Rural entrepreneur tips from Dave Shideler

Dave Shideler is a fellow rural entrepreneurship-aholic from the Oklahoma State University Agricultural Economics Extension service. After he spoke at the recent Oklahoma Governor’s Conference on Small Business, I sat him down for a couple of quick interviews.

Rural small business tips
Dave shares some things any small business could do to improve their chances of success: write your business idea down on paper, do your homework with market research, and make yourself known. He also stressed that you are not alone. Every rural small business has access to some excellent resources, including their public library.

Resources for anyone: 

• USDA Rural Development
• Small Business Administration
• Entre-Oasis
• Startup America Partnership
• SizeUp (market research)

• Rural Enterprises, Inc. (REI)
• Oklahoma Small Business Development Centers
• Oklahoma CareerTech Business and Entrepreneur Coordinators (PDF listing)
• Oklahoma Department of Commerce Start a Business page

Rural economic development and entrepreneurship

I also asked Dave about how rural economic development and entrepreneurship work together. He thinks economic development is kind of coming full circle, back to small business. He also talks about the importance of succession planning to rural economic development.

I’m a big fan of Dave’s work on rural small business, and was glad we finally got the chance to meet in person. See more at Dave Shideler’s Rural Development Page at OSU

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband own a retail liquor store in Alva, Oklahoma, and a small cattle ranch nearby. Becky is an international speaker on small business.

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