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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Any small town could do spooky storytelling
    rural | tourism

    Any small town could do spooky storytelling

    ByBecky McCray October 28, 2014October 26, 2014

    This idea comes from the Chickasaw Nation. Storytelling is an important part of Chickasaw culture, and who doesn’t love a good spooky story? Storytelling is an important part of many rural cultures, probably including yours. That makes this a great idea for any small town to adapt and use. In fact, why not start building your…

    Read More Any small town could do spooky storytellingContinue

  • Customers are switching to small retailers
    entrepreneurship | rural | shop local | trends

    Customers are switching to small retailers

    ByBecky McCray October 20, 2014October 19, 2014

    Last week, we talked about how big box retailers are getting smaller. Why is the big box retail sector making this expensive and difficult change to smaller stores? Because consumers have already started changing. Humorist David Sedaris summed up this consumer feeling in an interview. “I’d rather go to an actual shop — preferably a small…

    Read More Customers are switching to small retailersContinue

  • A brightly decorated store without any customers in it.
    economic development | entrepreneurship | trends

    Why big box stores are getting smaller and what that means to small towns

    ByBecky McCray October 13, 2014October 24, 2014

      “Everything gigantic in American [retail] is about to get smaller or die.” That’s the dramatic claim by contrarian economist James Kunstler,writing about the big retail sector in Business Insider. He says big retail is on the brink of scale implosion. Kunstler points to the same trends that are affecting small towns: online shopping, global delivery,…

    Read More Why big box stores are getting smaller and what that means to small townsContinue

  • A great shop local tagline
    shop local

    A great shop local tagline

    ByBecky McCray October 8, 2014October 8, 2014

    Buy Local, or Bye-bye local! That’s a pretty clever tagline to use in your shop local efforts this holiday season. Thanks to Wendy Martin, from Havana, Illinois, who submitted it. (Wendy mentioned it came from a friend in Hickman, Kentucky.) Of course, a clever slogan isn’t enough. If you’re working on your Shop Local campaign…

    Read More A great shop local taglineContinue

  • 5 ways to get your business ready for the holidays, especially if you’re not a retail store
    entrepreneurship | planning | Small Biz 100

    5 ways to get your business ready for the holidays, especially if you’re not a retail store

    ByBecky McCray September 29, 2014October 8, 2014

      There’s always plenty of holiday advice for retailers, including our 5 Retail Holiday Tips for 2014. We even talked about how service businesses can make themselves into holiday gifts. But what about the rest of us? Consultants, writers, manufacturers, engineers, farmers, and more all have businesses, but we aren’t necessarily retailers. What can non-retail…

    Read More 5 ways to get your business ready for the holidays, especially if you’re not a retail storeContinue

  • How service businesses can get ready for the holidays
    entrepreneurship | marketing

    How service businesses can get ready for the holidays

    ByBecky McCray September 22, 2014September 27, 2016

      With all the flood of tips for retailers to get ready for the holidays, what about other businesses? How can service-based businesses get ready for the holiday season? Next week, we’ll talk about other ways to be productive during the holidays, but this week, let’s focus on making more sales. Make your services into…

    Read More How service businesses can get ready for the holidaysContinue

  • 5 Retail Holiday Tips for 2014
    entrepreneurship | marketing | Small Biz 100

    5 Retail Holiday Tips for 2014

    ByBecky McCray September 15, 2014September 29, 2014

      In any retail business, the last quarter of the year may beat the entire rest of the year for sales. That’s enough reason to to pay extra attention to getting ready to make the most of it. Here are five of my ideas on how to get more people through your doors in the…

    Read More 5 Retail Holiday Tips for 2014Continue

  • 9 ways to drive engagement and draw a bigger audience on Twitter
    marketing | rural | social media

    9 ways to drive engagement and draw a bigger audience on Twitter

    ByBecky McCray September 3, 2014

    Dean Abbott @DeanAbbott told me (on Twitter, of course) that he was thinking about how to drive engagement and draw a bigger audience on Twitter. I gave a few suggestions that might be helpful for you, too. Follow smart people. They are more interesting to engage with and easier to learn from. Watch for the…

    Read More 9 ways to drive engagement and draw a bigger audience on TwitterContinue

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