If you’re tired of “Nothing good happens here!” complaints, make a success list
It’s pretty common to hear rural people say something like, “There’s nothing here!”
That’s because they aren’t remembering all the new business activity or they maybe aren’t paying attention. Or maybe they’re only thinking of big new employers, the kind that come with visiting dignitaries for the ribbon cutting and announcement.
Most small towns don’t have many of those big announcements, but I’m betting you have a lot more small business activity than folks realize.
Put every new business on your Success List
Deb used to keep a list of every new business that opened in Webster City, Iowa. Then when someone complained, “There’s no new businesses in our town!” Deb could hit them with the list.
Some of the new businesses are hard to see because they’re based in someone’s home or they are a traveling business. Add those to the list, too.
Look for businesses inside another business. Sometimes these open without anyone noticing them. Pay attention to local craft businesses that may only have a few items on sale inside a local store. Those are still businesses.
Even more for your Success List: public improvements, business expansions, and so much more
Carol Peterson from Milnor, North Dakota, has kept a huge list of all progress from new businesses to public improvements for 12 years and counting. Now, take a moment to realize that Milnor has about 700 people. She gave me permission to share her Success List with you:
Here’s more, direct from Carol: (with bold added by me)
I have mentored other economic development people and one of the first things I tell them is to start recording everything that happens in your community. I continually hear from community members (the naysayers) that we don’t ever get anywhere, we are at a dead-end. Milnor is a city of under 700 people and yes, you may think we are not going anywhere, but I have the ammunition to counter these people with my data.
We have 25 businesses today that we did not have 12 years ago, some being anchor businesses with a number of employees such as our electrical/HAC with 15 employees, veterinarian with 4 full time and 6 part-time, childcare center with 16 employees, plumber with 5 employees. If we don’t keep track of this info, soon no one has the information to show how we have grown. If everyone would keep track of what they are doing, they will be very surprised what they have accomplished.
Another thing I tell new economic developers is to keep track of what grants they have received. I had someone tell me to do this 12 years ago when I started and it was great advice. Today, I would not believe how many grants we have received if I had not actually recorded the dollars brought in and where they came from. Can you believe that Milnor has received over $2.3 million is grants since 2010! These are grants from outside of our community, mostly state grants. We also received a number of grants from our foundation that I do not include, but still keep track of. We are truly blessed.
Here’s why success lists work:
We can learn from what worked before. (My friend Rob Hatch calls that “success frames” and he’s writing a book on it.)
You replace the nebulous “nothing good” mindset with specific things to point to and examples you can build on.
Everyone likes to be part of something that is working. That makes a success list a great tool to Gather Your Crowd.
What’s on the list of great things in your community over the last 12 months?
Keep shaping the future of your town,
Becky
Ready to make your town more Idea Friendly? Two ways we can help:
Done with you – our Idea Friendly Intensive Action Package brings us to your town in person twice and we give you coaching in between.
Do it yourself – the Idea Friendly Toolkit with short action-packed video/audio tutorials, a simple to follow guide and a year of unlimited streaming of videos and audios to answer all your other questions.
Featured photo courtesy of Carol Peterson, Milnor, North Dakota.