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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • A group of diverse young people in a casual bar setting. One is holding a mic and speaking as others listen.
    community | rural | trends | youth

    Young Americans Returning to Rural for More than Just Holiday Dinners

    BySmall Biz Survival August 7, 2024

    by Caroline Tremblay, The Daily Yonder August 5, 2024 Kansas: Elevate the work of younger people In rural Kansas, if you’re between the ages of 21 and 39ish, you might be considered a PowerUp —  but not just because of your age or location. A PowerUp is someone who is rural by choice. “The name…

    Read More Young Americans Returning to Rural for More than Just Holiday DinnersContinue

  • In front of a downtown building, a small rectangle of turf grass provides a pet relief area. A bag dispenser is mounted on a pole nearby.
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural | trends

    Pet friendly business opportunities

    ByBecky McCray April 29, 2024April 22, 2024

    Any business can offer pet friendly amenities In 2023, SaveYour.Town identified pet friendly communities as a Top Topic. Here’s an example of a business offering a pet friendly amenity. In Palouse, Washington, a local veterinarian has an office in the downtown. Out front, they’ve installed a small patch of artificial turf as a pet relief…

    Read More Pet friendly business opportunitiesContinue

  • IEDC 2023 annual conference logotype over a nighttime skyline of Dallas, Texas.
    economic development | rural | trends

    Small town retail topics from IEDC conference: getting owners to improve their buildings, recruiting chain groceries and supporting local retail startups

    ByBecky McCray October 9, 2023

    I’m sharing notes from sessions and conversations at the International Economic Development Council annual conference in Dallas. First up: Retail! Lacy Beasley of Retail Strategies moderated a panel on retail real estate and development. While it was mostly big city stuff, several topics were relevant for smaller towns. How to convince a property owner to…

    Read More Small town retail topics from IEDC conference: getting owners to improve their buildings, recruiting chain groceries and supporting local retail startupsContinue

  • Empty Building idea: Make a Zen-like space for your people
    community | rural | survivors | trends

    Empty Building idea: Make a Zen-like space for your people

    ByBecky McCray August 2, 2023March 12, 2025

    Steal this healing and calming idea for your downtown! At the Main Street Now Conference in Boston, I joined a trolley tour of the six Dorchester Main Streets. We got a chance to walk through The Guild‘s expansive building. While this space is only one of many projects of The Guild, it was the one that…

    Read More Empty Building idea: Make a Zen-like space for your peopleContinue

  • A person is working on a laptop from a rooftop deck
    marketing | rural | trends

    How small town businesses can market to remote workers and turn them into new customers

    ByBecky McCray May 15, 2023

    With the rise of remote work, more people move to small towns even temporarily to work remotely. Small town businesses have the opportunity to tap remote workers as new customers. Why remote workers are hard to market to New residents who work remotely can be hard to find: they aren’t all working at the same…

    Read More How small town businesses can market to remote workers and turn them into new customersContinue

  • Survey of Rural Challenges
    economic development | entrepreneurship | rural | Survey of Rural Challenges | trends

    Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 results

    ByBecky McCray May 8, 2023March 2, 2024

    To find out what rural people felt were their biggest challenges, SaveYour.Town and SmallBizSurvival.com surveyed 315 rural people from the US, Canada and Australia between November 2022 and January 2023. The results make up this fifth edition of the Survey of Rural Challenges. Download the PDF Report Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 by debworks Top conclusions…

    Read More Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 resultsContinue

  • Kids playing on a chalked map of their community
    community | economic development | rural | trends

    Rural and small town ideas from the OU Placemaking Conference IQC 2023

    ByBecky McCray April 5, 2023

    Recently I attended the OU (University of Oklahoma) Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) Placemaking Conference This was the 10th annual event. There were 600 people attending from 40 counties in Oklahoma and 6 surrounding states. I attended the 2017 event along with my colleague Deb Brown. The focus was inevitably on big cities, but I…

    Read More Rural and small town ideas from the OU Placemaking Conference IQC 2023Continue

  • Slide text: Times are changing. Putting new destinations on the map: rural towns, countryside, and back to cities. A domestic rediscovery. Blended travel creates longer stays and workcations. Brighter light on wellness.
    economic development | entrepreneurship | rural | tourism | trends

    Rural tourism trends say small towns are still cool

    ByBecky McCray March 27, 2023March 23, 2023

    But you already knew that Tourism Currents, experts on social media for tourism, wrote about 5 travel trends to blog about right now, and there’s a lot for rural communities to latch onto there. 1) Wellness Travel Sheila says, “where people can go to relax, detox, relieve stress, get a massage and spa treatments, eat…

    Read More Rural tourism trends say small towns are still coolContinue

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