• Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Test your business idea with small steps: starting a quilt retreat

By Becky McCray

Three quilts on display in early 2020 at Mississippi Cultural Crossroads Port Gibson Mississippi. Photo by Sheila Scarborough.

Uniontown, Washington, (population 300) has a strong base of arts, artisan and craft entrepreneurship. When I toured Uniontown, a woman spoke up who wants to start a quilt retreat, a place for people to come and quilt together. More than a local quilting bee, she’s imagining a full retreat space. She owns a historic home […]

May 7, 2024 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, failure, rural, Small Biz 100 Tagged With: building a business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, idea friendly, service businesses, small business, startup

99% of the best things you can do for your town don’t require anyone’s permission

By Becky McCray

Building community in your small town sounds like a daunting task. It’s easy to get bogged down, thinking there’s too much to do, that you’d need too many permissions or it would take too much money. The reality of building community is it’s a change of mindset to Take Small Steps. 99% of the best […]

January 2, 2024 Filed Under: Best of, community, rural Tagged With: community development, idea friendly, rural

Solve Rural Community Challenges the Idea Friendly Way – stories from IEDC

By Deb Brown

Guest post by Deb Brown What attendees learned from attending the Idea Friendly Session by SaveYour.Town at the International Economic Development Council Conference — Big Ideas you can copy in your town  Becky McCray and I were excited to lead an interactive Idea Friendly workshop at the International Economic Development Council Conference in Dallas in […]

November 9, 2023 Filed Under: community, economic development, ideas, rural, youth Tagged With: big ideas, childcare, downtown, housing, idea friendly, volunteers, youth

How to start a laundromat in a small town on a budget

By Becky McCray

A faded sign says, "Wash-o-mat coin-op laundry". Painted figures of a family are carrying their basket, soap and bleach and are followed by a frisky dog.

Starting a laundromat involves a lot of up front expenses, unless you do it the Idea Friendly Way   Lots of small towns have no self-service laundry facilities, so it’s a smart business to start. It also adds a valuable service and amenity to build your community. Laundromats are notoriously expensive to get started, and […]

June 23, 2023 Filed Under: economic development, entrepreneurship, rural Tagged With: idea friendly, rural, service businesses, small business, startup

Next Page »

Howdy!

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.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

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.

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses. Logo with "Shop Indie Local"Move Your Money, bank local, invest localMulticolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week"Save Your Town logotype

Best of Small Biz Survival

A few people shopping in an attractive retail store in refurbished downtown building.

TREND 2025: Retail’s Big Split: what small town retailers can do now

Three kids in a canoe

Get started as an outdoor outfitter without breaking the bank

A shopkeeper and a customer share a laugh in a small store packed full of interesting home wares.

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors

Wide view of a prairie landscape with a walk-through gate in a fence

Tourism: Make the most of scant remains and “not much to see” sites with a look-through sign

Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2025 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in