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What would you be doing this weekend, if the world hadn’t fallen apart?

By Paula Jensen

Paula Jensen

Guest post by Paula Jensen I was on my second video conference of the day earlier last week and a peer in the meeting said, “Time-out! I need to ask everyone a question.” We all agreed, and he said, “What would you be doing this weekend, if the world hadn’t fallen apart?” Some people answered […]

April 12, 2020 Filed Under: community, planning, rural Tagged With: #Iamrural, guest post

Business plans are not worth the paper they’re written on

By Deb Brown

Small Steps with kettle corn

by Deb Brown At least, the old way of doing them Writing a business plan is an intense project that takes up a lot of your time. You spend weeks and weeks on it, and you’re not even sure everything in it is correct. Your financial projections are just wild guesses. You’re not even open […]

February 6, 2020 Filed Under: economic development, entrepreneurship, family business, planning, rural, success Tagged With: Building Possibility, business plans, Deb Brown, entrepreneurs, guest post, idea friendly, pop ups, small business, small steps, small town

We tried that before and it didn’t work!

By Paula Jensen

Guest Post by Paula Jensen When was the last time you heard someone say, “We tried that before and it didn’t work!”  In my early days as a local leader those words spoken by an experienced leader often stopped me in my tracks. Their words indicated to me that they had the experience of knowing […]

May 26, 2019 Filed Under: community, mistakes, planning, rural Tagged With: #Iamrural, conversation, experience, failure, leadership, listening, Paula Jensen, questions

Use the Midwinter Slump for Growth

By Glenn Muske

Taking off

Many retailers experience a sales slump during after the holiday season. How do you respond? The slump comes as no surprise and most small-business owners know they just need to plan for it and ride it out. They think of it as time to work in the business and perhaps to grab a short vacation. […]

January 24, 2018 Filed Under: planning, rural, Small Biz 100 Tagged With: business growth, growth, planning, small business success, success

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