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August 30, 2009. 7:00 pm

I’ve made it to Omaha! I have been here before, at least a couple of times. It seems like a nice middle-sized town in the Midwest striving to be bigger. While I am not exactly in the City, I am on the outskirts near the interstate. I got a bit lost trying to find the hotel. The hotel is tucked away in the back of a business park. A Candlewood Suites, it has a kitchen, fridge, stove and microwave. This is good as brought some items to cook in the microwave and can have a nice little dinner while a watch the Bears on the TV.

So the drive took me south out of Fargo and along the way I found a sunflower field, so I thought I would stop and take a look at it. It’s amazing to see so many sunflowers in a field. Just think how many of those sunflower seeds will end up in the mouths of major league ballplayers and coaches and ultimately on the floor of a dugout of a major league baseball stadium. The life of a sunflower seed begins with a glorious beginning in the fields of North Dakota, and a brutal ending in the dugout of Wrigley field. So sad.

The drive was pretty straight, and there wasn’t much to see. I won’t say it’s boring, because it is hard to make me bored on a drive. I like long drives. I meander through the lower 80s’ and 90s’ on the radio dial looking for a NPR station and ended up listening to Garrison Keillor as I drive through sugar beet and sunflower fields of far eastern North Dakota. At one point I got really sleepy; no doubt a result of staying up way too late last night. And even though I slept in (7:30), I dilly-dallied around and didn’t leave until 10:00.

Tomorrow will be a challenge as I make my way to Tulsa, Oklahoma, the second state on my target list. Not all of the trip will be in interstate, so while it might be interesting, it will be slower. My goal is to leave very early and get to Tulsa in time to check out people do in Tulsa on a Monday night.  I will report to you then.

Fargo is a hopping town. I went out last night instead of staying stuck in a hotel room out by the mall and ended up at the HoDo Hotel and Lounge. I went, based upon the recommendation of  new Twitter friends, especially someone who  goes by the handle @FargoMoorehead and is part of the local CVB. I love how this works. I roll into town, announce I am here and all of a sudden I have good recommendations for places to go.This, by the way, is a great example of how a CVB can be extremely responsive to the the needs of a visitor. Using social media they responded immediately by giving me information I needed. Way to go Fargo-Moorhead CVB!

The Hodo was a really cool place. Warehouse, lofty feel with big windows to the outside, a lot of original art, and a hip music background, part hip-hop, part Johnny Cash. Has anyone taken a Cash track and done a hip-hop/country mashup? Hmmm, interesting. Next time I am in Fargo I am staying at the HoDo.

Downtown Fargo as a destination looked pretty good . It was a good mix of nice restaurants, sports bars, pubs and  dives. I think they like their neon signs in Fargo, for each interesting place has a good looking neon sign that borders on kitsch art.

I met Dave the attorney and Bill the Banker at the HoDo lounge after I had eaten a really yummy Asian stir fry, and consumed a couple IPAs’. By the way I was a little disappointing that Fargo, according to the bartender, didn’t have a local micro-brew. I hope Amber was  wrong and under informed ( like the hotel clerk who scrunched her face when  I mentioned downtown). Having said that,  the IPA from some micro-brew in Minneapolis was quite tasty. Dave and Bill were two guys close to or  around my age. We had a great time talking about the differences and  similarities between Bloomington-Normal and Fargo. They were obviously well-informed and understood their community very well. They had pride in their area and it wasn’t blustery or boisterous, which was good.

By the way, no one I met talked like they do in the movie. Ok, the hotel clerk came close, but truthfully, Fargo people are full of the Midwestern charm and helpfulness one would expect. One more thing: According to those I spoke to last night and the local Arts paper Fargo apparently has a thriving art and culture scene.

I head for Omaha today. Looking a the interstate, it looks pretty long, straight and boring. I hope the worlds largest ball of string is on this leg of the journey. I will need something to break up the day.  I will travel through and hit parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Follow me on Twitter @bnedguy, I will tweet along the way.

Day 2 August 29, 2009

It’s hard to believe it is August, but Fall does come early in Barron, WI. I am at the home of  Bam Peterson, who I meet in 1982 when I did  a mentorship with the McLean County Government office. He was the first County Administrator hired by the County in the late 70s’. He opened my eyes to the possibility of public administration as a career, and even though I am not in the profession today, last night as we sat around solving the world’s problems, we agreed that my experience in the public sector was invaluable in my experience today.

