Guest post by H. E. James, MBA Has your small business ever been dinged because of credit card fraud? The smaller the business, the harder it is to shoulder the chargeback costs when a fraudulent transaction occurs. Before October 2015, most of those charges were borne by credit card companies themselves rather than merchants…
Beauty salons. Even really small towns probably have one. But when was the last time an economic developer considered them as important business development tools? I was speaking to the Northwest Oklahoma Workforce Board about the 8 Innovative Rural Business Models. When I got to the Business Inside a Business model, my own local…
I went around to local businesses while organizing for Small Business Saturday. In every store, I found something I didn’t realize that they carried. Every single store. I’m not making that up! I knew my favorite women’s shop had kid’s clothes, too, but I didn’t know about the new line of watches or the…
A reader asked me about outside food trucks invading a town of about 2,500 people. It’s a good question, and I’m glad to have a chance to share it with you. I am having a hard time in our small town with food trucks wanting to set up for a couple days of the week? I…
Bike tourists exploring the scenic byways through Baker County, Oregon. Photo (CC) by Baker County Tourism on Flickr. Guest post by Mark Matthews, Chief Executive of Advance Cairns (Australia) ON YOUR BIKE….!!! Mountain biking has experienced rapid growth over the past 20 years as riders seek out new trails and new experiences. And some communities are…
You don’t have to settle for a normal business. Rural businesses are exploring new shapes, new locations and new ways of doing business. Here are six innovative ways people are building businesses in small towns today. 1. Pop-ups These are temporary business that may last from just one day to several months. You’ve seen short-term…
One-third of American consumers have used virtual-assistant services on their smartphones recently. That will climb to two-thirds of all consumers in developed markets using them daily, by the end of 2016, Gartner estimates. As search engines and intelligent digital assistants have gotten smarter in the types of questions they can answer, people are getting more comfortable…
Daily Yonder reported recently that the number of rural businesses declined. The article is very good with detailed analysis. But I was struck by what it didn’t talk about: non-employer businesses. You know, self-employed people. Self-employment is a critical part of the rural business picture, moreso than in urban areas. Stephan J. Goetz predicted that 25%…
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