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…
Cash Mobs are a good tool for small towns. It’s all about getting your people out to support one business in order to get the message across: local businesses matter and you matter to local businesses. But if that’s all there is to it, you miss the chance to build on their success. Laura Meadows,…
Every Thursday, I publish a special newsletter. It’s a personal conversation with me and over a thousand rural friends that gives you a positive view of rural business and small towns. If you don’t already get it, join us right here: I won’t ever sell or rent your email address to anyone else because I wouldn’t…
Placemaking is all about the planning, design and management of the public spaces and assets in your town. When done right, placemaking involves asking the people who actually live and work there, who use the public spaces, what they need, and then actually listening to the answers. Think of it this way: instead of planning…
Do you know what the most commonly asked question is at any of my talks? It’s always about dealing with the negative people, the people who say you can’t, the roadblocks. Jack Schultz calls them the CAVE people: the Citizens Against Virtually Everything. I find that encouraging and discouraging all in one. It’s encouraging because…
I got a call from a freelance reporter last week. She was assigned to write a positive story about the future of rural. Someone told her she should call me, so she did. It was hard, but I want you to know I showed some restraint, so I only kept her on the line for…
You get what you measure. That is, anything you actually go to the trouble to keep records on, you will pay more attention to and likely improve. If you make yourself write down everything you eat, you’ll find yourself feeling accountable. You’ll actually eat less or eat better things so you won’t be embarrassed to…
Any advice on how to conduct a Main Street stroll?The idea is to get our locals to actually come into our stores. We have many retirees with money living in our community but they seem to have no use for Main St. They often drive several hours to the nearest city to shop. We are…
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