Bam has had several positions in various local governments throughout the years. That is often the world of city and county management, one often has to switch or change positions, due to change in political leadership, or other circumstances. But I think overall he has had a strong professional career that he should be proud of. I am so happy he and I have remained friends for 27 years. He is much much  older than I, but we have always clicked as if we are old high school buddies.

Yesterday, after visiting with my sister in Madison, I headed north around the west side of the Madison, WI metro area through Priairie du Sac, Baraboo and the Dells to reach I-94. As  I headed north out of Madison I was struck by the beauty of Wisconsin, which is a much different state in terms of geography than Illinois. Wisconsin is probably called the dairy state because it has a rougher more rolling terrain which makes it difficult to plant wide swaths of corn and soybeans and eaiser to graze cattle thereby providing for more dairy farms. I am so smart.

Wisconsin, however is plagued by something that gives all that beauty a black eye. It seems in Wisconsin, they have never met a billboard, sign, or roadside stand they didn’t like. Every sign imaginable for casino’s, indoor water parks and Tommy Bartlett’s Water Show, Crazy Larry’s Magic Show, and every other attraction dot the landscape. I know commerce and tourism is what makes Wisconsin tick, but the plethora of signs in pristine places seems to be a bit ill-placed.

I headed north towards Tomah, which is the fork in the road. Head down I-90 and you head for …I’m not sure. Go right and take I-94 and one heads for Mineapolis/St. Paul. One more fork in the road a little further in Eau Claire, and one ends up on Highway 53 heading for a little, smallish cities.

On the way, I stopped in Black River Falls rest stop. A mayor I once worked for was from this area, and so it brings back memories of him and the stories he always told of growing up on a farm in this area. In 1977 the region was hit with a major forest fire, the kind that occurs in California every other week. The rests top sign marker talks about it, and it sounds quite amazing. The rest stop area is in area where the fire occurred. I climbed to the top of the lookout area and could see for miles and miles.  Wisconsin is pretty. Don’t argue.

8-29-09 12:35 pm. Just south of Alexandria, MN

After a great country breakfast made by Bam, which included some excellent thick cut bacon I am on the road again. I cut down Route 8 heading west out of Barron and towards Chippewa Falls, WI. Here I crossed the Chippewa River and into Minnesota. Hooray for my third State! Bam gave me excellent instructions on how to get back down to I-94, through Minneapolis. I was able to avoid the City by staying on the excellent by-pass system.

Although I didn’t go into Minneapolis-St. Paul, the other twin cities (Bloomington-Normal being the first in my mind) the suburbs of this area look exactly like I thought they should look; clean, manicured, lots of nice shopping centers with all the regional and national chains. I even saw a Biaggi’s (see earlier post, “Maniacal Customer Service”) from the highway.  Apparently they don’t have Panera’s at these places, as I was looking for a place to sit down to access the internet, so I just thought I would post later.

Minnesota has pretty terrain near the twin cities. Rolling hills, forests, and lakes popping up everywhere you go. As you go farther out into the country, it looks more and more like any other rural landscape in the Midwest. It seems as I travel I-94, that every few minutes there is another city or town with all the roadside restaurants we have expected to encounter. To really experience these little towns, one no doubt, must get off the interstate. As you know that is not my plan.

Alexandria, is the place my brother-in-law’s parents owned a resort. There are many lakes in this area, and according to Bam, this where many Twin-city residents go for their weekend lake-cabin experience.

The weather is very cool. My car thermometer says it is 64 degrees. But is sunny with puffy clouds. I am about two and a half hours from Fargo, so I don’t plan to make but one stop until I get there.  That should get me to the great State of North Dakota by 4:00! Plenty of time to check out a local brew-pub, coffee shop or dive.

8-28-09 2:55 pm. Fargo ND

3:00 I have arrived safely in Fargo. Staying at the Holiday Inn Express near “mall-land”. I asked the front desk clerk if there was a cool funky brew-pub in downtown Fargo and she looked I asked for her hand in marriage, or perhaps something worse. She really didn’t know where to send me, and downtown certainly wasn’t the place in her mind. After I got my luggage can came back in, she admitted that “she’s not allowed to drink as she is 19”, so in other words she didn’t know where cool places were. That’s ok, that is what the internet is for. More later.

