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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Becky McCray and Deb Brown present Refilling the Business Pipeline
    economic development | entrepreneurship | failure | mistakes | rural | success | trends

    Refilling the rural business pipeline

    ByBecky McCray July 7, 2020July 6, 2020

    This is a short sample from the SaveYour.Town video “Refilling Your Business Pipeline” featuring Deb Brown and me. Small towns and rural communities will need new business startups to revitalize their local economies, but not many people have the resources today to do a startup the way it’s traditionally been done. Part of what holds…

    Read More Refilling the rural business pipelineContinue

  • A large industrial-looking empty building
    economic development | mistakes | rural

    Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate?

    ByBecky McCray June 9, 2020June 22, 2020

    Should we offer incentives to fill it with small retailers? How do we convince the mayor and economic development group?   The empty factory building A reader wrote in to ask about converting and dividing up a huge old building. Because my answer isn’t quite what the reader asked for, I’ve taken the details out….

    Read More Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate?Continue

  • Carlos Moreno presents a slide saying, "They will never fix it. There is no they."
    Best of | economic development | entrepreneurship | mistakes | POV | rural | survivors

    Economic self defense for small towns 

    ByBecky McCray June 7, 2020March 25, 2023

    Editorial by Becky McCray Not everyone who says they’ll help your town is telling you the truth.  If you want a resilient small town economy and prosperity for the people in your town, I have some self-defense ideas for you.  Focus more on your own people, less on attraction.  Stop paying people to bring business…

    Read More Economic self defense for small towns Continue

  • customer service | economic development | entrepreneurship | management | marketing | rural | shop local | trends

    Open Up – It’s the Customers

    ByChris Brogan May 19, 2020

    As different places begin to allow local businesses to open up, you’re not alone if you’re breathing a sigh of relief mixed with a gasp of worry. We all need the money. We all want to get back to being useful for the people we serve. And some or most of us are worried about…

    Read More Open Up – It’s the CustomersContinue

  • Two Small Town Guys
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural | shop local | trends

    Remember when we used to try to hide our accents?

    ByChris Brogan May 7, 2020April 30, 2020

      By Chris Brogan I’m originally from Maine. Accents up there come through the nose. Most famously, people from Maine are supposed to say “Ayuh” when we mean “yes.” Midway through high school, I moved to Massachusetts, where you lose the nasal thing, but you also lose all “r’s” from conversation. “It’s hahd to sound…

    Read More Remember when we used to try to hide our accents?Continue

  • Small Town Business Lights
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural | social media | tech | tools

    Show and Tell – How Video and Maybe Even LIVE Video Are Important for Small Town Business

    ByChris Brogan April 20, 2020April 12, 2020

    By Chris Brogan They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes, it might be worth a thousand dollars, too. Over the last ten years, restaurants and bars who post their best dishes or drinks as photos on sites like Instagram have learned that people love seeing examples of what they’ll get if…

    Read More Show and Tell – How Video and Maybe Even LIVE Video Are Important for Small Town BusinessContinue

  • Did America Get Too Big? Next steps for small businesses right now
    entrepreneurship | global | management | planning | rural | survivors

    Did America Get Too Big? Next steps for small businesses right now

    ByChris Brogan April 17, 2020April 12, 2020

    Survival skills for small town businesses in the Coronavirus era By Chris Brogan As the world starts to ask what’s going to happen when this pandemic is finally over and we can look at what it will take to jumpstart the economy again, one venture capitalist says we have to save Main Street and not…

    Read More Did America Get Too Big? Next steps for small businesses right nowContinue

  • Paula Jensen
    community | planning | rural

    What would you be doing this weekend, if the world hadn’t fallen apart?

    ByPaula Jensen April 12, 2020April 12, 2020

    Guest post by Paula Jensen I was on my second video conference of the day earlier last week and a peer in the meeting said, “Time-out! I need to ask everyone a question.” We all agreed, and he said, “What would you be doing this weekend, if the world hadn’t fallen apart?” Some people answered…

    Read More What would you be doing this weekend, if the world hadn’t fallen apart?Continue

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