infrastructure investments and tax credits.

Like the steady and true girlfriend/boyfriend, the small locally-owned business stood by and for the town before the new one came to town. They made the town what it is, desirable in the eyes of the new one. And, they’ll be there when the new one leaves town for another richer, more gullible, community.

Small businesses provide diversity in industry and business-cycles. The risks on a small community from a diversified source of jobs is like that of a company where no single customer is responsible for a disproportionate share of revenues. They literally create the community’s quality of life from their business, those they hire, benefits they offer and how they support the local community. Job growth historically, and never more-so than now, comes from small business. Together, its those local, small businesses, who made the community enticing for the flashy, corporate, companies.

My dad always told me, At the end of the dance, you go home with the date that brung ya. Civic leaders: Small locally-owned businesses are the date that brung ya. They’re the ones that recognized your potential, stood by you when you were nobody, supported you as you grew, listened and held you accountable for being your best. They invested in making your small town its best. They voted for you and probably donated to your campaign. You owe them at least the same incentives and benefits, deferments and credits, infrastructure investments and all, you’re offering the flashy new-girl/guy that’s not even come to town yet. After all, they’ve already paid for them.

If you want your community to not only grow but maintain its character, then save the incentives and deferments, abatements and credits, for the businesses that made your community what it is, and will be there next year and the year after.

- Zane Safrit

****************************************

Zane Safrit’s passion is small business and the operations’ excellence required to deliver a product that creates word-of-mouth, customer referrals and instills pride in those whose passion created it. He blogs about health care issues each Monday at http://zanesafrit.typepad.com. There on the sidebar is a list of blogs and resources to educate yourself on the health care challenges you face, I face, we all face together. He also writes on small business, word of mouth, marketing, branding, innovation, and failure. He previously served as CEO of Conference Calls Unlimited.

Get on the telephone

I live and work in a town of just about 10,000 people. Fairfield, Iowa. Wonderful town. Quirky, interesting, small, remote, quiet (except for 35 trains that rumble through daily). County seat for a county with maybe 12-13,000. We’re 4 hours from Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis. We’re 1 hour from any town of more than 25,000 people. The nearest airport is a commuter airport that’s at least 95 miles away.

Our town has survived the farming crisis in the early 80’s, a few recessions and economic downturns, manufacturing layoffs and even grown in property valuations and jobs during this because of A. diversity in our job base. B. some really smart business leaders here; C. some significant changes in the telecommunications industry, nationally and globally.

That’s right. Global changes in the telecom industry, most notably the ending of monopolies here in the US and overseas, has brought hundreds of jobs to little, remote, Fairfield, Iowa. (Caveat: it’s not the only reason Fairfield has survived and grown. But it’s the one I’m most familiar with and it’s the one that can be connected to the most changes in Fairfield.)

Up until the mid-1980’s ATT held a monopoly on local AND long-distance telephone services. The local part of our service was delivered with ‘bell operating companies’. And the long-distance part was handled by Ma Bell, ATT. It’s hard to imagine it these days with all the competition and options for making a long-distance phone call. But that’s the way it was until Judge Greene’s order to ATT to divest itself of its bell operating companies and then to open up its network to…competition, from the likes of Sprint and then MCI and also resellers.

Long story.

Lots of change and turbulence and new competitors with new services.

And that all meant opportunity. And a company here in Fairfield took that opportunity to resell ATT long-distance services. The thinking of the founder was he’d sell it out of …where?...yes, his bedroom/office. Quietly, he’d make enough to support his family. That’s all he wanted.

And as more of his friends and neighbors wanted to do the same with him, seeing the opportunity, he soon had a company of 6 people. He expected to make enough money to buy Australia, as he’d tell us; just the 6 of him. He was a dreamer and look what happened.

I was the 13th employee. Lucky 13. 7 years later there were 700 employees…in a town of 10,000. We had offices opening around the world. I opened our office in Germany. (What a story!) Our network operations center was here in Fairfield, for a worldwide telecommunications company.

