http://www.itseasytorecycle.org/grant-program.cfm

I also learned about grants last month – several in fact – from my Google Reader.  Because I receive notifications whenever http://www.mccrayandassoc.com/ posts a blog entry.

Most grants are for nonprofit organizations with a 501(c)3 designation.  However, via a Google search, I found sources for small businesses.

http://www.iowagrantsguide.org/index.php?get=small_businesses

Technology is a wonderful thing – if you can learn how to use it!

Tonight I went to a meeting at TownsEnd Winery.

We meet once a month, roughly, and build relationships and figure out ways to get people into our county and into our businesses.

There’s Country Heritage bed and breakfast, TownsEnd Winery, Carlson’s Tree Farm, Cathy’s Country Cook’n, Cornerstone Cottage and Cornerstone Cottage Kids, Latham Hi Tech Seeds, Debworks and Val Plagge (2012 ASA/Dupont Young Leaders of the year for the state of Iowa recipients) representing Franklin County at this meeting.

I promise by the time you’re done reading this blog post, you’re gonna want to travel to Franklin County Iowa and take advantage of one of many kick butt itineraries we’ve got coming.  Now we haven’t set prices yet, but we do promise you’ll get way more than you’ll pay for.

Here’s just a few of our ideas:

City to Farm Excursion

See how the new pig farmer raises pigs.  These little piggies cross over a scale and take their weight first.  Then they get to go to the food court for a little nosh.  Tired from all that weighing and eating, they retire to the lounge area.   What? Yes – the pig barn is set up with a food court in the middle and a couple of lounge areas to the side.  It’s great for weighing, eating, and sorting.  You won’t want to miss that.

Next take a ride on a tractor.  A nice big tractor pulling either a planter, a disc, a plow or maybe even a combine.  This ain’t your grandpa’s farm partner — we’re taking big, hunkin’ heavy duty machinery that will make a sailor blush, it’s so stinking big.

While your out there, walk up the stairway to the top of the grain bins.  That’s right – these farmers have circular stairways going around the bin so you can walk clear to the top and see three counties!

Bike Trail with a Twist

You’ll stay at the world famous Country Heritage Bed and Breakfast.  True to their name, they are out in the country only one mile away from the bike trail that traverses through Franklin County.  After a big country breakfast, take one of the bikes and head to the trail.  Go west (young man) and find your way to the Carlson Tree Farm.  It’s only a few miles away and once there, you won’t want to leave.  Perhaps you’ll take part in a scavenger hunt, and find all kinds of treats, coupons and fun things along the way.  Or maybe you’ll toast marshmellows over the open fire and make s’mores kids only dream about.  Be sure to visit the lodge and relax with a cup of hot cocoa or maybe a toddy.  There’s a tractor and haywagon that leave all day long taking folks on hayrides around the property.  See where they grow their own wheat and make their own bread.    Tag your own Christmas tree – and come back to get it during the holidays!  At the end of the day you’ll sit around the fire and listen to some truly scary ghost stories!  Don’t worry about getting home – the fine folks at the B and B will just come get you.  And yes, you’ll feel like you’re right at home.

Or go east and find yourself in the lovely town of Hampton.  Swing on downtown, just a few blocks off of the bike trail.  If it’s warm, stop at the aquatic center and go for a dip (try out that two story slide while you’re there).  Pop into one of the many specialty shops and pick up a neat gift for your loved one.  Hungry?  We’ve got Mexican, American, Chinese and fast food — we can fill your belly up!  Make your way east to Hansell and find TownsEnd Winery.  They promise good wine, great company and plenty of stories.  Once again, don’t worry about getting home — the fine folks at the B and B will come get you.

You can sit around and wait for something to happen, or you can get together with a group of committed friends – and MAKE something happen.  That’s what we are doing in Franklin County.  Making things happen.

See you soon!

Small communities learn very quickly how to get along.  You speak kindly to everyone, help others when you can and share what you have.  If you’re mad at someone, you take your problem right to them and usually don’t spread gossip all over town.  If you need help, you never ask for it – but the community knows anyway and helps you.

