I have two friends that happen to be worth millions as small business owners. One lives in Oregon and the other lives in Montana. My Oregon multi-millionaire friend asked me this question recently, “Matthew, are you willing to invest in a place for a lifetime?”
Now I’ve been married for 25 years and including my Army Officer, Corporate Warrior, and entrepreneur career choices, we’ve moved, including my involuntary move to Iraq, thirteen times in our 25 year marriage.
I know, I’m not normal.
So you can imagine my response when my buddy asked me, “Matthew, are you willing to invest in a place for a lifetime?”
“Yes, I’m now ready,” I said to my Oregon buddy. In many ways, my confirming answer to him today at age 45 started at age 40 when we felt Portland should be the place for us to live, work & play for the rest of our days and moved our family from equally beautiful San Diego, California.
Before you question why we moved from San Diego to Portland, I’ll say it again-we’re not normal.
Many of you can probably relate: We co-developed a successful business and then sold it to a large company. We realized we loved starting a business, so we did it again with The Strategic Incubator. For some of us, it’s like our life is reborn every time we get to create and grow our business. Do you know what I mean?
So now let me ask you the question my buddy asked me: “Are you willing to invest in a place for a lifetime?“
What can this question mean to you?
Here is what it means to me & our Portland, Oregon marketing agency:
- Am I living in the place I belong?
- What is my version of success and significance today?
- Are we truly serving people locally in our own backyard? Is our client list reflective of this stewardship?
- Does our chosen city of Portland reflect our marketing agency beliefs & attitudes?
- Do we want to be the #1 Marketing Agency for small business owners in Portland, Oregon or do we want to be # 123,000 Marketing Agency in the United States that is not remembered?
What are the business and lifestyle advantages to you of investing in a place for a lifetime?
I love the idea of putting down roots and serving locally. As the Internet as expanded us, it’s also showing us how deeply we need to be rooted as people in our local, real time, face to face worlds. I love the idea of investing in a place for a life time. Do you ever read Wendell Berry?
@Jennifer, it only took me till 40 to want to put down roots and make a difference locally. Hmmm, something must happen when we turn 40…some milestone or something:)
I’ve not read Wendell Berry. I’m doing Google search now.
I think this idea of serving locally and being truly invested in a community is one we’re going to start seeing much, much more of as our economy continues to evolve. I’m personally very interested in how this plays out from a marketing perspective since consumers (especially in Portland) are becoming more willing to vote with their dollars for businesses that support a sustainable community. I’m of the mindset that companies can also benefit if they plan these community partnerships correctly and strategically. Thanks for a great post!
I’m also in the Portland metro area and am also curious about which, if any, networking groups you find most beneficial? Thanks!
@Megan I agree with your comment about online and local community converging. Truthfully, I’ve not been involved in any networking groups in Portland. Recently I’ve talked with some Portland folks like you & I that are business owners and are engaged in social media about finding a better way to learn and support one another that is better then the traditional networking meetings I’ve attended in other cities.
I bet there are some great networking groups in Portland and if not, maybe we should start one. I just want to interchange “networking” for something else.