Local Newspaper Reprints Blog Post

After the last week of rants concerning some roadblocks a group in the local Farmington area were trying to put up for Big River Telephone moving to the area I have to give a thanks to the Farmington Press and Daily Journal newspapers.

Last week I discussed my feelings on the topic on both my radio show and then made a post on my blog, typically I do not talk local government or topics on here but in this case I felt it important to use whatever voice I had to help.

Last week MyMoInfo.com posted a news story with excerpts from my show concerning Big River Telephone and this week the Farmington Press and Daily Journal reprinted my blog post. I appreciate them taking the space (a full page outside of the ads) to print my opinion on the topic.

Big River Telephone President, Kevin Cantwell, presents his plan in a city council meeting this evening and will lay out the plans for development of the building they are looking to acquire and what jobs (and economic development) it will bring to the area. Should be interesting, I am sure the opposition will be there but the very large majority can see the value in helping bring quality jobs to the area and see the BIGGER picture in what development of technology related jobs can do to an area such as this.

Do You Want A Job Or Not?

Although the majority of my blog posts are not focused on local Farmington, MO news or stories I could not help but to do a post about a local story that is frustrating beyond belief.

For a few of my thoughts on this topic that were discussed on my LocalTek Tech Tips radio show this morning you can read Local Tek Owner Supports Big River Telephone.

Recently the government awarded Big River Telephone a chunk of the rural broadband stimulus funds based on the ability of the company to rapidly deploy a stable and reliable wireless broadband network that will provide thousands of people throughout Southeast Missouri with the ability to connect to the internet in the same way most of us take for granted, at broadband speeds.

In todays world it is virtually a requirement to have access to high speed internet if a community wants to be able to compete in the business world today, or if a student wants to have access to the same information other students across the US and the world have.

Although I tend to lean to the conservative side when it comes to taxation and stimulus I can see the benefits and the value in programs such as this when done correctly. I accept that the money is going to be spent and it needs to be used on quality programs that create quality, lasting jobs, that provide other benefits for the long term, such as education and economic development. In this case the rural broadband stimulus does that.

Now, for the frustrating part. As part of the award of the funds to Big River Telephone it had been discussed they would locate Big River Broadband, the arm of the company deploying the network, in Farmington, MO which is a rural, but very progressive business community in Southeast Missouri.

In an area such as this it is difficult in many cases for individuals coming out of college to be able to stay local because there are not many professional level technology jobs in the community. This means that there is a drain on the community based on the educated and skilled labor leaving for large cities for higher paying, professional or technical jobs that do not exist locally.

I cannot go a month (or a week) without hearing people talk about the lack of the ability to find a good job or hearing people complain about jobs going overseas or to Mexico for manufacturing. With the economy being what it is small communities need to do everything they can to find high paying, quality jobs that are long lasting in their community.

With most jobs that locate to these regions being low paying jobs that can be moved overseas easily (i.e. call centers, manufacturing) shouldn't a community fight to get these jobs to their area at every chance they have?

Virtually every community in the area Big River Telephone will be serving has fought for these jobs to be located in their community.

The City of Farmington, once learning of the potential of Big River Broadband to locate in the area, offered incentives for the company to be able to relocate to an unused building in the downtown area.

The TIF amount are rumored to be in the $100,000 range.  That is a $100,000 incentive to create millions of dollars of economic development in direct money to be spent by new jobs in the company. That does not include the associated businesses and non-direct impact of long term value to a community having a solid tech company that is growing in the area.

Typically you bring one and more come, also what people sometimes overlook is that this will empower people that once never thought they would have an opportunity to create something to possibly have an idea sparked after being around the atmosphere that a company like this brings.

So, why then, would people complain?  Is it just to complain for the sake of being heard? In the community there have been a few folks that have caused a hold up and concern for the many people looking for these jobs because they are complaining about the incentive.

Keep in mind these people complaining are people who are in positions to not have to worry about such things but their lack of foresight and their lack of ability to  look at the bigger opportunity this creates has the potential to drive these jobs elsewhere. And they WILL GO ELSEWHERE, they will not disappear. Would this group prefer these jobs go to another community that WILL give something to get this.

Big River Telephone is not some huge corporate conglomerate so people cannot complain about big business getting all the breaks, I have known the team at Big River since they acquired a small phone company in Cape Girardeau and have worked day and night to create what the company has become today.

If the money is going to be spent to provide stimulus I have to look past my feelings on such things and realize the money is going somewhere, the stimulus money will be spent, I want it to better the community I am in and not go elsewhere because people are not thinking about the long term impact but just trying to make a stand for the sake of being heard.

