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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • ideas | rural

    A New Business Idea in Small Town Recycling

    ByBecky McCray February 7, 2013August 27, 2014

    Following up on what CASUDI wrote yesterday about the “Take It or Leave It” section in her local recycling facility, that’s a pretty darn good business idea, too. Hey, if people will bid on stuff for silent auctions,maybe they would buy it from a recycling business. Imagine all those garage sale leftovers, estate items that…

    Read More A New Business Idea in Small Town RecyclingContinue

  • entrepreneurship | ideas

    Find the Next Great Business Idea

    ByGlenn Muske January 30, 2013August 27, 2014

    By Glenn Muske Rural and Agribusiness Enterprise Development SpecialistNorth Dakota State University Extension Service – Center for Community Vitality A lot of people want to start a business with the next great idea. Practically the entire population of nascent entrepreneurs falls into one of two categories: those who think they have the next great idea,…

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  • entrepreneurship | ideas | rural

    New small town business ideas

    ByBecky McCray November 12, 2012August 27, 2014

    I’m always seeing new business ideas, so I bring them here to share. Maybe one of these will work from your small town: Service I need: someone to stock the fridge and have dinner on the stove when I get home from travel.— Amber Naslund (@AmberCadabra) October 27, 2012 Sounds like an interesting sideline for…

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  • entrepreneurship | ideas

    Tap your customers’ creativity

    ByBecky McCray April 30, 2012August 27, 2014

    Lisle Corporation makes specialty auto tools. They are tapping their customers’ creativity to find new tools to make. See, auto mechanics are notorious tinkerers, so it’s only natural to go to them for new ideas that Lisle can cooperate to market. This ad was on the cardboard backing on a tool Lisle sells. How are you tapping…

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  • entrepreneurship | ideas

    A weird retail idea to get curious customers buying

    ByBecky McCray April 23, 2012August 27, 2014

    Another weird retail idea from who-knows-where in my brain: Hide an item. But hide it so people can’t avoid noticing it. Premium items in boxes and bagsbeg to be opened.  In a retail store, cover an item with a cloth or box it. You can label it “open me to see the new ___.” Or…

    Read More A weird retail idea to get curious customers buyingContinue

  • entrepreneurship | ideas | rural

    From scrap metal to skilled crafts

    ByJNSwanson November 23, 2011August 27, 2014

    Zach Pontz is a writer. He takes words and builds stuff, like paragraphs and articles. Andrew David Watson is a film director. Carving stories from fragments of images.”Skip” Brack runs some stores. What they have in common is that Zach told Andrew about Skip, and now we can watch a powerful story about a guy…

    Read More From scrap metal to skilled craftsContinue

  • community | economic development | ideas | planning | rural

    Coffee and Calendars: How to build more cooperation in your community

    ByBecky McCray September 26, 2011March 15, 2018

    What if your town council, your chamber of commerce, and your school board sat down together for a public meeting just to compare calendars? What if these leaders started talking about possible cooperation, shared projects, or mutual goals? What if more local boards and leaders began to participate, aligning their own goals and efforts with…

    Read More Coffee and Calendars: How to build more cooperation in your communityContinue

  • entrepreneurship | ideas | rural

    3 Small Town Business Ideas

    ByBecky McCray August 8, 2011November 2, 2015

    Lots of people arrive here looking for rural business ideas. That’s why I keep coming up with more and more ideas you can use to start your own small town business. Here are three new ones to spur your thinking. My grandmother’s 1941 Kerr canning manual Teach canning classesIf you learned to can from your…

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