The effects of a violent city on business

The main goal of the future is to stop violence. The world is addicted to it.

--Bill Cosby

On May 30th, I got to sit in on a Google Hangout with Search for the Common Good and Cure Violence about "A Cure for Urban Violence."

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

I moved to Saginaw over four years ago.  Before I moved here, my boyfriend laid out a map of where I was allowed to go and where I could go between 9am and 3pm, and where I could never go.  Let's go back a little further, to the early/mid 1980s where I grew up: South Bend, Indiana.  Coming to Saginaw in 2010 was much like being in South Bend in the 1980's - gang and general violence run rampant.  My tiny 500 square foot house where I spent a good chunk of my childhood was smack dab in the middle of one of the most violent neighborhoods.  Gangs traveled by rail lines from Chicago and Detroit to South Bend, right by my house.  Shootings, robberies, arson, and stabbings were an every-day occurrence where I grew up.  Fast forward almost 30 years to present-day Saginaw.  Last year, Saginaw was ranked 3rd most violent city per capita in the US.

Up until early this year, I didn't think of how the violence that exists here affected me.  Yes, I was told certain places and neighborhoods were off-limits, but honestly, my neighborhood in Saginaw doesn't see the level of violence that exists in others.  I had become blissfully unaware and disconnected to the violence that was happening in nearby neighborhoods and to our community members.  It wasn't until I saw Gary Slutkin's TED talk about treating it like a contagious disease that I gave my ability to impact the violence a thought.

http://www.myspeakupspeakout.com/saginaw-residents-plead-for-end-to-gun-violence/

Since seeing that talk earlier this year, I have reached out local decision-makers and influential residents to see how I could become involved.  With my history in public health and my person interest in the spread of contagious disease, the Cure Violence plan made sense, and I saw how it could positively impact my new home - the place that I have learned to love.  I see so much positive potential in Saginaw, and knew that I needed to reach out to more people.

The cost to business owners operating in a violent city is huge.  

Robberies, shootings, stabbings, police brutality and mismanagement of situations can ruin a business owner's livelihood.  Let me rephrase: something completely unrelated to your business operations can shut your business down immediately.  I don't know about you, but I haven't planned for that in my business.  I don't have a storefront or an office besides my home that I operate out of, but I know plenty of locals who do.

Realistically speaking, you can't plan for that.  You can't prevent violence from shutting your doors.  

So what can you, a business owner do? 

Advocate.  Be active in your community violence plan.  Support models like Cure Violence.  Maybe it wouldn't work for Saginaw, but SOMETHING WILL.  And that is how we plan for it.  That's how we prevent it from happening to us, or our neighbor, or our favorite business; we work together, in the community, with the community, to develop a way to minimize it.

Gangs are a form of community.  If you take the crime and violence out of the equation, gangs are not a bad thing.  They're not scary; they are a way for those who feel like outsiders to fit in.  To have a family.  Gangs are not the problem.  Crime and violence is the problem. 

So what would happen if we built better communities?  

What would happen if we pitched in and took care of each other and our interests?  

What if we stopped having "self interests" and had "community-focused interests?"  

Do you think that would help to cure violence?
Leave me your thoughts below!

Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur

For liberty - the rights of businesses

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

--Benjamin Franklin

A few weeks ago, I was driving through a nearby neighborhood with my 8 year old, when he asked:

"Mom, what does 'give us back our America' mean?  Don't we already have our America?"  

It took me just a second to find his reference - a garage door painted like the flag with the wording written across it.  At this moment, I had a few options: try to explain politics as simply as possible to someone who is too young to understand and probably isn't interested, breeze over it as quickly as possible, or use it to teach a lesson.  Of course, I chose the latter...after I gave a brief political and historical lesson.

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I see the effects of a lack of liberty and a change in laws that deeply affect our opportunities because they take rights away.  I'm not going to get into a big political conversation on here, but I want to point out a few things that business owners should be more aware of.

http://www.todaysgardencenter.com/sales-floor/displays-merchandising/small-business-saturday-use-these-resources-to-promote-your-business/

The lesson that I explained was about the benefits of shopping local or using local contractors.  

This is a real story of something happening locally: 

There is a stone wall that is in need of repair.  Company A, a local company, approached the wall owner a few years ago to offer their services in repairing the wall, but at that time there was no budget for the repair.  Last year, the funds were available and the job was put out to bid.  Company A was the only bidder in a public bid.  The wall owner decided not to move forward at that time.  In April, the wall owner decided to proceed and Company A once again bid the same amount.  Company B, a contractor from 2-1/2 hours away, underbid Company A since the bad last fall was public.  Company A is likely to lose the opportunity to do the work for the wall owner.

