From 1 to 1000 employees
Ho-Chunk, Inc., CEO Lance Morgan tells how they grew from one employee to 1000 in a town of 1500 over the past 15 years. New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
Working together you can build it yourself
One of the speakers at the recent Midwest Rural Assembly started off by telling this story about a small town hardware store. (I think he said the story came from Kinky Friedman, when he was Texas Agriculture Secretary.) The hardware store is where when you have a project, they will loan you a tool. They…
The 30 year overnight success of South Sioux City
When I visited South Sioux City, Nebraska, for the Midwest Rural Assembly, City Administrator Lance Hedquist gave a few of us a quick drive-through tour. Student-designed cabin in the SouthSioux City RV Park He started by telling us all the bad things about South Sioux’s past, how it used to flood so regularly that no…
How Rural Development works with Small Business
USDA Rural Development Director for Iowa Bill Menner explains how Rural Development relates to small business. New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
USDA’s Victor Vasquez talks rural-urban connections
Victor Vasquez, USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Rural Development, made the keynote presentation at the Midwest Rural Assembly. He started with the story of a road trip with a big city friend. As they reached a particularly empty stretch of land, the friend asked, should we turn back? Turn back? Victor asked, why would we turn…
Cooperatives as an alternative business model
Dave Holm, executive director, Iowa Institute for Cooperatives led a round table discussion at the Midwest Rural Assembly. Since 2012 is the International Year of the Cooperative, this is an opportune time to share that discussion. The Farmers’ CooperativeAmes, Oklahoma A cooperative is no different than any other business in this respect: you have to follow the same business…
Meet Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns
During the recent Midwest Rural Assembly, Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns stopped in South Sioux City for a community coffee. Since it happened to be in the same building we were in, I stopped in to listen, too. Here are my live notes from the senator’s presentation and the question and answer period. This is not intended to be a political…
- Best of | entrepreneurship | global | rural
Rural issues come to the fore in Australia
Our friend Des Walsh from Australia sent me a great email, that I just had to share with all of you. You might not have known but we had a Federal election here on Saturday. The outcome hangs in the balance (although I don’t think there are any hanging chads), with the likelihood of a…
