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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Engaging businesses with school entrepreneurship programs
    economic development | entrepreneurship | rural | workforce | youth

    Engaging businesses with school entrepreneurship programs

    ByBecky McCray October 27, 2015October 19, 2015

    I attended the EntreEd Consortium Forum in Oklahoma City with the National Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. The session on engaging businesses with school entrepreneurship programs generated a lot of interesting thoughts for me as a business owner sitting in on a discussion among educators. Businesses are desperately interested in skills in the workforce. It’s a natural…

    Read More Engaging businesses with school entrepreneurship programsContinue

  • 3 Ways to teach kids to be entrepreneurs
    economic development | entrepreneurship | rural | youth

    3 Ways to teach kids to be entrepreneurs

    ByBecky McCray October 20, 2015October 19, 2015

    Last week, I attended the EntreEd Consortium Forum in Oklahoma City with the National Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education.   I was there because I believe small towns don’t need kids who will graduate high school or return from college, then look around for a job. We need kids who will graduate, then look for an…

    Read More 3 Ways to teach kids to be entrepreneursContinue

  • Shoppers at a furniture store find temporary displays of jewelry and skin care products.
    Best of | economic development | entrepreneurship | rural | trends

    6 innovative small business models in small towns

    ByBecky McCray October 5, 2015July 1, 2023

      You don’t have to settle for a normal business. Rural businesses are exploring new shapes, new locations and new ways of doing business. Here are six innovative ways people are building businesses in small towns today. 1. Pop-ups These are temporary business that may last from just one day to several months. You’ve seen short-term…

    Read More 6 innovative small business models in small townsContinue

  • Building Blocks model of community and economic development
    community | economic development | rural

    Building Blocks model of community and economic development

    BySmall Biz Survival August 25, 2015December 16, 2021

    Guest post by Laura Girty “Get back to the basics.” How many times have you heard that? Sometimes the basics are the best place to start. In the late 1990’s under the helm of Executive Director Leo Presley, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce (ODOC) developed a model for community development that worked especially well for…

    Read More Building Blocks model of community and economic developmentContinue

  • A group of young women in matching t-shirts visit the floor of a manufacturing plant
    economic development | rural | workforce | youth

    Grow Your Own Workforce

    BySmall Biz Survival August 3, 2015January 2, 2018

    Every small town faces the contradiction of young people saying “there are no jobs here” while business say “we can’t find good people.” My friend Kat Long from Ponca City, Oklahoma, sent this story of what they are doing to connect young people with the jobs that already exist in town and introducing girls to…

    Read More Grow Your Own WorkforceContinue

  • Why your small town needs co-working
    community | economic development | entrepreneurship | rural

    Why your small town needs co-working

    ByBecky McCray June 22, 2015May 26, 2022

      Coworking is like shared office space, except it’s more than that. Coworking works best when it’s a community, too. If you’re trying to build more entrepreneurship in your town, coworking is a smart place to focus. A new study from Emergent Research and partners showed that coworking spaces are human spaces. “The key finding…

    Read More Why your small town needs co-workingContinue

  • Can you save a small town?
    economic development | failure | rural | success

    Can you save a small town?

    ByBecky McCray June 2, 2015May 31, 2015

    If your town can’t get its act together enough to accept help or seek opportunities, should outside groups spend any of their limited time and resources on you? Or should they focus instead on the places with the best prospects of success? When I first had this conversation with Joe Borgstrom a few years ago,…

    Read More Can you save a small town?Continue

  • economic development | entrepreneurship | rural

    Art, Heart, and Playing it Smart: The care and feeding of small town revitalization

    BySmall Biz Survival May 11, 2015January 2, 2018

      Guest Post by Anne Pyburn Craig It happened to cities and towns throughout industrialized America in the late and middle years of the 20th century. Big employers who’d propped up local economies for decades downsized or left, creating a brutal ripple effect on smaller businesses. Three towns in the Hudson Valley of New York…

    Read More Art, Heart, and Playing it Smart: The care and feeding of small town revitalizationContinue

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