From
WCCE's President
Mike Yauck, Worland Area Chamber of Commerce
Got a call today from Candy. She reminded me that this article
is due! I was also informed this article would be my last because
in September I turn the gavel over to Janet.. I ask the obvious
question; where has the time gone?
Much has taken place with the WCCE in the last few weeks. The
Wyoming Business Council has placed a number of our past contract
issues out for bid to the general public. As a result, we have
submitted a proposal for statewide business interviews and the
business awards event. These are programs WCCE had exclusives
on in the past. Sealed bids were opened June 27, 2003. Our fate
regarding these issues will be known by publication of this newsletter.
This past
year as your president has been a wonderful journey. I feel
fortunate having the opportunity to lead such a professional
group. I know of no other career where so few are shot at so
often and still maintain a dignity towards their profession!
If I were passing judgment, you’d all be given an A+,
including Candy who has been a remarkable source of support.
Hope to see everyone in Cody this September.
Sincerely,
Mike
WYOMING
BUSINESS COUNCIL
Tom Fuller, Business and Retention and Expansion Manager
The second
quarter has been very busy and productive. I have attended
several training sessions and strategic planning sessions,
each dealing with local economic development. The first was
the Introduction to Economic Development presented by International
Economic Development Council. While this training session covered
a breadth of topics in economic development, one important
statement was that most economic development is led by small
businesses. The second session was the facilitated discussion
of Ernesto Sirolli’s “Ripples from the Zambezi” at
Wyoming Small Business Development Center’s annual strategic
planning meeting. Sirolli has worked in Australia, South Dakota
and Minnesota as an enterprise facilitator. In his concept,
the facilitator waits, spring-loaded , for the business ask
for assistance then responds with all the effort that can be
mustered.. Another take on local economic development is the
ABCD concept. Asset Based Community Development highlights
what a community has versus what a community is lacking. Using
a community’s assets to generate possibilities and community
consensus and enthusiasm for projects is a cornerstone of this
process.
The Wyoming Market Research Center is up and running. Mike Lambert
has been ired as the Center Manager (and, currently, only employee).
The Center is available to Wyoming businesses. Mike can do research
on markets including targeted mailing lists, customer demographics,
Dodge Construction Reports, competitor analysis and a myriad of
other market research projects. Work for the Center should be
requested through your local SBDC, MAMTC or WBC office.
By now most of you have received the results of the Synchronist
Surveys. The survey packages included reports on the individual
businesses, regional reports with business names and regional
reports without business names. Over the next few months, I would
like to visit with you and your local WBC Regional Director to
see if there are specific local issues that would be worth delving
into further. Interestingly, workforce rose to he top as an issue
throughout the state. Many businesses stated that experienced
workforce availability was a serious concern for them. On the
other hand, other businesses said that their current workforces
were experienced and loyal.
A project that
I will be working on over the next several months is the development
of a state-wide B2B (business to business) network. Several
organizations will be involved with this project including
GRO-Biz (Wyoming’s ptac), Wyoming members of the
Institute of Supply Management and others. If you know of businesses
who would like to be involved please let me know. We’ll
kick off the project with a series of meetings and, possibly,
a survey.
A recommended
reading list would include “Ripples from the
Zambezi,” mentioned ove, and a book recommended by Bill
Ellis, SBDC SW Regional Director, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by
Robert Kiyosaki. Both are interesting reads that gave me a different
perspective on community and economic development and on entrepreneurism.
