The Value of Just One Job

I am going to oversimplify economic development.

Are you, as the economic developer of your community, helping to create a job?  Just one job?

Are you helping to retain one job?

What is the value of that one job? Or, what is the economic impact of that one job?

Is that one job fulfilling a need in your community? (a needed industry/service/etc.)

Could that one job eventually grow and be two jobs or three jobs?

Does that one job support a family in your community?

In small communities, one job can have a big economic impact. The value of one job in a town with 1000 people has a much higher economic impact than say a town with 100,000 people.

One job might be the seed that will sprout and grow into multiple jobs.

If you help recruit and/or incentivize one custom woodworker/builder in your community, he or she will eventually hire an assistant. Then, as the business grows, they will expand and need a larger building. They will buy more equipment, increasing their capital investment into the community. When you look up in 5-10 years, they are a small company employing 8-10 people. Now, you have a much larger economic impact story to tell.

Do not despise small beginnings. It is how every business starts. And, clients remember the people who helped them get started.  And someday you get to tell the story of, “I knew them when…”.