Catch the Vision, Part 2: Looking for a great place to live, work and play?

Our economic future depends on telling people WHY we have chosen to live in Northwest Florida and WHY we plan to stay here.  According to Rebecca Ryan, noted author and founder of Next Generation Consulting, (http://www.madisonmagazine.com/article.php?section_id=918&xstate=view_story&story_id=231145)  the up-and-coming generation, dubbed by Ryan as the millienials, is looking first for a great place to live.  There are several characteristics that Ryan lists that make a city worthy of that distinction.  A city that is a great place to live:

• Must have career flexibility
• Has a median income that doesn’t leave you in the poorhouse
• Offers choices for after-hours activities with real value
• Requires a short commute and thus more time for civic participation AND fun

Ryan makes a valid argument for developing cities where people want to move, want to live, and want to stay.

So how do our cities in Northwest Florida rate on Ms. Ryan’s scale?  Well, we have work to do!  But we are getting there.  In Pensacola, the community leaders are working to transform the beautiful downtown into the heart of the community.  Read more about those changes on the new Choose Pensacola website (http://choosepensacola.com/).  We can thank those who have made time for civic participation, sometimes in spite of a long commute, for having not only the foresight to plan well in a rapidly changing culture, but to do so when supporters were few and far between.  We can thank those, too, who care enough to get the word out:  Northwest Florida IS a great place to live!

Sue A. Evans

Catch the Vision, Part 1

Our little corner of Northwest Florida is making great strides in examining, in a truly objective way, the public perception that a tangled bureaucracy constitutes our local government system.  The Pensacola News Journal (www.pnj.com)  featured a number of articles and a survey on September 7, 2008, that addressed that very issue as it pertains to Pensacola.  The data presented in the survey (funded by the Better Pensacola Forum) supported the argument that residents are generally discouraged.  One statistic, in fact, stated that 31% of those surveyed said they were likely to move from the Pensacola area within the next 5 years.  Their reasons?  Eighty-one percent said “poor leadership, vision, and action.”  Having concluded, through a general expression of citizen frustration, that whatever we were doing wasn’t working, government entities are working hard to restructure and dismantle legislative and administrative systems that could possibly be stifling economic growth.

In my position as Business Resource Specialist at NWFlorida BIC, I see a number of organizations making serious progress and looking at difficult issues that affect this community.  But what I don’t see is the enthusiasm or excitement being passed on to the average citizen or average business owner.  Our citizens have a perception that no one cares and that nothing is being done.   Unfortunately, “Perception is reality until proven otherwise.”

The changes that are being made IS the best news in town; let’s pull out the megaphone and let people know that we are on our way to becoming a community where people WANT to live!   My next few blog postings will unveil some great new ideas that organizations and individuals have created to spur change in this community. My hope is that YOU will catch the vision, spread the good news, and help our region become the jewel of the Emerald Coast.

Sue A. Evans

Making Your Business the Best

Have you ever heard the story of Thomas Edison?  When trying to invent the light bulb, he created over 1000 failed models before he created the prototype for today’s indispensable device.  When asked, “How could you go on after failing over and over?” Edison said, “Well, I just learned 999 ways not to make a light bulb!”

So running your business is learning process. You are learning 999 ways NOT to finance your business or 999 ways NOT to build a hard-working team.  Today, take the time to learn how to do one thing better in your business.  Instead of recreating the wheel every time you need to make a business decision, build on the knowledge that other business owners have gathered through their successes and failures.  Building on the knowledge of other business owner’s experiences is called adopting “best practices.”  The process of researching and adopting best practices is a valuable tool suggested by many top business consultants.  In fact, part of the process of winning the coveted Malcolm Baldridge Award (http://www.quality.nist.gov/) and the Florida Governor’s Sterling Award (http://www.floridasterling.com/) includes adopting best practices.

The Northwest Florida Business Information Clearinghouse (BIC) is an excellent resource for gathering best practices information.  Hundred of articles, written by business experts, can inform you on important business topics that are outside of your level of expertise.  The BIC was designed as a free resource to help entrepreneurs find the information they need to start a business or to run their business well.  Besides articles, the BIC also has demographics, a directory of local resources, a business calendar, and a number of customized articles especially applicable to doing business in Northwest Florida.  Explore the Northwest Florida BIC site (see link on side-bar) today to begin learning 999 ways to build business success!

Sue A. Evans