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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • women using laptops
    customer service | entrepreneurship | marketing | mistakes | rural

    The secret to effective follow up: What NOT to say

    ByBecky McCray April 15, 2019April 11, 2019

    You probably know better than to follow up with someone like this: “Just following up!” You realize that doesn’t really help either of you. But you still might be making this mistake: “Did you do that thing you said you were going to do?” That feels like it’s helping, but from the customer perspective, it’s…

    Read More The secret to effective follow up: What NOT to sayContinue

  • The Brag Basket is the “good news” market
    brag basket

    The Brag Basket is the “good news” market

    BySmall Biz Survival April 12, 2019March 31, 2019

      The Brag Basket is open! This one is for April 12-14, 2019. Bring your good news, big or small, to share with everyone. What can you share in the Brag Basket? introduce yourself share some great news from this week celebrate progress, even baby steps congratulate a friend applaud for each other confess your…

    Read More The Brag Basket is the “good news” marketContinue

  • How church buildings can do more for the community
    community | economic development | entrepreneurship | rural

    How church buildings can do more for the community

    ByBecky McCray April 8, 2019March 31, 2019

    This week at SaveYour.Town, we’re sharing how to take big empty buildings and divide them up for multiple small businesses. One model is co-working spaces, which offer shared office and workspace. Then our friend Jon Swanson sent us an article on rural churches doing innovative things, including one doing a co-working space. This seems like…

    Read More How church buildings can do more for the communityContinue

  • Laundry basket
    brag basket

    Let’s clean up in the Brag Basket

    BySmall Biz Survival April 5, 2019March 31, 2019

      The Brag Basket is open! This one is for April 5-7, 2019. Bring your good news, big or small, to share with everyone. What can you share in the Brag Basket? introduce yourself share some great news from this week celebrate progress, even baby steps congratulate a friend applaud for each other confess your…

    Read More Let’s clean up in the Brag BasketContinue

  • Ideas to fill empty display windows
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural

    Ideas to fill empty display windows

    ByBecky McCray April 2, 2019March 31, 2019

    Every small town has some empty windows downtown. Some are empty buildings, some are buildings being used for storage, and some are service businesses that just don’t have a lot to put in their windows. Here are three ideas I saw on my trip through Cowlitz County, Washington. Make a mini-museum. Work with the local…

    Read More Ideas to fill empty display windowsContinue

  • Good news goes swimmingly in the Brag Basket
    brag basket

    Good news goes swimmingly in the Brag Basket

    BySmall Biz Survival March 29, 2019February 22, 2019

      The Brag Basket is open! This one is for March 29-31, 2019. Bring your good news, big or small, to share with everyone. What can you share in the Brag Basket? introduce yourself share some great news from this week celebrate progress, even baby steps congratulate a friend applaud for each other confess your…

    Read More Good news goes swimmingly in the Brag BasketContinue

  • Know your customers: What do they want to be good at?
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural

    Know your customers: What do they want to be good at?

    ByBecky McCray March 25, 2019March 23, 2019

      A few weeks ago, we talked about knowing your customers in order to help them answer questions they get asked. This week, get to know your customers better by thinking through what they want to be good at. What do your customers want to be good at? You help customers all the time. The…

    Read More Know your customers: What do they want to be good at?Continue

  • Are all small towns dying? Can you save a small town?
    community | economic development | POV | rural | survivors | trends

    Are all small towns dying? Can you save a small town?

    ByPaula Jensen March 23, 2019February 22, 2019

      There have been too many years of disinterest and disinvestment in rural America and at times I grow weary of defending the value of the rural place I call home to a national audience. I have read multiple articles about the rural underclass and the poverty that plagues our landscape from Bloomberg Business, NY…

    Read More Are all small towns dying? Can you save a small town?Continue

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