(Interesting cultural clash. Our rural electric cooperative had a routine of regular maintenance on the weekends during off-peak hours. But for other parts of the world, and our customers who lived and worked there…these weren’t off-peak hours…)

We were pulling in employees from 2 other states as well as bringing in outside contractors to come work in a little town, far, far away from bright lights and big cities.

The company crashed and burned in bankruptcy discussed in the Wall Street Journal. (Hey, no one’s perfect.)

But all those people who eventually were laid off used their newly acquired skills to populate other companies in the area, either existing companies or startups. There spawned another surge in a new, more diversified, economy for the community.

And during this time, the internet became a force for business. This company was the first and only company at the time to allow for service orders to be entered and provisioned over the internet from the comfort of our independent sales agents’ home offices. (They expected to buy Fiji…)

That's a huge advantage for attracting sales agents, improving cash-flows from faster conversion of orders and cutting personnel costs from manually entering orders.

And changes again in the telecom arena helped another company start and thrive here. That company was Conference Calls Unlimited. From little Fairfield, remote Fairfield, we competed against national brands and their services using the changes in telecommunications and the opportunities they presented: long-distance calling, toll free calls, toll calls, email, collaboration with web conference services, VOIP, chat, hosted service applications like Basecamp and payment-processing through online merchant accounts. We used 3rd party answering services at the beginning and before that an online answering service that emailed the voicemail as an enclosure.

And then we used blogs and podcasts and YouTube videos to help spread our message. Oh, and websites, too! All made possible by changes in telecommunications.

And we hired great people. Our neighbors and friends and those we knew that delivered great service every day.

And there’s your advantage. It's our advantage, really, as businesses in rural, smaller, areas. As residents or rural communities we have the added advantage of working side-by-side with our neighbors and friends and maybe even family. That’s a huge factor for commitment, loyalty, dedication, passion. And we have all the advantages of access to a global marketplace through these changes in telecommunications without the high rents, high mortgages, high salaries and high overhead from being located in a larger city.

Not everyone is going to start a ‘telecom’ company. Even fewer will want to run a company of 700 employees 6 years after opening.

But the open infrastructure of telecom now with more and cheaper bandwidth becoming available, more calling services and options, more free hosted applications that allow any startup or small business from ANY location to reach millions in a professional and inexpensive manner is the great playing-field leveler for small business in general and in particular for small business in rural communities.

Get on the telephone. Your world's waiting for you.

About the Author: Zane Safrit’s passion is small business and the operations’ excellence required to deliver a product that creates word-of-mouth, customer referrals and instills pride in those whose passion created it. He blogs about health care issues each Monday at http://zanesafrit.typepad.com. There on the sidebar is a list of blogs and resources to educate yourself on the health care challenges you face, I face, we all face together. He also writes on small business, word of mouth, marketing, branding, innovation, and failure.

He previously served as CEO of Conference Calls Unlimited.

[Photo of Fairfield Art Walk by Zane Safrit, used by permission.]

$50k/year and no takers: the rural workforce shortage

Rural areas with sparse population, like western Oklahoma and Kansas, are up against a brick wall that is a workforce shortage.

G.L. Hoffman has the story of his cousin Craig, offering $50,000 a year, health care, and home, for farm workers. No takers. Too far out in the country. Too much hard work. Too little urban-style recreation.

Our local health care industry is looking for more ways to grow our own workforce, reaching down to eighth grade to start.

Demographics are not in our favor. Our rural towns are aging out, and quickly.

What might save us? Generation Y. Highly entrepreneurial. Extremely engaged. Make sure you and your community are reaching out to get them engaged with you. Because you don't want to end up with no takers.

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Shawn Kirsch is changing Elgin, ND, forever

This post is the fourth in a series on social media and social networking tools for small towns.

