Sun Valley Idaho is considered a “Vacation Hotspot”. But 71% of the economic activity is NOT based on vacationers. As a a result, there’s a call in Sun Valley Idaho to cultivate, identify, and coordinate Telecommuters and “Free Agent” workers. The author of the call says that too often these workers are “off the radar” of the economic development planning that goes on but the represent an important group to connect and cultivate along with recognizing the needs of younger families who have chosen a more rural lifestyle.
What’s your community doing?
What has gone relatively unnoticed is that, since the early 1990’s and the advent of high technology, the national economy and that of this valley, have laid down a new stratum: those who have traded urban life for rural life. This stratum consists of individuals who are professional, mobile, and educated; seek quality of life (low crime, natural beauty, healthy surroundings, good schools, a sense of community); are environmentally-aware, athletic, and family-oriented; and care deeply about balancing work and family life.This stratum further divides in two:
1. Those who are 30-45 years old and have or anticipate a family. They either started a business in the valley (a tail we could wag, Cimarron Lofting), bought one that was already established (Sun Valley Trekking) or moved one here (Icebreaker, Carson International). They are often green or technology-dependent (Maestro Technologies, Living Architecture). They pursue up-to-date business practices: using technology for communications and sales (Great Northwest Insurance); responding quickly to market demands (Heavenly Quiche); valuing employee-ownership (Webb, Engelmann Construction); and working with flat organizations, participative management, and flex-time (Smith Optics). Those with products market to a large extent, if not solely, outside the valley (Marketron, Scott USA, Maven Bagel, Swiss/Masai MBT).
Desires for a decent income and quality of life go hand in hand. If these entrepreneurs cannot make a living here doing what they love, they are able and willing to move elsewhere to maximize both. They are not willing to “scrape by.�
2. Those who are “free agents:� business people who live here but travel to an office outside the valley or telecommute in a major way. There are too many to list here. They are often well-off, perhaps in a second business after selling/
This group tends to be “off-the-radar� and, while they probably feel no business connection to the valley, they love intellectual stimulation and idea-sharing; they are a potentially valuable resource for the 30-45 year old group as staff, board members, consultants, or investors.
It is critical that the valley continue to attract these two business types, from both a values and an economic perspective. Both groups seek the quality of life that drew baby boomers to the area 40 years ago. They also share the entrepreneurial drive that boomers applied in growing the valley to where it is today.
These creative, independent entrepreneurs, however, (the “boomerangers�), are part of a new economy and need up-to-date supports that align with their state-of-the-art business needs. They are the potential inheritors of the valley’s values and economy and they should be supported to this end.
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