The moral of the story here, no matter if you are in my local area or not, if someone is working hard to keep jobs local, keep your kids from moving away since they do not have the opportunity locally, and are trying to have a long term positive economic impact on your area support them. Do not EVER complain about jobs going overseas if you are not going to support keeping jobs in your community.

I never had the opportunity to stay in the community I live in based on the fact there was not a professional level job that offered the opportunity to do what I wanted to do or an income potential that went with it. I had to travel over 100 thousand miles a year on planes to have that opportunity. I have a son that will be in college in the short term future, he may want to move away but I also like the thought of supporting companies that want to create jobs that can create opportunity for him locally as well.

Thanks for letting me rant!

Speaking Today To Farmington Business Leaders

Today is going to be booked from start to finish with the morning kicking off with a seminar speaking to the business leaders of Farmington, MO. Farmington is one of, if not the (depending who you ask) fastest growing areas in Missouri. Our partner Big River Telephone worked tirelessly in promoting the seminar and once again went offline to promote to businesses that need to start thinking about how to promote online.

I must say that spending time with medium and small business leaders in a group setting like this is about as good as it gets, I enjoy every minute and some of the questions and discussions are very insightful  as they can help me (and others) understand what the people not focused on the online world are really thinking about technology.

One of the things that really amazes me is the number of people using Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. I always ask for a raise of hands before I start speaking to find out how many people use each of the services. Facebook always leads, Twitter is always second, and Linkedin third. No real surprise but what I do find interesting is that the crowd is typically not real tech savvy but a rough estimate would be 70 percent of most rooms have Facebook accounts.

As I type that I also realize more and more I am seeing people not even put their website in their commercials on TV, they just go straight to their Facebook page. What a coup for Facebook....

Now, I do spend a portion of the presentation talking about proper domain name selection and after seeing the acceptance of social networking there are very few people who even understand what  a domain name is. I am happy to help do that education.

Farmington is a very progressive area and I expect todays presentation to be a bit different than others and since I know some of the people in the room this time it should make for good back and forth.

Talking Domain Names and Local Search with Rural Missouri

I spent today speaking at 2 seminars focused on showing small businesses in rural Missouri how to take advantage of the opportunities they have to grow their business online. As the rural broadband stimulus money is doled out to telecommunications companies rural America will change the way they use the Internet and small business, which is really the backbone of American business, will need to be able to compete with large corporations who have been using search marketing and working online for years. It was an absolute pleasure meeting and discussing how business gets done on the Internet with the business leaders that came to the seminar sessions today.

I want to personally thank all fo them for attending and for Big River Telephone for sponsoring and bringing the group together. And I want to thank the radio station personnel and the people from the SE Missourian newspaper who were open minded and attended the discussion today that had a portion focused on the failure of legacy media and advertising companies to take advantage of the new business models that have shown themselves on the Internet. The open mind show in attending a session such as the one today shows that the companies you are working for have a chance.

It is always enjoyable to speak directly with the small businesses that do not have technology as their focus. Sometimes those of us that are focused so strongly on online media forget that that most business owners do not really care about the details, they care about what the technology changes mean to their business. Days like today prove that. We had comments come in that this is overwhelming but that the importance of changing the way they approach marketing is understood.

Other discussion topics included about how to use social networking to get customer feedback, promote the company website, and how even if the business owner themselves do not use the Internet their customers do. That is something important for small businesses in rural America to remember, as rural broadband spreads, and it will no matter what some industries want to believe, the people with the disposable income are the ones searching for products and services online.

Thanks to all that attended! The next session is being planned for Farmington, MO in the very near future.

Big River Telephone Partners with Missouri.me and Localtek

Well, I can officially announce our first strategic partnership between Localtek/Missouri.me and a leading technology provider to rural communities throughout southeast Missouri.

Big River Telephone, based in Cape Girardeau, MO serves 10's of thousands of customers not only in Missouri but in several other states that we will be launching in. As part of the partnership Big River Telephone will be promoting the Localtek services along with the associated state portal, intially Missouri.me. Localtek will also be promoting Big River Telephones business Internet services to its customers.

With a long history supporting the communities they are in and with their place in the upcoming rural broadband stimulus and drive we could not of found a better partner to work with. They are targeting the exact same customers we are looking to support and help.

As part of the initial launch they have scheduled a seminar at the Career and Technology Center in Cape Girardeau for September 29th. I will be speaking to 2 groups of businesses (125 people per group) on how to help bring their businesses online and compete as broadband continues to penetrate deeper into America. In a nice twist Big River Telephone is promoting this event with TV commercials, Radio Ads, and Billboards as well as online advertising. The cost is only $20 if you are in Missouri and want to attend.

To hear the radio commercial click on this link web-advantage-radio-spot