I started last night leaving Normal around 6:30 after topping off my gas tank. A mere three miles out of Normal heading north on I-39, I encountered extremely heavy rainfall. It was coming down in buckets. It forced me to slow down to about 50 mph. The rain continued to fall, in spurts, over the next hour. Sometimes blindingly heavy, other times very light, but always constant. It rained in some way all the way Rockford. During the trip I was able to call Kelli (employee), Lauren (daughter1), Sarah (daughter2), Brad (friend and colleague), Kiki (sister1), Linda (sister2, never answers), Bam (friend), John B (friend), Wayne (friend, who keeps calling and leaving messages, but I never pick up for a variety of reasons, so I thought I would call him back). Calling made the trip go fast. I read twitter feeds via text, and even stopped at the rest stop north of Mendota, IL to write a quick Tweet. See, I’m  safe.

Getting to Rockford, I was glad to see that my sister Kiki and my nephew Alec were still visiting with Mom. She has just had knee surgery and Alec was leaving for his sophomore year of college and wanted to say goodbye. Kiki (not her real name, which is Kristine), lives north of Madison Wisconsin in a town called Prairie du Sac about two hours from Rockford. Good-bye Alec, have fun on your second year, and quit peeing off balconies. After a quick visit, I stopped at Red Lion Pub in Rockford, across from City Hall. Lauren and beau Skyler spin records there on Thursday nights. They are my favorite entrepreneurs and I love to watch them grow their business. Lauren and I had a great time talking about her growing graphic design business. We talked about the name of her business, how much she has been charging clients (not enough in my opinion) and her schooling. They spin vinyls, and for those of you who don’t know are big plastic black discs form the 70s’ and 80s’. It’s a lot fun listening to  those old records and even new ones.

I am now in a Panera in Fitchburg, Wisconsin a suburb of Madison. Needed quick internet access and Panera is good for that. Going to see Kiki’s office and have lunch. I will check in later…

I have embarked on the Great American road Trip (GART). This is my version of a vacation in late summer 2009. As you might recall If you are a reader of this blog, I wrote about this trip a couple weeks ago. I am traveling via automobile through eleven states in five days. All this to secure a goal of seeing three states I have never set foot in: North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Upon completion, I will have three states in my quest to have set foot in all fifty states by the age of fifty.

Between today and next Wednesday I will travel through Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri. I will not spend too much time in any location, but I have allowed myself about six hours of drive time each day to stop and see the largest fiberglass Paul Bunyan, or the perhaps largest ball of string, or buy some cheap souvenirs. I merely want to say I stepped foot in each of these states. My brother-in-law is telling me that I need to go beyond Fargo, which is where I plan to stay on Saturday night, to really experience North Dakota. He may be right, but with apologies to the fine people in Fargo, which probably believe they do epitomize the North Dakota experience, my goal is to merely “touch” or set foot in each state.

This is not about having an experience in  the state, it is about being in the state. OK. I need no purists or visitor bureau pitches here. In and out, that’s all I want. Is this stupid? Sure, it might be, but it’s fun, gives me a lot of time to just sit and think (driving), literally gets me places I have not been, and I can write about it and blog, and best of all I am doing something other than being in the office.

I packed a cooler full of pop, snacks and sandwiches, I have really cheap reservations at decent hotels (thanks Priceline) in Fargo (Saturday), Omaha (Sunday), Tulsa (Monday), and Springfield, MO (Tuesday). I am gassed up and ready to go.

I am hopeful that perhaps I can find  Twitter friends along the way who can lead me around construction or perhaps even share a cup of coffee.

Hide the women and children, cause I am coming to a town near you!

Itinerary for Friday, August 28, 2009: Rockford, IL to Madison Wisconsin for Lunch with sister, Kiki; Madison to Barron, WI to visit with my mentor Bam (had the name long before Emeril showed up) with an overnight there.

