BrainBelt Speaking Tour in Colorado, South Dakota and Wisconsin

FAIRFIELD, Iowa - April 2, 2014 - PRLog -- Burt Chojnowski, Managing Partner of BrainBelt Consulting and President of the Fairfield Entrepreneurs Association recently completed a speaking tour to Colorado, South Dakota and Wisconsin. He was invited to speak at the 13^th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference and was the keynote speaker at 130^th Anniversary Celebration of the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce, the Market Place for Entrepreneurs at Northern State University in South Dakota and the Dunn County Economic Development Association annual meeting in Menomonie, Wisconsin.

Chojnowski gave a presentation on Big Ideas, Small Towns: Young Entrepreneurs and the Future of Rural America in Denver Colorado. The organizers of the event, The Local Government Commission and National Association of Development Organizations, invited Chojnowski to speak based upon his article, Turning Fairfield Iowa into a Rural Renaissance City that was published in International Economic Development Council International Journal. Chojnowski highlighted the achievements of recent Fairfield Entrepreneurs of the Year and Fairfield First Award recipients including Ideal Energy, iPhone Life Magazine and Meghan Dowd of Shaktea Komboucha and Open Space Studio. Several conference participants remarked that it was their favorite presentation at the conference.

Chojnowski gave a keynote speeches on The Entrepreneurs’ Survival Kit to the annual meeting of South Dakota entrepreneurs at Northern State University in Aberdeen South Dakota and How to Attract The Best Workforce and How to Harness Your Entrepreneurial Talents to Create A Rural Renaissance City at the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet.

Aberdeen is in the enviable position of having more jobs than people. They have an unemployment rate of about 3% and were interested in learning about Fairfield Iowa’s place making to attract millennials and young entrepreneurs. They were attracted by Chojnowski’s work with the Fairfield Entrepreneurs Association, Fairfield Cultural Alliance and the Fairfield First Fund, an endowment fund established to support Fairfield’s civic and social entrepreneurs. Chojnowski led an Asset Quilting workshop for 2 dozen community leaders and entrepreneurs resulting in initiatives to create more outdoor live music at Aberdeen’s Storyland Park in the summer, support for art-preneurs in an Art Space project and support services for entrepreneurs in Aberdeen.

Chojnowski thanked Aberdeen for inspiring L. Frank Baum; the author of the Wizard of Oz. Baum was the editor of a newspaper in Aberdeen. Chojnowski stated his son Bryan set the world record for most viewings of the Wizard of Oz movie in a year, 622 when Bryan was 3.

Chojnowski encouraged the members of the Dunn County Wisconsin Economic Development Association How to Create Entrepreneurial Communities at their annual meeting in Menomonie at University of Wisconsin –Stout.  Follow on meetings were planned for Chojnowski to address and  support Dunn County entrepreneurs and create a more robust entrepreneurial ecosystem based upon Chojnowski’s work with Iowa Micro Loan, Iowa Community Capital and the Community Vitality Center that were featured in the best selling book, Local Dollars and Local Sense: How to Shift Your Money from Wall Street to Main Street to Achieve Real Prosperity by Michael H. Shuman.