National Company Launches Business in the Middle of Nowhere

BATESBURG, S.C. — Dirt Road Media, a branding and marketing company, will capitalize on technology and a transcendentalist way of life by establishing itself in the proverbial boondocks.

In an environment of business mobility brought to life by the freedoms of technology, a growing number of companies like Dirt Road Media have launched themselves from the land of empty landscapes and traffic-free roads.

“We’ve been chewing on the idea from our work cubes for a couple of years,” said Chasiti Kirkland Jackson, co-founder of Dirt Road Media and the group’s creative writer and copyediting guru. She and a former co-worker founded the business that provides branding, Web design, public relations and marketing services to companies rooted in the outdoors industry and small-town America.

“It’s not a new idea, but it’s a young idea, and the professional, white-collar world is still a random, unlikely opportunity in rural America,” Jackson said. “One day I’d like to know my kids don’t have to choose between a rural lifestyle or professional success.”

A lower cost of living, safer neighborhoods and less traffic make living in the middle of nowhere attractive. Not to mention easy access to woodlands, waters and fresh air. The inconveniences and inaccessibility of rural towns have long been considered prime hindrances working against small-town economies. Thanks to advances like high-speed Internet, Blackberrys and other tech-savvy tools, that’s changed, though.

Fifty percent of rural residents now have access to the Internet, compared to about 40 percent at the beginning of the decade.

Dirt Road Media, whose headquarters surrounds farmland and peach orchards, hopes to capitalize on the predictions of trendsetters and economists like Harry S. Dent, who wrote in his book, “The Roaring 2000s,” that companies would choose rural areas over metropolitan America.

“In the last two decades, the enormous changes in communications technology alone make it possible to return to simple small-town living, yet stay in touch with the urban professional world. We are gong to see at least 20 percent of the population of North America, or approximately 70 million people, migrate to exurban areas, small towns and new-growth cities in the next three decades.”

But don’t expect to find Dirt Road Media on Main Street.

The girls follow the program Best Buy adopted called ROWE, "results-only work environment." The system emphasizes performance, not hours spent in a cube or office. [CNN Money.com]

So where does Dirt Road Media hold their meetings?

“So far, we’ve met at clients’ offices or at a pond house on a peach farm,” said Melissa Hudson, the company’s design and Web expert. “People like it, so we’ll probably stick with it.”