Is the rural workforce secret out?

Our Friend Chris Penn took my rant on the rural workforce shortage and ran with it. The result? He's spilling the secret over on the Financial Aid Podcast.

Will we be overrun with city folks seeking the land of opportunity in the small towns? Um, no. I can't tell you how happy I would be if the end result was even a few people successfully moving to a rural area.

But here's the killer question: is the required hard work going to kill the deal?

Sunday, we'll have a special audio interview with Chris about trends in financial aid, including some special pointers for small business owners.

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$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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Delegating without freaking out your clients

Getting past the point of being a one-person, do-it-all, no-rest-for-the-weary business means helping customers to work with your employees or subcontractors, as well as you. But if every client thinks you need to do every thing, how do you keep them from freaking out when you delegate their work?

This problem is common in reputation industries as diverse as design, consulting, hair styling and professional hunting. Clients feel attached to the person whose name is on the firm and insist on personal service. But that only works for so long, until you have more clients than hours in the day.

Can you just not tell clients that you subcontract? I say no. To not be up front about this could feel like dishonest, or at least misleading, behavior to a client.

Why they can't live without you

First, it helps to understand how this happens. It's part of how that customer was thinking long before they ever called you. Everything you put out into the world starts the process of relationship building. Each piece of information from you adds a layer to the image they have of you and their decision making process.

When they read your blog, follow your tweets, check your about page, see your business card, meet you at a conference, or talk to other clients, it feels like they are building a relationship with you.

You haven't necessarily met or talked at this point, but your future client is building a relationship with you in their mind. That's a required and important part of how people make decisions.

I'm betting that right now, everything you are putting out is leading to them building that mental relationship directly with you.

How you can change it

How can you acclimate clients to your delegating?

1. Let them know you delegate
Starting now, make a conscious effort to mention your helpers, whether they are employees or subcontractors. Talk about team efforts, or how your associate did outstanding work for a client.

Evaluate your About page. If you work with a group of people regularly, should you feature them? Look at your card. Is it just you?

This takes a fundamental shift in thinking for some of us.

2. Let them know you still care and supervise
Reader Bob Sawyer shared his technique for doing this:

As for clients not wanting to work with your subcontractors, I have one of those. I explained it this way to them: "I'm not a god. I can only manage a finite number of tasks, and at this point, I have subcontractors assisting. I will personally oversee the work they perform and ensure that it meets your standards."

How do you ease clients into the idea of delegation? Any great tips to share?

This article is part of the Small Biz 100, a series of 100 practical hands-on posts for small business people and solo entrepreneurs, whether in a small town, the big city, or in between. If you have questions you'd like us to address in this series, leave a comment or send us an email at becky@smallbizsurvival.com. This is a community project!

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POV: A major decision point

All small businesses run into decision points. These are the things that can keep you up at night! Twitter friend Shama Hyder, of After the Launch, has come to one of these, and "tweeted":

After The Launch has hit a MAJOR decision point: To work IN the business or to work ON the business. Do we hire? Who do we hire?

Shama agreed to tackle some really tough questions about this critical moment for the Small Biz 100, to hopefully help other entrepreneurs face their own decision points.


What made you realize that you are at a decision point? One particular event, or more creeping realization?

I think it was when I realized we were getting more clients by the day. It gets to a point where you don’t know if you should focus on client work or new client acquisition. That’s how I realized we had to make some major decisions to make. We either grow or stagnate.

How do you balance working ON the business, while still managing to get the IN the business work done? Or, how do you carve out time for working ON the business?

In all honesty, this is what I am working on now. It’s hard. This is why I am considering hiring more help! I love working on the business and in the business, but I can’t do it all. That’s a huge realization.

Have you decided what position to hire? How did you decide?

I’d like to hire someone who is well versed in internet marketing and PR. Someone who can handle client accounts with ease. We have no problem getting new business, and being a marketing company, I am glad we can walk our talk. However, we need to continue to deliver great results to our clients-old and new. In that sense, I need someone who can pick up the ball and get in the game.

How are you fitting this with your long term goals?

I am still ironing this out….= )

What's the best piece of advice you can give to other entrepreneurs running into a similar decision point?