On September 9 from 5:00 to 7: 00 the Economic Development Council and Trace Design will be launching simultaneously; TD’s new website and array of services (tracedesign.com) and the EDC’s new blog site for Marty Vanags (martyvanags.com) and the new aggregated blog site (bnbizmore.com). Trace has also created Twitter skins for me (twitter.com/bnedguy) and our fun C7ista Mentoring Business page (twitter.com/C7ista) – check out the video they did for C7ista on our homepage too! (bnbiz.org)

Let me tell you about Trace Design. Trace Design is led by the creative genius of  Brad Barth, founder and President. Mentoring some young designers, Trace Design has grown tremendously over the past five years and has basically put together the image and branding of the EDC. Everything from our logo/brand and print material, to several evolutions of our website as well as video for TV Spots, events and documentation. Brad and his team has done it all. Trace Design has moved faster into the social media business than anyone I know in the Bloomington Normal area, and it would behoove any business to get a hold of them to see if they can bring their creative genius to bear. Yes, there are other agencies in the Bloomington Normal area that are creative and smart and do similar work, but anyone will tell you, that when you find someone you work with well, particularly in the area of graphic arts, you stick with them. We have, and the EDC is a better organization because of it. Because Brad is a friend and more importantly an excellent vendor, I want you to come and see what he has to offer.

Come to the Tweetup at Trace Design in Normal. They are offering free twitter skins to everyone that attends and is showcasing the special social media packages they have put together for BN businesses.

This will also be the official launch party of the martyvanags.com blog page (that you are reading) and the bnbizmore.com blog that aggregates the thoughts of all of our best thinking in economic development, entrepreneurship and small business.  I will offer you only sage advice if asked, but you must say please. Sorry, but no loans or grants for small biz that night, especially not grants.

Come on out. It will be a fun party. Adult beverages will be served. If we run out, Medici is next door and Maggie Miley’s is up the street in beautiful Uptown Normal.

Trace Design & EDC Tweetup

At: Trace Design in Uptown Normal

114 W. North St. Suite A

(Next to Medici on the second floor – Click for map)

When: 9-9-09

5:00 – 7:00pm

Free Custom Twitter Skin for attending!

Many well respected economists as well as those who might b called “arm-chair” economists are beginning to predict the end is near. No, I’m not talking about the apocalypse, but the end of the recession. Relax, if  you of the right mind you have nothing to worry in either case.  But one guy, who called right a couple years ago, and was proven right, is saying perhaps the recession will be over soon. Nouriel Roubini, also referred in the financial press as “Dr. Doom” for his accurate prediction of the current downturn is know saying “the pace of economic deterioration has slowed significantly and, after four quarters of severe contraction in economic activity, I now forecast that the U.S. will display positive real GDP growth in the second half of 2009″ Roubini is Chairman of  Roubini Global Economics, as well  as a professor at Stern Business School at New York University. This quote is from his column in Forbes.com.

Aah, but don’t get too excited. The recession is the deepest and meanest we have had in 60 years. Even though forecasts for the end of 2009 and early 2010 look better, remember how far we have fallen. I am not trying to rain on the party, It’s just that when we hype the news we hype it severely in both directions.

As an example , the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City predicts that even with recovery, it will take some years before we see the low unemployment rates we saw prior to the collapse. According to the article in the WSJ.com Blogs Site,  the author Michael Derby reports, “the paper’s authors project what they believe will be the course of joblessness, adjusted for structural changes in the economy and the impact of the banking crisis. That path sees unemployment breaching 10% and staying there through 2011, after which it “slowly drifts” down to 8% by 2014 and 7% by 2016.”

I know everybody wants to be optimistic, but I have a feeling the economy has changed for a long time. Unless the government continues down the road with temporary stimuli, we are not going to see a lot of growth in consumer spending, and that is really what fuels a recovery. People are shaken by what they have seen and are hunkering down, saving money, and taking less consumer credit. Japan was in a slow or non-existent recovery for over a decade. Are we in for a decade of slow growth?

The phrase above was used to describe the level quality for a Midwest based chain restaurants called Biaggi’s. The restaurant was recently voted by the readers of Consumer Reports magazine as the best chain restaurant in the country. Our local restaurant is the mother-ship that started it all and it never fails me.

