{"id":445,"date":"2011-02-03T04:51:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-03T04:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/?p=445"},"modified":"2014-08-27T07:46:03","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T12:46:03","slug":"building-entrepreneurial-communities-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2011\/02\/building-entrepreneurial-communities-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Building Entrepreneurial Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a title=\"Downtown Woodward Streetscape by bjmccray, on Flickr\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/bjmccray\/3830511889\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2482\/3830511889_52de472573_m.jpg\" alt=\"Downtown Woodward Streetscape\" width=\"240\" height=\"161\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Woodward, Okla., is known as an entrepreneurial community.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Building entrepreneurial communities means doing everything you can to welcome, develop and support entrepreneurs. And it doesn&#8217;t have to be hard.<\/p>\n<p>That was my take away from the webinar that\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/agecon.okstate.edu\/faculty\/profile.asp?id=dave.shideler&amp;type=faculty\">Dave Shideler<\/a> and Oklahoma State University presented on Building Entrepreneurial Communities. Here are some of the key points that I typed up as he went.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"more\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>What does &#8220;entrepreneur&#8221; really mean? <\/b><\/h2>\n<p>An entrepreneur is technically anyone who undertakes, who\u00a0manages. Shideler is using this term\u00a0interchangeably\u00a0with small business for the purpose of this webinar.<\/p>\n<p>Atwoods, Wal Mart, Hastings, and Dollar General are all chains\u00a0that started in local rural communities.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>How valuable are local small businesses?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\nLocally owned businesses have a social and sustainablity impact. (They make a positive difference in the community.)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Small business owners have a commitment to place. <\/b>Let&#8217;s face it, if you grew up here, you have family here and you are part of the community, you&#8217;re less likely to pull up stakes for the first offer of a tax incentive from a competing town.<\/li>\n<li><b>Local businesses have decentralized procurement. <\/b>That means they are more likely to buy more of their needs locally.<\/li>\n<li><b>They promote the development of trust and &#8216;bridging&#8217; social capital.<\/b> The entrepreneurs have\u00a0ties in the community beyond just their customers. They are members of\u00a0churches and other organizations. That helps the cross pollination of ideas and flow of\u00a0information.<\/li>\n<li><b>Local businesses help develop social cohesion.<\/b> The social cohesion we&#8217;re talking about is the\u00a0common feel or experience to the\u00a0community. Locally owned businesses can better fit in with\u00a0that than chains. It helps create unity within the community and\u00a0ability to address concerns. This is kind of like clusters in economic development.<\/li>\n<li><b>Locally owned businesses can insulate the community from national\/regional events.<\/b> Locally\u00a0owned banks helped insulate Oklahoma from national housing\u00a0crisis.<\/li>\n<li><b>Environmental benefits are less clear-cut.<\/b>\u00a0They may have less transportation impact, but\u00a0academic literature is still uncertain. Loss of efficiency in\u00a0production may offset the transportation gains.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Quantifying the value of small business<\/h2>\n<div style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2684\/4401988287_2801093789_m.jpg\" alt=\"Small business workshop\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Small business workshop in Alva, Oklahoma.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Shideler asked participants how they quantified the value and significance of small\u00a0businesses to their communities. The answers included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Count of businesses that open versus close<\/li>\n<li>Track attendance at small business workshops<\/li>\n<li>Track attendance at the local networking group<\/li>\n<li>Track sales tax and count the number of small business clients<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Shideler said that county level data on small business is available on <a href=\"http:\/\/youreconomy.org\/\">youreconomy.org<\/a>. The data shows that small businesses are very important in creating\u00a0employment in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<h2>What makes a community entrepreneur friendly?<\/h2>\n<p>Shideler pointed to three factors:\u00a0Climate,\u00a0Infrastructure, and\u00a0Support Systems.<\/p>\n<p><b>Improving your Entrepreneurial Climate:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Awareness <\/b>&#8211; Do local leaders know about and set goals for\u00a0entrepreneurial activity?<\/li>\n<li><b>Recognition <\/b>&#8211; Do local leaders try to find out challenges\u00a0local business face?<\/li>\n<li><b>Culture <\/b>&#8211; Is innovation welcomed? Is change a bad thing? How\u00a0does your community accommodate failure?<\/li>\n<li><b>Anonymity <\/b>&#8211; Can they participate in the community, without being negatively identified as entrepreneurs or business owners?<\/li>\n<li><b>Quality of Life<\/b> &#8211; What amenities do you offer?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Two viewers shared ideas from their own communities.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sandy Meier said they started making YouTube commercials for\u00a0entrepreneurs. (Killer idea!)<\/li>\n<li>Jackie Jacobi said their chamber of commerce gives out Free Enterprise Awards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Make the most of your Entrepreneurial Infrastructure:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Real Estate<\/b> &#8211; Entrepreneurs need a different kind of real\u00a0estate than recruited businesses. Residential zoning\u00a0flexibility matters. Commercial kitchens. Small office space.\u00a0\u00a0Renovate second floors downtown for office space.<\/li>\n<li><b>Utilities<\/b> &#8211; Broadband access.<\/li>\n<li><b>Services<\/b> &#8211; Success or failure rests in their recognition of\u00a0what they do best. Most aren&#8217;t great at everything. So if you\u00a0want to be entrepreneur friendly, need to make those other services (marketing, finance, bookkeeping) available.<\/li>\n<li><b>Taxes and regulations<\/b> &#8211; Can your community make it easier to\u00a0do business? Consider permits, licenses, utility sign ups. Can you\u00a0offer a single sign up form?<\/li>\n<li><b>Networking<\/b> &#8211; <b>a huge component, because entrepreneurs just do\u00a0business differently.<\/b> It is a shortcut to them. If your\u00a0community does not have an entrepreneurship network, that&#8217;s\u00a0an easy way to begin to support the entrepreneurs in your\u00a0community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Viewers shared some local ideas on infrastructure.