The upcoming US Census matters to rural small businesses because it will affect your community for the next ten years. Census data is key to: Federal grants, especially CDBG and Rural Development Economic development efforts Redrawing political boundaries from Congressional districts, all the way down to local political boundaries Every single person counted brings $790…
How can your small town business take on the bigger competitors? Whether you’re facing the big boxes, the big city shopping, or the online big boys, you can try these four ways to beat them back. Tell your human story. Your business came from somewhere, was founded by someone, touches real people. When you tell…
Nebraska MarketPlaceJoy Marshall, event planner for the Center for Rural Affairs, reminded me that it’s almost time for the Nebraska MarketPlace, held Feb. 23-24, 2010, during National Entrepreneurship Week. Oklahoma Entrepreneurship ConferenceShelli Todd, director of OKStartup.com for Oklahoma’s Department of Commerce, sent details on the 2010 Entrepreneur’s Conference, also Feb. 23-24, 2010. The conference has…
Inspired by the challenge from Julien Smith, I’m reading much more consistently this year. Here are some of my recent reads. Small Town Sexy by Kim Huston.It’s a whirlwind tour of Kim’s romance with small towns. From her window on the world in small town Kentucky, she offers up a sample of small town living,…
Shop local is a popular topic here, but this week I’ve watched a new trend pop up: bank local.Move Your Money is encouraging people to shift their money to locally owned banks. The site includes bank rankings by Institutional Risk Analytics. All of my local banks scored B+ or higher. The project was dreamed up…
UPDATE: We’re scheduled for Sunday, March 14, 2010, at 12:30 pm, in the Hilton Room E. Here is the detailed event page at SXSW. Hi, this is Becky McCray of SmallBizSurvival.com, and along with Liz Strauss of Successful-Blog.com, we’re going to answer your questions in a Core Conversation at South By Southwest Interactive, called “How…
Rural and small town tourism is all about experiences. That is why you should steal this idea for your local tourism: Meet the locals in Jamaica. [There are] about 300 ambassadors who volunteer with the Jamaica Tourist Board’s Meet the People program. Launched nearly 41 years ago, it arranges meetings between visitors and residents, basing…
Many small towns have un-used space in their downtown. A local resident in Buffalo, Oklahoma, has used some of that space to create short-term lodging for hunters. Julia Hinther runs a salon and gift shop. The space upstairs used to be an apartment for her sons. When one of her sons tried his luck with…
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