By Shawn Kirsh

Well I was born in a small town
And I live in a small town
Probly die in a small town
Oh, those small communities

All my friends are so small town
My parents live in the same small town
My job is so small town
Provides little opportunity

John Mellencamp sang the classic rock song, 'Small Town.' The words of that song still ring true throughout America, in ways that are both good, and bad.

I was born in a small town, raised on a farm and in a small town, saw the world (Iraq) after I joined the National Guard, and came back to that small town. I am back in that small town partly because of mistakes I have made, partly because I love it. I have realized that had I not made some of the mistakes I made, had the college I was attending been teaching me anything about computers and the internet that I didn't know in Jr. High, I probably would have been like so many geeks of the midwest, left North Dakota, and be working in Silicon Valley for some high tech company. Instead, I have started writing a syndicated column in small town, weekly newspapers, 'Everyman Tech,' to help small town people get a better grasp on the technology that is helping me to do the things that I do.

I went to a High School with a brilliant administration, who stretched every dollar they were given to it's maximum efficiency. They somehow managed to keep brilliant teachers there, especially in the Math and Science departments, who could've been earning twice as much elsewhere. This allowed me to go to college and be bored out of my mind. I think most small towns have schools like this. Teachers who care, who truly understand how to get through to us. The majority of my classmates were still the kind that take what the book says, and go with it. It helps them to get good grades, but the rest of us, left with a great education, and an ability to think for ourselves, always questioning things, pushing to make everything around us better than it is. We like to think outside the box, we're a creative group that doesn't want to settle for what's there, but to enhance it.

I attended a very strong Church, which is both their greatest trait, and their biggest downfall. I am part of Generation Y, and you don't reach us the same way you reached people 20 years ago. My Church, like many others, hasn't come to terms with that yet. I spent many years of High School, and many hours of my time now, dreaming of how to reach out better.

I am in a community with a strong German heritage, we celebrate Oktoberfest every fall, and German's are stubborn. If you think it's hard to change the mindset of a Church, try to change the mindset of an entire county, who can't see the writing on the wall, who don't realize that we're not getting 'new' business, we're getting 'replacement' business.

I have been quoted on Twitter, which is kind of like instant messaging on crack, saying things like, "I've been tweeting like crazy this month, there's no turning back now, Twitter is the most key part of my day." Basically, I finally started adding some friends on Twitter in mid-December, and kept on adding. 'Bentrem' was instrumental in the things I have done since, continuously pushing me to establish a legit blog, not the quibbles I put up on MySpace and Facebook. Out of this, www.thattalldude.com was born. I have since gone on to write on a variety of topics, sports, religion, technology, TV, random tech news, and most recently; Small Town, USA.

I'm tired of seeing my small town die a slow and painful death, watching good people leave because they can't make enough money, or there aren't enough conveniences. Part of this is an infrastructure problem. Cell phones and internet are now an integral part of a successful business. Huge portions of rural America have either painfully slow 'high speed' internet, spotty wireless coverage, or both. I'm showing some stubborness myself, by not leaving, despite the crappy internet connection I have. With the appearance of new communication methods, such as Twitter, Seesmic, YouTube, blogging, rural America can benefit hugely.

Twitter, blogging, and the comments on my blog, have helped me to realize a broader picture of what's going on in Small Town, USA. This increased knowledge has prompted me to be more vocal around town about things, which has lead to pitching a ground up redesign of a local town's website (www.elginnd.com), and the local paper wanting to establish a digital version of what they print every week. My Church has also shown an interest in getting a web site. I have big ideas to help the Google rankings of all of these places, through the means of YouTube, Flickr, Google Maps, as well as promoting the work I have done on my own blog and LinkedIn.

My activities online have created new opportunities for me, that small town people find hard to believe. I now write for www.projectspurs.com, because the administrator spotted my blog writing about the Spurs, and thought I would make a good addition to the fansite. I write 'Everyman Tech' every monday, because my voracious new consumption online, combined with regular conversation, proved that there is very important things that people should know, and have absolutely no clue about, things as basic as defragmenting your computer, as well as exposing them to online networks their kids use every day, like Facebook. I am also receiving an increase in calls for computer help, as more and more people realize I know a whole lot more about computers than I let on.

