The narrower your niche, the wider your opportunity. After I wrote that story, Darrell Hyatt asked a great question: Sheila Scarborough and Darrell Hyattshare a laugh at dinnerat BlogWorld Expo 2010 When you narrow your niche, how do you find the clients inside it? Let me walk you through an example, from my own business…
Lots of people arrive here looking for rural business ideas. That’s why I keep coming up with more and more ideas you can use to start your own small town business. Here are three new ones to spur your thinking. My grandmother’s 1941 Kerr canning manual Teach canning classesIf you learned to can from your…
You have to break out of your existing limit in some dimension in order to grow. One way to look at your business limits is through the Four P’s of Marketing. (A little rusty? Get the refresher course at The Four P’s of Marketing.) Now break them Draw four big circles on a piece of…
Rural sourcing is a trend I love. It leverages technology to bring more high tech, higher paying jobs to rural areas. But it’s a small trend, and I’d love to see it spread to more places and more people. What does a small town need to do to support rural sourcing? How can you get…
What can you do when you need business and income right away? Here is one thing that almost always works: Call your existing customers. Phone by Ant & Carrie Pick up the phone, and call your existing customers. Just say hello, check in that everything you’ve done for them is still working, or whatever the…
[Reader Joel Bennett got really excited over last week’s post on, Is it time to rent office space? That’s because he is a big force behind a co-working space in a small town, called Veel Hoeden. I asked him to share some of what he has learned chasing that dream. -Becky] Guest Post by Joel…
One of the milestones of small business is your first office space. But how do you know when the time is right? And where do you find space that works for a small business? My favorite “home office” on safari Know your planJeffrey A. Landers divides home-office businesses into two group, with two distinct solutions: If you…
Free is a pretty compelling price. How can you compete with that? Is it possible to add enough value to be worth more than a competitor that is free? Cheap or FreePhoto by Chris Brogan The recent controversy within the social media community over Chris Brogan’s Blog Topics newsletter provides a pretty good example. I’ve…
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