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 […]
Remember when we used to try to hide our accents?
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 […]
Show and Tell – How Video and Maybe Even LIVE Video Are Important for Small Town Business
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 […]
Did America Get Too Big? Next steps for small businesses right now
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 […]
What would you be doing this weekend, if the world hadn’t fallen apart?
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 […]
The best things you can do for local businesses in light of coronavirus
Monica Bailey of Rock Port, Missouri, sent in this question that I think you can relate to: Thank you ladies, as always, for supporting small towns! My question is super generic but it is giving me sleepless nights. I am our counties economic/community development director and I’ve been scrambling to support our small businesses […]
How to get more parking downtown without adding any spaces
There’s not enough parking downtown! Doesn’t every city have that problem? You’re about to learn a new way to get more parking for your Main Street without having to pave, stripe or get a permit. It doesn’t work in every town, but it very well might work in yours. Finding hidden parking There is only […]
Exact Yeti Blue mic volume and Windows settings to reduce background noise
The drawback to Yeti Blue USB Microphones for podcasting Yeti Blue microphones are widely popular for podcasting and home sound recording. They do have a big drawback of being overly sensitive. They pick up too much background noise even when the gain is turned way down. I know because I bought one for my own […]
Business plans are not worth the paper they’re written on
by Deb Brown At least, the old way of doing them Writing a business plan is an intense project that takes up a lot of your time. You spend weeks and weeks on it, and you’re not even sure everything in it is correct. Your financial projections are just wild guesses. You’re not even open […]
The Stop Doing List for Communities
By Paula Jensen Have you ever experienced a time when you could envision what needs to happen but had no idea what to stop doing in order to reach the point of success? Here is a simple example: This year at Santa Day in my community someone asked, “Why do we give away turkeys to […]
