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Tama Co. Economic Development By Heath Kellogg

Two sons work for their father on the family’s farm. The younger brother had for some years been given more responsibility and allowance, and one day the older brother asks his father to explain why. The father says, “First, go to the Kelly’s farm and see if they have any geese for sale – we need to add to our stock.” The brother soon returns with the answer, “Yes they have five geese they can sell to us.” That father then says, “Good, please ask them the price.” The son returns with the answer, “The geese are $10 each.” The father says, “Good, now ask if they can deliver the geese tomorrow.” And duly the son returns with the answer, “Yes, they can deliver the geese them tomorrow.” The father asks the older brother to wait and listen, and then calls to the younger brother in a nearby field, “Go to the Davidson’s farm and see if they have any geese for sale – we need to add to our stock.” The younger brother soon returns with the answer, “Yes, they have five geese for $10 each, or ten geese for $8 each; and they can deliver them tomorrow – I asked them to deliver the five unless they heard otherwise from us in the next hour. And I agreed that if we want the extra five geese we could buy them at $6 each.” The father turned to the older son, who nodded his head in appreciation – he now realized his brother’s gift and immediately knew why his brother was given more responsibility and allowance. Columnist Erma Bombeck said “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.” Like the brother in our story we all have been given many talents and like Erma I believe that we are charged to put them to work. The good news is Tama County Economic Development is here to help you turn your talents into a thriving business. Don’t think it will work for you? Read on. The 3 basic building blocks of a business – you just need a product or service (a talent), a group of people willing to pay for it (a customer), and a way to get paid. Put the three together, and congratulations- you’re now Tama County’s latest entrepreneur. Our office validates business ideas. When I’ve explained our method to people, often the reaction is (with a dropped jaw) “I just never even THOUGHT about doing it like that!” I LOVE that reaction because it means a HUGE light-bulb and brain-shift just occurred inside their head! With today’s technology in place it is the cheapest and fastest time in our nation’s history to become an entrepreneur. So get your idea scratched out on a bar napkin and call our office 641-484-3108 and get an appointment to start validating your business idea immediately. Now let’s put our talents to work and go build something.