You and I talk a lot about encouraging more entrepreneurs in your community. Maybe you’re wondering about where to find those potential entrepreneurs. A couple of people have asked that question lately, so let’s look into it. The more you cut down barriers to entry, the more people will be able to try different…
What supports can a municipality provide to encourage innovation and business start-ups? That was one of the listener questions when I was a guest recently on the Orton Family Foundation’s Heart and Soul Talks. Municipalities and local officials feel responsible for developing their local economy. Too often, economic development takes the same old form…
Small towns struggle to fill big downtown buildings. Back in the day, they may have been department stores or large retailers. Now they most likely sit empty. Instead of waiting for one big tenant to fill them, what if we divided them up, and turned them over to a whole bunch of tiny businesses…
When Deb Brown and I spoke at the RuralX Summit, one of the ideas we mentioned was the tiny business village, where businesses pop up inside of storage sheds in Tionesta, Pennsylvania. Dylan Fulton and Camden Breitling, high school students from Miller, South Dakota, heard that idea and ran with it. Together with some supportive…
Melissa W. asked: What types of businesses would work in very small communities – less than 100, less than 250, less than 500? No matter what kind of business you want to start in a really small town, start small. Use the Innovative Rural Business Models (Tiny, Temporary, Together, Trucks and Trailers) to build up…
Rural and small town businesses aren’t limited to the downtown mom-and-pop stores or the businesses recruited into the industrial park any more. In fact, rural businesses today don’t really have to look like any of the traditional business models for small towns. The traditional way to go into business in a small town was to…
Sometimes, when someone is telling me about their town, they’ll say it. “We have nothing here! Nothing!” It bothers me. Surely you have something to work with? Des Walsh is a friend of mine from Australia who has strong rural ties. He told me about a village that had nothing. “Many years ago I…
Big Ideas for Small Town Business Success I was honored to be a guest on this call with the Orton Family Foundation, and I’m happy to pass along this recording for you to listen in while we talk rural entrepreneurship, filling gaps downtown, and revitalizing your town. From farm-to-table restaurants and food co-ops to craft breweries…
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