Just this morning an expert entrepreneur and mentor gave me this piece of advice: A small business’ life blood is cash flow. That should always be your top priority. Cash flow is what allows you to grow. We hurt ourselves initially by really undercharging. We signed up clients for long term agreements at foolish prices. This is a silly mistake, but I hope others can learn from it. We are now correcting this. = )

This article is part of the Small Biz 100, a series of 100 practical hands-on posts for small business people and solo entrepreneurs, whether in a small town, the big city, or in between. If you have questions you'd like us to address in this series, leave a comment or send us an email at becky@smallbizsurvival.com. This is a community project!

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10 ways out of a crunch without hiring employees

As your business starts to take off, you'll hit a time when you have more work than you can do, but not so much that you are ready (or can afford) to hire an employee. How can you handle the crunch? Here are ten ways to delegate some of the work, without hiring any employees.

1. Family

Seems like every small business starts with this, but it can get you out of a crunch. Your spouse is probably your biggest supporter. I know that you already asked for him or her to take on extra stuff around the house, not to mention three jobs in the business, but if this is serious, it's serious. Set a time limit, and reevaluate these extra duties again soon. This is the one relationship you can't afford to mess up.

If you have children, you probably also have some tasks appropriate to their age. Look around at your extended family. Brothers, sisters, parents, cousins. Got any young computer wizards in the family? Who could pitch in for a short time? Make sure you are clear about what, if any, payment they can expect. And do set that time limit. You aren't looking to borrow them indefinitely.

2. Subcontractors

Unless your clients absolutely insist on you personally doing every bit of a job, look to your network of potential subcontractors. Let them know what payment terms from the client will be, and move entire jobs or parts of jobs off to other professionals.

If you think clients wouldn't like it, or you just don't know whether your clients would approve, ask them. Start with the most reasonable, friendly clients. Ask them permission to move a specific task or job to a carefully selected sub. If the client refuses, reassure them that you'll stick with the job personally for now. And start training your clients to work with you and your associates in the future.

(I'm working on a follow-up post on how to get clients to accept working with your associates and subs. I'll link here when I get it finished.)

3. Local professionals

OK, if it's crunch time, let go of your basic bookkeeping. Drop the idea of handling your own design, photocopying, computer maintenance or anything else you can get done locally. Think for a moment about the local professionals you already work with, like your accountant, office supply store, or computer repair pro. Ask them to take on a bigger role for you. See what other services they can provide or recommend a provider, to get tasks off your plate. (Yes, I know you are a nerd that likes to work on your own stuff, but get over it. You don't get paid to track down driver conflicts or a camera that won't mount as a drive.)

Once you are through the crunch, reevaluate these tasks. Is there a reason to take them back on yourself? Probably not!

4. Virtual assistants

You already know that virtual assistants can make a difference in your work. The problem is that if you are already in a crunch situation, you may not be able to invest the cash in paying a new assistant, or you may not be able to dedicate time to effectively delegating to a new VA. The way to use a new VA effectively in a crunch is to focus on delegating tasks that require very little training to get going. Start with travel arrangements, basic research, typing or editing.

5. Friends

When you are really crunched, it's time to find out who your friends really are. All of us hesitate to ask friends to help, but you'd be surprised how eager folks are.

When I broke my leg in 2006, several good friends stepped up and helped in my businesses. I know these folks would do the same thing right now if I called and said, "I really need help" whether I had any injury or not. What's more, if any one of them called me today, I would jump at the chance to help them out. That's friendship.

6. Delivery and pickup

Don't even consider driving errands around town at a time like this. Find out who does pickup and delivery, and use them. Can't find a vendor that delivers? Well, have you got a teen driver in the extended family? Bribe them with gas money to do the driving for you.

7. Household help

Working from home can multiply a tight work situation, especially if you are already leaning on your spouse for more help with the business. Call in some reinforcements for cleaning or babysitting. It doesn't take too long to get someone started in those roles. Take the kids to day care (outside your home) for some additional time. Of course, these choices take money, but it may be less cash outlay than trying to hire in your business. And, by the way, this may be the easiest place to bring in some family help, to get you more time to focus on business.

