The COVID-19 quarantine has crushed so many small businesses and the economy at large. It’s truly been the worst financial crisis unfurling in this country since the 1930s. And while some measures are in place to help this not reach that level of despair, many people are finding themselves out of a job.

But is there a silver lining? Heck yes!

“Work From Home” Will Invite More People to Experience Small Town Life

The whole “work from home” part of quarantine has shown a lot of employers and employees a path to choosing where they want to live. In a system that no longer requires “butt in chair” management, why would someone choose some of the big cities out there? Would you rather look out on some fields or forests, or listen to cars honking all night long?

But when some of these folks come to a small town setting, they’ll get exposed (maybe for the first time) to the power of a small town localized community. Maybe they won’t be able to visit the opera every weekend and maybe the little grocery store doesn’t have a big selection of quinoa (how many quinoa choices do we need?), but the sense that everyone is working together and everyone knows each other is a very alluring opportunity.

This Will Drive More Small Business Opportunities

The easy example is that delivery businesses thrive when city types show up at a small town. People are used to convenience living, and if those services don’t quite exist in the small town setting, you can step in and fill a gap.

Another way to serve this relocation migration that may come 3/4 of the way into 2020 or maybe at the start of 2021 is to find and adapt coworking spaces, even if they’re more “six feet apart” than they would have been a few months ago. These spaces will need great wifi, space to spread out and work, and a little kitchen space. Not a lot of investment really.

Small Town Sourcing

The other BIG opportunity is that right now several call centers are being pulled back from other countries and re-sourced to small US towns. So are software development jobs (you can learn several languages for free online and those jobs pay around 80K to start). Someone has to house these people. Someone has to prepare all the wiring and materials. Someone has to feed and do other services for them.

Big cities were the way to go for a while. Then suburbs (ugh). Small towns were “unsexy” for some time.* But it’s the right time to show off the power of the small town brand and how you can help grow the world not that far from your front porch.

*Editor’s note: We disagree, but who’s counting?

It’s cool to be rural, don’t be part of the brain drain. That’s the message to students at a career day event in Texas. Photo shared by Jimi Coplen, Haskell, Texas

Guest post by Jimi Coplen 

Executive Director, Development Corporation of Haskell, Texas

In rural America, we know the “Brain Drain” is a real issue. We do a great job educating our kids, teaching them good work ethic, and turning them into amazing adults. Then, they leave for college, never to be seen again. Employers are left scrambling to find available workforce, communities have to depend on the same five people to do everything, and it makes it tough on small communities to thrive. But, what are we doing to tell our kids we want them back?

Our local Workforce Solutions organization hosted a WOW (World of Work) event for high school students. This event showcases a variety of careers that can be done throughout the region. It puts real-world business people and occupations in front of high school students. They can ask questions about the various careers, participate in some simulated activities, talk to experts, etc. It’s a great event.

This year, five community economic developers from small towns joined together to host a booth. But, rather than telling students what economic developers do, our booth shed some light on the “Brain Drain”! (Of course students were not familiar with this term, nor did they know they were part of the brain drain.)

We sent the message loud and clear to 3000 students that after college, trade school or whatever they decided to do, we want their brain back in rural Texas someday! We let them know their community is counting on them! We also gave them a list of jobs currently being done in our small communities with estimated salaries. Despite what they may think or are told, there really are good jobs in rural communities.

The highlight of our booth was a large brain built by one of our colleagues. We had students “pick our brain”. They reluctantly stuck their hand through a hole, and on the other side were small, brain-shaped-stressballs that read, “Working Rural is Cool!” We also had a selfie station with a variety of selfie frames promoting, “See You in Rural Texas!”

We took this opportunity to plant a seed and to make sure someone was sending the message to these students that they are the future of their community. It’s okay to go out and see the world, get an education, but someday, we want them back!

The communities represented in the “Brain Drain” booth were Tye, Haskell, Seymour, Gorman, and Snyder, Texas, along with our regional organization the Texas Midwest Community Network.

See more photos from the booth here.

Special thanks to Jimi Coplen of Haskell, Texas, for sharing this story! 

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