Leveraging Lakes for Higher Paying Jobs

I was very impressed with NW WI as I drove with Charlie Glazman from the Duluth, MN airport to Cable, WI. The area is loaded with lots of lakes and quaint small towns. Tourists more than double the population of many of the towns during the tourist season. The challenge that I saw of these towns is how to develop alternative, year-around higher paying industries that would balance the lower paying tourist jobs.

The key question for regions like NW WI is: What are you doing to attract several of these wealthy tourists to move here full time and to bring their businesses or entrepreneurial drive and spirit? There are regions that are making this a high priority, one that will pay dividends in the long term.

Charlie and I drove thru downtown Hayward, WI, one of my agurbs®. It has a very neat downtown area, with a sprinkling of a Swiss architecture and loads of small locally owned stores.

Hayward is also the home of Dave Anderson, more commonly known as the Famous Dave of Famous Dave’s Barbeque. I wrote about his start as a restaurateur on May 12th as a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians. Dave still lives in Hayward.