Jody Breuer: Galesburg lost its voice long before Maytag left
The death of a salesman and the birth of Etsy. Those are two tangible reasons the Galesburg economy shrunk. I believe long before the bowling alley closed or Maytag left, Galesburg lost its voice. We lost the salesperson in all of us. People stopped selling Galesburg. It’s the salespeople who champion a business. They pitch and they swagger and they produce the solutions to problems people don’t even know they have! But it’s been two decades with nobody selling Galesburg. If we’re not selling it, my friend, no one is buying it.
Did you know we have a masterplan for this city? In 2019 there was extensive research and development that delivered a 71-page plan including a community center, a massive sports complex, minigolf and connecting trails throughout our city. (Google it - master plan Galesburg, IL.) Who’s going to make it happen? It won’t happen without a salesperson. Galesburg is in an age without a champion.
The last 20 years have lacked a tangible face and a collective vision. Galesburg needs a salesperson. Sales is simply influence. People want to be influenced! We want expert opinions. We want the best deal. We want a quality product and we want it on time. This masterplan implementation is late because it hasn’t started yet. If we don’t engage with it, we won’t have to wonder why there are no jobs here. It will be our own fault that we didn’t make a softball complex to stay engaged with the young families that pave economies every weekend. There will be no need to wonder why the kids don’t come back after college.
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Speaking of families, we’ve also got the Etsy problem. I love Etsy, don’t get me wrong. Etsy.com is the leading online sales platform for everything crafty. It’s the mecca of the side hustle. However, one problem in the Galesburg economy is that no one taught the small businesses how to scale. We live in an Etsy world and we’re content to stay here. A world where a guy and his sewing machine and a girl with a 3D printer can make a darn good living for themselves. But they can’t make a living for all of us.
Small businesses actually do pretty well in Galesburg. Nationally, only 25% of small businesses last 15 years. Galesburg is not too shabby when it comes to supporting mom ‘n pop retail and restaurants. However, a very real problem is most small businesses have not grown into big businesses. They stay small.
Only businesses that continue to grow bring new talent to the area. It’s not enough for a small business to support three full-time employees and five part-time employees. That will never build a town. We have to be intentional about offering support for small businesses to successfully become large businesses that can pay for C-suite level careers, middle management and plenty of support personnel if Galesburg is ever to see its economy grow.
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In a very personal example, my partner and I are two professionals in vastly different industries, both innovative and forward thinkers in our own right. Yet, Galesburg, doesn’t have jobs for both of us. We’re being wooed by headhunters from other communities, other states even! Other towns put their master plans to work years ago and are trying to get successful young families like mine to move to their town. Galesburg can compete, but we have to get started. Find your voice. Bet on yourself. Build your business.
Jody Breuer has been communicating and collaborating in the Galesburg area since 2007. A native of Abingdon, she is a small business development specialist at Momentum Consulting + Creative.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Galesburg IL, Maytag, bowling alley, Jody Breuer, finding its voice
