The document discusses economic gardening strategies and entrepreneurship in Fairfield, Iowa. It provides statistics on Fairfield's growth, including its rise in per capita income and number of restaurants. It also outlines programs and resources to support entrepreneurs, such as mentoring networks, idea bounces, boot camps, and access to capital. The goal is to create an entrepreneurial culture and ecosystem to continue fostering innovation and new businesses.

1. Entrepreneur
Rhymes
with Manure
Mark Shafer
National Economic Gardening Gathering
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
June 13, 2008
Burt Chojnowski
© BrainBelt 2008
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2. EG 10.0 - Creating the
Entrepreneurial Culture
• EG 1.0 - Local Living Economy
• EG 2.0 - Entrepreneurial Innovation Network
• EG 3.0 - Competitive and Market Intelligence
• EG 4.0 - Moving 2nd Stages Companies from “Good to Great”
• EG 5.0 - Creating a Stronger Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Access to
Financing
• EG 6.0 - Use of Technology ad Technology Transfer
• EG 7.0 - Improving Talent and Leadership Networks
• EG 8.0 - Establishing Your Community’s Brand
• EG 9.0 - Connecting Philanthropy and Entrepreneurship
• EG 10.0 - Creating the Entrepreneurial Culture
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3. Chicken Soup
for the Small Town Soul
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4. EG 10.0
• Celebrate success
• Historic roots
• Attitudes and conversation about start-ups
• Community Self Esteem and Branding
4

5. The Culture of Entrepreneurship
Attitudes about Risk-Taking Entrepreneur of the Hall of Fame
Attitudes about Failure Compost and Innovation
Attitudes about Success Breed More Entrepreneurs
Fairfield Entrepreneur
Hall of Fame Fairfield First! Award
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6. Monorail
• Litter Carrier & Manure Spreader
William Louden
• Single Track Pulley System
2003 Fairfield Entrepreneur Hall
of Fame Award
• Single-track Monorail
• Nearly every factory in the World Uses One
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7. Legacy
• Introduced Technology to Agriculture
• Transition to Manufacturing
• Louden Machinery Works became the
organic incubator for a new generation of
Entrepreneurs in 1980-2008
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8. 8

9. Best Thing Since Sliced
Bread
• Bread Slicer invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder
• In 1912, Rohwedder came up with the idea of a device that
held the slices together with hat pins (not a success).
• In 1928, he designed a machine that sliced and wrapped the
bread to prevent the sliced bread from going stale.
• Pre-sliced bread was popularized by Wonder Bread in
1930, helping to spread the toaster's popularity further.
Predated - Popup Toaster in 1925, Cellophane in U.S. in 1924
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10. Breadtopia.com
• Online community for bread bakers, recipes
and equipment
• Home-made, no knead, unsliced bread
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11. Carnegie Library
Andrew Carnegie
• Prototype for community library built in
1892
• Replicated in 2600 locations around the
World
• Now an economic gardening “hot spot”
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12. Innovations That Rocked
the World
Fairfield, Iowa
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13. De-regulation of Global
CoolCall.com Telecom
• Almost all telecommunication companies
outside of the U.S. were government-
controlled monopolies
• Rates were arbitrarily set to maximize
profitability
• Call-back and Voice-over-the Net introduced
competition where none existed previously
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14. Chicken Soup for
Fairfield’s Soul
• Marci Shimoff - Co-Authors Woman’s and Mother’s Soul
with Jack Canfield and and Mark Victor Hansen
• Franchise Starts and approximately 13 of co-Authors live in
Fairfield. 20% of Chicken Soup sales attributed to Fairfield-
based authors
• Earl Kaplan and Books Are Fun Buy it by the Truckload and
it goes to the Top of the Best Seller List
• Books Are Fun Grows to $400 million in Revenue and is
Acquired by Readers Digest
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15. More Innovations
• Digital Photograpy
• e-Commerce
• Trusted Advisor Financial Services
• Direct Response Marketing
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16. Fairfield Entrepreneurs
• Walter Day -Twin Galaxies
• Geoff Boothby and Cullen Thomas -Wormtooth Nation
• Diana Makeig and Nancy Green - Pet Botanica
• Bill Witherspoon - The Sky Factory
• Ron Bovard - Bovard Studio
hawthorne
direct
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17. Innovations in Education
• Parsons College in 1960’s
• Open Enrollment
• Tutoring for everyone
• Maharishi University of Management
• Distance Learning
• Consciousness-based Education
• 1st - Sustainable Living Program
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18. Future for Fairfield?
• Green Collar Jobs
• Digital Media
• Silicorn Valley Follywood
• Artisan Foods
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19. Entrepreneurial
Innovation Centers
• Digital Media
• Artisan Food
• Clean Technologies
Capitalize on Brain-Belt - Web 3.0 Companies
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20. Successful Open-Source
Entrepreneurial Development
San Diego - Connect - $550 million in 200 Companies
Fairfield, Iowa - $260 million in 60 Companies - 4,000 new jobs
What Did San Diego Have That Fairfield Didn’t Have?
• 138x Population
• Largest Concentration of R&D Spending in the World
• Access to Markets - Financial, Human Capital, Consumers,
Businesses
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21. How Do Entrepreneurs Learn
Their Craft?
On the Job Training
From Other Entrepreneurs
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22. Peer Support Learning Network
Entrepreneurs Association
• Mentoring and Networking Programs
• Workshops and Seminars
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23. Peer Support Learning Network
Entrepreneurs Association
• Mentoring and Networking Programs
• Workshops and Seminars
Resources for Starting Up
Resources for Growing UP
Resources for Cashing Out
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24. Types of Entrepreneurs
• Small Businesses
• Micro-enterprises
• Sole Proprietors
• Home-Based Businesses
• Art-Preneurs
• Civic and Social Entrepreneurs
• Food-Preneurs
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25. Idea Bounce
• Idea Bounces are held 3-4 times per year
• Involves a Fast Pitch - 5-10 minutes
• Mentoring and Networking
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26. 2008
BOOT CAMP
Artisan Food & Digital Media
Web 3.0
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27. Acce$$ to Capital
• $2 million Downtown Revitalization Fund
• Regional Micro-enterprise Loans
• Angel Investors Roundtable
• CDFI/CDVC
• Micro-enterprise Loans
• Training Funds and Tax Credits
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28. Fairfield has more restaurants than
San Francisco
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29. Any Questions?
Burt@BrainBelt.com
641.919.2163
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30. Named 1 of 12 Best Places
You’ve Never Heard Of
Mother Earth News 2006
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31. Fairfield Metrics
- Population: 9,400
- Moved from No. 50 Iowa County to No. 18 in
per capita Income
- No. 1 County in Iowa in per capita Giving
- More Restaurants, per capita, than San Francisco
- Number of HQ Companies – 60
- 32.9% College Grads - Ranked No. 3 County in
Iowa
Suzan Bates Keesel
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32. Fairfield Metrics
• Retail Sales up 10% in 2006 vs. 2005
• Unemployment - 4.3%
• 2,000 Commuters to Fairfield
• 3x Per-Capita Giving of Other Counties
Suzan Bates Keesel
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33. Growth of Non-Profits
• 153 Non-Profits with $263 million in Assets
• 14 Foundations
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