I live in North Devon, the land of beautiful unspoilt beaches, easy-living and close communities. The perfect place to bring up a family and live a healthy lifestyle. The fact that North Devon is fairly remote only the A361 (not dual all the way carriage-way), taking you off the M5 drive to South Devon and the hub of Exeter, makes this area slightly cut off from the rest of Devon and the UK. Not that we are complaining as the landscape and lifestyle are the draws.
But what does this mean for business?
The business landscape in North Devon is made up of approx. 88% micro businesses (less than 10 people) more jobs being in Accommodation & Food, Manufacturing and Wholesale & Retail trade.*
However what I have found in North Devon (and which perhaps makes it unique) are these 3 mindset characteristics: resilience, drive and optimism. North Devon beats the national average of starts-up continuing to trade after 3 years. Why?
Some might say its because there are fewer large organisations and less 'corporate' type jobs, that you have no option but to be small. I like to think that isn't just the case and that people and businesses in North Devon want to make things work, have goals and a drive to succeed in life and business.
Dispositional Optimism: Are optimists who successfully achieve their goals, because they are driven by positive expectancies. Dispositional Optimism sees optimism as a personality trait. It manifests itself in expectancies of reaching a desired goal (Scheier & Carver, 1985).
*Devonomics, Barclays Insights.