We interviewed Todd Hovendon, CEO of Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano on our weekly radio show, BNIZ Radio. The show is a weekly look at small business, entrepreneurship, and the struggles and triumphs of starting and running a small business.  BNBIZ Radio is a partnership between the EDC and WJBC 1230 AM in Bloomington-Normal.  We are on every Tuesday between 12 noon and 1:00 CST. We have had over 26 shows and all of them can be heard on our podcasts at WJBC.com or BNBIZ.org.  WJBC is a treasure in that it still is dedicated to local news, sports and issues. This is a dying breed and we are fortunate to have them.  Beth Whisman, is the mid-day host and the radio show is actually embedded in her show, so she really runs the show, I ride along, and all goes well due to her professionalism and radio smarts.

We are fortunate to have Todd in town. He started Biaggi’s and it has grown to 21 restaurants throughout the United States. I have never met an entrepreneur who knows his business, his customers and his employees as well as Todd. I was already impressed  with the food, had met Todd a couple times before, and am now even more impressed by his passion and love for what he does. To hear the entire interview check out our podcast page.

So what is “maniacal customer service”? Well, Todd really didn’t have to explain it to me. Why? Because anyone who has been to a Biaggi’s can tell you what it means. It means the following:

1. More than one person at the front desk to greet you and make sure you get to your table, with a sincere and friendly greeting. They don’t look doe-eyed or afraid of you, they are confident and assured that you are the best customer in the world and that you deserve to be there.
2. The minute you sit down, someone will come by and give you water, bread and “Biaggi butter”. You can dig right in and soak up some really good Italian bread with olive oil, and parm cheese.
3. It means that the wait staff knows the specials, they have tasted the specials and they are ready to serve it to you with a smile.
4. That I really don’t have to look at the menu. Instead of ordering something off the menu I can merely say, I want Farfelle with peas, bits of prosciutto, topped with a olive oil, garlic  and butter sauce , topped with Italian parsley, they will bring it to me, with no questions asked. Did you hear that, no questions asked!

I really love Biaggi’s. I ‘ve been there a bunch of times and I have never had a bad experience. Todd Hoevenden is an entrepreneurs’ role model. He understands better than anyone I have met, the value of the customer, and the experience and the value of “maniacal customer service.”  If you have never been to a Biaggi’s, find one and experience the best customer service, the best Italian food from a chain, albeit a small one, and from an entrepreneur who really understands his business, the pace of growth the business can endure (more on that later) and someone who loves his customer.

Do you offer maniacal customer service? What does it look like to you? Have you been to a Biaggi’s?

Paul Romer, Economist at Stanford presents his ideas for Charter Cities. He says that we have ideas and we share them. No one has less of that idea because it was shared. He now proposes that we can fix the world and end poverty if we change “rules on we change rules”.  One unique idea is to take  Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, currently under the administrative control of the United States and working with other countries turn it into a special city with special economic status, much like Hong Kong was for so many years.  Cubans, living in poverty could receive special permission tot work in the zone and perhaps it would change the economy in Cuba.

This unique idea could also be implemented in  other parts of the world where poverty reigns. Like most economists, Romer uses incentives to determine who stands and who falls. Isn’t that what our world, our government is about. Government makes the rules and creates the environment for people to thrive or loose. It is our role to make sure government is about us and about making sure the rules are just, fair and right for everyone. Watch this TED video of the week, and let me know if you think this is feasible:

Is it possible to change the rules about rules. I love changing the rules. This guy is speaking my language.

Seminars and conferences are numerous. We all go to them. What makes a good one? The other day I spent two straight hours on conference calls with my national professional organization and my state organization panning meetings and conferences. Since I go to many, and help plan a few, I thought I would give you some of my biases and ideas of how conferences can be better. I hope to incorporate some of my own suggestions in the upcoming year.

Presenters:

1. For Pete’s sakes please speak into the microphone! I’m sorry, did I get excited? Yes, the microphone is there to amplify your voice across the room.  Speak DIRECTLY into the microphone, so everyone can hear. Technology is only so good, and it needs you to SPEAK UP.  Don’t be shy, you are the expert.
2. Don’t get up there with a power point presentation that has the words written on the slide that you are actually reading, or worse  read directly from the slide. I know this should not even have to be said, but I still see it every time I attend a conference.  As a Presenter, practice what you are going to present. Yes, practice!
3. Please don’t stand up and joke about seeing if you can get the computer, slide show, technology to work, because frankly if you can’t you are a moron, and the joke about how you don’t no much about technology is old, tired and not really believable in this day and age. If you are an expert and you have been asked to speak, get familiar with the technology.

