We Design Economic Spaces for Everybody.

I'm happy to announce that my new book, GUT SANDWICH, is now live and available on Amazon for both eBook download and as a paperback.

In this book I explore the importance of stories, and how at the end of the day you can research all of the data that you want, but the greatest success comes from going with your gut, especially for entrepreneurs, creators and innovators.

"The commonly understood type of gap analysis is insufficient as it only considers one factor and does not consider the intangible of the entrepreneur’s potential. Many other factors affect a business’s ability to serve all kinds of demand, and some businesses and entrepreneurs can compete and succeed in an oversupplied sector. Gap analysis occurs when a community’s downtown offerings are often different from what people want. But true success lies in creating a place people want to be with what they want. That is the realm of the entrepreneur not the analyst. If downtowns do not have what people
want, downtowns must figure out why people do not want to provide those things in their community."

"Ultimately, successful economic development is an exercise in intestinal fortitude and not always a place to play it safe. Look beyond the trailing data and find your community’s potential. Learn from
successful entrepreneurs and apply their thinking to your economic growth efforts. Don’t rely solely on the data; instead, put the relevant data between a slice of intuition and a slice of instinct and eat a Gut Sandwich."

"So, here are a few examples of how you start finding stories. Once you find one, you start pulling on the threads, and more stories emerge. They start weaving together into a story of entrepreneurship, success, opportunity, and potential. So, as you think about the stories from a new perspective of placemaking Economic Design™ rather than just stories to enjoy around the table, find the right people in places to tell these stories to and get to work."