If I was an economic development professional in a small town, I’d build a local version of the Oklahoma City Co-working Collaborative. Instead of looking for that next big company to recruit, I’d grow my own. And instead of focusing on “big” local businesses for my incubator space, I’d build a co-working incubator, styled after…
Guest Post By Neal Rohrbach I’m sure you’ve been to a trade show in the big city with big time vendors and corporate representatives handing out cool “freebies” with their logo on them. The “big dogs” certainly aren’t the only ones who can have a cool item or gadget to pass out to potential customers….
Hometown boy Phil Gerbyshak shares his thoughts on personal branding in small towns. Shot at SOBCon ’09. New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
Marci Penner, executive director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, has lots of ideas of how to solve the volunteer shortage. She’s looking at all new ways to involve and engage people in small towns, with the WeKan volunteer program! Apologies for the dark video. It’s really dark in that barn! Marci also has a…
Dave Ivan of Michigan State University Extension rocked the house at the Michigan Small Town and Rural Development Conference with his “Can Small Towns Be Cool?” presentation. He showered us with ideas and examples gathered from 250 community visits, a literature review and the Michigan “Cool Cities Initiative” survey of young professionals. He grouped his…
As you work to promote your small town, you’re looking for your special qualities. Marci Penner, executive director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation, walks us through the eight rural culture elements. Using this framework, any town of any size can answer the question, “what is there to see or do here?” Read more about the…
The old definition of success for rural counties was growth. But growth frequently means more problems, high land prices, loss of shared values, etc. So if you are growing, you aren’t happy. If you aren’t growing, you’re stagnating, so you’re not happy either. So no one is happy. But the new definition of success may…
More rural and small town folks are getting on Twitter. As I get to speak to more and more groups about it, I think we need a special guide to link you up with some friendly faces on Twitter and some resources to help you get started. Like a bus full of friends to show…
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.
We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses.
Copyright © 2006–2026 Becky McCray • Site by Webdancers