The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one Sept 28-30, 2012. Have some good news this week? Put it in the Brag Basket. I’ve kind of taken this as a slow week, but I’m back and ready to hear your good news.
I’m not quite perfect this week, too. Tobacco basket (CC) by Calsidyrose. |
Don’t hold back because of that word, “brag.” When you hold back, you hide your good news and accomplishments that might inspire others. Even though I call this the Brag Basket, it’s not really about bragging. It’s about sharing.
What can you do in the Brag Basket?
- introduce yourself
- share some great news from this week
- congratulate a friend
- laugh about something wonderful that you tried that failed
- applaud for each other
Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others’ stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.
How does it work? You write a comment on this post. We all cheer, and everyone feels great.
This is not an ad. (I delete the ads.) It’s a conversation with friends. So jump in. And remember to cheer for each other.
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The rural small business blog. We talk about small town business, with how-to articles, especially on social media marketing and making your community a better place. We use this “author” for announcements and other things you’ll want to know.
Scott Cooksey says
Following MONTHS of prompting, I finally had my boss say something back to me that sounded an awful lot like what I’ve been pushing for all year. If we see it through, I’ll celebrate it as a small victory.
Becky McCray says
Scott, that is an accomplishment! Congrats!
Todd 'tojosan' Jordan says
Way to go!
Michael Jones says
I’ll give this a try: A group of us from Fremont County Wyoming met this week for the second time to form a business support group for entrepreneurs. A couple of us wanted to see if we could bring some handpicked entrepreneurs together to discuss business challenges we all share and a place where we can learn from each other and share our own experience. Our diverse group included an IT specialist, a Social media founder, A outdoor consumer products company founder, a new product developer, a real estate company founder, a tire company / oil company founder and a founder of a physical therapy business. We are from a County of 37,000 with the two major towns,(Lander and Riverton) 25 miles apart with less than 10,000 people in each town. The common thread of the group is that they are all entrepreneurs (they all started their own businesses or are aggressively expanding and growing) as well as small business owners in a small town environment. The energy was good and it is exciting to see where this will go. It is interesting to me that when we brainstormed about this idea before reaching out to potential members, we did not anticipate that the group would want to stay small and form more of this style of support group. We decided to let the group come to consensus of what they wanted out of the group at our first meeting and here we are. We wrote a vision & mission based on what we heard from the group. We are facilitating the meetings and topics, also chosen by the group to see where this goes. We have a group of people that want to meet again and that is all we can hope for at this point. The excitement for us is that we are building deeper connections with some real business movers and shakers in our small county and are waiting to see what the whole thing looks like. My background is senior management in consumer products businesses. I have been starting my own business this year and keep looking to connect with those who are in the same boat, or have been there before me. Wish us luck!
Becky McCray says
Michael, you’ve started an amazing thing! I wish you terrific luck, and many years of inspiring and learning from each other.
Todd 'tojosan' Jordan says
Sounds like you folks really dug in and are off to a good start.
Cheers,
Todd
Luke Mahin says
From The Belleville Telescope (Kansas)
By Deb Hadachek
Telescope editor
In talking about last week’s news that 6th Street
Fashions and Footwear has purchased the former House
of Shoes, someone commented “We’ve had something very
good. Now we get something even better.”
It was good news that new owners Shari and Shane
Haug plan to keep the popular lines of men and women’s
work, casual and athletic shoes that have been a hallmark
of House of Shoes for decades. It was also good news that
they plan to add other apparel and accessories as well.
But there’s a little more to the “rest of the story” that
also needs to be celebrated in this sale. Anyone who has
ever questioned the wisdom of the county and Belleville
City funding Republic County Economic Development
should note Haug’s statement “I hadn’t thought about
opening a second store until Jenny Russell called and said
“We’d love to have you in Belleville.’”.
The reality of economic development is that Russell and
co-director Luke Mahin have made many of those calls
to businesses large and small. Most don’t pan out. But
it is significant that someone IS making the calls. The
continuation of every single business and service in the
county is crucial for our continued success.
In some instances, the county is just beginning to reap
benefits from contacts and suggestions that were made
to businesses years ago. We often gripe that “somebody”
ought to do “something” to grow our economic base, but
without people designated to spend some amount of time
each week marketing our county in large and small ways,
the success of those efforts will be random at best.
In some communities economic development is funded
not just by a handful of governments, but every city in
the county, as well as investment by private business and
individuals. Republic County has a unique situation in
that it no longer funds an economic development position.
Instead, the economic development board, made up of
volunteers, uses the county and city funds to contract with
Russell’s marketing firm, JenRus Freelance of Courtland,
to provide specific services for a specific number of hours
each month. That means the city and county’s investment
is going directly to fund work that the board deems
must be done—not overhead like office space, utilities,
or benefits, which has been a source of contention in the
past.
Former House of Shoes owner Carol Chatfield also needs
to be recognized for putting off her plans to retire from the
business until a new viable owner could be found. I’m
sure there were some disappointments and frustrations
along the way—other prospects that decided against
purchasing the business for one reason or another. She
could have shut down the doors months ago, but she did
a good turn for the county by waiting a little longer for the
best opportunity for our citizens.
facebook.com/RCEDC
Becky McCray says
Luke, congratulations! Not only did y’all accomplish a good thing, but anytime you can get the newspaper bragging about you, that is a success!
Luke Mahin says
We are very lucky to have local media outlets that are progressive and promote our efforts constantly.
P.S. First heard you speak at the first Social Media Tulsa, and enjoyed it very much. Keep up the great work.
Becky McCray says
Thanks, Luke! I love the SMTulsa events.
Todd 'tojosan' Jordan says
A few things I’m please about this week:
1) Had a biweekly one-on-one w/manager where I had no issues about me. Was able to focus on the team’s needs.
2) Continued working on my language use towards myself & others. Mostly about me. Redirecting negative language such as ‘gosh how stupid was that’ into more factual statements such as ‘need to clean that up’. Taking the personal out. Focus on the thing that needs to get done or get passed.
3) Created more sketches/drawings. Keeping the pace of one or more each day. Some days more!
4) End of year self-review done and submitted.
5) Bonus – got all of the healthcare incentive stuff confirmed for discounts on the upcoming year. <- big deal.Cheers,
Todd
@tojosan
Becky McCray says
Congratulations, Todd. You’re moving in the right direction and developing in many ways. It’s great to see you doing this!