If you are running a small business, whether it's struggling or doing quite well; if you care about your small town; if you want your Church to reach out in more effective ways; you need to be networking with people online. If you can find a couple hours a day, Twitter is great. Find some quality blogs to keep up with. Get on LinkedIn, troll through Facebook, and see what recent graduates think about their hometown once they're at college. Better yet, start your own blog, ask some hard questions. Take that question, and the feedback you get, and talk about it with people in your town. You'll be surprised at just how much a small town can be doing, and isn't.

People need to step up and make a change, will you be one who steps up? My newfound focus on my small town has prompted a desire to tour America, visit hundreds of small towns, talk with the people there, and blog about it. This will help not only me, but could help thousands of people across the country network with each other, and share the strategies their town is using, what works, what doesn't. The internet is a big place, with plenty of tools to connect, Twitter is my personal favorite.

Don't waste any more time, start connecting now. Visit www.thattalldude.com, I have a list of places you can find me on the right side, don't hesitate to connect.

Photo by Shawn Kirsh, on Flickr. Used with permission.



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Local stores worth 3 times more than chains

Need ammo for your shop local campaign? Use this fact: local merchants are worth three times as much to your local economy as the chain stores.

From Civic Economics:

The analysis demonstrated that locally owned merchants generate more than three times the local economic activity of their competitor chain stores on equal revenue.

Found in The Full Value of Main Street, at Preserving Small Towns. Pointed out by Small Towns.

We know why. The local merchants spend much more of their money locally. The chains ship profits out of town. The local merchants are more involved in the community. The chains feel no ownership in your town, and their local managers are limited by corporate policies.

Thought you might be able to use that in your local Chamber of Commerce shop local campaign.

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Would you live in a small town?

Our Friend Shawn Kirsch is starting a conversation on living in small towns. His goal is to revitalize his hometown.

I understand completely why people move away, and leave North Dakota completely for that matter. But as much as it may benefit me to move away, and be around more people with the same mindset as me, technology wise, I would rather be the guy who turns things around, and gets people to move here.

Make no mistake. Shawn gets the problem.

The problem I see is the people with money have no vision, and the people with vision have no money. This is compounded by the people that have the clout to do something, don't want to listen to young people with 'radical' ideas like blogging and social networking.

Join the discussion at Shawn's place.

[Photo: My hometown, Alva.]

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May 1 talk to your neighbors

On Thursday May 1, Barbara K. Baker proposes we revive some real world connecting. Get out and chat with a neighbor.

Maybe even deliver a little May Day basket. Do you remember those little baskets of flowers you would leave on a neighbor's door? Just exactly the kind of thing that used to be a hallmark of small towns, now nearly gone.

Even as we build stronger connections in the online world, we are losing connections in our own physical community. Share some social love with your real world neighbors.

Care to help promote? Twitter it. Change your Facebook or BrightKite status. Blog it. Utterz it. Take a picture and share it in Barbara's May Day Flickr group.

Remember: it’s all about visiting with a neighbor. You're from a small town. You can do that.

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Read and Comment Day

Chris Brogan declared a Read and Comment Day, to get out and comment on others' blogs. Here are the interesting finds I thought I'd share with you.

I left my first comment today with @rickmahn, because I love his happiness series, and we're going to meet at SOBCon! http://rickmahn.com/

Interested in travel and tourism industry? Here's THE technology blog on T&T: Travel and Tourism Technology Trends

My third find - global communication tips even if you "can't" learn languages at Location Independent Living.

Finally, I loved finding Preserving Small Towns! (Quite a bit of the local politics, but with some interesting discussion on smart growth.) I found that link at Small Towns.

