Information Keeps Down the Frustration

One of the hardest things to do as a person who
wants to open a business is to know who to
go to?  So here is a list of the people who can
be helpful to you:

LED - website:  Louisiana Economic Development

SBA - website:  Small Business Administration

SBDC-website:  Small Business Development Center

This is linked through amazingddp.net because that
is also a center for information.  You have two quick
ways to get around as a person with an idea to start
a business, one, call 318-465-2762 and ask for me-
I'll help you if I can.  Two, you can click on one 
of the links above and see information.  Again it
might be good to get in touch with me, 
drd1201@gmail.com  as my work in to try and
be a good guide to the information you need,
that keeps down the frustration.   

Growing The Development Culture

Growing The Development Culture

"Getting There..."  Dr. Dana Richardson,   Eco Dev

You’ve seen the movie, “Hoosiers,” starred Gene Hackman as the coach who took a small town ball team to state?  “Yeah, figures Dr. D that you’d choose a basketball movie story seein’ as how our boys are in the playoffs for football, genius!”  Yes I know, but some quotes are too good to pass up! Be they football, like Denzel Washington, talking to the team as Coach Boone, of “Remember The Titans,” at Gettysburg, “this is hallowed ground.” Or, Gene Hackman, taking his boys into a gym at state that’s huge, asking them to measure the basketball key, remember that?  They measured the net, they measured the key, and his statement was, “I’ll think you’ll find that the measurements there are the exact same ones we have back home.”  His point was; it isn’t the size the opponent, it’s the heart of the competitor, and it’s how you compete; whether we win, lose or draw (can you have a draw in football?) – If our athletes play their hearts out and play with good conduct and athletic manners of combat in football, they are winners.

THEY ARE ALREADY WINNERS- GETTING THERE!

  Economic Development carries in the program an idea that somehow we’re going to make businesses happen, education get better, the infrastructure of the community get better, the way that the community reports itself to the outside world, become enhanced.  In short, the expectations for a good economic development program need funds; and what we tend to believe is that those funds will always come from the Federal Government, State government, or some other source of grant money.  Here’s a shocker- they usually don’t.  In major cities which have huge economic development programs, the majority of the funding comes from the city leaders.  Grant money can happen, and we’ve been fortunate to have grants approved, but we’ve been unfortunate to then have the agency approving the grant, not receive enough money to fund the grant?  Interesting concept; that one is; sort of like, ordering a Cheeseburger, like everybody else, but only being able to watch other people eat it? Isn’t there a better solution, in order that, our community can continue to grow, continue getting there? 

  Did you catch that, how we report ourselves to the world sentence?  You may have thought “internet,” O.K., think “internet” as T.V.; see it?  How powerful is the impression left by the first contact with a website?  In the case of Universal Studio Orlando (http://www.universalorlando.com/) it’s pretty powerful – Harry Potter is front and center; and who, could forget Harry?  In the case of NASA a lot of really cool things are going on no matter what page you click to (http://www.nasa.gov/).   If you type in Lafayette Louisiana, you get this (http://www.lafayettela.gov/) web site that is aimed at you communicating with them, and visiting them; hmm, that’s interesting, wouldn’t you say?  So what about Springhill, what do people see if they type into the search engine Springhill Louisiana?  It is in the top three on Google as a web site, great, but it’s behind, Wikipedia and North Webster Chamber of Commerce?  Is North Webster Chamber of Commerce, Springhill?  No but we have a nice link middle of their screen; but would a person have to want to find Springhill to use this?  Here’s the point; surfing facts tell us that when an executive is looking for a new community to come to, they go to; Google, and they search for the community- the question you need to ask yourself is, are the sites that they’re finding about us influencing their choice?  Is there any possibility that we might make our site better, more attractive, more welcoming and more inviting to them to contact us?  When those executives click on your page you have 7 seconds to impress them,  or they’re gone!  We need to perhaps think about what it is that we want to show them, so that, when it comes to getting them here, we’re getting there!  

Sooner or Later..

Make yourself develop the discipline
to read.  Jim Rohn, one of America's

premier keynote speakers, and a man
who motivated millions to succeed;
quipped that, "leaders are readers."

So - one of my buds is a dead set "not
gonna read it," kind of gal...which one
must respect, after all; anybody who is
willing to be that honest, you have to
respect, so what's the solution there?




To me it seems like "lighten up,"
might be in order...AND...if you
care about your folks like I care
about my bud- heck, get them an
audio dose?  Guaranty ya this-
Jim Rohn sounds just as good as
he reads...check it out...

Great Big Joy

"We have to do something about this, it just

Mopsy relaxes on her favorite pillow

isn't fair to her..."
My wife's words hung me on the truth;
"I know it, but what can we do, she can't
stay with Deb and them, and she just
doesn't seem to get along with anybody,
not us, not the other dogs?"
"Well, would you?  If somebody shot you in
the ear with a bee-bee, wouldn't you be pissed?"
She had made her point, but what to do?