Moderators/Hosts

1. When it comes time for Q & A, please repeat the question, because undoubtedly an audience member will refuse or forget to use the microphone the conference provided to ask questions (see below). Not everyone will hear the question, so please make sure everyone can hear the question.
2. Have a question ready to start the process. Sometimes it takes the audience a little time to warm up, or if the presenter was reading slides, the audience is fast asleep.
3. Know what the presenters are going to talk about. In fact, before the conference you should get their contact information and try to have a conference call to go over what is going to be said by each presenter in a panel discussion, how they need to be introduced, who is going to go first, and above all how to pronounce “Cyrkganwowskison”, your key speaker’s last name. Not knowing will make you look like you are unprepared. EVERYONE loves to have their name pronounced properly and correct and you will forever be Ms. “What’s her Names” hero.

Audience

1. Does this really need to be said but please turn off your phone or put it on vibrate. If you really think you will have take a call in the middle of the presentation sit in the back or where you can easily leave the room. If you can’t do it quietly and without raising the dead, let it go to voice mail and then leave the room and return the call. There is absolutely no reason to start the conversation in the room while the presentation is going on. Common sense, and common courtesy is what we are talking about here. This is what voice mail was made for wasn’t it?
2. Speaking about the back of the room, do you ALL have to sit back there. Are all getting a phone call, or are you hedging your bet that the presentation will be bad?  In any case, be kind and courteous to the speaker(s). Sit up front. If you think this speaker is bad, the presenter in the next room is bad also. If you really can’t bear it, play Texes Hold’em on your Blackberry or IPhone until  the guy sits down.  This isn’t church, you can sit up front. Sometimes I will get out a piece of paper and write furiously as if I am taking notes. I am actually  writing a list of chores to do when I get home, or starting my next great novel.
3. The association or group spent a lot of money making sure there is a microphone or several available to the audience to ask questions. Please use them (see above). Unless of course your question is so stupid, you don’t want anyone to hear it, but of course if the moderator heeds my suggestion he will repeat the insane comment or question you just made. So there is no excuse, us the microphone.

The main issue here is politeness  and common courtesy. Remember at a conference everyone wants to learn, they have paid good money to be there, and they want a quality experience. Show your fellow attendee or your audience as the case may be some courtesy and love.  I wold love to hear your thoughts about conferences or seminars. Please comment and add to the list.

Almost every morning lately I have been taking a walk. Often the sun is just peeking out of the eastern sky and providing dappled light through the numerous trees that dominate the landscape in my neighborhood. Those crisp clear morning’s are so inspiring. Taking my morning walk sets the day straight and get my juices going.

Along the way, I find it amazing the amount of nature I encounter. I don’t the difference between slugs and snails, or when snails get their shell, but I keep seeing these big speckled slug like creatures crawling across the sidewalk. There is always the usual amount of birds plying the sky making a racket, Blue-jays, and Crows, the loudest among them. I don’t think I have seen as many rabbits as I have seen this year. Is the increase in the number of rabbits some type of biological marker or sign?

Evey morning I cross a bridge over a small stream called Sugar Creek. The bridge has a chain link fence on the creek side and concrete barrier on the street side. Every morning, I walk through a phalanx of spider web strings that had been shot across the sidewalk between the fence and the concrete overnight. Every morning I ruin the hard work of perhaps dozen spiders. They will have to build a stronger set of Gulliverian type webs to hold my huge body of inertia back.

The other morning, after a thick fog had lain in, I noticed the fence which rises to height of about 6 feet, was decorated like a Christmas tree with round geometrically perfect webs. There had to be at least fifty of them. The looked like ornaments as they had captured the moisture of the fog as it was lifting and the each web glistened in the morning light as if light up by electricity.

Nature is amazing. I had heard of scientists working to develop a string, fiber or chord as strong as a spider web, and of other experiments. This process is called Biomimicry . In other words copying what we see (that works) in nature. One of the leading proponents of this field is Janine Benyus. Benyus is the president of the Biomimicry Institute and thinking like hers can open whole new economies and industries that can help our environment and the way we live. Watch this TED video of Janine Benyus:

What do you think? Is this an economic development strategy?

