'The future of the Moses Lakes of the world is very bright'

'Boomtown' author addresses city leaders, community

Moses Lake is no one-trick pony.

That was one of the strengths of the town that Jack Schultz, author of "Boomtown USA: The 7 1/2 Keys to Big Success in Small Towns," shared during a luncheon hosted by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce and the Grant County Economic Development Council Tuesday afternoon at the Best Western Hallmark Inn.

Schultz told the audience of 120 people during a question-and-answer period after his presentation that he was very impressed with the number and diversity of manufacturers in town, adding that the number of manufacturers from overseas and the diversity within the community are also pluses.

"I was very impressed with the airport; I think that's a diamond in the rough that you're going to reap some huge benefits from having that airfield out there," Schultz said. "Your aquatic center was very impressive, your lake — it's a natural lake, but it's very attractive, it's very nice, it looks very good."

Schultz said he was given a tour by GCEDC executive director Terry Brewer, and also drove around the city by himself Monday afternoon.

"I think the most important thing is that you're well diversified, that you're not a one-trick pony," he said. "You've got the ag, you've got the industry, you've got the tourism, you've got a whole basket of things that don't make you just a one-dimensional type of town. I think that's what people are going to look for, and I think you're going to see people from Seattle and larger cities look to communities like this to move for."

Schultz said he has given his talk about the success that can come to small towns in larger cities, and was shocked by the number of people in places like Philadelphia, Boston and Cincinnati who would like to live in a small town like Moses Lake if they could figure out how to make an income.

In what Schultz called the third wave of migration, technology will allow people to be able to commute greater distances to work.

"No longer will you have to live right next to the Seattle airport, or right next to the business that you're working in," he said. "Work's going to follow you. That's why I think the future of the Moses Lakes of the world is very bright."

Schultz said that the town's biggest weakness is that he didn't see a large number of entrepreneurs, and he thought that the town needed to figure out how to nurture new and young entrepreneurs, recommending a program to recognize them to help them develop.

"I've found that those entrepreneurs start out small and they grow," he said. "There's going to be a lot of them that fail, but there's a lot of them that grow and develop things and help to create opportunities, and they are often the ones that are willing to take the risks and move things to a higher level."

Schultz was asked to present by GCEDC executive director Terry Brewer, after he named Moses Lake one of the top 100 agurbs in "Boomtown," a term he has trademarked that "is a growing community outside of a metropolitan statistical area, with some type of tie to agriculture that exhibits qualities as being a great community of the 21st Century," he previously told the Columbia Basin Herald.

During his presentation, Schultz shared the seven and a half keys to success in small towns that comprise his book: Adopt a can-do attitude, shape your vision, leverage your resources, raise up strong leaders, encourage an entrepreneurial approach, maintain local control, build your brand and embrace the teeter-totter factor.

Throughout the presentation, Schultz cited examples of small towns like Moses Lake that found success, such as Leavenworth, Wash., which adopted a Bavarian theme in order to draw in tourism, and Branson, Mo., which became the live music capital of the world and now has more theater seats than there are on Broadway.

"I think it's interesting that the city of Moses Lake is honored with being noted in such a book, and wanted to find out a little bit more about it," said city manager Joseph Gavinski, who attended yesterday's luncheon. "I thought his presentation was very good. It's the same presentation on the same subject that you hear over and over and over again. It's good to get that reinforcement; it was a very good presentation."

Muralist Patricia Jensen said she attended the presentation to hear Schultz's input on the help her mural program would have on the community. She said that the author gave her his personal e-mail to help the project more on its way.

"I loved it," she said of the presentation. "It gave me some really good information … How these towns abide and how they've come back, and that's really what I want for our community, is to come back."

City councilman Jon Lane said he wished more people could have heard Schultz's message.

"It was very good, and he talked about other communities that are similar to Moses Lake in a lot of ways," Lane said. "He has quite a vision, and really solid research about some of the advantages Moses Lake has in competing for different business, and that's what we need — those small businesses to locate here, and small manufacturing and so forth."