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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Small Town Business Lights
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural | social media | tech | tools

    Show and Tell – How Video and Maybe Even LIVE Video Are Important for Small Town Business

    ByChris Brogan April 20, 2020April 12, 2020

    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…

    Read More Show and Tell – How Video and Maybe Even LIVE Video Are Important for Small Town BusinessContinue

  • Did America Get Too Big? Next steps for small businesses right now
    entrepreneurship | global | management | planning | rural | survivors

    Did America Get Too Big? Next steps for small businesses right now

    ByChris Brogan April 17, 2020April 12, 2020

    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…

    Read More Did America Get Too Big? Next steps for small businesses right nowContinue

  • Paula Jensen
    community | planning | rural

    What would you be doing this weekend, if the world hadn’t fallen apart?

    ByPaula Jensen April 12, 2020April 12, 2020

    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…

    Read More What would you be doing this weekend, if the world hadn’t fallen apart?Continue

  • Small Steps with kettle corn
    economic development | entrepreneurship | family business | planning | rural | success

    Business plans are not worth the paper they’re written on

    ByDeb Brown February 6, 2020January 29, 2020

    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…

    Read More Business plans are not worth the paper they’re written onContinue

  • Paula Jensen
    community | economic development | mistakes | rural

    The Stop Doing List for Communities

    ByPaula Jensen January 20, 2020January 19, 2020

    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…

    Read More The Stop Doing List for CommunitiesContinue

  • A girl smiles while eating a meal at Eagle Butte, South Dakota.
    community | failure | rural | youth

    How Parents are Keeping Children from Becoming the Next Generation of Leaders

    ByPaula Jensen December 28, 2019December 22, 2019

      By Paula Jensen It seems I have almost always been interested in leadership.  My parents modeled leadership as I was growing up through their active roles in community, church, and school.  I joined 4-H at the age of eight, was called a “ring-leader” as an elementary student (which I don’t think this was a…

    Read More How Parents are Keeping Children from Becoming the Next Generation of LeadersContinue

  • Paula Jensen
    community | economic development | rural

    Gathering the Doers

    ByPaula Jensen November 22, 2019November 21, 2019

    The first vision board presented by the design:SD team to the community of Webster, South Dakota, on Sept. 27, 2014, stated the following phrase in bold lettering:  GATHERING THE DOERS.  There were approximately 50 people in the room that day and surprisingly none of them got up and ran out in fear upon seeing the design:SD team’s…

    Read More Gathering the DoersContinue

  • A tray of cookies on a craftsman-style table
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural

    Need a downtown business idea? Try a Cookie Crawl

    ByBecky McCray July 22, 2019July 22, 2019

      Our friend Maury Forman of Washington state, sent us this idea from Madras, Oregon: On February 16 the Madras Downtown Association and Petite Sweets hosted the first-ever Cookie Crawl. Participants paid $5 and received a box and map that listed all the locations where the beautifully decorated cookies were available. Petite Sweets decorated cookies…

    Read More Need a downtown business idea? Try a Cookie CrawlContinue

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