Small Ball

 

I think a recent social media post by Fairfield Businessman Gordy Toombs is worth examination.

We talk about hitting a home run and filling the empty manufacturing complex in our town when we should be paying attention to the other employers who have closed since Gordy opened his business in the fall of 1999.

The list is three pages long. Sixty-seven employers… gone.

There are oil companies, restaurants, personal services, lumber companies, grocery stores, movie theaters, J.C. Penney, Western Auto….You get the picture….businesses with employees. Lots of them.

We simply need to stop thinking a big employer is going to land in our lap. This is Illinois. Big businesses are not that foolhardy.

We need to work harder at keeping what we have.  Small businesses are evaporating right under our noses. Two highly visible businesses closed just last week.

In the world of baseball, they like to talk about “small ball.” Instead of waiting for a home run, the good teams are able to string four or five hits together to score runs. I think we need to play “small ball.”

There must be an emphasis by our leaders to support existing businesses…and promoting the creation of new Walmart-proof businesses….preferably in downtown.

Study the success of longtime businesswoman Kristi Hornung….or downtown newcomer, Denise Smith. They have the formula.