Next: May Day is Go Chat with a Neighbor Day

On May 1, Barbara K. Baker proposes we revive some real world commenting. Get out and chat with a neighbor. Maybe even make and deliver a little May Day basket. (That's a basket of flowers left for a neighbor. Example here: http://tinyurl.com/5un54d) Share some social love with your real world neighbors.


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Three recommendations

Our long time Friend Zane Safrit is writing about small business in a new location. His insights on health care, failure, success, word of mouth marketing, and more are now at Zane Safrit. Update your feed reader!

New friend G.L. Hoffman has a terrific article on small towns and the loss of design, in Design and the WalMarting of America.

Used to be, the local small town retailer, whether a clothing store, gift shop, furniture store, or whatever, was owned by someone with real passion for their store. They lived, breathed and slept clothes, gifts or furniture. They knew their stuff.

What they had was DESIGN. Sure, more of their stuff was made in America, but the distinguishing ingredient was the inherent design and quality sense of the store owner. That is what you buying. You went to the gift shop and got a wedding gift, chances were very good, no matter the price point, that it was of good quality and had been designed well. If it wasn’t, the passionate store owner would not inventory it. So, all of us got used to having quality items naturally in our personal and work spaces.

Read the whole article at What Would Dad Say.

Third, a real world friend now working up to being a techie Laurie Reyes has made her first blog adventure. She'd love to have some comments and tips!


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Top Ten Reasons to Shop Local

Karen Payne, yet another Okie, sent me this list. Though I couldn't find an author or attribution, I want to share it with you. You can share it with your local community.

Top Ten Reasons to Shop Local

10. Local stores are more likely to carry locally produced foods which supports local agriculture.

9. Local business owners contribute to more local fundraising and 501(c)3’s.

8. Local businesses provide a majority of jobs.

7. Local businesses support other local businesses.

6. The business community becomes reflective of this community’s unique culture.

5. The sales taxes I pay support this community and county: fixing my roads, maintaining my recreational facilities, . . .

4. Competition and diversity result in fair prices and more choices.

3. Shopping local reduces my carbon footprint.

2. Local business owners invest in the community and have a vested interest in the future of this community.

1. My hometown is more important than a cheap pair of underwear!

Need more reasons, or more explanation? Check out the Top 10 Reasons to Shop Local put together on New Orleans' Staylocal.org.

[Photo: Karen's store in Waynoka, Oklahoma.]


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Social Media for Small Business

What is social media, and why does any small business person care? Social media is a way to connect with other people. Fight small town isolation! Connect to the wider world.

• Connect with others in your industry for insight, networking and support.
• Connect with potential customers or suppliers for new business opportunities.
• Connect with inspirational and creative people for a boost, ideas and challenging questions.
  

The tools are blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and many more. (Want a bit more explanation? Try Simplified Online Marketing, about the types of online presence.)

Jon Swanson explains more about the power of connecting with people through social media in a comment on Susan Reynolds' blog.

"I think it's the immediacy and the individuals - which is what makes working in a great office or with a great team so compelling. To be able to show up at work (or whatever the relationship focal point) and chat and go back to the task at hand and to ask someone about the task and to tune out and to come back in...

"I've worked in places with that give and take...and it feels like this. But this goes wherever you go, and you get to pick who you are chatting with, and a lot of the people are very very bright and very very creative and very very caring."

AnnOhio has a Twitter PSA for Newbies

twitter is about the people... add a few more people.. interact.. connect... engage... be part of the community--laugh!

I put it this way on Michael Valiant's site:

It’s all about the people. This is true of many meaningful pursuits.

When I worked for the local newspaper, the best part was making connections with people. I’ve heard many others say on leaving a job that they won’t miss the work, but will miss the people they connected with.

When I joined a professional group, other members told me the best part was the people I would meet and become friends with. They were right.

When I ran for elected office, the best part was the wonderful people I met. I’ve heard many, many politicians say the same at the end of their own campaigns.

How has social media changed my life? It’s all about the people I have met and connected with.

