POV: My solar power project
For those of you who asked about my project to convert from an old windmill to a shiny new solar pump, you can now see some pics at my photo blog. small biz rural entrepreneurship POV
Grants help in Building Entrepreneurial Communities in Nebraska
Nebraska is faced with familiar problems of rural decline: declining population and depressed economies. Some small towns are actively trying to promote entrepreneurship and development. The Blog for Rural America reports on a new program for those towns. The Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act (BECA) program, administered by the Nebraska Rural Development Commission and Department of…
How do minimum wage increases affect small business?
From Inc.com: Businesses grow faster in states with higher minimum wages, according to a new study. As more states proceed with minimum wage increases on their own, a new study shows that small businesses grow faster in states with minimum wages above the federal level, which has remained at $5.15 since 1997. The study, conducted…
How one small town reacts to "outsider" development
How do small towns react when outsiders move in and start development? It’s not always pretty. Here is one example, Kirksville, Missouri, profiled in the Kansas City Star. The outsider in this case is Big Louie Keen, owner of a “sprawling strip club complex along Interstate 44,” about 200 miles to the south of Kirksville….
What Your Small Business Can Learn From Jelly Beans
One of our favorites at the SBDC is Darrell Zahorsky athttp://sbinformation.about.com/ and given that I love jelly beans this one really interested me! What Your Small Business Can Learn From Jelly BeansAn unusual experiment with Six Kinds of Jelly Beans at Wharton School University of Pennsylvania found that the more variety a consumer thinks they…
Do small business startup grants exist?
No. They don’t. Not in the US. Wayne Hogue writing in the The Shreveport Times takes on this myth: Attention! There is no such thing as a grant to start a for-profit business. Business startup grants are an urban legend; a myth that just will not die. I’m talking about grants (i.e. free money, not…
Small town tourism business idea: personalized postcards
Does your small town have a tourism base? Consider today’s new business idea from Springwise: personalized postcard vending machines. Picture these set up at your local festivals, in your downtown business area, or at the souvenier shop. You can visit the German company Cosmocard for more info. And Springwise has an entire section of Tourism…
Empty rural buildings draw businesses out of urban US
Brian Depew, The Rural Populist blog, has the story on businesses moving into our ruralSchool Buildings for Sale. This is happening all across the US heartland. Nearby Carmen, Oklahoma, recently brought in a pool supply company, to their town of 400. Buffalo, Oklahoma, population 1200, recruited a textbook business, and had two more potential businesses…
