Economic Development Consulting Services

Note: The "(AT)" in the above addresses must be replaced manually by the "@" symbol before sending the e-mail. This is done in order to prevent spammers from "harvesting" our e-mail addresses.

Economic Development Initiatives

We can support a community's Economic Development needs in two ways:

Community-Based Planning and

Entrepreneurship Development and Support

Community-Based Planning

A local economy is affected by all aspects of the community, its surrounding neighboring communities, surrounding counties, the state, and the nation. Much too often a local government, especially those of smaller communities, attempt to solve an "economic" dilemma by pouring its limited resources in a quick fix addressing the perceived dilemma. In all cases, the emergency experienced by such a community is the symptom of a much more deeply rooted situation affecting the entire community, and maybe a larger surrounding area.

For economic development initiatives to work effectively, they must be an element of a locally devised Community-Based Plan (a Strategic Plan). Such a plan should be developed by the people in that town — the entire community. All sectors of that community have to be involved in the planning process, for if a group is not, as is often the case, at the point of plan approval, that group can oppose the plan because it was not included.

A significant element of such a Strategic Plan is the fostering of the community's economy through Economic Development initiatives. All strategies of the Strategic Plan are ranked, and initiatives for each are drafted. The Economic Development initiatives then become part of the community's Community-Based Plan or Strategic Plan. Then and only then can Economic Development initiatives be supported, planned, implemented and monitored for success by the entire community.

Our approach to Economic Development is, therefore, comprehensive, reaching out to all of the community, and its intent is the benefit of the entire community.

Our President was directly involved in developing the downtown business community's Service Plan, or Strategic Plan, that set the Downtown Austin Alliance's business plan of operations. The Alliance was funded by the City of Austin via the community's first Public Improvement District (PID) in 1996. The PID remains the main funding source for the Alliance to date.

Entrepreneurship Development and Support

We are strong supporters of the goals of the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship in assisting small rural communities in the nation to revitalize themselves literally from the inside out. The Center advocates economic development by focusing on the current or potential entrepreneur vs. the business. This philosophy, of course, applies to any entrepreneur whether the individual is an urban or rural resident.

The Center has identified several elements of a successful practice including the following:

Entrepreneurial Focus — Focus on the person, not the business

Strategy — Focus on catalyst and break-out entrepreneurs

Catalyst — solid background in business, and open to and actively engaged in evolving a stronger venture model
Breakout — already figured out how to reach new markets and grow their venture to meet expanded demand.

Right Geography — Small enough that travel time does not undermine the ability to maintain personal contact, but large enough to provide a critical pool of entrepreneurial talent to engage in an effective approach

Facilitator Driven Customization — Interventions that provide customized, versus general assistance, tend to be more valuable to entrepreneurs

Use of Networks, Peers, and Mentors — Provide access to robust networks that connect entrepreneurs to expertise, services and insights— mutual assistance

Creation of a Portfolio — Publicly supported Economic Development programs are politically risk intolerant. As in the case with investment, a portfolio approach tends to create appropriate expectations around the performance of the portfolio rather than the success or failure of individual deals

Private Business Services — Engage private sector business services into the practice. Entrepreneurs graduate into clients for these private service providers, receiving higher order services than they could receive from the public service providers alone

Local Resource Network — Mobilize the community to support the customized assistance program by engaging in mentoring, peer groups, networks and other assistance venues

Systems Approach with Higher Order of Services — One element of a multi-element program approach that is both sophisticated and comprehensive. Local entrepreneurship initiatives will prove more sustainable and effective if they connect with broader development infrastructure— for example, a regional development corporation.

Performance Driven — Intervention must be performance driven focusing on the goals to be achieved, crafting a relevant strategy, and executing it effectively.

Accountability — Need to provide sound performance information to providers to ensure continuous learning and improvement and to supporters to ensure capitalization so the program continues. An effective and objective tracking system based on short, medium and long-term outcomes that can be measured.

To view a MS Word summary of the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship's efforts to create a Texas Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, click here. To view an illustration of this concept, click here. Our President has been involved in this entrepreneurship initiative.