Skip to content
  • Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • SaveYour.Town
Small Biz Survival

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

Small town main street
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS
Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • entrepreneurship | organization | planning

    Another business plan alternative: your calendar

    ByBecky McCray July 2, 2012August 27, 2014

    Reader Carrie Bodeman at As Good As New sent this alternative to traditional business planning. You might like it too. –Becky  Sometimes you have to look back to see forward. We keep a daily log of all activity so I can look back several years at a glance.  We print out a blank calendar and each…

    Read More Another business plan alternative: your calendarContinue

  • Best of | entrepreneurship | planning | Small Biz 100

    Hate business plans? I have alternatives

    ByBecky McCray June 11, 2012February 22, 2015

    I’m weird. I love planning. I even like business planning, figuring out how to best present my business and fit it into the requirements and structure. Not everyone likes doing this. You, for example. You probably don’t like planning. You aren’t alone. I do love planning. I’m weird. And, I planned for this possibility, so…

    Read More Hate business plans? I have alternativesContinue

  • 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

  • Best of | entrepreneurship | planning | Small Biz 100

    Simplify your business plan

    ByBecky McCray April 18, 2011August 27, 2014

    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…

    Read More Simplify your business planContinue

  • entrepreneurship | planning

    3 resources to help you get away from your business

    ByBecky McCray April 11, 2011August 27, 2014

    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…

    Read More 3 resources to help you get away from your businessContinue

  • entrepreneurship | planning

    Getting your money’s worth from conferences

    ByBecky McCray March 30, 2011January 9, 2018

    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…

    Read More Getting your money’s worth from conferencesContinue

  • Best of | entrepreneurship | planning

    Make the most of being at a conference

    ByBecky McCray March 2, 2011August 27, 2014

    You prepared ahead of time for that big conference. Now you find yourself at the event. What can you do to get more out of it? @AmberCadabra and @ThinkMaya at BlogWorld Expo 2009 Be somebody. Be your friendliest self. Act like you’re in a small town. Say hello to everyone. Talk to your neighbors, whether in…

    Read More Make the most of being at a conferenceContinue

  • Best of | entrepreneurship | planning

    Getting the most out of conferences before you go

    ByBecky McCray February 22, 2011August 27, 2014

    The past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about how to get the money to attend those important conferences. Now, let’s talk about how to make the most of those conferences. Let’s start with preparation before the event. It’s all about planning. You need to know the five W’s of your conference before you ever…

    Read More Getting the most out of conferences before you goContinue

Page navigation

Previous PagePrevious 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 10 Next PageNext

Howdy!

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.

The Best of Small Biz Survival

TREND 2025: Retail’s Big Split: what small town retailers can do now

99% of the best things you can do for your town don’t require anyone’s permission

Get started as an outdoor outfitter without breaking the bank

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

Read more of the Best of Small Biz Survival

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses.

Logo with "Shop Indie Local"
Graphic of US currency with the text Move Your Money, bank local, invest local
Multicolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week"
Save Your Town logotype

Copyright © 2006–2026 Becky McCray • Site by Webdancers

  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • SaveYour.Town