Northern and central mountains: resident entrepreneurs often begin as tourists.

• Author: Romig, Suzie
• Position: REGIONAL REPORT

Communities in the northern and central mountains of Colorado rely heavily on tourism dollars, but are trying to reduce that level of dependence by courting a different type of tourist.

Repeat visitors and second homeowners--who already have an emotional or financial investment in the community--are considered more impactful in helping broaden business diversity. Economic planners want to attract avid fly-fishermen, skiers and adventure cyclists to become future business owners who create good-paying, year-round jobs and support economic stability.

Now that the economic impact of Internet-connected, geography-neutral businesses is apparent and better documented in the region, leaders are turning from trying to lure relocating companies to hooking entrepreneurs who already love the area.

"It's important to diversify our economy because we have a real community of people with diverse skills and higher education. We need to give them that environment to thrive," says Lindsey Stapay, director of the Northwest Colorado Small Business Development Center in Dillon. "Without the community, we wouldn't have the tourism."

To convert a visitor into a long-term economic contributor, the local business infrastructure has to meet specific standards, Stapay says. Mountain community challenges include offering competitive and reliable broadband, providing affordable warehouse space amid resort real estate pricing, and offering sufficient co-working spaces to angel investors interested in local businesses.

From the Rockies to the world

Brooklyn-born Andy Gold and his wife lived in Albuquerque and visited the Colorado mountains frequently to ski, spending time each vacation talking with local real estate agents. When the couple eventually moved to Tabernash --a town of 417 in Grand County--advertising agency owner Gold brought along a small project for an aircraft manual.

Expanding from Gold's home basement, Aircraft Technical Book Co. now has eight full-time employees in a converted commercial construction building in Tabernash, selling manuals to aircraft maintenance schools from Europe to Malaysia.

"There are always day-to-day issues that every business deals with," Gold said. "We would have the same day-to-day issues if we were in Denver."

Like other small mountain companies, Aircraft Technical had to be creative to deal with challenges, such as using a local Internet provider for Web connectivity but contracting with a highspeed, off-site server for...