Chris Brogan has written a Newbies' Guide to Twitter. It helps make sense of how Twitter and other social media instant conversations can be used.

Examples of Small Biz Twitter Uses

Mike Sansone has an example for group project management via Twitter.

"One way companies can use Twitter, especially virtual companies, is to create a page or panel with each of their team's Twitter plug-ins."

Rex Hammock used Twitter to maintain contact with his website readers.

"I've set up an "away" message on my blog that displays tweets - http://tinyurl.com/2vljch"

Susan Reynolds is getting all kinds of advice from trusted sources, her Twitter friends.

"Presto. Instant networking. Like Google but with personal insights."

Naresh found a way to support customers with Twitter.

"I used twitter with my support ticket system. Make it private, add your personal account, and get IM messages via instant messenger. Works like a charm"

He also used Twitter as a notepad.

"link for self http://tinyurl.com/3ywyer"

randelaw used Twitter to announce his commitment. Publicly stating your commitment can help make it feel real to you.

"Be it resolved: On or before 1/1 there will be a redesigned company web site up that reflects what we recommend to our clients"

Twitter is...

newmediajim telling this producer that Twitter is sort of like if LinkedIn were having a cocktail party.

vaspers Twitter feedback is immediate, public, & unpredictable (e.g. skeptical, harsh). Twitter is rushing river of brevities.

mikesansone Twitter is an RSS feed for our brain. I subscribe to smart ones

vaspers Twitter is so trivial. After spending time on more serious sites and pursuits, to come here is like going to an insane asylum.

Quotes about Social Media from Small Biz People

digitalvillages I've been social computing on several levels today. There isn't one model for Social Media. There are multiple levels and a different tools

vaspers You are a Media Venue. http://tinyurl.com/2gxg9b

digitalvillages What is the value of social interaction for the individual? Why do singers write songs? Some nobody listens. The same with Social Media.
Why do birds sing? They don't have a business plan and no plans to meet a venture capitalist. They don't even have powerpoints.

digitalvillages Social Media is all about people bringing their ideas & thoughts to a common platform.Content sounds like cement. Ideas are building bricks!

badbanana To me, socnets break down the country club doors. I don't need to kiss the rings of rich old white guys for favors. Status is destroyed.
The new marketplace of ideas is wide open to anyone with a computer and the curiosity to sign up for a free online service.
Here, we're not judged by our clothes. Our lack of monogrammed shirts. It's our humanity and our ideas and our talents that matter.

vaspers Writers club member: "Blogs are garbage." Vaspers: "90% of talking is garbage. Are you going to stop talking? How's about radio, TV, phone?"

vaspers Publisher likes my blog so much, wants me to write monthly column on computer & web topics. http://www.peoriamagazines.com/ibi/2007/aug
Thus, a blog is a powerful tool for gaining clients, customers, writing opportunities, publicity, etc. Use blog to educate, give free info.

vaspers Remember, the Web Revolution is about Transparency and User Empowerment, Consumer Info, Peer Recommendation. Base web strategy on these.
People are expecting video virtual tours at web sites. Web 2.0 is more interactive, participatory, multi-media, and co-creative with users.

misc i reflexively reach for my "subscribe" bookmarklet when i mean to hit my "add to del.icio.us." feeds are the new bookmarks. coz i said so.

goldiekatsu I find it interesting how people believe technology will change social structures when it is the people who must make the change.

vaspers Wise woman said "if people stare at you, put on a show."

erincarter the social web is starting to feel like the apartment you live in during college. always partying, always meeting new people just next door.

Overload?

And just in case you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of this, join MMcAllen.

mmcallen I have become antisocial media. I will be over here in the corner.

By the way, MMcAllen only took a short break. He came back for the people.

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Join the local Chamber of Commerce and make the most of it

Every small town has a chamber of commerce, but how do you use your chamber of commerce? How do you get the most from it?

Find out what services your chamber of commerce offers.