I explained this to my son and asked him how he felt.  His initial response was that since Company B bid the lowest that they should get the contract.  I took this opportunity to explain supporting local business.  I asked him where he thought the money earned by Company B would go.  He said that it would go wherever Company B was located.  I asked him where the money would go if Company A received the contract.  He understand that it would stay locally.  I then took it a step further.

One of our favorite restaurants is Olive Garden.  We patronize chain restaurants often, because sadly we don't have as many mom-and-pop type restaurants in our area.  I explained that when we eat at Olive Garden, they keep money locally to pay their employees, and to pay their taxes and overhead, then the profits go to the corporate office.  The food that they buy comes from a national company with greenhouses and farms outside of the area. "Well, where does the money go?" he asked.  After a quick search, I told him "Florida."  He didn't think that was fair.  He didn't like that his (my) money wasn't working locally.  It wasn't going to support local efforts and growth; instead, it went across the country to work in some other community.

I then took the chance to explain about a local farm-to-table restaurant that's opening this summer.  They will buy their in-season foods from local farms and companies.  They will employ all local people instead of bringing in upper-level leadership from out of the area.  They will funnel the money they have into the local economy.  Patronizing a restaurant like this helps our region more than eating at Olive Garden.

So what does this have to do with the rights of business? 

 Well, obviously the local decision makers are okay and supportive of franchise and out-of-the-area businesses coming in and pulling monies out of the region.  And the local businesses owners should be more vocal about this.  We should support each other, and patronize our local businesses.  And not just on "Small Business Saturday," but as often as possible.  Yes, I'll still eat at Olive Garden and shop at Kroger, but whenever it is feasible, I'm going to go to Bradley's and shop at the farmer's market and local butcher shop.  We should also make sure that we're aware of the laws that our elected officials are supporting on our behalf.  We need to speak up and let them know how we feel about policy.  We need to advocate for our beliefs, because believe it or not, most politicians don't understand small business.

How do you contribute to local companies?  

Do you actively seek them out over national companies and franchises?  

Is this an important issue to you?

Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur

Let's talk about community

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

If there is one thing that you, the reader, takes from my little blog, it should be the importance of building a supportive community.  Scratch that, I have two; integrate yourself fully within your community.  These are the yin and yang of community.  Surround yourself with supportive people who have different strengths and weaknesses than yourself, and make sure that you reach out to people in your local region to help and build a better place.

I moved here, to the Great Lakes Bay Region of Mid-Michigan, a little over four years ago.  I knew my boyfriend at that time - no one else.  I didn't have clients or business partners in the area.  I didn't know what resources were available or where to even look.  I felt alone and friendless, and quickly because fairly reclusive.  It was easy to hide from people here.  I could be anonymous.  I could become anyone that I wanted to be.  I could make any impact that I wanted to without coming in with preconceived notions.

http://cloudcatamaran.com/2014/01/customer-community-customization-part-2-visualforce-pages/

 
So what did I decide to be?

What impact did I decide to make? 

 How did I build my community? 

How am I working to make my community a better place?

After moving here, I decided to regionalize my once worldwide company.  Instead of traveling around, meeting with clients, I decided to find the local market that could use my strengths.  And then I decided that the best way to decide what I wanted to be was to become someone's employee.  And 11 short months later, I realized that I knew all along what I was: an entrepreneur who had an opportunity to once again re-brand myself.

My impact came through a series of events.  Last year, I started networking.  You've heard of "fake it till you make it?"  I lived that.  I introduced myself to everyone as a consultant who was looking for local opportunities.  I listened to the needs of the community.  I looked for opportunity.  I faked it until I started getting enough viable leads to actually be a regional-based consultant.

Building a community came later.  After realizing that I lived here for nearly 3 years and didn't have someone I considered a close friend, I decided that had to change.  So once again, I looked for opportunities.  I joined a local Rotary club.  I joined a women's leadership organization.  I volunteered in the community.  I took leadership roles that existed.  I kept reconnecting with potential friends.  And after a year of feeling out my regional area, I found my community.  I found people I was comfortable with, who understood me, and who I could lean on when needed.  People I could help.  People I could be there for.

This translated huge for my involvement with my city and how I work daily to make it a better place.  Within the past year, I've developed a relationship with a group of locals who are working on a community project to curb violence and clean up the city.  I worked to bring resources to small businesses and start-ups in the form of a coworking office space, a business incubator, a manufacturing proto-shop, and a private think tank on community violence and rebuilding our forgotten cities.  All of these projects are in a different level of research and development, but these plans and programs are huge.

The main point of building community is actually getting out there and talking face to face with others.  It's not hiding behind a computer, waiting for something interesting to happen.  It's getting out there, in your world, following your passions and finding like-minded individuals to help you make them happen.  Good things are happening here in Saginaw because of it.

Nicole
The Restless Entrepreneur