FOR LOCALS AND LOCAL LEADERS
Why there's never been a better time to start something in a regional town
By Sam Marwood
Every generation of regional Australians has had people with ideas. Most of those ideas never went anywhere, not because the ideas were bad, but because the barriers were real.
Distance. Cost. Access to information, to markets, to expertise.
Those barriers are gone, says No Better Place, a guide for anyone who wants to build something where they live. Here's what each change lets you do from your own town.
Reach customers and experts from anywhere
You can run a business from a town of 500 people that serves customers across the country. You can join a video call with an expert in any city. You can reach the same information, the same tools and the same markets as someone sitting in a CBD office tower.
The internet removed the geographic penalty that held regional communities back for generations. The first customer for your idea can live anywhere, and the person who can tell you whether it stacks up is a call away.
Work up the idea yourself
Ten years ago, if you wanted a business plan, you hired someone to write it. Financial modelling meant an accountant. A marketing strategy meant an agency.
Today, you can work through all of that yourself, at your own pace, for free. The guides at cultivatefarms.com are one example of a much bigger shift. The person in the small town has the same quality of thinking tools as the person in the city.
So the plan, the numbers and the marketing are things you can work on before you spend anything.
Find the people your idea needs
The shift that started during COVID hasn't reversed. People are choosing regional communities for lifestyle, for space, for their children. Remote work made it possible. The quality of regional life made it desirable.
Your town is more attractive to talented, skilled people than it has been in decades. They bring energy, ideas and spending power. Some of them could be the crew your idea needs, or the customers it's waiting for.
Own your energy
Community owned solar, wind and battery projects are viable at scales that weren't possible ten years ago. The technology is proven, and the financing models exist.
A community can own its own energy supply, reduce costs, create local jobs, and earn income from a renewable asset. For a town, that's something it can own together.
Work on country together
Across Australia, First Nations communities and their neighbours are finding new ways to work together on land management, enterprise and cultural tourism.
Bush food enterprises, cultural burning programs and shared management of natural areas are creating economic opportunities rooted in the oldest knowledge system on the planet. In a district, that can start with a single partnership, such as a bush food enterprise.
Attract the money
Impact funds, community funding vehicles, government grants, crowdfunding and cooperative structures are all there for projects at community scale.
What attracts that money is an idea good enough, and a person committed enough. That's why a cheap test comes first: it gives you something to show.
Decide to start
The tools are ready. The timing is right. What's left is whether someone in your community decides to start.
The question isn't "can I do this?" The question is "will I?"
The full guide, No Better Place, is free at cultivatefarms.com/resources.
You can build your own plan at cultivatefarms.com/plan.