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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • community | rural

    How to overcome the small town politics

    ByBecky McCray June 5, 2011August 27, 2014

    An anonymous reader left this plaintive cry on an old post here: My Arizona small town is a mess. We are going to become a ghost town and/or absorbed into the County if we can’t generate revenue. The Town Council and Chamber are full of power plays, bickering and a Good Ol’ Boy attitude. We…

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  • community | rural

    Small town profit/nonprofit partnerships

    ByBecky McCray May 10, 2011August 27, 2014

    Long ago, Rebecca Leaman asked me about nonprofits in small towns. Profit/nonprofit partnership is essentialin most small towns.  “A lot of your thoughts on small-town and small-biz development seem to apply well to nonprofits, too – certainly to the grassroots groups that keep rural communities (I live in one) rolling. Your thoughts?” At the time,…

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  • Best of | community | economic development | rural

    When saving a dollar could lose your community

    ByBecky McCray February 21, 2011August 27, 2014

    [Melyn Johnson is the Main Street Manager in Guymon, Oklahoma. She always amazes me with her innovative projects in tourism and community development. She is also incredibly generous at sharing her knowledge. She wrote this piece for her “On the Bricks” column, in the Guymon Daily Herald. It’s been reprinted in other area papers, and she…

    Read More When saving a dollar could lose your communityContinue

  • economic development | entrepreneurship

    Want more entrepreneurs? Grow your own

    ByBecky McCray September 9, 2010August 27, 2014

    Looking to grow your own local entrepreneurs? See if you can take some inspiration from these entrepreneur contests. First, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, with Launch L-A. They are targeting young entrepreneurs with a prior connection to their county, but currently living elsewhere. Does your idea have wings? If you’re a young entrepreneur just itching to launch your…

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  • community | economic development | entrepreneurship | rural | tourism | youth

    Rural community building ideas

    ByBecky McCray June 17, 2010August 27, 2014

    This is the second of several reports from the Making Place Matter in Northwest Oklahoma Rural Community Economic Development Summit held in Alva on June 3, 2010. A session on community building covered a wide range of topics, from the Main Street approach, to supporting local businesses, rural tourism, rural grocery stores, the participation of young people,…

    Read More Rural community building ideasContinue

  • community | youth

    One answer to lose fewer graduates

    ByBecky McCray July 19, 2009August 27, 2014

    Small towns lose too many of their high school graduates: they drop out, they move away, they leave for college, they get involved in drugs, they vandalize, or they are just lost. What can you do? Read “This small town nurtures its teenagers,” a success story from Canada. Here’s the end of the story: The…

    Read More One answer to lose fewer graduatesContinue

  • customer service | economic development | entrepreneurship | shop local

    Shopping local as a partnership

    ByBecky McCray July 1, 2009August 27, 2014

    Lois Loucks, Director of the Tri-Cities Economic Development (Wheaton-Onaga-Havensville, KS), shared some of her innovative thoughts with me in an email about shopping local. “Shopping Local” as a two way street, with responsibility placed on the business owners to earn “their share of business”. Just because someone decides to be in business, does not automatically…

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  • announcement | community | economic development | shop local

    Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns ebook

    ByBecky McCray May 25, 2009August 27, 2014

    Shop local and buy local campaigns can significantly impact your hometown economy, but the instructions available online assume you are a big city. That’s why I decided to create a step by step guide to starting a shop local campaign in a small town, as a downloadable e-book. It includes solid research that shows whether…

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