How do you view your business? Is it a way to make a living or a way to live your life? That is a question business owners commonly ask themselves or are asked by researchers. People start businesses for a variety of reasons. However, many of the reasons fall into one of these two categories….
People ask all the time how they can help save their small town. I always say, “start your own business.” Here are four reasons why starting your own business is the best thing you can do to help your small town prosper. 1. When you start a business, you decide what values to put…
You have heard that a competitor is coming to your community. Now what do you do? This is the typical response of most business owners. And, of course, the bigger the competitor, the greater the fear of the new competition. When such rumors start circulating, and after the initial shock, business owners start to wonder…
Ben Winchester Interview Part 2 Ben Winchester has a positive view of rural for good reason: he’s done the research. The media loves to talk about the brain drain of young people leaving rural communities. Ben’s research says there’s another trend, maybe more powerful. Adults age 30-44 are returning to rural communities, bringing higher incomes,…
@BeckyMcCray have you ever seen a small town struggle because it had too many of the same kind of business? — Micah Choquette (@meetmicah) October 19, 2013 My friend Micah Choquette @meetmicah asked me on Twitter, “Have you ever seen a small town struggle because it had too many of the same kind of…
In response to “Want to develop your small town? Start with your assets, Luther Snow says,” two of you asked for more information about facilitating business-to-business marketplaces. Simone Cahoj said in a comment: I’d love some more ideas about facilitating a business-to-business marketplace. We have tried this but I think we need a different approach! :)…
Joel Bennett Joel Bennett Interview Joel Bennett of Pella, Iowa, helped pioneer a co-working space in his town, called Veel Hoeden (“Many Hats”). It has grown from just 4 offices to 9 offices plus space for more people who just drop in with a laptop. It has supported existing entrepreneurs, and it’s helped create new entrepreneurial ventures….
Homewood, Illinois, isn’t a big city. Their population of 19,000 makes them a bigger small town, and they are a suburb of Chicago. So this isn’t a tiny town. But they do have a great pop-up retail program going that any town could try out. Here’s the story from their email newsletter, by Paula J….
Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.
We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.
Meet our authors on the About page.
Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.
Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.
We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses.
Copyright © 2006–2026 Becky McCray • Site by Webdancers