The secret to rural jobs creation: connections

Norfolk County Speed Networking 2013. Photo courtesy of Norfolk County, ON

Want to create more jobs? Make more connections. Photo of speed networking courtesy of Norfolk County, ON

No one creates jobs in a vacuum.

They need to connect to customers.
They need to connect to people at suppliers and service providers.
They need to connect to people who help them think of the new ideas that generate new value that create more demand that lead to new jobs.
They need to connect to people who can fill those jobs.

Innovation isn’t about a lone inventor sitting in a lab somewhere. Innovation is about two or three people putting together pieces of seemingly unrelated ideas to generate a new idea.

Innovation works best when people connect with people outside their usual network, people who aren’t exactly like them.

That may not be easy in a small town. Your rural town has different kinds of people. You have different businesses. You have people with differing ideas. But they don’t necessarily mix and connect easily.

When you bring them together and help them connect, you’re spurring innovation and generating future jobs.

How can you do that, when you’re already overwhelmed with too many things to do? Add more deliberate networking to things you’re already doing.

Do you hold a business fair? Add networking.
Have a conference or workshop? Add networking.

And acknowledge that what you’re doing is not just about people talking to each other. It’s about creating new jobs.

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.