Growing up I learned to be observant and patient. Things are not always as they seem, and patience helps prove that out.  I learned to help others.  For one day, it may be me that needs the help.  I learned tolerance; everybody has a story and a reason for being the way they are.  I learned that hard work always wins out.  It’s good to be smart, but it’s also good to earn what you earn.  I learned to be friendly to people.  Strangers were not strangers for long, we relished newcomers in our community and wanted to hear their stories! I learned what the right questions to ask were, how to find out someone’s story, and how to listen.

All businesses are comprised of people.  People just want to be heard, listened to and noticed.  If you have a retail business, you sure want to be listening to your customers.  They will tell you what they need.  If you’re smart, you’ll figure out a way to provide what they need.  If you own a factory with many workers, you want to be able to listen to your workers.  If you’re not treating them right, they will tell you.  A smart manager will hear them.

As we get older, sometimes we forget these early lessons.  I think in 2012 I want to listen to the stories of those around me.  I want to hear your story! 

That’s what CNN said about me today.  It’s a little more than that.  However I was happy to be on CNN this morning for a short minute to talk about social media and how I connect people to each other.

Debworks main goal is to connect you to your consumers.  A consumer is one who uses up goods or articles.   We try to show you ways to reach your consumers. Yes, we encourage social media.  Social media is defined as ways of communicating online to reach your consumers. We do work with you to create a social media plan to utilize for your business.  Some of the tools we use are blogging, websites, facebook, twitter, linked in, and flickr.

Debworks also encourages you to work within your own community.  That could be in a small town in Iowa, a large city in your state or several places where you might have consumers.  Traditional media should not be ignored!  Newspapers, radio ads, flyers and speaking engagements are just a few of those methods.

We believe in finding out what it is you want to do, who your consumer is and then finding ways to use the tools so you can reach them.  How can we help you? 

Here’s the panel discussion from CNN this morning:

If you can’t see the video, go to http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2012/01/02/exp-early-start-social-media.cnn

We wanted to bring in Midwest bloggers and have them stay in Franklin County and experience farming, history, entertainment and shopping.  

I know bloggers – and I invited them.  Shannon and Jennifer Healey know farming and they organized combine rides, lunch, a visit to Latham Hi-Tech Seeds and talks with farmers. Harriman Nielsen Historic Farm was having a festival and we latched onto that.  History was provided by a Walking Historical Tour in Hampton, so we piggybacked on that.  We also arranged a private tour of the Machinery Hall at the Franklin County Historical Museum.  The specialty shops in Hampton provided lots of grand shopping.  Throw in a Bed and Breakfast stay, a visit to Leahy Grove Independent and Assisted Living where one blogger family stayed, star gazing at Maynes Grove, An Evening Like It Used To Be at the Windsor Theatre and you had a Bloggers Tour.

That happened in September.  Our bloggers wrote about their trip, took lots of pictures and shot video.  It was all over the internet for several days.

Now, let’s talk long tail.  Because we fully anticipated a long tail result.  Franklin County has much to offer, and we knew that sooner or later word would spread.

This week we were asked to come to Des Moines and meet with CNN producers to talk about politics.  We got asked because one of the bloggers wrote about us, and they saw it.  We had a nice visit in Des Moines, two of our residents were filmed for airing next week.  They suggested perhaps they would call us back to be filmed live.

Then, CNN found more stories about our bloggers tour.  Residents of Franklin County were actually using social media!  Suddenly the topic changed from politics to how rural communities were using social media.  Larry Sailer – a farmer in the county, myself, Claire Celsi – businesswomen and blogger from Des Moines and Michael Libbie – advertising man and blogger will be on a live panel Monday morning.  Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien – here we come! 

image courtesy of CNN

Friday a group of different businesses is meeting at TownsEnd Winery in Hansell, Iowa.  There will be Country Heritage bed and breakfast, a representative from the Soybean Association, Breadeaux Pizza, Latham Hi Tech Seeds, Franklin County Farm Bureau, Cornerstone Cottage (gifts and such), and a few others.  We will sample some wine, eat a snack — and come up with creative ideas on how we can partner up and work together.

If we are to thrive and grow, we need to learn to work with each other.  No man really is an island.  What suggestions would you give to this group?  Is there something you’d like to offer?

