Just what is an "agurb," anyway and what makes them more successful than other towns? Jack Schultz, author of the book "Boomtown USA" and the person who coined the word, was in Van Wert Monday night to explain the concept.

Schultz, who is chief executive officer of Agracel Inc., an industrial development firm specializing in the agurb market since 1986, said the idea first developed into a thesis, and is now a passion for him (click here for Schultz's web site).

According to Schultz, agurbs are relatively small rural communities away from major metropolitan areas that, he feels, are the key to the next major population migration. "First we saw people leave the farms and go to the cities, next we saw people leave the cities and move to the suburbs, now we see them heading for the agurbs," he said.

Schultz, who has a bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University and a MBA from Harvard, highlighted four reasons for the migration:

1. Air travel -- Air travel in general -- and the recent development of small, relatively low-cost commuter jets allow air taxi services to develop for commuting from small communities to large cities in particular -- is changing where people can live and how they work.

2. Development of telephone and Internet service -- which has allowed many people to work at home;

3. Deregulation -- which has lowered the cost of air travel and other needed services related to where a person works.

4. Quality of life/cost of living -- Smaller towns have a higher quality of life than bigger cities and a lower cost of living, which means someone earning $100,000 in Silicon Valley can live a similar lifestyle in a rural city on $45,000 a year.

While studying small towns and cities, Schultz also wondered why some were successful while others stagnated. "I was intrigued by how different towns go down different paths," Schultz told a small audience of interested listeners Monday in the Marsh Foundation auditorium. "Some of those paths are successful, some not so successful." Schultz and his staff looked at 15,800 small towns located outside MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) and, using criteria they developed, started looking at successful communities, narrowing the list from 1,200 to 800 to 397 towns, and then came up with a list of the top 100 agurbs in the country. Those towns had more population and job growth than metropolitan areas and were significantly more successful in increasing tax revenues. Schultz talked about some of those successful communities, from which he developed his "7½ Keys to Big Success in Small Towns." Those include:

Adopt a "can do" attitude.

Develop a vision.

Leverage resources .

Raise up strong leaders.

Encourage the entrepreneurial approach.

Maintain local control (support locally-owned banks, media, etc.)

Build your brand (make your town stand out from others).

The ½ Key -- Embrace the "teeter-totter factor." Schultz described this as realizing that moving upward usually entails a series of ups and downs. Schultz also noted that a small community must also deal with the "curmudgeons" or those he called the CAVE people: Citizens Against Virtually Everything. "Every agurb has its share of curmudgeons, but you can't let them control the community,"

Schultz noted after the presentation. He talked about the person he called the "Greatest Curmudgeon of All" -- a man by the name of P.K Holmes. Holmes decided not to renew a lease on one of his properties for a young entrepreneur who had started a business in Holmes' small Arkansas town -- mainly because he wanted his son to run the business. The move forced the entrepreneur to relocate to another community. That other town, Bentonville, Ark., provided support to the young entrepreneur, Sam Walton, and reaped the benefits when Walton developed his multibillion Wal-Mart empire. Schultz also noted that, while NAFTA and the current trend of "outsourcing" jobs to other countries has resulted in the loss of manufacturing jobs for Americans, he said communities need to "reinvent themselves" and find new businesses -- and existing ones that don't lend themselves to outsourcing -- to provide new jobs. When asked whether he thought the coming of Wal-Mart to small communities has hurt them, Schultz replied that, while Wal-Mart has caused some "gut-wrenching" transitions for local communities, he feels the process is necessary to continue the success of small communities.