If you’re a rural small business person, I want you to introduce yourself. Our first proud rural entrepreneur is Caroline Jordan, from CashFlowRollerCoaster.com. ——————————————The sun peeks over Rice Hill shining into the bank of windows in my home office in Waterford, Maine (pop. 1450). My cats wander by and birds flit past the windows on…
For those of you who have contracted work out to other people, and who have paid those people $600 or more in the past year, now is the time to report that to the IRS and to remind the subcontractors that the payments they received are taxable. It is time to issue Form 1099 MISC….
If one book could revolutionize your small business, it’s Work The System, by Sam Carpenter. (Want a quick preview? Read the guest post Carpenter shared with us, Five Common Mistakes People Make When Starting Up a Small Business and How to Steer Clear of Them.) In the book, Carpenter walks you through his method of…
Every local business website needs to cover some basic information, but too often, we miss something basic. I just searched for some local businesses, and found many that were missing essential info. It’s easy to do, because you’re too close. You think everyone will know, you assume they can figure it out. But it doesn’t…
Straight from my email, meet Benjamin M. Martin. He’s looking for help with a small town restaurant: I live in Clarendon, Arkansas, population 1,700 or so (yes, seventeen hundred, lol). It’s in eastern rural Arkansas, commonly referred to as the Delta. The vast majority of people here are farmers and ‘old school’ where the fast…
Each week, I open the Brag Basket. It’s designed as a fun place for you to share your projects and accomplishments. But you can also cheer for other people, give shout outs, congratulate, and even give someone a well-deserved pat on the back. The Brag Basket is open for everyone, whether from a small town,…
I drink a lot of coffee. So when we saw the sign that said, “World’s best coffee” at the Coldwater, Michigan exit from I-69, I decided that we had to stop later in the day. Nancy and I were going to her folks to return a computer that I had been working on. It’s a…
What will be the biggest trends for rural small businesses in 2009? Anita Campbell of Small Biz Trends asked me. I came up with 11 trends to consider. I must admit that I didn’t make up the phrase, “the Atwoods effect.” That was my husband’s idea for trend #6: Many new residents will be of…
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