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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Multiple email address actually make it easier to cut through your clogged inbox
    entrepreneurship | organization

    Multiple email address actually make it easier to cut through your clogged inbox

    ByBecky McCray April 13, 2015April 12, 2015

      I’ve got a new email technique to help those of you who get a crazy amount of email every day. It starts with a framework I’ve used before. Have your email sorted automatically, before you ever see it, into groups based on the frame of mind needed to act on it. Frame of mind might…

    Read More Multiple email address actually make it easier to cut through your clogged inboxContinue

  • Six ways to use a tablet to boost your small business productivity
    entrepreneurship | organization | Small Biz 100 | tools

    Six ways to use a tablet to boost your small business productivity

    ByBecky McCray April 6, 2015September 28, 2016

      “Man, getting iPads was like discovering fire,” Lance Morgan, CEO of Ho-Chunk Inc., told me years ago. It’s still true that tablets can revolutionize business, but they can also be a boost to your personal productivity. We talked about ways to use tablets in retail businesses, and this time we’re talking about ways you can…

    Read More Six ways to use a tablet to boost your small business productivityContinue

  • Deb Brown in Webster City, Iowa.
    customer service | entrepreneurship | rural

    How small businesses can beat the big boxes: be nice

    ByBecky McCray March 30, 2015March 29, 2015

      Guest Post by Deb Brown, Webster City, Iowa, Area Chamber of Commerce My friend Kevin told me a story. Kevin has just bought the business he’s worked in for over 15 years, located on Main Street in my small town, Webster City, Iowa. He’s renamed it Interior Spaces because he’s a decorator and he…

    Read More How small businesses can beat the big boxes: be niceContinue

  • 10 Ways to use an iPad or Android tablet in retail
    entrepreneurship | Small Biz 100 | tools

    10 Ways to use an iPad or Android tablet in retail

    ByBecky McCray March 23, 2015May 27, 2016

      I run a retail store in a small town, and I love technology. That’s why I came up with these ten ways you can put an Android tablet or iPad to work in your rural retail business. 1. Take payments at the Point of Sale Throw away your old cash register. A tablet makes…

    Read More 10 Ways to use an iPad or Android tablet in retailContinue

  • economic development | rural

    Ag plays a key role in rural prosperity

    ByBecky McCray March 18, 2015

    Today is National Agriculture Day in the US. I’m proud to be in agriculture as a rancher here in Oklahoma. I’m also proud of the role that agribusiness plays in small towns all over the world. Agriculture is a key part of rural prosperity. Ag-based businesses in the US are almost unbelievably diverse. farms ranches…

    Read More Ag plays a key role in rural prosperityContinue

  • Special event sign
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural

    How to promote special events in a small town

    ByBecky McCray March 16, 2015March 15, 2015

    This is another list of ideas that came from a question by a real business owner. How do you get the word out about events in small towns? They were kind of stuck for ideas, past having the Chamber of Commerce send an email and creating a Facebook event. So what else could they do?…

    Read More How to promote special events in a small townContinue

  • How do you get local businesses to join the chamber or business association?
    community | economic development | rural

    How do you get local businesses to join the chamber or business association?

    ByBecky McCray March 11, 2015October 11, 2018

      Businesspeople want to know why they ought to pay dues to a business association. The association wants to know why businesses that don’t pay should reap any benefits. When an association helps produce events, advertises, puts up signs, produces brochures or maps, all the businesses profit from the betterment of the town whether they…

    Read More How do you get local businesses to join the chamber or business association?Continue

  • Business sign for a grand opening includes zumba and cake.
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural

    10 Ideas to make your Grand Opening more than just a sale

    ByBecky McCray March 9, 2015March 8, 2015

      Our friend Leslie McLellan shared a question from one of her Lake Arrowhead Village locals who will be opening a new gift shop. “We would like to have a Grand Opening weekend event special at the end of April. Other than having special sales, we’re at a loss for what to do. Do you have any…

    Read More 10 Ideas to make your Grand Opening more than just a saleContinue

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