After the rush of holiday business at our store, I decided to get everyone (all 5 of us) involved in cleaning up, fixing up and sprucing up. So I tried playing “Go For Broke.” (I remembered reading about a version of this game in Paul Hawken’s book, Growing a Business.) I took the little cork…
Dina Jackson is with the City of Harriman, in Tennessee, USA. The city government owns 9 vacant properties, including a hospital building and a couple of houses. Rather than hide them, the city decided to show them off. They invited folks to tour the buildings and asked for offers. “We are now in the…
I think the definition of “small business” is just too broad. It covers everyone from the part-time self-employed to the 500-employee business, and every government agency in every country has their own definition. Our advice here at Small Biz Survival is targeted to businesses based outside of big cities. We try to be the…
A few weeks ago, we had an interesting discussion about “Copy and Paste Towns” in our weekly newsletter. I mentioned how national chains want to “copy and paste” their standard template on your town. No one wants their small town to end up looking just like every other town and suburb. And we don’t…
I spent half an hour on the phone with a young man who is volunteering to help his community reach more visitors. It’s a town of around 1,000 people, with many of the same challenges other towns of all sizes face. The old guard folks just don’t get it yet, and he wants to find a…
If you’re worried about your business, your small town economy, or surviving in tough times, you have a choice. You could choose to focus instead on improving your business basics. Here are my top three small-business basics you can’t afford to ignore when things aren’t going well. 1. Bookkeeping and Accounting Finance may be everyone’s…
Attention Chambers of Commerce, tourism organizations, economic development groups, and other local organizations: When your website provider offers to make a page for every local business on your website, say no. I know you want to get more of your local businesses online. That makes perfect sense. Adding new pages to your organization website is…
Like many small town business people, I have more than one business: liquor store, cattle ranch, speaking and writing about small town business, and Tourism Currents. So how do I do it all? It’s one of the most common questions that I get asked. That’s why Cory Miller of Entrepreneurship Lab and I put together this…
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