Rural areas with sparse population, like western Oklahoma and Kansas, are up against a brick wall that is a workforce shortage. G.L. Hoffman has the story of his cousin Craig, offering $50,000 a year, health care, and home, for farm workers. No takers. Too far out in the country. Too much hard work. Too little…
This post is the fourth in a series on social media and social networking tools for small towns. By Shawn Kirsh Well I was born in a small townAnd I live in a small townProbly die in a small townOh, those small communities All my friends are so small townMy parents live in the same…
Social media tools can be a great field leveler for small town professionals. I explained why we bother spending time on social networking at Liz Strauss’ Successful Blog, and then offered some practical ways to get started at Chris Brogan’s blog. Now, let’s do a little show and tell. Here are four people living in…
What could a small business in a small town gain from spending time on social media tools like blogs, Twitter, and FaceBook? And how can they get started? And is anyone doing this right now? Those are the questions around our 4 part series on social media for small town small businesses. 1. Social Networking…
Need ammo for your shop local campaign? Use this fact: local merchants are worth three times as much to your local economy as the chain stores. From Civic Economics: The analysis demonstrated that locally owned merchants generate more than three times the local economic activity of their competitor chain stores on equal revenue. Found in…
Need ideas for a small town small business? We have an ebook for you. 20 Small Business Ideas for Small Towns is a short ebook detailing 20 different ways you can make a successful business in a small town. It also covers seven ways to generate your own ideas, so you can dream up the…
Our Friend Shawn Kirsch is starting a conversation on living in small towns. His goal is to revitalize his hometown. I understand completely why people move away, and leave North Dakota completely for that matter. But as much as it may benefit me to move away, and be around more people with the same mindset…
I recently found Ben Means Business, a great blog on small business topics. Ben found me through Twitter and I want to share his blog with you. http://www.ben-means-business.com His most recent article had some helpful hints on choosing a name for a new business. He started with three questions; Is it descriptive?; Is it memorable?;…
Since 2006, this site has been helping people like you in small towns move forward without waiting on outside experts, big budgets, or perfect plans. You don’t need any of that to get started.
If you care about your business, your downtown, or your community, you’ll find ideas here you can actually use. Take one. Try it out. Let me know how it goes for you.
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