Falling into Economic Development

Rick McCaskill, Bainbridge Decatur County Development Authority Director, was the first to call and congratulate me on my economic development position with Early County. He was one of two people that I can specifically recall telling me I was “well-suited” for economic development.

At the time, I had no earthly idea what “economic development” meant. Anytime I heard the word “economic,” I would have flashbacks to senior year when I barely squeaked by with a “C” in college microeconomics.

While employed on the college campus in Bainbridge for over eight years, I learned a lot through various positions with three different institutions. My alma mater, Bainbridge College, taught me why public relations and effective marketing are so vital to any organization; and ironically enough, how they are the first cuts from any budget. Needless to say, I quickly learned how to be thrifty.

During the two years I worked with ABAC, I began managing the Charles H. Kirbo Regional Center. It was there I learned the most because I worked with many different types of people and helped organize their events. Weddings, reunions, plays, birthday parties, baby showers, funerals, beauty pageants, dance recitals, concerts, movie showings, banquets, corporate meetings, training sessions, proms, quinceañeras, graduations, job fairs and just about any other event you can imagine.

Ultimately, I ended up in the Office of Economic Development with Southern Regional Technical College because there was nowhere else to put me. When ABAC and SRTC acquired the employees of the former Bainbridge College many positions were already filled – leaving others misplaced or in search of a new job. There was not another public relations or marketing position available at either institution, so I fell into economic development and I still had no idea what it meant.

Over the next 4 years, I continued to manage the Kirbo Center and coordinate training opportunities for regional businesses and industries. I was invited on industry site visits with Rick McCaskill, so I could share training information provided by the technical college. It was through those visits I got to understand the workforce development needs of the regional industries. There is always a big need for welders, employees who will show up to work and those that can read a tape measure and pass a drug test. Honestly, some industries claimed not to care so much about people passing a drug test as long as they’d show up to the jobsite willing to learn.

I’m glad I had all of those experiences and more during my time in Bainbridge, but somewhere in the latter years I began feeling like my purpose there had been served. It was early October 2022. I distinctly remember asking God for a sign and I swear to you, two days later I received a call from the Early County Administrator. Early County was looking for an economic developer and found me through a mutual connection. I didn’t know her and she didn’t know me – but I knew Early County. Before the end of the conversation, I knew what I was going to do. I had fallen into economic development once again – but this time I could define it a little better.

Building and maintaining relationships with people are at the root of it. It’s just like The Office’s Michael Scott said, “We are in the people business.”

Since hanging up the phone in early October 2022, there hasn’t been a morning that I don’t wake up and ask myself: “What is at least one thing I’m going to do today that makes the quality of life in Early County better than it was yesterday?” If you aren’t already asking yourself this daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly, I hope you start asking it more often because there’s a “whole heap” of purpose behind every answer.

Shared with permission from The Early County News.