My heart has always gone out to my Mopsy-
when my wife first brought this dog home
she was tore to pieces, her skin looked like
it had been kicked or bitten off, she was
a mess- and somebody threw her out at
the plant where my wife worked.  She got
Mopsy into the van and brought her to the
vet, he fixed her up; and we tried to get her
into some friends homes where they had
dogs outside with large dog run pens- on
farms and such, but each time, Mopsy would
go to the corner of the pen, and the other
dogs would eat her food, she wasn't being
treated fairly by them.  We knew- we had
to do something.

"We can't take her to the vet, she's older,
won't nobody want to take her..."  The vet
had a policy that if they couldn't find a home

Mopsy today no pinkish beat skin...

for the animal after a certain
percentage of time, they had to
put the animal down as part of
being able to even keep the facility,
it was one of the roughest parts of
the small rural vets life, and we knew it,
and we really had already
started to become attached to Mopsy.
But Mopsy was anything except attached to us,
if we'd approach her, she'd head down, tail
tuck and growl.  Sure signs in my mind that
somebody had harmed this dog in the past.

I told my wife we really should keep her- and
then we needed to pour love into this poor

Mopsy still loves the wife's garden...

girl, love in every way we could.
Gentle voices, constantly trying to
get her to come to us, bringing her the
best food, water, and after
three months; Mopsy actually
came up to me, hand down,
head down, eyes down, and
she sniffed my hand, and we bonded,
I touched her and gently petted her,
and it was real.

Mopsy has been with us now for thirteen years,
we have no idea how old she really is, but we
know this, we should have taken before and
after pictures, nobody would believe the
difference in her.  It's the power of love, I
always say, oh, not our love toward her, her
love toward us, you see, she had to forgive
whoever had done those horrible things to
her, and then realize, it wasn't us; and that
my friends is what this story is all about- great
big joy!

Rural Social Media is a blog about
perspective, really, that's what it's
all about, you see we have
a mission here; to better the
lives of those around
us.  We live in rural America;
and we believe that living in rural America
is totally different than living
anywhere else.  That's a simplification,
and we don't all have wheat shucks sticking out
of our mouths and wear bib overalls,  but it's
not such a bad thing at all, to wear them, is it?
Somebody around this great nation of ours needs
to man up- I'd just as soon they were wearin' bib
overalls, as cross dressed fancy, how 'bout you?

Great Big Joy comes in lots of flavors- but
it boils down to this, success; and hard work,
work that pays off.  Yes I know what the good
folks at the Metaphysics, "The Secret," side
of the house say, "all you have to do is believe
and it will be so,"  but what I'm gonna share with
you is, when you really believe, your hard work
becomes like play, and you make it so.  Now
that's a bit different statement, but I believe when
you boil it down, success doesn't happen very
often from dumb luck, it just looks that way.

Great Big Joy is a series of ideas and concepts that
we're gonna go through together, about business,
because that's what I get to do, my task in life,
my passion, is to help the community of Springhill,
Louisiana, do better.  Now that probably sounds
pretty crass, but realize that every community in
America has suffered in these last two decades
by the changes that have taken place in our world.
Those sufferings were very real, to farmers who
used to have a cash crop that would be allowed
to come up next year, only now, that's not for
certain anymore, thanks to the good folks at
Monsanto, and their hybrid seed programs!

Great Big Joy comes after going through such,
for the farmer who finds another way, and my
task, my passion, is to help them.  That's the
community side of what I get to do.  Now there
is also the fun side, and that's where we're gonna
stop today, but I want to share a success with
you that I'm enjoying to no end, that's the
businesses that are already doing pretty good-
only we're gonna get to help them go to the
next level.  Imagine what fun that is going to be?
Imagine being able to stand next to someone
that is going to someday be a name that is
spoken very far away, and with respect, no
matter where it is spoken at?  Imagine being
Paul Allen in California when a young man
comes over named Bill Gates and wants
to discuss this new device called a computer?
Imagine being able to help the future
leader of a massive franchise of pet
grooming products, because that's
her dream, and someday everywhere
people say, "Painted puppy- why
sure, we remember that gal...she..."

Do You Really?

Don't you just hate it when late night TV is
all those infomercials?  Nothin' else on, there
you are, awake, flippin' through the channels
because you can't sleep- AND, to top it off,
you get infomercials.  Doesn't it chap you
just a touch?

Well this one won't- love Facebook?  Want
to see your Facebook experience become
"AWESOME!"  No matter what sort of Facebook
person you are?  Check out this lady- she will
amaze you, and her directions work...they work
and every single one that I've tried has worked!

NOW if I can do it, and I don't have any THUMBS(!)
imagine what you can do?

F.I.E.R.O. Back to Basics In a Big Way For You

Five areas, into which, many, many different observations fit.
It's a hard fact of the knowledge which is transmitted within
it, that you can learn a lot about yourself by examining models
of what can take place.  When we consider FIERO as a theory,
as a way of looking at business, as a model; we are talking
about many different angles.  Today we ask the question about
responsibility- which is more important- group "big picture"
responsibility or personal, individual responsibility?
here's the good Dr. let us hear from you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb4G7C3FIoE