Many small businesses can’t qualify for a small business loan from a traditional local bank. A bad credit record disqualifies many. Lending standards have tightened. Some small towns are limited by local banks that don’t support small business; others don’t have locally-owned banks any more. The good news is that alternatives are available. We’ll be…
Many small businesses can’t qualify for a small business loan from a traditional local bank. A bad credit record disqualifies many. Lending standards have tightened. Some small towns are limited by local banks that don’t support small business; others don’t have locally-owned banks any more. The good news is that alternatives are available. We’ll be…
I have a bricks and mortar liquor store. We have used traditional credit card merchant processing for five years, and we just switched over to Square. I’ll tell you why we converted and how we did it. Our Old “Traditional” Merchant Processing Yes, I really do have a liquor store. Our traditional merchant was Retriever…
What if we could change investing from a gamble in the stock market into a local development tool? That’s the basic question behind Amy Cortese’s book “Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit From It.” This book does a great job of explaining the problems in the current financial system, and laying…
Every state has some capital funds, special loan programs, and other interesting business financing tools. Most are available only in some locations, and many that are widely available, like USDA funding, have different contact people in different places. How do you make sense of all that? Kansas put it on a map. A Map to…
With small business lending incredibly tight, more innovative alternatives to financing are coming up. This one has a big string attached: a complete change in how you manage your business. Springfield Remanufacturing Company is a small city success, based in Springfield, Missouri. They got famous for using completely open book management, calling it the great…
Elephants in the Caprivi Strip, Namibia Business management advice I heard twenty years ago: “If they’re selling elephants two for a quarter, that’s a great bargain, but only if you have a quarter and only if you need elephants.” David N. Dinkins, 1990 Bought any elephants lately? New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like…
Time for two critical end of year accounting tasks: mileage and inventory. Use your vehicle for business? Write down your mileage at the beginning of the year. Learn more about deducting business use of your vehicle. Sell products? Take an inventory of all products on hand at the turn of the year. Make products? Inventory…
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