Falls City is Encouraging Homegrown Businesses

Business recruitment is a common, traditional approach used to spur economic growth. Cities offer companies tax breaks and other generous financial incentives to attract them to an area.

While it’s true that the right company can bring in hundreds of jobs and have a dramatic impact on a region, in our global economy this process of courting companies has become more competitive than ever.

Business recruitment can be time consuming, costly and — some would argue — marginally effective. The residents of some towns, particularly in rural areas, have learned hard lessons about depending on one company or even one industry to lift their economies.

In more recent years, economic development leaders have been using a wider array of tactics to encourage growth. Business recruitment is still an objective. But it’s not the only one.

Local, small businesses have a major impact on our economy

Did you know that two out of three new private-sector jobs in the United States since the Great Recession were created by small businesses? Small businesses can have a big impact.

In Falls City, there are opportunities to create new businesses

Instead of always looking outward for growth opportunities, the idea is to look inward. There is powerful business potential located within our community. It’s just a matter of taking the right steps to empower entrepreneurs.

Falls City is using a more comprehensive approach to facilitate economic development. Because new and existing businesses can thrive if given the right tools and resources organizations like the Chamber work with area businesses and offer solutions like their Business Resources Toolkit to make starting a business easier.

Local businesses have a ripple effect on the economy

While traditional measures of economic development such as dollar amount invested and total jobs created are still relevant, some long term measures of building a community from the ground level are more qualitative than quantitative in nature.

Encouraging entrepreneurs at the local level can have ripple effects not just on the economy but on the community as a whole. Studies have shown that independently owned, local businesses return more money to the communities in which they operate.

In addition, entrepreneurs that choose to live in a community are a wonderful resource. They can be called upon for leadership and mentoring. Since they’re connected with the community, they’re likely to support it in other ways, such as through volunteerism and philanthropic gestures.

We encourage business growth and our proud of our community

Homegrown entrepreneurs are also a great source of community pride. Seeing one person’s success as a business owner can help inspire others and spark innovation. The small businesses starting up in Falls City have improved the quality of life for our residents and we encourage other entrepreneurs in joining them.