I’ve heard customers say “they never do anything different” and “why should I shop local?  I can get a better deal at Wal-Mart”.

These comments are opportunities for local residents and businesses to help create change and share a new mindset on how we think about our community.   Here’s a little advice to consider.

1.  Stop saying “in this economic climate” – people are still shopping, traveling and talking about businesses/places they visit.  Start looking at what people want.  Where we live, there are more day travelers coming from around the state.  What can you provide for them?

2. Don’t spend other people’s money.   In other words – don’t prejudge people.  You really don’t know what their priorities are and how they want to spend their money.  People do have money to spend.  Your job is to figure out what they want to spend it on!

3. New ways to advertise don’t always cost money.  They do cost time.  Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, blogging can all be done for no cost or almost no cost.  You do need to spend time on it to be effective.  You wouldn’t just put up a billboard and expect people to flock to your store either.  People need to see something 7 times before it sinks in!

4. If you’re not doing anything different, you’re become stale.  Rearrange your store, change the windows, use new ads in the paper and on the radio – give people a reason to come visit you.

5. Wal-Mart helps put small, local businesses out of business.  Most of your  dollars spent at Wal-Mart don’t make their way back to your county/town.  The average Wal-Mart worker is paid $8.81 an hour, works under 32 hours a week (so they don’t get insurance) and requires $943 a year in Medicaid and other public assistance. *  66 cents of every dollar spent locally, stays local.  Local businesses also know you, give much better customer service as a rule, hire people from your neighborhood, pay local taxes and live where you live.

The picture is Danielle Noah painting a temporary sign for Cornerstone Cottage Kids.  They received a grant from the Chamber to put up a new sign, but that project won’t start til spring.  So until then, they took some plywood and made their own temporary sign.  It’s new, different and brings people into the store.  Isn’t that the point? 

*In exchange for all the family-supporting jobs Walmart has take away, all it has given us in return are very low-wage jobs working in its stores. The average Walmart worker makes just $8.81 an hour, data from IBISWorld show, and requires $943 a year in Medicaid and other public assistance, according to information from the state of Ohio.  Taken from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacy-mitchell/another-shocking-fact-abo_b_1138952.html

Don’t carry your phone into the store with the Amazon app on it.  You know, the one that checks prices and then offers to give you another $5 if you buy it from Amazon.

Will they help you pick the exact perfect gift for your mom?  I don’t think so – they don’t even know her.

Will they let you return it and help you find something else?  Oh maybe – but you’ll have to pay to ship it back, no one will pick up the phone to tell how to use it properly and no one will say “we’re sorry, let us help you with that”.

Will they hire people from your neighborhood to work in their store?  Nope.

Will they pay the 1% local sales tax that goes to support your local schools?  Not a chance.  Just consider where your money goes — does any of it stay in the local community?

Think hard when you shop outside of where you live.  It affects you too.

The picture is Steven During (my great nephew) and Dennis Carlson – owner of Carlson Tree Farm.  Dennis held Steven up and then put his head in Mrs. Claus’ place – so we could take Steve’s picture.  Let me see Amazon do that!  We bought a tree and a wreath from them – and we petted the animals, and visited the barn and watched them make the wreaths and we visited their lodge where they had local vendors set up selling their wares.  Yeah, let’s see Amazon do that.  

I went to ArcGIS, created a free account and map a map that shows places where activities are taking place in Hampton, Iowa on Saturday December 3.  It took about 5 minutes to create.

Think of the possibilities!  Create walking tours for your historical society.  How about a shop hop for the retailers?  Or a visitors welcome walking tour.  Web designers can use it to show web visitors where they client’s location is – and what’s nearby.

View Larger Map

Jody Halsted and the Amana Colonies are hosting the Social Technology Conference at the Amana Colonies – and you won’t want to miss this one.  Geared towards small businesses, there will be a lot to learn to help promote your business and move it forward.

The 140 Character Conference is back again in Des Moines on April 23.  Mark your calendars, we are in the planning stages now – and will have more updates soon.  It will be a one day event and focusing on the Technology of Now.   You can see what we did last year at http://desmoines2011.140conf.com/

Those are just two — do you know of anymore?