Looking back at my life, though, I believe my success has come because of my failures – not despite them. I’ve got a pretty colorful history and made many bad decisions, but it wasn’t until about 5 years ago that I stopped concentrating and trying to improve what I was bad at and started to…
When you succeed, they will say… “Well, look at who his granddad is. They all have money. He had everything handed to him.” “She had nothing to do with it. My cousin does all the real work there.” “Must be nice to have all that money without doing anything for it.” When you fail, they…
By Lisa Van Allen, PhD, ACC There is no more critical time than now for small businesses to discover their “strategic sweet spot”. Business owners put a considerable amount of time into evaluating the market, selecting a niche, and developing a personal or company brand. These are essential to business success. But the work is…
Common mistakes can kill your small business. That’s why we have an ongoing series of examples: so we can learn together. Today’s example is from the recent panic buying driving up prices in the firearms industry, post-election. One small business quickly raised prices on their website. Unfortunately, they forgot to update the list price. The…
Each Friday, I open the Brag Basket. Obviously, it’s designed as a fun place for you to brag on 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…
You, us, we small business people are the drivers now. It’s important to remember that as we tool around our community. It’s not to swagger with false confidence as BMOC’s did in the past. No. The point is to understand…we’re driving this economy moving forward. Here’s why: On average, small business generates 60% of new…
Alva, Oklahoma, is my home town, and we have a group of partners supporting entrepreneurship. During the Global Entrepreneurship Week, the partners are sponsoring Entrepreneurship from Passions to Profit: Building your Business, and our own Glenna Mae is a featured speaker. (Go, Mom!) At this event, the focus is on “how to build and encourage…
Temporary holiday help is critical in small business. You cannot afford a bad hire, even in the short term! Kay Bell asked my opinion on a holiday hiring for an article for NFIB. She also collected some great tips from workforce development specialist Jacquelyn P. Robinson. The tips break down into six areas: Start looking…
Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.
We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.
Meet our authors on the About page.
Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.
Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.
We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses.
Copyright © 2006–2026 Becky McCray • Site by Webdancers