It is Not Always About the Money

I love this article. It was in Bloomberg BusinessWeek. This piece was written by Pharhant Gopal and Vildana Hajric.

Two New York City suburbs, New Rochelle and Yonkers, are taking substantial steps to recruit millennials from Manhattan.  

The focus is on building mixed use developments of interest to millennials.  Equally important is providing the type of services that appeal to millennials. As you read the article you will see how much research was done.  It is very impressive.

Note that both suburbs enticed developers to build luxury apartments by offering two primary incentives:  long term tax breaks and rapid permit approval. 

Rapid permit approval is not generally considered a monetary incentive by most people. However, for a developer or industry, rapid permit approval ranks right up with cash and tax breaks.  Time to market definitely impacts the revenue stream and how quick profitability is achieved.   

As you read the article take note of the concerted and comprehensive effort to recruit millennials from Manhattan and New York City. It includes understanding your market, building what your research tells you the market want, and how to incent developers to partner with you.  

Link to article:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-17/how-nyc-suburbs-yonkers-and-new-rochelle-are-wooing-millennials?srnd=businessweek-v2

What You Measure is What you get

I love economics.  It is a fascinating field and is filled with incredible measurements and indices.  And remember what President Harry Truman said about economists.  “Give me a one-handed Economist. All my economists say 'on one hand...', then 'but on the other...”

One of the best aspects of economics is the churn of ideas and theories. One man is trying to move the conversation away from Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Dr. Mark Skousen, an economist suggested using another way to measure an economy is GO or Gross Output. This started in Great Britain.  

Dr. Skousen teaches at Chapman University.  He is also an investment adviser and author of several books. The following link takes you to an article and pod cast. It is worth the read and a listen.  

Link to article:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2019/09/09/were-using-the-wrong-measure-gdp-to-gauge-the-economys-real-health-mark-skousen/#3b1d840452fa

Pivot

This post includes one of my favorite items:  hummus.  It is also about an entrepreneur who recognizes the need to pivot due to customer feedback and becomes very successful. 

The article is from Entrepreneur and highlights the struggles of Jesse Wolfe and his firm, O'Dang Hummus.  

As we know from reading the article, he faced the same challenges other start-up firms have when competing in the food industry and retail sales.  The article notes that Mr. Wolfe overcame the initial issues of product development, testing, reevaluating, and getting on a supermarket shelf.  But he still did not meet his expectations. 

Unlike others who fail, he learned from his product testing and found another avenue.  It required him to significantly revise the final product, but he could have never done it without customer feedback. Sometimes we forget that the customer can offer insights others simply cannot see.  Mr. Wolfe heard them and acted accordingly. 

I think you will enjoy the article. It is authored by Jason Feifer.  Mr. Feifer does an excellent job carrying you through Wolfe's journey. 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/341808

Technology at its Best or Why Didn’t I Think of That?

Short answer to the question above. I am not that smart.

From previous posts you know I read several business magazines.  This is one of my favorite articles in Forbes.  It combines extensive research, answering a burning question, growing an economy, and innovative adaption of technology all in one article.

One key point, you will never look at your mobile phone the same way again. 

The article is about Shivani Siroya and her challenges and success in launching Tala.  Tala makes small loans through a smartphone app.

Ms. Siroya’s background and experience are highly unique and positioned her to form Tala.  The article talks about partnerships she formed. The use of data on a phone to analyze customers was brilliant.  Several users of Tala are profiled. The stats on the impact of Ms. Siroya and her company are very impressive.

Title of the article: “The $100 Trillion Opportunity: The Race To Provide Banking To The World’s Poor”

Link to article:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2019/09/23/the-100-trillion-opportunity-the-race-to-provide-banking-to-the-worlds-poor/#3a1fd0f1d015

Impala

General Motors (GM) announced that it will discontinue manufacturing the Impala in 2021. The announcement made me think of my early years in Midland, TX.  

The Impala is the GM workhorse.  It is more of a utility vehicle than a luxury car.  The Impala is a sedan and somewhat of a larger car.  It has plenty of leg room in the back seat. The engine was a V-8, a powerful engine. The trunk was deep and spacious.  

In short, an ideal company car.  When I was growing up in Midland, Texas many of the oil firms offered company cars to select employees.  Usually these were Impalas. 

The company car was one of the best benefits offered to an employee.  In essence you had a second car you did not directly pay for.  The only negative was that no one else in the family could drive it, but that seems like a minor nuisance to me.  You could almost always tell who had one. It was a Impala, Biscayne (discontinued in 1972), Caprice, or a Ford.  As I recall, they were usually white.  


Of course that what when industry offered employees company cars.  You see very little of that today. It is an expensive perk.  Now, we get mileage for using our own cars or a car allowance.  

I remember my father's 1973 Impala. It was white with a blue interior and very comfortable. This is a picture of the 1973 Impala.  It sure was a good company car. 

Entrepreneurship AND Living in Your Hometown

This post assumes that you a) want to live in your hometown and b) you want to start a business.

That said, this post focuses on the best of both worlds, living in your hometown and starting a business.  However, I must offer a couple of caveats.

The link to the Entrepreneur magazine notes several individuals who left big cities and moved home to start their businesses. It points out that most of the small towns these entrepreneurs move back to have some level of support for a small business or that it must developed.  

That is a key point. An entrepreneur does not start a business in a vacuum.  In fact, all entrepreneurs need expertise and resources to succeed.  

Be sure to note the last sentence, "In other words, the community needs to build something worth coming home to."

And that is what we in economic development should strive for. Do we have the necessary resources identified at the local level to support small business start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures?  If no, we need to take steps to a) identify the lacking resources and b) try to either develop the missing links and/or recruit the missing components. 

Link to article:  https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/337560

Tried and True

In uncertain times we sometimes forget what is important in our professional career.  It is your word, your reputation, and your network. 

Notice each of these start with "your".  Because you earn each one and you own each one.

While all three are important, I will focus on the third one. 

My network is a vital foundation to my success as an economic developer. I relied on it when I lost my job nine years ago. I rely on it for project intelligence.  I rely on it for local intelligence.  And I help my network as often as I can.  Frankly, my network allows me to be a more productive and valuable employee.  

To a certain extent, a network is like a friendship or marriage or a career. You must constantly work at it. And you cannot take it for granted. What can you do?  After all, anything of value takes work. 

The following link to an article in Entrepreneur is an excellent resource for maintaining and expanding a network.  

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/339971