AEDA Vision Featured in Four Corners Business Journal
Four Corners Business Journal (Farmington, NM)
June 29, 2009
Archuleta County is diversifying economy by supporting Lone Eagle Initiative’ By Christine Rasmussen Colorado correspondent
PAGOSA SPRINGS — The Archuleta Economic Development Association is headed toward a new direction with its new copy platform: “Here in Archuleta County, Colorado, we don’t do ties, heels, or traffic. We do boots, soaks, and trails. Surrounded by 3 million acres of National Forest, we work hard in our businesses, but we play hard in our wilderness.”
AEDA Executive Director Bart Mitchell said the new copy platform is part of a concerted effort to diversify the area’s economy. “It’s called the Lone Eagle Initiative,’” Mitchell said. “We’ve spent the last year and a half doing a targeted industry study, trying to figure out how to diversify the economy here; we are heavily dependent on tourism, real estate and construction.”
According to Mitchell, the AEDA’s study profiled 2,755 companies in the county and found that 2,184 — or 79 percent — are sole proprietors with zero employees. The remaining 21 percent have some form of employment.
“When you look at the industries here, we have 232 different industries,” Mitchell explained. “There is no clustering and a lot of sole proprietors, so the traditional economic-development strategies don’t work.
“So we went back and looked at assets this community has — what makes sense from trying to grow direct-base jobs. The average income of direct-base jobs is twice that of typical employment in the community.”
The targeted industry study found that a lot of companies in Archuleta are direct-base and cover many types of business. “Many companies that are direct-base have 40 to 50 percent of revenue coming in from outside the county and zero employees,” Mitchell said. “We’ve found that other communities similar to ours in size and make-up have the same situation: A lot of folks who are stumbled upon started their own company because there are no jobs and they have the ability to do their own thing.
“I’m here because I wanted that quality of life and was tired of being away from home doing the corporate thing.”
Mitchell spent 17 years working for General Electric doing acquisitions and integrations. Besides being director of the AEDA since July of 2005, he runs a Web-site design and business-consulting company with his wife.
Taking care of the eagles
Once those like Mitchell arrive in the county, however, keeping them here is critical. The AEDA is planning a forum for the identified “lone eagles” some time this summer or early fall.
“We’re trying to bring these guys together to identify their needs so they can grow their company and grow employment,” Mitchell said. “We also want to get them together to network, cross-sell.
“At the same time during the forum, we’ll present some quantitative and qualitative data. Dr. Simon Walls (business professor at Fort Lewis College) is doing the marketing piece: Why here, why Archuleta?”
The idea is to take that data set and plug it into a direct-marketing effort toward those in urban areas who may want to relocate, Mitchell said. “Our main focus is business retention and expansion with companies here, though, to create a pro-business environment. Through this Lone Eagle Forum, we hope to educate the town and county on what they (business owners) need — so we can help those that want to grow.”
A long process
Although the targeted industry study has been a long process — since there was no such similar data before, which required Mitchell, along with the help of FLC’s Small Business Development Center Director Joe Keck, to call and interview all of them — it has been worth it.
“With the lone eagles I’ve identified, the average salary is $42,491,” said Mitchell. “The average per-capita income in Archuleta County is $21,145 — that’s 140-percent (more). It’s a matter of switching our thinking of industry clusters to a more grass-roots efforts — rolling up our sleeves and working with those who want to grow.”
Primary-growth companies in Archuleta County include Parelli Natural Horsemanship, Queen Bee organic skin-care products, and Autumn Teneyl clothing. Other notables include BossTin, maker of non-toxic fishing weights; Growing Spaces, manufacturer of growing domes; Alpine Components, an aircraft-parts manufacturer; Skywerx, a wireless Internet service provider; and Quest Aerospace, seller of high-end rocket models.
“It’s amazing: As I go about identifying these guys, some are friends who never mentioned they have this company that’s doing six-figure sales outside of Archuleta,” said Mitchell. “Once the momentum gets going, I think we’re going to see some unique results from all of this.”
As soon as a date is set for the Long Eagle Forum, it will be posted under “Upcoming Events” at www.aedaed.org
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