Guest post submitted by Ratonymous

In many endeavors in life, one must sometimes lower their sights from the end goal and focus on the fundamentals. For sports, that means catching the ball; for sales it means number of calls; for retail it means boots in the door. Leading a city to prosperity has its own fundamentals.

If one drives through a decrepit town, it is difficult not to think, “Who would want to live or invest here?” Trash, run-down buildings, weeded lots – these will sour even the most avid enthusiast. In comparison with many small towns, Raton actually looks very nice. There is room for improvement, and the importance of the folks who plant flowers in the medians should not be overlooked. They are providing a fundamental service, one which might have more impact than all the civic development meetings combined.

Another interesting exercise which has always found favor in scientific circles is to examine the basic principles underlying an overall assumption. When these principles are studied in detail, apart from the whole, very interesting revelations can be found. These revelations MUST be addressed and understood before the end goal can be reached.

The following are some examples of a few fundamentals which must be mastered before success can be achieved in improving a city's outlook:

Can you find 20 people who will meet for 1-1/2 hours each week? Not monthly, but weekly. People who are willing to reschedule OTHER things to make the meetings a priority?

Can you find 100 people, not necessarily the same 100 each time, who will consistently meet downtown to plant flowers, pick up litter, or just meet and greet and cuss and discuss?

Can you raise $10,000; $20,000, $30,000? For $10,000 that's 1000 people donating $10 or 100 people donating $10 per month for ten months. In the entire area, can you find 100 people that would donate $10 per month for a year?

Would you have any chance of obtaining $10,000; $20,000, $30,000 from any of the governmental resources?

If you had $10,000; $20,000, $30,000; do you know immediately what you would do with it? Would you invest $1000 of your own money in any venture in Raton?

If an investor asked you what they should do with $50,000 in Raton, would you have an answer?

Have you ever talked to a venture capitalist? An angel investor? Do you have any phone numbers?

Have you ever talked to the Small Business Administration to learn the ins and outs of obtaining a loan through that organization?

If a low tech business showed interest in Raton, could you connect them with 20 suitable employees? What about a medium tech business? A high tech business?

Do you seek to create groups with people who tend to agree with you and make you feel good about yourself? When is the last time you recruited someone new?

Do you really know who the smart, progressive people are or do you keep trying to remake the same old posse into something they are never going to be? Are you willing to seek the new blood out?

Do you read books to help you improve your writing, speaking, debating, and people skills?

Can you create a list of people who have already mastered the concepts listed above?

The “you” referred to above is anyone who wishes to lead or contribute in any significant way. Not everyone can do all of these things, but at least one person must do each one!

After all the time, meetings, groups, and committees, how many of the fundamentals have you mastered? If you can't find 20 committed people; 100 interested people; $10,000 in funding; can't think of a venture you'd be willing to put $1000 into; are ignorant of potential investors; and find yourself repeating the same rituals over and over, then you need to focus on the fundamentals.

Look at each concept and work to master it or align yourself with someone who can. If each stone of the foundation is solid, the final goal will find you.