A reader asked me about outside food trucks invading a town of about 2,500 people. It’s a good question, and I’m glad to have a chance to share it with you. I am having a hard time in our small town with food trucks wanting to set up for a couple days of the week? I…
Julie from the U.P. of Michigan has a question that I thought you all would also be interested in: We are looking to collect data from travelers to our area this summer season. In particular, we are interested in WHERE our tourists are coming from, so zip code would be really helpful. A lot…
To-do lists can be overwhelming. They can put too many demands on you, too many deadlines. You’re not the only person who feels this way. My friend Rob Hatch told me about a friend of his who felt just like this. He hated to-do lists because they made him feel much too pressured, like they…
…but I was busy serving the people who are innovating in rural places today. That’s not actually true. I did read your article. And I shook my head through the whole thing. And I set aside being busy long enough to write down a few thoughts in response. You went with the “this town is…
People appreciate the opportunity to pay more for the stuff that matters to them. Maine photographer Meg Hatch offered a photography mini-session for families before the holidays. She sold a lot of them. She over-delivered, taking more shots than promised and going over and above the call to get great photos for families. One customer…
Today is the 10th birthday of Small Biz Survival. My first article was Can you build a growing small business in a declining small town? on January 15, 2006. Over the past ten years together, we’ve created 2,448 posts. That includes 482 Brag Baskets, 1667 posts by me, and at least 299 contributor posts. (It’s possible…
Businesses in small towns don’t work together very well. That was one of the top findings in our Survey of Rural Challenges. Survey answers included a lot of examples of this inability to cooperate: “Many of our merchants won’t participate in group promos.” “Businesses don’t cooperate with each other!” “The ‘competiveness’ of small town…
We’re all using the same marketing theme this year: Shift Your Shopping. When we work together to spread the word, we’ll multiply how many customers we reach. I know that Christmas is officially over, but you know some families are still celebrating because they couldn’t get together on the big holiday. And New Year’s Eve…
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