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Local leaders: Start with intuition about your community then add data

By Paula Jensen

Paula Jensen

How do decisions about your town’s future get made? Do government officials and volunteer leaders rely on what they already know, or do they rely on data generated by outside experts? Or might it be both? By Paula Jensen Intuitive decision making is based on gut feelings, past experiences, and personal judgment. It involves using […]

March 30, 2023 Filed Under: economic development, rural Tagged With: data, decision making, leadership, local government, research

Survey of Rural Challenges 2021 results, analysis of themes from 2015 through today

By Becky McCray

Survey of Rural Challenges 2021

Rural communities were not immune to the chaos of 2020, but remained more concerned with ongoing challenges. To find out what rural people felt were their biggest challenges, SaveYour.Town and SmallBizSurvival.com surveyed over 280 rural people in the fourth quarter of 2020. The results make up this fourth edition of the Survey of Rural Challenges. Challenges […]

June 7, 2021 Filed Under: announcement, community, economic development, entrepreneurship, rural, trends Tagged With: economic development, research, rural trends, small towns, survey, Survey of Rural Challenges

Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13

By Becky McCray

Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium hosted by Oklahoma State University. It’s an online event on October 13, 2020. What is the Symposium about? The Symposium is meant to raise awareness, attract resources and stimulate research toward solving grand challenges facing rural communities. And goodness knows we have some grand challenges. I’ll be facilitating […]

September 26, 2020 Filed Under: announcement, rural Tagged With: academic, Becky McCray, events, Oklahoma State University, research, rural, Rural Renewal, speakers, virtual events

Know What Your CUSTOMER Wants

By Glenn Muske

Knowing what your customer wants is the base to building a successful business. Of course, you still must meet that need, let customers know you have what they want, and price it at a level that customers feel is acceptable. But the process begin with knowing the problem they are trying to solve. Market research is […]

April 16, 2015 Filed Under: rural, Small Biz 100, success Tagged With: business ideas, business opportunities, business plan, entrepenruship, market research, planning, research, small business, success

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