Who Benefits When Money Is Spent in Jackson but Ownership Exists Somewhere Else?

There is money in Jackson.

A lot of it.

Businesses inside the city generated about $3.8 billion in retail sales in 2022. Jackson's accommodation and food-service businesses generated close to $440 million. Healthcare and social-assistance organizations brought in more than $4.4 billion.

So I get frustrated when I hear people talk about Jackson as though nobody has money, nobody spends money here, or there simply is not enough economic activity to support good businesses.

That isn't the whole story.

Money moves through Jackson every single day.

The question I have is much more uncomfortable:

Who is building wealth from all that money?

Because spending money in Jackson does not guarantee that the wealth created by that spending stays in Jackson.

And that distinction matters more than we talk about.

A Business Can Be in Jackson Without Jackson Owning Much of Anything

Think about how this works.

A company opens a Jackson location. People who live here get jobs there. Families shop there. The company pays taxes. Maybe it hires a few local vendors.

Fine.

Then the profits move back to wherever the company is headquartered.

The building may belong to an investor who does not live here. The company itself may be owned somewhere else. Its largest vendors may be somewhere else. The people building equity in the business may have no connection to Jackson at all.

Meanwhile, Jackson gets the transaction.

Someone else gets the asset.

That is a problem if our entire economic-development strategy becomes centered on how many businesses we can convince to locate here while giving considerably less attention to who gets to own something.

Jobs matter. I am not dismissing them.

But a paycheck and an ownership stake do different things for a family.

One helps you pay this month's bills.

The other may become something you can sell, borrow against, grow, or leave to your children.

Jackson needs more people doing both.

Why Aren't We Asking How Big Jackson Businesses Become?

Jackson says it wants businesses.

I believe that.

What I question is whether our systems behave like we want people to actually build them here.

The City of Jackson says its business-development work includes supporting existing businesses, helping entrepreneurs, creating jobs, and building small-business capacity.

Then I want to know the numbers.

• How many Jackson businesses added employees last year?
• Which local businesses went from operating out of the owner's home to opening their first commercial location?
• How many made it to $500,000 in annual revenue?
• Which ones crossed $1 million?
• How many local contractors became qualified for larger public and private contracts?
• Which Jackson companies opened a second location?

And here is the question people probably do not want to answer:

How many left?

We celebrate ribbon cuttings. I understand why. They photograph well.

I am more interested in what happens three years later.

• Is that business still open?
• Did it grow?
• Did the owner purchase property?
• Did it hire Jackson residents?
• Did it create other businesses around it?
• Did the owner decide Jackson was worth staying in?

Those answers tell us much more about our business climate than a pair of oversized scissors ever will.

I Almost Registered My Own Business Somewhere Else

This issue is personal for me.

When I first launched my business, I secured a virtual office in Jackson.

I was getting everything together, trying to do things correctly, and working through the process of getting my business license.

Then I ran into the fire inspection requirement.

The physical office location had already been inspected.

My office was virtual.

Still, because my company had its own business license, I was required to have another fire inspection. I also had to pay for it.

For a virtual office.

Inside a building that had already passed a fire inspection.

I remember thinking, Why does this have to be this hard?

That may sound like a small inconvenience if you have never started a business.

It does not feel small when you are the person starting one.

In the beginning, you are watching every dollar. You are figuring out banking, licensing, insurance, clients, taxes, software, paperwork, marketing and a hundred other things nobody posts about when they announce their new business on Facebook.

Then another fee shows up.

Another requirement.

Another process that does not quite make sense.

And yes, I considered registering outside Jackson.

I could have.

My heart for Jackson is the reason I did not.

But a city cannot build its economic strategy around hoping every entrepreneur loves Jackson enough to tolerate unnecessary friction.

Somebody else will make a different decision.

Then we will wonder why businesses keep moving toward Ridgeland, Flowood, Madison, Pearl, or other surrounding communities.

Business Owners Are Doing the Math

We have to talk about taxes too.

Nobody running a business ignores them.

Mississippi already imposes sales taxes, and Jackson has additional local taxes in certain categories, including its 1% Special Infrastructure Tax. Certain restaurant, hotel and motel transactions are subject to additional local tourism-related taxes as well.

Taxes pay for things a city needs. Roads do not repair themselves. Fire departments cost money. Police services cost money. Infrastructure costs money.

But here is where Jackson gets into a difficult conversation.

A business owner is going to look at what they are paying and what they are getting.

• They are going to notice the condition of the road leading to their business.
• They are going to notice whether customers feel comfortable coming to that part of town.
• They are going to remember what happened when they needed something from the city.
• They will notice how long permitting takes.
• They will calculate insurance costs.
• They will think about utilities.
• They will think about parking.
• They will think about whether their employees want to work at that location.

Then they are going to pull up a map.

Ridgeland is right there.

Flowood is right there.

Pearl is right there.

Madison is right there.

That is the competition.

A business does not have to move to Nashville to leave Jackson. Sometimes it only has to move ten minutes down the road.

We should care about that.

Now Jackson Residents Need to Get Uncomfortable Too

I can criticize the system all day.

