Three studies in a row hit me with the reality that social media is far from mainstream. Most small businesses are not using social media. Small businesses are using websites and email marketing more than social media, but most aren’t even using those tools. (Citibank survey) Most tourism pros are not using it either. Considering…
Bringing together small business, small towns, social media, free, tourism, memorable experiences, failure, and rural advantages, my interview on User Friendly Thinking Radio covered it all.UFT Radio is sponsored by web content management software company, Bizzuka. When you listen, you’ll hear marketing director Paul Chaney do the introduction and CEO John Munsell step up for…
[Our Friend Cody Heitschmidt has a new project. I offered him a few ideas, but he needs your ideas, too. -Becky] I just leased a 2300 seat concert hall in Hutch for all of 2010. Gonna see if we can liven Hutchinson, Kansas, up a little. Thoughts? No, really, I want your thoughts! I love…
At the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds Conference in Oklahoma City, Fred Patterson offered me a guest post. Fred has an amazing knowledge of the SBIR program, so I asked him to give us an introduction to it. -Becky by Fred Patterson – The SBIR Coach Over 25 years ago, the Federal government…
Shelli Todd, Oklahoma Department of Commerce, tells us about the resources at OKStartup.com. What’s the equivalent service in your state? Who provides the one-stop information hub for entrepreneurs? Interviewed at NASVF – the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds, Oklahoma City, September 2009 New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see?…
When the big Wal-Mart has already run the little chain grocery store out of business, is there any chance that a totally independent, locally-run grocery could compete? Yes. Alva, Oklahoma. Population just under 5000. My hometown. In 2002, the last grocery store in town, Homeland, locked its doors, leaving only the Wal-Mart Supercenter in the…
Lois Loucks, Director of the Tri-Cities Economic Development (Wheaton-Onaga-Havensville, KS), shared some of her innovative thoughts with me in an email about shopping local. “Shopping Local” as a two way street, with responsibility placed on the business owners to earn “their share of business”. Just because someone decides to be in business, does not automatically…
If I was an economic development professional in a small town, I’d build a local version of the Oklahoma City Co-working Collaborative. Instead of looking for that next big company to recruit, I’d grow my own. And instead of focusing on “big” local businesses for my incubator space, I’d build a co-working incubator, styled after…
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