BELFAST — “You put your nose to the grindstone and you keep it there," that's what David Flanagan told me as we sat in his office overlooking Viking Lumber Yard in Belfast.

With that sentence, David summed up what it means to be a business owner in Maine.

That hard work, willingness to take risks no one else will, and success despite any odds is something I've see again and again for weeks on my Waldo County Works business tour.

Good morning, I'm House Majority Leader Erin Herbig.

I come from five generations of Waldo County poultry farmers. Thirty years ago, Belfast was devastated when our heritage industries collapsed out from under us.

I watched as my friends and family members left for better opportunities out of state.

That story is not unique. It's happening all across rural Maine.

But it shouldn't be that way. And, it certainly doesn't have to be.

I ran for office to keep more young people here, raising their families, working at good-paying jobs and growing Waldo County's economy from the ground up.

As House Majority Leader, I fought for bills to support towns that have experienced the loss of a major industry or employer, invest in apprenticeship and training programs to improve our workforce and to reward family-friendly businesses.

Those efforts were important, but this year I knew I needed to speak directly to the business owners of Waldo County about the specific challenges we face and how we can work together to find solutions.

They know better than anyone what works, what doesn't and what more I can do to help them grow and fill more of the good-paying jobs they're creating across our community.

Over the last month, I've visited dozens of businesses, from brewers to solar producers to logging manufacturers.

I've met with businesses that have been around over a 150 years to just less than 3 months.

Some of the businesses I visited had only two or three employees, others had over 150.

Despite coming from diverse industries and having different stories, every single one faced similar challenges and opportunities in starting out and succeeding in rural Maine.

The first and most important thing they said and showed me at each of their businesses was something I already knew.

Businesses are succeeding in Waldo County. They are creating good-paying jobs and good opportunities to build a career here.

Despite some doomsday media and negative politicians, there are good things happening in rural Maine that we should all be proud of.

And, I promised to make sure that more people know that.

We also talked about the challenges they face and identified ways we can solve them together.

For one thing, community colleges and technical schools can work with businesses to expand the career goals of their students, train Maine's new workforce, and offer an alternative to expensive out-of-state schools that take our best and brightest away.

I also heard how that the opiate epidemic, in addition to devastating Maine's families, is creating insurmountable healthcare costs for small businesses trying to connect their employees to treatment.

We must do a better job of expanding access to affordable healthcare.

And, Maine businesses continue to struggle with high energy costs.

It's common sense to support our growing renewable energy industry, which creates good-paying jobs and benefits all Maine consumers, including businesses.

And guess what? Young people will move to rural Maine to fill these innovative jobs.

Despite these challenges, I saw innovation and adaptation everywhere I looked.

It's important we work together to build on those successes to craft Waldo County-specific solutions to our shared challenges so we can grow our economy for generations to come.

It's the single most important thing we can do for rural Maine right now.

And, I'll be working every single day to pass legislation that does just that.

Waldo County is not southern Maine, but we don't have to be to succeed.

When I looked at Wayne Hamilton at the end of our tour of Hamilton Marine and shared just how proud I was of Waldo County, he looked at me and said "You know what Erin, I am too."

Thank you to the business owners, employees and families who have their noses to the grindstone. You are growing our economy and strengthening our future here every day and we're so lucky to have you.