But City Hall is not swiping our debit cards for us.

We make choices too.

• How many of us automatically head to Ridgeland or Flowood for dinner without checking what is available in Jackson?
• How often do we say, "There's nothing in Jackson," when what we really mean is, "I haven't looked"?

There are great restaurants here. There are retailers, contractors, attorneys, healthcare providers, accountants, beauty professionals, creatives, consultants, designers, food businesses and service companies doing good work right here in Jackson.

Some of them are struggling for visibility while the people who live five miles away are driving fifteen miles to buy the same thing.

That makes no sense.

And I have done it too.

This is not me standing outside the problem pointing at everybody else.

We have all been conditioned to believe that better automatically means somewhere outside Jackson.

• Better shopping? Go north.
• Nice dinner? Leave Jackson.
• Professional service? Search everywhere before checking the city.

Then we look around at empty storefronts and ask why Jackson businesses cannot survive.

We need to be willing to connect those dots.

Buying Local Is Bigger Than Being Nice

I do not like the way people sometimes talk about supporting local businesses as though we are giving entrepreneurs donations.

If a Jackson business provides a quality product or service and you pay them for it, that is a business transaction.

Nobody did anybody a favor.

What makes that transaction important is what may happen after you leave.

• That business owner might pay a Jackson employee on Friday.
• She may hire a local accountant.
• He may finally have enough revenue to sign a commercial lease.
• The company could bring on an intern from a Jackson high school.
• Maybe the owner purchases the building instead of renting forever.

A child walks in and sees a Black woman who owns the place.

That matters.

The child may not know anything about commercial real estate, payroll, profit margins, vendor contracts or equity yet.

But now ownership has a face.

Now it feels possible.

That is one of the reasons I believe business development and youth development are connected.

Our children are watching what we build.

What Exactly Are Jackson's Children Supposed to Believe?

Jackson had 173,514 residents in 2010.

The Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 141,196 in 2025.

That is an 18.6% decline in fifteen years.

Nearly 28% of Jackson residents live below the poverty line, and almost one-fourth of the city's residents are under 18.

I cannot look at those numbers as somebody else's problem.

There are children inside those percentages.

And this is the question behind The NEXT Chapter:

What story are Jackson's children inheriting now, and what has to change for the next chapter to be different?

Think about what children see.

• They hear adults complain about Jackson.
• They pass empty buildings.
• They hear about another business closing.
• The family drives outside the city to shop.
• They go somewhere else for entertainment.
• Adults tell them which parts of Jackson to avoid.

Then we turn around and tell those same children to be proud of their city.

Proud of what?

We have to give them something they can see themselves building.

Otherwise we should not be shocked when a teenager grows up believing success begins at the city limits.

That lesson gets taught without anyone ever saying the words.

Success is somewhere else.

I do not want our children inheriting that story.

We Have Spent Enough Time Teaching Children How to Consume

I want Jackson children thinking differently about money.

• I want the kid walking past an abandoned commercial building to wonder what it would cost to buy it.
• I want a teenager sitting inside a restaurant to think about why the owner chose that location, how many customers it takes to cover payroll, what the rent costs, and what it would take to open another one.
• I want children learning how businesses hire people, price products, bid for contracts, build credit, use technology, buy property, manage cash flow and create something somebody else is willing to pay for.

That is economic development too.

We keep waiting until people are adults to introduce them to ownership.

Why?

By then we have spent eighteen years teaching them how to be customers.

At NEXT, I want to interrupt that pattern.

Our children should understand that businesses are created by ordinary people who decided to build something.

They should know that ownership is an option.

And they need opportunities to practice it before adulthood.

Jackson Has to Decide What Kind of Business City It Wants to Be

Recruitment will always matter.

Bring companies here.

Bring investment here.

Bring jobs here.

But if our economic-development conversations stop there, Jackson will remain a place where plenty of money gets spent while too little ownership gets created.

I want us paying just as much attention to the woman operating a company from her kitchen table who could become an employer with the right support.

I want the contractor doing $150,000 a year to understand how to build a company capable of doing $1.5 million.

I want restaurants surviving long enough to open another location.

I want teenagers turning small businesses into real companies.

And I want the process of starting a legitimate business in Jackson to make sense.

Entrepreneurs should not have to choose between loving this city and making the smarter business decision.

That should bother us.

Before You Leave Jackson to Spend Money, Ask One Question

Can I get it here?

Start there.

• Look for the Jackson restaurant.
• Search for the Jackson contractor.
• Ask who owns the business.
• Recommend a local service provider who did great work.
• Leave the review.

Businesses need customers more than they need another social-media post telling people to "support small business."

Then ask our elected officials harder questions too.

• How many businesses are we retaining?
• Where are entrepreneurs getting stuck?
• What requirements have become outdated?
• How much are we investing in existing businesses compared with recruiting new ones?
• Which Jackson businesses are actually growing because of our economic-development efforts?

Ask for numbers.

Because money is already being spent in Jackson.

Somebody is building wealth from it.

The question is whether enough of that somebody will ever be us.