• Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Picking your Holiday 2022 marketing theme

By Becky McCray

We’re all going to use the same marketing theme this year. You, me, and every business in your town. We’re all going to use Shop Indie Local. Here are 5 reasons why. There’s a tendency among small businesses in small towns to use the same marketing theme from year to year, the same ads with […]

November 8, 2022 Filed Under: community, entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, shop local Tagged With: shop indie local, shop local, shop small

Shared retail spaces and sheds: smart business ideas in small towns

By Becky McCray

Small retail spaces like retail collectives and shed markets generate prosperity for rural areas and small towns when they: give small business ideas an affordable foothold create experiences that draw customers in build on the element of discovery for customers test promising retail concepts shelter businesses too small to survive on their own fill gaps […]

October 17, 2022 Filed Under: economic development, entrepreneurship, ideas, marketing, rural, trends Tagged With: farmers markets, retail, shed businesses, tiny businesses

Tourism: Make the most of scant remains and “not much to see” sites with a look-through sign

By Becky McCray

Wide view of a prairie landscape with a walk-through gate in a fence

Here’s a tourism tip from a roadside stop from my long drive to visit rural communities in Eastern Colorado. The Santa Fe Trail wagon ruts are still visible near Lakin in Western Kansas. You can walk across the little dam, past the tree and right out to the original trail, but there isn’t a lot […]

October 11, 2022 Filed Under: Best of, economic development, rural, tourism Tagged With: historic, history, tourism

Seasonal business: How to beat the annual “no bookings!” panic

By Becky McCray

Do you tend to panic about a lack of business at a certain point during the year? Do you always feel like you’ll never get enough bookings for the fall? I know several independent professionals who feel like this: a professional photographer who always worries in late summer that there won’t be enough bookings for […]

August 8, 2022 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, management, planning, rural, Small Biz 100 Tagged With: annual planning, calendar, mindset, optimism, service businesses

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses. Logo with "Shop Indie Local" Move Your Money, bank local, invest local Multicolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week" Save Your Town logotype

Best of Small Biz Survival

A few people shopping in an attractive retail store in refurbished downtown building.

TREND 2025: Retail’s Big Split: what small town retailers can do now

99% of the best things you can do for your town don’t require anyone’s permission

Three kids in a canoe

Get started as an outdoor outfitter without breaking the bank

A shopkeeper and a customer share a laugh in a small store packed full of interesting home wares.

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors

Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2026 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in