8. Drop it.

Seriously. Drop some things. If you can't do it, and you can't delegate it, can you drop it? Ask yourself, "what will happen if I don't do this?" Think through the consequences, and decide if you can live with that answer.

9. Delay it.

Well, if you can't drop it, can you postpone it? Some tasks are feasible to put off for a month or two, if you can see that you'll work your way out of the crunch. You might be able to stack up entering expense receipts, put off upgrades, or hold on to regular maintenance. Use this approach with caution. Make sure you aren't turning a crunch into an excuse for a bad habit.

Looking over your list of projects, decide which clients you can call to talk about delaying their work. You never know; they may be just as glad to put off a project because of a delay or issue on their end. You won't know until you ask.

10. Learn from it.

If you are going through hell, keep going. Start now with making notes of what tasks you plan to delegate in the future and how you'll accomplish that. Begin the savings account for paying an assistant, subcontractors, or service providers. It's easy to say, "I won't let this happen again." But if you are not setting the solution in motion, you are asking for a repeat.


How do you deal with crunch times in your business?

UPDATE: 11. Voice Mail

Seriously. Send all your calls to voice mail during designated times. You don't realize how much time the phone is eating up, until you block out time away from it.

I had thought of this one, but forgot to put it in! What other ideas do you have?

This article is part of the Small Biz 100, a series of 100 practical hands-on posts for small business people and solo entrepreneurs, whether in a small town, the big city, or in between. If you have questions you'd like us to address in this series, leave a comment or send us an email at becky@smallbizsurvival.com. This is a community project!

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Hiring your first assistant

For this installment of the Small Biz 100, Liz Strauss shares some insights on hiring an assistant, virtual or local.



Where can a small business person find an assistant locally?

Liz suggests looking in the local university, college, or even high school and technical education. You can also work with temp agencies, or any of the tools Chel mentioned in How to work with a Virtual Assistant.

What characteristics should you look for?

"Ego strength, problem solving, and curiosity," Liz said. "Anything else can be taught."

Look for a person who is wanting to develop, to become what you are, Liz said. They can start out by taking just the first round of tasks, like initial research, and can develop more skills to work at a higher level.

How do you get started?

"When I first started, I asked the person to come in for two hours a week. That held me accountable to find two hours of work for that person to do. Believe me, I always found more."

How can you justify the expense?

"The principle is that people with the highest level skills should be doing the highest level work. You, as CEO of a Fortune 100 Corp, making coffee might be nice, but you're a VERY EXPENSIVE coffee maker. Let's say the main work you do is worth $100/hour. If you can pay someone to write your bills $20/hour for 3 hours and you stick to what only you can do, you're not spending money, you're making it so that you can earn $240 more in those three hours. "

This article is part of the Small Biz 100, a series of 100 practical hands-on posts for small business people and solo entrepreneurs, whether in a small town, the big city, or in between. If you have questions you'd like us to address in this series, leave a comment or send us an email at becky@smallbizsurvival.com. This is a community project!

Get the whole series by subscribing to Small Biz Survival. New here? Take the Guided Tour.

How to work with a Virtual Assistant

For small town small business people, virtual assistants could be one of the best kept secret tools. A good VA can take some of the administrative load off of your shoulders, and make your business more successful. As a bonus, VA's can work from anywhere, so I see them as an emerging class of small town entrepreneurs. For this installment of the Small Biz 100, I interviewed former small town gal and current virtual assistant Michelle Wolverton, aka Chel Pixie, on how to work successfully with a VA.


Tell me about the services you provide. I know you do some things that I'm sure most don't.
I provide a wide range, so wide that sometimes it's hard to really narrow down the services that someone might need from me. Obviously anything that I can do virtually, which includes managing contacts (especially after conferences when you come home with all those business cards), making appointments and arranging for service that one might need in the normal course of business and/or personal, and I manage social networking sites for some clients.

The unique thing about me is that I can switch from installing and configuring Wordpress to writing a legal document to creating databases for musicians to market their music. These all came about because I'm a geek, have been trained as a legal assistant and got some experience working as an intern for Matthew Ebel.