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Barry Clark mentioned building wifi zones.<\/li>\n<li>Stacy Darty mentioned their monthly morning networking.<\/li>\n<li>Arun Tilak mentioned entrepreneur contests.<\/li>\n<li>Terri Boyd mentioned inexpensive trade shows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Entrepreneurial Support Systems:<\/b><br \/>\nThis is the group of services and programs in your community to encourage and benefit the\u00a0entrepreneur. There is a progression of services: essential, more intensive, most\u00a0extensive. As entrepreneurship gains traction, you can add\u00a0more services.<\/p>\n<p>First, create the climate and infrastructure:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increase awareness, recognize their contributions, facilitate networking.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure access to appropriate private business services, such as business law, bookkeeping, and marketing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Second, get more intensive:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Entrepreneurial training<\/li>\n<li>Access to financial capital (borrowing, not\u00a0venture: <b>Local banks are more important than venture capital\u00a0to local entrepreneurial community development.<\/b>)<\/li>\n<li>Access to\u00a0markets<\/li>\n<li>Youth entrepreneur projects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Third, most extensive:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Customized help with business plans, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Angel\u00a0investment\/venture capital sources.<\/li>\n<li>Integration of\u00a0entrepreneurship\u00a0into local schools. Start by interacting\u00a0with existing extracurricular groups.<\/li>\n<li>Entrepreneurial\u00a0support organizations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How ready is your community to be entrepreneurial? You&#8217;ll find lots of <a href=\"http:\/\/energizingentrepreneurs.org\">tools from the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship<\/a>\u00a0to help you assess your readiness.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are ways of becoming entrepreneur-friendly? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There is no free lunch, Shideler said. It will take work, though it may not require much budget.<br \/>\n<a title=\"Entrepreneurs by bjmccray, on Flickr\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/bjmccray\/4673245766\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4030\/4673245766_810a1d574b_m.jpg\" alt=\"Entrepreneurs\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<b>1. Appreciate your entrepreneurs.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Feature them in the local\u00a0paper.<\/li>\n<li>Pass city council resolutions supporting entrepreneurs.<\/li>\n<li>Integrate\u00a0entrepreneurship into local economic development plans.<\/li>\n<li>Give Chamber of Commerce awards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>2. Use partnership, collaboration and cooperation.<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Share infrastructure with neighboring communities such as sharing economic data, or extending incubators across borders.<\/li>\n<li>Utilize existing low-cost or free services including\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sba.gov\/\">sba.gov<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/energizingentrepreneurs.org\/\">energizingentrepreneurs.org<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/extension.org\/entreprenership\">extension.org\/entreprenership<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Leverage local resources, including the school system, library, county\u00a0extension, career tech, and community colleges. Ponca City, Oklahoma, is doing\u00a0youth entrepreneurship projects through their alternative schools. (Remember that many of the world&#8217;s most successful entrepreneurs were failures in traditional schools.) Do a\u00a0special business training program with the library. Promote\u00a0the data services that are available.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>3. Promote socializing.<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Establish networks and organize interest groups.<\/li>\n<li>Use technology: publish blogs about your place, participate in social networking (facebook,\u00a0linkedin), social bookmarking and list making.<\/li>\n<li>Listen to your entrepreneurs and small business owners.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Conclusions<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Entrepreneurs are important to our economy<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>In Oklahoma, they are critical to the stability and growth of\u00a0our economy.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Local governements need to be intentional to support this\u00a0segment of their economies.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Resources<\/strong><br \/>\nUpdate: Recordings are available of three <a href=\"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2011\/05\/building-your-own-entrepreneurial.html\">webinars on Building Entrepreneurial Communities by Shideler<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There are many more\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.energizingentrepreneurs.org\/\">tools from the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>County level data on small business is available on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/youreconomy.org\/\">youreconomy.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Low-cost or free services to help your entrepreneurs:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sba.gov\/\">sba.gov<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/energizingentrepreneurs.org\/\">energizingentrepreneurs.org<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/extension.org\/entreprenership\">extension.org\/entreprenership<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Update: I caught Shideler for two short <a href=\"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2011\/10\/rural-entrepreneur-tips-from-dave.html\">videos on rural entrepreneurship<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the <a href=\"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/guided-tour.html\"> Guided Tour<\/a>. Like what you see? <a href=\"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/get-updates.html\">Get our updates<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Building entrepreneurial communities means doing everything you can to welcome, develop and support entrepreneurs. And it doesn&#8217;t have to be hard. That was my take away from the webinar that\u00a0Dave Shideler and Oklahoma State University presented on Building Entrepreneurial Communities. Here are some of the key points that I typed up as he went. &nbsp; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,10,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6545,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/6545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}