One of the top issues named in our recent Survey of Rural Challenges was how to retain young people. It ranked the number one concern in 2015, and number 2 in 2017. One participant commented, “We have already identified that to survive, we will need entrepreneurial millennials who want to be rural by choice. The…
Did you know that: You will find a family business in one out of every 10 households. Family businesses contributed over $10 trillion, by one estimate, into our U.S. economy. Family businesses generate over 50% of U. S. business revenue. Family businesses employ over 50% of the U.S. workforce. Do you get a sense of…
“How do I attract good employees for low-level jobs?” That was one of the responses to our Survey of Rural Challenges. You don’t. That would be my answer. You will have to re-imagine and remake those jobs. Let’s look at a lumber mill, a real one in a real small town that friends from Oregon…
Guest post by Deb Brown We had filmmakers from San Francisco in our town this month making a movie about us. They are telling the story of Webster City, Iowa, and how we’ve bounced back from the loss of a major manufacturer and the hundreds of jobs they took with them. It’s a big deal…
“Everything gigantic in American [retail] is about to get smaller or die.” James Kunstler wrote in 2013. He said big box retailers were on the brink of scale implosion, and that “every element of economic reality is now poised to squash them.” Fast forward to 2017, and we’ve gone over the brink. Washington Post reported last month…
SmallBizSurvival.com and SaveYour.Town joined forces to conduct an international rural survey of 250 rural people during 2017. Some of the results don’t match up with the usual stories we hear about rural. A few surprising results: More people mentioned a lack of workers than mentioned a lack of jobs More people were interested in…
How often aren’t we told to “trust our gut?” You see this comment made often for people starting a small business or when small-business owners need to make an important decision. Yet a recent article from Entrepreneur challenged this and indicated that this idea may be a myth. So who do you believe? Which view…
Last week, we talked about where to find potential entrepreneurs locally. Then I saw a Tweet from my friend Jon Swanson, saying he’d just opened a tiny storefront online. That’s when I realized I forgot to list the online places to look for local entrepreneurs. Right now, rural people from all over are making…
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