My friend Johnita Crawford is a county commissioner in Cloud County, Kansas. When we talked about “what is a small town business?” she sent me this note about what several towns under 800 in population in her county are doing to promote small business: “We have a special fund from our Wind Farm that we…
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…
Economic development is notoriously complex, frequently involving many different government agencies and multiple different departments in just one business opening. The traditional way of structuring economic development is to have one person with the title of economic development director. (If you’re a small town, that might be a half-time person, or shared with a larger…
Kenda Morrison is back living in the small town. The move back has brought back an old frustration for her. Service businesses that cater to residents but not tourists seem to get overlooked by the chamber of commerce, etc. “All too often I see them floundering in the Tourism environment and a complete lack of…
Oklahoma’s economy is strong, even though the national economy is not. We’ve benefited from a strong energy sector as we produce oil and gas. How will Oklahoma stay strong as things continue to change? The Oklahoma Department of Commerce reported on the state’s new economic development initiative in their newsletter, Community Developer. Wind power is a significant…
Prosperous entrepreneurs can reshape communities. That’s one of my key beliefs, and an example is playing out in Las Vegas right now. Zappos, the online shoe retailer, is relocating their corporate headquarters from suburban Henderson, Nevada, to downtown Las Vegas, and they’re bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in investment in revitalization with them. We’re…
GrandBob (of GrandBob’s Garden) stopped by with this comment. It’s too smart to keep to myself. (I added a few edits, but tried not to lose any of GrandBob’s personality.) –Becky I know of a small town locally with only 300 people. Main street is full of Businesses for sale. They have a library (where…
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