What surprises clients or what don't they know?

Some clients are surprised at the depth of services I'm willing to handle, some are surprised to find out that x tool will work great for a task they need completed. I really think the biggest thing that they don't realize is what to delegate and how. It really is a big task to sit down and look at the things you're dealing with and say, oh okay, I can hand this over, but now I need to find the time to do that. It has to be a priority, and I think it surprises clients to know how difficult it is to get started. Once they start, it seems to get easier to think, "now that's something that I can give to the VA and it'll save me time".

How do people find a VA? How do they make a good match?

I've connected with clients via Ning, LinkedIN, Twitter, email, phone, Skype, and WOM. I think the first step is knowing that you CAN have a virtual assistant. Most corporations and companies look inside the box for someone that can be in office doing those same tasks for 8 hours a day. My clients tend to understand they can have someone do this work for them and not BE there. It can be hard to find someone that fits to bring into your home office.

I'm sure that some people utilitize Craigslist.org, job boards and other service, but I'm guessing that the majority of people find VAs through online networking services or WOM.

Trials are the key. Sometimes I hit it off with clients instantly, sometimes we don't, it really takes an effort on both sides of the fence to make the relationship cement. If the client is having difficulty knowing what they need me to manage or what they can have me manage, then it's a lot harder on both of us to find a good place to start. If you're going to take on a VA, be prepared to know what you can delegate. Ask yourself, "can I let go of this task and let someone else handle it for me?" If the answer is yes, just let go of it. It'll make your life easier. That's my purpose.

What makes it work? How do you manage across the distance?

To put it simply, it's the acceptance of telecommuting plus the tools to collaborate online. Tools like Google Documents and Calendars, Skype, Plaxo, oovoo, Todoist, de.lici.ous, Basecamp, Backpack, etc. have changed our way of thinking about how we communicate with our co-workers and business partners. For myself, that includes almost always being connected.

Companies like The Advance Guard, crayon, and Abraham Harrison are starting out as digital offices and they are doing it successfully. What absolutely has to be present is lines of communication between co-workers and even between clients.

This article is part of the Small Biz 100, a series of 100 practical hands-on posts for small business people and solo entrepreneurs, whether in a small town, the big city, or in between. If you have questions you'd like us to address in this series, leave a comment or send us an email at becky@smallbizsurvival.com. This is a community project!

Get the whole series by subscribing to Small Biz Survival. New here? Take the Guided Tour.

Targeted training opps for small biz with employees

If you've reached the point of having employees in your small biz, I suggest you to pay attention to Winning Workplaces' training webinars.

Any given day, there are great workplace trainings going on in the metros. I get flyers all the time for the terrific events at big city business schools, chambers of commerce, and other places I can't get to easily. But I can get here, online.

Winning Workplaces is all about sharing the best ideas from the best small businesses that care about people. Really. Their webinars for small business give you access to terrific training by real small business people who have built real, successful small businesses that are also wonderful places to work. Their next two topics are developing a customer service culture and building ownership mentality among employees. If you have a small workforce, I'll bet you need to sit down and participate in these two topics!

The cost is much, much less than going to one of the training events you get flyers for. If you sign up far enough in advance, you can sneak into an interactive webinar for $50. Recording of past sessions are discounted to $35, because you lose the interaction. Some of their previous topics were:

• Growing Leaders from Within
• Family-Friendly Workplace Practices
• Making the Flexible Workplace Work
• Open Book Management: 10 Ways Business Succeeds When Employees Have Skin in the Game

While you are at Winning Workplace's website, take a look at their toolkits. Some amazing info around topics like learning and development, teamwork and involvement, and work/life balance.

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Small town business trends for 2008

Want a trend report that pays attention to small town trends? Read the top 10 trends for 2008 from Jack Schultz, author of Boomtown USA.

My top 5 picks from his list are:

NWOSU Ranger Rodeo Team,
These Millennials are shaping
the future of small towns

1. Millennials-Hard to believe that this generation, ages 10 to 27, dwarfs the Baby Boomers in size. Schultz says these young people are going to be the most entrepreneurial in the history of the USA. Are you ready to recruit and retain these forward-thinking young people?

