Eloy, AZ – Part One
Eloy, Arizona is a town of about 16,000 located 50 miles northwest of Tucson. Mark Benner is the Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Mark took advantage of our Tour of Empty Buildings Toolkit at www.saveyour.town. I was in Tucson for Chamber professional development and had the opportunity to head to Eloy one…
Sunday Update: Kids
Hockey with an 11 year old – I recommend it to everyone. I got invited to an Iowa Wild game by Bridget and Bryan Gilbert who hold season tickets and I said yes. Steven, by 11 year old great nephew, thought that might be the best thing ever – so we went. Turns out, he…
Toulouse-Lautrec on a Barn
I saw the article in the paper and promptly forgot about it. Then my friend asked if I wanted to go take a picture of it. I didn’t realize it was so close to where I lived, just west of Dayton on Highway 175. What a great story! How often do you see the Peter…
Sunday Update: Shoe Shopping
Yesterday involved looking for shoes. You may remember my turmoil a couple of weeks ago. I was under the impression I have rather large and wide feet. I can’t just walk into any shoe store and find shoes easily. I expressed dismay about finding shoes and one of my readers, also a local, Marlene, reached…
What Rural People Say They Need: The Survey of Rural Challenges
We all know what rural towns need, right? They need jobs, and to recruit some manufacturing and they have a huge poverty problem. Right? Well, no. At least that’s not what rural people told us. Becky McCray, my partner at www.saveyour.town, ran a survey of subscribers and visitors on SmallBizSurvival.com. Over 200 people who identified themselves as…
Sunday Update: Depression
It’s winter. You may have heard me talk about my dislike for cold weather. I’m not a fan. When I was a kid, I was good with it. I had the right clothes, I enjoyed playing outside with my brothers and my imagination was ripe for all the fun we had. I also didn’t have…
Sunday Update: Kids
I walked by behind off this weekend. It was our Christmas weekend with the four great nieces and nephews. We went to Mall of America – not to shop, but to play. Maze of Mirrors, Children’s Museum, Sea Life and Legoland were on the hit list. There are 563 stores and those 4 places we…
Sunday Update: Sore Feet
Another quick week – with half of it spent on my feet. That means I walked at least 5000 steps each day – because I wasn’t always sitting at my desk. Three days this week were spent at Leadership Iowa in Des Moines with the focus on State Government. We traversed the State Capitol, the…
You’re the Expert
I flew back to Iowa on Saturday. Seated next to me was a gentleman from Korea and he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was an Executive Director for a local Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Jeong asked me what was a Chamber of Commerce. I explained I had the pleasure of…
Sunday Update: Alone
It’s winter. It’s cold. Damn cold here. When it gets this cold, I go to work and I go home. When I get home, I find something to eat. Because I’ m bored. Or I’m alone. Or I don’t have anything to do It is seldom because I’m hungry. At least that’s my old pattern.…