In an earlier post I mentioned I had met a woman earlier this year whose goal was to go to all fifty states at some point in her life. I have had the same goal. It never really materialized until I counted some years back, how many states I had visited, and thought maybe this might be fun goal to have. So I put it on my list of things to do.
I don’t call my list, a “bucket list” like in the recent movie. It’s just a bunch of things that are of interest to me. Things I would like to do. I like to keep lists like that. I recently started one called, “Things never to wear in public” or privately to be honest. Back to the states. As of today, I have to visit only six more states to finish the list. They are North Dakota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, West Virginia, Alaska, and Hawaii.

At the end of August plan to reduce the number by three. I have planned an exciting trip to North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Yes, this road trip will cover these three states in six days. It will consist of a lot of driving, not much sightseeing, and plenty of sleep. I have planned stops in Barron Wisconsin, Fargo, Omaha, Tulsa, and Springfield, Missouri.

I don’t take many vacations, and if I do they are usually planned around work or conferences. This trip will be just me and my car, and my computer. I will be blogging as I go, giving some astute observations about these romantic, exciting locations. I hope to provide pictures, use our flip camera and give you my thoughts on each of these locations, and my view of the upper Midwest and Plains states as I go.

I know I should rent a cabin and take it easy, but I am finding it difficult to imagine when I will be in any of these states in the near future. I need to take some time, so I thought that last week of August would be great time. September always seems to be busy and this is the perfect week to squeeze it in.

The rest of my schedule is up in the air. I am thinking Fall would be a good time to cut through Indiana, Ohio and hit West Virginia on some cool weekend. That would be an easy three days. Then I would be substantially finished. I could say I have been in the 48 continental states. Hawaii and Alaska would be last and I haven’t made a plan for that.

If you read this and you live in any of the states I plan to visit at the end of this month, contact me by commenting on this blog, email me (mvanags@bnbiz.org), or direct message me on Twitter. My handle is @bnedguy.

So we are walking out of a restaurant today and I see a Chevy/GEO Metro. A little two-door car and one of the finest ever built. I am not a car manufacturing historian, however as I recall this was a joint project between GM and Toyota. I am probably wrong and someone can correct me. The point is these little cars seem to never fail. I drove one for a couple months several years ago. I borrowed it from my sister and it was a tough little car that lasted them well over 100,000 miles. My older daughter just got rid of one that she drove for a long long time. They always need little repairs but they seem to be little tanks.

Right away our discussion went to the new Chevy Volt that is being touted and promoted with great fanfare in just the past several days. I mentioned the claim that the care gets 230 miles to the gallon. Of course, I should have known that co-worker Ken has already looked into this claim and was ready to deconstruct it. Ken is a car industry watcher and follows many of the changes going on. This is helpful, as w e have our own car manufacturing facility here in BN, Mitsubishi. Later, Ken sent me this to confirm his parking lot argument that the 230 miles per gallon is advertising spin:

“EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM. EPA does applaud GM’s commitment to designing and building the car of the future—an American-made car that will save families… [blah blah blah]”
The real beauty is how GM came up with its ludicrous mileage estimate:
1) According to GM, the average person drives about 30-40 miles per day.
2) According to GM, the volt can go 40 miles on a full-charge before it activates the ICE (internal combustion engine).
3) Therefore, the average person will only rarely use the ICE in their volt. With the minimal gas used for occasional trips that push the volt past the 40-mile electric-only range, a person can expect to drive 230 city miles [with nightly battery re-charges] only burning a single gallon of gas. Thus, the volt gets 230 miles to a gallon.

You know what? My car gets 380,000 miles to the gallon. All I have to do is hitch my vehicle to a Saturn rocket and have it launched to the moon. Then, carefully aiming, I point my Mazda towards the earth and let gravity do the work. As my vehicle becomes superheated during re-entry, I turn on my A/C and burn exactly one gallon of gas keeping myself from burning to a crisp, high in Earth’s upper-atmosphere. According to GM’s logic, my car has traveled 380,000 miles using only one gallon of gas and therefore gets 380,000 miles to the gallon.”

I love it when Ken gets on a role. Your thoughts?