3. Education-Schultz puts the emphasis on world class primary and secondary schools, entrepreneurial education, community colleges and technology centers. Are you partnering now with local educators?

7. Enviropreneurs-No matter what your business, start taking action on this one. If you are looking for business ideas, look in this field.

8. Niche Ag-This is another place to look for ideas. Schultz talks about diversifying crops and promoting local and organic food. He's absolutely right.

10. Birds Beating Birdies-Golf is slipping in importance, Schultz says. Bird watching, hiking and biking are rising.

What trends are you planning for?


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Small Biz Startup TV: hiring, business plans

Networking with many new media folks, I realized that lots of people are starting businesses. Since helping people start a business is the full time job of my co-author "OkieJ" Jeanne Cole, we decided to present a live internet TV miniseries on small business startup issues.

Problem with the player? Try playing it at Operator11.

Becky McCray and Jeanne Cole live from the Small Business Development Center in Alva, taking your small biz startup questions live in the chat room or by video. Guests include small biz experts and real-world entrepreneurs. Appearing on camera were Jim Long, Adam Jochum and Cammon Randle.

Want free confidential small business counseling before or after the show? Sign up with us at http://urltea.com/1god

More episodes to follow on Oct. 15, 22, and 29.

Links:

Jim Long: www.vergenewmedia.com, www.craftynation.com
Adam Jochum: www.crowrivercoffee.com, www.cafn8ed.com
Cammon Randle: www.copperrain.com
Vaspers: www.vaspersthegrate.blogspot.com
Becky McCray: twitter.com/beckymccray
Jeanne Cole: twitter.com/okiej

Hiring Resources

www.elance.com
www.guru.com
Delegate Without Hiring

Downloads:

Business Plan Guide
More downloads from Oklahoma Small Business Development Centers
My Simplified Business Plans



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Need demographic information?

Here's a nifty site. It will reveal all kinds of great, useful demographic information with only the input of a 5 digit zip code.

Want to know how many folks have a high school diploma? How about the rate of unemployment? Here it is. Whatever has been reported for a zip code seems to be here.

There is more information than I knew what to do with.

Carnival of Small Business

The Carnival of Small Business and Startups #4 is now up at

http://www.logodesignworks.com/businesstips/carnival-of-small-business-and-startups-4

It's full of terrific articles, including

1. A Motivation Secret of Top Performing Managers by Dr. Robert Karlsberg and Dr. Jane Adler.
2. The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires by Susan Velez.

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Top Small Workplaces Conference and Celebration

Remember Mark Harbeke and our friends at Winning Workplaces? They are dedicated to helping you improve your small business workplace, creating better work environments.

I just got an email from Executive Director Mary C. Clark telling me they received over 800 nominations for their Top Small Workplaces contest, a joint project with The Wall Street Journal.

Clark said these "top" businesses increased revenue over 40% in three years, retained 89% of their employees, encouraged innovation, kept their culture while they grow and found solutions to some of the problems that plague all businesses. They've planned a big conference and celebration in Chicago on October 3 & 4, 2007, to share some of the best practices. The list of workshop topics looks promising! They've focused on practical info from experienced entrepreneurs.

Help spread the word:

Top Small Workplaces Conference & Celebration,
Wednesday and Thursday, October 3 & 4, 2007
The Mid-America Club, 200 E. Randolph, Chicago

Practical information you can use from real world business leaders.
Honoring the 2007 Top Small Workplaces named by The Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces.

Visit www.winningworkplaces.org/topsmallbiz for information and registration or call 847-328-9798.

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Make the most of your human resources

In a small town, Human Resources Management takes on all new meaning, as you labor to find people to work with you, train them, keep them, and so on, while starting from a tiny talent pool. Making the most of each staff person is a constant issue. So here are two items to help you make more of your employees.

First, what is the best way to pay people? Is it more effective to give raises or give bonuses? Guy Kawasaki has dug up some research that addresses whether giving employees a pay-for-performance bonus or a merit raise fosters greater productivity. In fact, the difference is 10 to one in favor of bonuses. That's a significant difference! So think of ways to invest in your people with bonuses.

