[My friend Gayle Machetta from Henryetta, Oklahoma, sent me the story of how one local merchant has created a sales event that packs hundreds of people into their downtown twice a year. –Becky] Burnett Furniture getting ready for the big sale.Photo by Gayle Machetta. Sending you an invite to come to Henryetta and see what…
Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow is a direct and effective tool to help you do exactly what it says: make your business something that can survive without you and is sell-able. Built to Sell delivers on its promise. If you think you may want to sell your…
Risk is part of everything we do. Any business could be sued by anyone. We can’t change that, but we can manage the risks and reduce our potential liabilities. A shooting station at Claythorne Lodge:a risk that must be managed. Agritourism businesses have some extra risks to manage: being around animals and horseback riding, shooting,…
What can you do when you need business and income right away? Here is one thing that almost always works: Call your existing customers. Phone by Ant & Carrie Pick up the phone, and call your existing customers. Just say hello, check in that everything you’ve done for them is still working, or whatever the…
[Because she does such great videos for her own business, I invited Heather Thomas to submit a guest post about different uses for video in promoting your small business. I think you’ll get some great ideas from what she came up with. –Becky] By Heather Thomas C.C. Chapman shooting video from kayak. It’s no secret…
How’s your business plan? Have you looked at it lately? Could you find a copy if I asked? Do you even have one? You benefit two ways when you create your own plan: Preparing your plan forces you to actually evaluate your business, and having a real-world plan serves as a guide post and reminder…
You and I have too much to do. Our to-do lists overflow, our papers stack up, and we won’t even talk about our inboxes. With all that overwhelming our minds, of course we need to get away from our business. But there is a bigger reason lurking, a bigger reason to get away. It’s lurking…
Going to conferences and events can have huge benefits. You get face-to-face interaction, opportunities to learn, and chance encounters that can change everything. But here’s the limitation: What you get out of a conference depends on what you put into it. So we put together a series of posts on conferences and events. First, you…
Since 2006, this site has been helping people like you in small towns move forward without waiting on outside experts, big budgets, or perfect plans. You don’t need any of that to get started.
If you care about your business, your downtown, or your community, you’ll find ideas here you can actually use. Take one. Try it out. Let me know how it goes for you.
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