Have you heard of “soup” events? People pay a small amount, say $5, to attend a local pitch event. Local groups pitch their ideas, everyone votes, and the winner gets the money. The real winner is the community, of course. It boosts activity, gets people talking to each other, builds momentum and rewards people…
Guest Post by Deb Brown When I visited Decatur County, Iowa, several people said that wanted a brewery. They talked about the big barriers in their way: finding the right building, the right funding, the right people. The big idea seems really hard this way. Why not start smaller? Start by using the Idea…
Necessity breeds innovation, and rural people have always been innovative. Working with limited resources makes us more creative thinkers. That’s just one of the reasons that small towns and rural places are the perfect testing grounds for the future. The infrastructure of future technology will be the result of rural testing. Drones and UAVs – perfect…
We all hold different titles, work in different fields or sectors, but we’re all fighting for the future of our towns and rural places. We want to be a place our children and grandchildren and our nieces and nephews can live a good life. Quality of Life, a prosperous future for our towns, these are things…
Editor’s Note: Welcome our newest contributor, Paula Jensen of Dakota Resources. She works directly with small towns and rural communities as a community coach. I love her positive approach to rural places. I look forward to sharing her thoughts with you regularly! –Becky By Paula Jensen I stood with a blue marker in my hand…
Let’s look at the tale of two small town concerts. Concert 1: We’ve done all the work, you just need to show up! One happened at an agritourism business. They brought in a couple of professional musicians for performances out at the farm. The musicians were reasonably well known, with some previous exposure on…
I’m not a big fan of business plan or startup competitions for small towns. I especially don’t like shark-style pitch competitions. I do love that you’re taking action to support more startups and entrepreneurs. I like that you’re including training and support for everyone who participates. (You are, aren’t you?) I can even live…
On a recent call, Janet Soto from Oregon picked out 6 themes from what I’ve written about lately that she felt were exactly what Oregon small towns most needed to hear as they work on entrepreneurship. There are positive trends for small towns. It doesn’t matter what the numbers say about us, what negative…
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