Second, how can you find employees for small town small businesses? One tactic is to take advantage of partnerships with your local nonprofits. They can provide you with special training, testing, a steady supply of applicants for your staff, and more. The trick is to make these partnerships pay off for you, especially as a small business. Hitachi Foundation has produced a terrific pocket guide to alliances with nonprofits on HR. It really is written for small businesses. I've worked in workforce development, so I know that nonprofit organizations really do offer training, testing, etc. You may find it easier if you are located in the same town as a local workforce office, but anyone with enough persistence can access these alliances.

Share your secrets. How do you make the most of your human resources in a small town?

[Photo: Finding and keeping terrific employees is a special challenge for small town small businesses. from my Flickr.]

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Brain Drain Fighter #3 - Capture college students

Found in the E+Action Newsletter:

A recent report by the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University concentrates on why students are leaving Illinois, where the students are moving, and what strategies can be employed to retain more students. The report offers a number of recommendations to keep students within the state and attract others to Illinois, including:

• Seek greater personal relationships with prospective students by encouraging direct contact from university financial aid officers, coaches, and academic faculty.

• Provide additional financial aid to high-achieving students.

• Promote a public marketing campaign that promotes the range of educational opportunities in the state.

• Encourage collaboration between high school guidance counselors and universities in order to build awareness of in-state postsecondary options.

Wondering if your state has a net gain or a net loss of college students? Find out from the U.S. Department of Education.

I read the E+Action Newsletter because Jack Schultz told me it was terrific.

More Resources

Read our other Brain Drain fighting stories:

#1 Actively involve young people in the community before they go away to college.

#2 Use "Come Home" Programs

"How You Gonna Keep Them Down on the Farm?" is the WRONG question.


Give us your suggestions, too!

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Workshop and training ideas you can re-use

Training and workshops come up frequently in the rural business news. Here are some recent articles that include ideas you can use in your own area.


Workshop series uses multiple locations

"The entrepreneur has the vision for the business," Jim Hogge, director of the Small Business Development Center at Boise State University, said in a statement. "These workshops are designed to help with the nuts and bolts to ensure the business will succeed."

Starting a business, the basics of ebay, hiring employees and marketing for specialty foods are all planned. From The Idaho Statesman.

Oklahoma workshop cosponsored by tribe, agency

“The forum will present a number of topics, including ‘Financing for your Small Business, Business Feasibility Planning, Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business and Taking the Mystery our of Credit Reports,’” said Dr. Rackley. “These are among the most important issues facing small business owners and entrepreneurs in their quest to establish and maintain a viable business.”

“We recognize the potential of job creation that can be developed with the successes of the growing number of home-based women entrepreneurs and plan these meetings to encourage their business expansions.”

From Pottawatomie Online.

Louisiana free workshops draw multiple partners

This project is a partnership between Health Tonics, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Rural Development, Louisiana Economic Development, Louisiana Municipal Association, Louisiana Business and Technology Center, LSU Ag Center and Louisiana Small Business Development Center (LSBDC) Network.

From NWLANews.

Women in Rural Enterprise training new rural entrepreneurs

The conference is aimed at women who are starting a business, already established, or considering becoming entrepreneurs in rural areas.

Read about it in the Yorkshire Post Today Business News.

A member of WIRE talks about her business in the Malvern Gazette.

Business school for rural women in India

"Since technical skills alone are inadequate to turn the women into entrepreneurs, students will also be offered other important business tools through programmes on financial literacy, marketing techniques and communication skills. In addition, confidence-building techniques will be used to supplement the technical and financial training; without confidence, it is very difficult to turn skilled women into successful entrepreneurs," Chetna points out.

From The Hindu Business Line.

[Photo by Jeanne of Entrepreneur Day in Woodward.]

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Why entrepreneurs care about our communities

Our friend Zane Safrit has explained why we care what is going on in and around our small towns:

And what exactly do CAFOs and JFANs have to do with a corporate blog? It's all about community. It's all about the quality of life in your community. The higher the quality, the better the economy. The better the economy, the greater skill in the general workforce. Greater skills in your workforce mean...a better brand, a better experience for your customers.

