Where did the Idea Friendly Method come from?

The Idea Friendly method came from my own struggles to get things done and the struggles of a lot of people like you who shared with me. It took me 10 years of study to find it, and that was just the beginning.

During my career, I’ve put in a lot of work inside of formal organizations. Over and over, I’ve been the one bringing new technology to an organization that was pretty stuck in its ways.

The crisis came when I was fired from my job as city administrator by one of the factions fighting for control of the town council. That was actually the best thing that could have happened, even though I didn’t know that at the time.

It was 2005, and the online world was really heating up. I started doing projects that used new online tools to stay outside of the old formal structures.

For Shop Small Saturday, I rallied a group of local stores to amplify our shared message online. A few friends and I organized wine tastings in an empty building during our local arts festival. A larger group of online friends helped create a big in-person conference for rural people like you and me who were using social media in new ways. And I started my own site, SmallBizSurvival.com, where I could share ideas about what was possible in small towns.

The critics and nay-sayers just didn’t matter. There was no one to stand in our way and say, “But this is how we’ve always done things.” The old guard couldn’t stop us from trying our ideas. As soon as we were finished with a project, we were all free to move on. It was powerful!

After ten years of doing, reading, thinking, writing and speaking about small towns almost every day, I shared “Idea Friendly” with an audience for the first time in 2015. They showed a 16.7% increase in optimism from just hearing that early seed of the Idea Friendly method.

For the past three years, Deb and I have taught the Idea Friendly concepts to hundreds of rural people. I’m still researching, surveying hundreds of rural people and talking with you every week. Customers like you give us valuable feedback about how it works in their communities, and we keep refining the method.

That’s how the Idea Friendly Method came to be simple and practical. It is a living method applied every day in towns just like yours. In fact, let’s apply it in yours, starting right now.

The Idea Friendly video and action guide are available right now at no charge. You get a 30 minute video to share with your friends and a simple guide with practical steps you can put into action right away.

Keep shaping the future of your town,
Becky

PS – This gift is available only through Dec 31. You’re going to want to get friends together to watch, so sign up now