Cascade Supply, Inc., in Concrete, Washington, is the “You name it – We got it” store. They aren’t kidding. There is more packed into this downtown store than you could ever imagine. If you love a good hardware store or lumber yard, this place is a piece of heaven. Cascade Supply Lumber and Builders Supply….
Photography is a crowded profession. And it’s getting squeezed to death by a glut of amateurs. When everyone can afford a “pro” camera, how can a professional photographer make a living? Mike Klemme’s answers hold some lessons for people in all types of professions being squeezed. Mike Klemme is a professional photographer from Enid, Oklahoma…
[Glen Kowarsky emailed me the other day, and I had to pass along his story. It’s a great rural small business story. -Becky ] I started Dogs at Camp back in the Spring of 2002. At that time, I had a dog named Abby, who was my ‘one and only’, as I don’t have children….
When I was a little kid, my mom and dad owned their own trucking business. One winter, things weren’t going great. In fact, things looked pretty bad. They went home to visit their parents in Alva, and cut a big load of firewood while they were there. Then they headed back to Oklahoma City, where…
Every so often, someone tells a story on Twitter that just needs to be captured and repeated. This is one of those. On March 2, Ellen Cagnassola, aka @SweetSoaps, suddenly started telling the story of her business. Let me share her story with you, just the way she shared it on Twitter, 140 characters at…
We love to share small town success stories. Deborah Reynolds sent us this one after our most recent newsletter. (If you missed our newsletter, you can read it here.) I want to share a story with you about one woman who is making a difference in our small town of Decatur, Texas, actually in our…
That’s the secret to surviving economic downturns. A fascinating article in today’s NY Times on how NY City survives so well in recessions includes this quote: The secret of New York’s post-1970 reinvention was that smart people, who knew each other and learned from each, innovated in ways that made billions in financial services. (Looking…
Sometimes the best advice comes from other small business owners. Mark Hayward asked on Twitter,“Small biz owners, are your numbers down? Ours seem to be off quite a bit from this time last year…How are you compensating?” In the course of our conversation online, we came up with two suggestions: 1. Diversify – What else…
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