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Small Biz Survival

Practical ideas for small town business and community builders

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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Caseys and a Dollar General big box stores right next to each other in a small town
    community | economic development | rural | shop local | trends

    The Rural Double Rainbow: economic development, retail chains and local businesses

    ByDeb Brown May 29, 2026May 29, 2026

    Erik Reader is a rural friend of ours, and much like us, out there everyday doing his best to make a difference and help somebody out. Erik is the president of Reader Area Development , and is a downtown revitalization professional with more than 15 years of hands-on experience working inside the realities of small…

    Read More The Rural Double Rainbow: economic development, retail chains and local businessesContinue

  • A two-story brick downtown building has been recently rehabbed with new windows and updated paint. A small "for sale" sign is in the window.
    rural

    These small town neighbors bought vacant buildings, brought them up to code. Here’s what happened next

    ByBecky McCray April 18, 2024April 18, 2024

      Waynoka, Oklahoma, had a lot of vacant run-down buildings in their downtown. In a town of 900 people, the prospects didn’t look great. At an all-class reunion, a group of alumni got together and decided to change that. They called themselves Project Waynoka, our friend and early contributor Jeanne Cole said. They started raising money….

    Read More These small town neighbors bought vacant buildings, brought them up to code. Here’s what happened nextContinue

  • A large industrial-looking empty building
    economic development | mistakes | rural

    Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate?

    ByBecky McCray June 9, 2020June 22, 2020

    Should we offer incentives to fill it with small retailers? How do we convince the mayor and economic development group?   The empty factory building A reader wrote in to ask about converting and dividing up a huge old building. Because my answer isn’t quite what the reader asked for, I’ve taken the details out….

    Read More Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate?Continue

Howdy!

Since 2006, this site has been helping people like you in small towns move forward without waiting on outside experts, big budgets, or perfect plans. You don’t need any of that to get started.

If you care about your business, your downtown, or your community, you’ll find ideas here you can actually use. Take one. Try it out. Let me know how it goes for you.

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.

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