I really think about how I am treated in the places I shop these days. There are so many choices when it comes to shopping, eating or getting services, that when I go, I want to be treated right. A local restaurant I like to frequent recently had a new hostess working the front who did everything she could to make my seating arrangement for me and my guest difficult. We just wanted to sit outside on a beautiful night. How hard was that to accommodate? Yet, it is likely this young lady was following some directions somebody gave her without thinking about how she might have some flexibility in letting the customer make a choice.

She probably had no idea that I would get on the internet and blog about this. And that is the point, isn’t it. With today’s technology, crappy customer service can spread like wildfire, and wreak havoc with what might otherwise be a nice place. I won’t mention the name today, because I keep going to this restaurant, and I don’t know why. I guess I like the bartenders and their beer selection, but they have a long way to go on making the customer feel good.

On my radio show, were we feature local business people and entrepreneurs (it’s not really my radio show, it is Beth Whisman’s radio show on WJBC, she just lets me sit there for an hour and tag along), almost everyone has talked about customer service as a way to survive the recession. The smart ones understand that if you can keep your customers happy, they will keep coming back. I am very loyal to the places that treat me right. I will always go back even if they charge a little more.

So, if you are struggling in this recession to make a go of it, have you zeroed in on your best customers? Have you called them, emailed them, sent them a letter asking them to stop by and buy something? Why don’t you call them and merely thank them. When they do come in, treat them like kings and queens. That is why they like you in the first place. Like them back, in a big way.

This is authentic strategy and it provides the greatest return for your investment. Try it and let me know how it went.

Every small town, burg or village pays attention to economic development. What truly is economic development? Long ago, someone defined it for me as bringing new dollars into the community. In other words, if a local business creates something, a widget or provides a service and some new dollars come into the community as a result of the creation and sale of the widget or service, then we have economic development.
This definition doesn’t work with retail, because, let’s say a big box store enters your town or market area. Are they making something or providing a service that someone from outside the market area is purchasing and thus bringing new dollars into the community? Not likely. However one could might argue that in the case of the very big retailers, you do attract a regional audience, but then again it depends upon how you define your economic region.

So sorry Mayor Bluster, the new Target or WalMart is not economic development. What is it then? There is a lot of money exchanging hands, isn’t there? The City is getting a truckload of sales tax revenue. If it is not economic development, what is it? I would call it “economic activity”. Doesn’t sound sexy, but really that is what it is. Let’s give it a different name. How about “Economic Indicator”.
Retailers, (at least national retailers, not local mom and pops) follow a fairly simple formula for locating in a given area. There are several items on their checklist they follow. First, do the demographics of your community meet their criteria? A “dollar” type low discount retailer may not consider Winnetka (an affluent Chicago suburb) their best location. However, it may be great for some other high end retailer.

Next, a retailer needs to reconcile their expansion business plans with your community. Again using Chicago as an example, Starbucks came into the marketplace, and working from the inner portion of the City and expanding out to the suburbs they grew and added more and more locations. Once they saturated the market, they went into the suburbs, and finally into second tier cities. It is unlikely you will ever find them in Boogerville, Illinois because their demographics and business plan can’t match up.

Lastly, retailers will look at where their existing stores and likely competition are located. Are they nearby, will the new location merely draw from these stores and hurt existing established sales? Where is the competition located? These are the primary criteria, and there may be others, but these are fairly basic.

So a sound demographic base of willing and able purchasers of retail goods will attract a good retail mix. How does a City get there? If a city wants to grow, prosper and sustain itself, it must have balance and must have jobs. These jobs, particularly jobs from companies that create widgets or services that bring NEW MONEY and income into the community, go to the employees who do the work, the suppliers that provide the raw material for these businesses and the B2B services these producers require. This new income is used to buy cars, and thousands of other items in the retail stores.

So economic development is really a verb versus a noun. It is a process versus an outcome. It is ever changing, ever moving. Economic Development is really the process of helping your community grow wealth among its residents and citizens so they can buy stuff, live the lives they want and leave something behind for their children. It is about creating prosperity and creating a life.

Having defined Economic Development, next week I will talk more about how the economic development industry often, and mistakenly relies too much on “Attraction” for defining success. Attraction is really a losing game for everyone. Attraction is attractive because it is often the subject of big headlines and it seems like a quick antidote for seems to be ailing a community that has lost and lost for a long time.