Becky’s email newsletter

When Deb Brown and I did our preview of 2017, we noticed a pattern in the questions that you sent in. Many of you face related questions, ones that other towns are also dealing with. So I wanted to share one of those answers this week.  Jonya from Minnesota asked: What are some good first steps…

Last week we talked about the behavior changes that Idea Friendly promotes: from Formal to Informal, from Control to Chaos, from a Few to a Crowd, from Deciding to Testing, from Isolated to Connected, from Big to Small, from Failure is Bad to Failure is Good. This week, three examples crossed my path that I’d…

Remember last week I said there is an old, hard way of organizing ourselves and a new, easier way? The change won’t happen when you adopt new tools. The change will happen when you adopt new behaviors.  What are those new behaviors? I just started working on this list, and I’m dying to share it with…

The old way of getting things done in small towns was committees, meetings and plans in binders. That’s the hard way. But you and I know that doesn’t cut it anymore. We know what the new way looks like because we use it everyday. We already use tools like text messages, email and social networks…

Jobs used to be the big end goal for all economic development. When anyone discussed the economic future of your town, they talked about creating jobs, good jobs, especially recruiting outside companies to come in and create good jobs here.  Well, jobs just aren’t what they used to be.  More and more people are working…

Tons of future tech are headed our way like an avalanche, barreling downhill. There’s a lot of change headed our way in technology, society and the economy. The first pebbles are bouncing off our collective roofs right now, and that’s why you and I are talking about it.  Last week, we talked about conversational interfaces…

Your town is not going to spend another minute in the past. Every minute of the rest of your town’s existence will be spent in the future. What are you doing to get ready? I want to start a series of future-challenging questions, so you can kick off some future-challenging conversations in your town.  Let’s…

Have you had one of those magic evenings in your town? One where the downtown just blossomed?  I can picture it so clearly. Stores are open late. People are walking around downtown. Musicians are playing. Special displays have popped up inside the stores. A home-based jewelry seller has her items on sale in the furniture…

The young woman scanning my groceries looked down quizzically at the corn muffins as she handed them to me to bag.  “They’re great,” I said, “if you like cornbread.” “I don’t think I’ve ever had cornbread,” she said.  I stopped, open-mouthed in surprise. I looked up at the next shoppers in line, who looked like they…

There’s a secret reason to why I talk about the Innovative Rural Business Models, Rural Jobs Creation Strategies and Gathering Your Crowd.  I talk about the Innovative Rural Business Models because I want more and more people to try more and more businesses and build more and more prosperity in your town.  I talk about…

Stores: “We’ll stay open later when enough people come downtown to make it worth our time.” Customers: “We’ll come downtown later when enough stores stay open late to make it worth our time.” When I posted this on my Facebook page, it touched off a whole lot of reaction. The comments were mostly from local businesses…

Every time I tell my friend Rob Hatch some new idea, he always asks, “What would that look like?” He wants to know how something would play out in the real world. When I explained Idea Friendly to him, of course he asked, “What would that look like?”  I came up with some comparisons of what…