Read the full post at Zane's blog, CCUCEO.

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Locate Your Manufacturing Plant in a Small Town

I'm copying this directly from Jack Schultz's weekly email, because I think all of you need to read it, save it, and hand out copies!

By Jack Schultz, Boomtown USA

As we have known for 20 years at Agracel, small towns are a great location for manufacturers. This, after all, was one of the key reasons Boomtown USA was written, because of what we were seeing in our industrial development activities in small towns around the USA. Small towns offer some advantages that you just won’t find in a metro area. Here are a few of the more obvious reasons.

• Lower real estate costs. Almost without exception (unless it’s a tourist area), smaller cities and towns offer lower real estate costs. That’s because the land is less valuable and the development costs are lower as well.
• Lower taxes. The demand for government services is considerably less in a small town and, therefore, so are the taxes.
• Lower wage costs. Although living costs vary from region to region, they also vary within the region itself. Even if business requirements dictate your presence in a particularly expensive region of the country, you can still lower your wage costs by choosing to locate in a smaller town within the region, rather than in a big city.
• Fewer transportation costs. One of the major advantages of a large metro is that it is often located at a transportation crossroads. Most of the “micropolitans” (an urban area that includes at least one city or town with at least 10,000 – but less than 50,000 – population) are also located on or near at least one major transportation artery, often more. The main difference is a whole lot less congestion.
• Lower operating costs. Lower wages, taxes and real estate costs all translate directly into considerably less “stress” on the expense side of the ledger.
• Strong work ethic. Let’s face it. Small town values mean a day’s work for a day’s pay.
• Employer of choice. Properly handled, there’s a lot to be said for being a big fish in a small pond. Depending upon the city or town, you could easily find yourself the “employer of choice”, attracting the very best workers from the entire region.

As Bill King says, “While it’s not likely that any of these towns will offer major league sports or a local philharmonic, they can offer advantages your company might find very attractive.”

Jack Schultz is the CEO of Boomtown Institute and Agracel Inc., an industrial development firm majoring in rural America, author of Boomtown USA, and speaker. Boomtown Institute serves as an economic development mentor to communities across the United States, leading communities to realize their full potential.

Visit the Boomtown Institute website at www.boomtowninstitute.com
Keep up with Jack as he tours the country on his blog!
To learn more about Agracel visit www.agracel.com.

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Tight workforce problem and possible solutions

In a rural area, even a small improvement in the local economy can quickly dry up the pool of job applicants.

The neighboring town of Woodward, Oklahoma, is benefiting from the boom in natural gas production and the many high-paying jobs that boom has created. Except that it is straining the supply of people in the local workforce. Now Woodward is looking at many unfilled openings.


This points up the problem not just with the number of people, but also with skills and training. An article in the local Woodward News explains:

But for everyone the real problem seems to be not just finding workers, but finding qualified workers.

These are people I know from my time with workforce development in Woodward. They told me five years ago that basic skills in math and reading are part of the issue. Many potential workers also get disqualified because of drug or alcohol related offenses in the past.

I don't have any quick-fix solutions, but here are two important points, adapted from Charles Lawton.

1. Local education must teach skills needed in your area.

Start with basic reading and math and go from there. Small business people have to take the lead in tying education to business skills because we know what skills we need. Get involved in the local workforce development process.

2. Business has to look beyond wages

Notice in the Woodward News article, the only benefit discussed was wages. We have to also consider work/life balance, career paths, and other people issues. If you have trouble finding anyone, don't just offer higher wages. Expand your thinking to make your jobs more attractive.

Tight workforce problems are too complex for a simple answer. I'm open to hearing your opinions and experiences.

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POV: How to be CEO of a small business

Our friend Zane Safrit is sharing his point of view as a small business CEO.

You need others and others' help to be a success. It takes a lot more'n a village to create a successful company. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Hire people lots better than you in these key areas. Create a place where it's mostly hard fun (that's not my phrase, but I can't remember who coined it.) to work together. Stay out of their way. Keep others out of their way.

That's pretty much my day as a small business CEO.

Read the entire article. It's short, and good.


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