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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • community | rural | tourism | youth

    How to get more volunteer participation

    ByBecky McCray October 4, 2011August 27, 2014

    It’s the million dollar question in small towns: how do we get more participation? Participation might mean volunteers, contributions, or even audience members. Volunteers kick off the Picture My WeekendPhotography event in Alva, Oklahoma. I get asked this every time I speak. It seems every town and organization, every festival and fair is dealing with…

    Read More How to get more volunteer participationContinue

  • community | economic development | ideas | planning | rural

    Coffee and Calendars: How to build more cooperation in your community

    ByBecky McCray September 26, 2011March 15, 2018

    What if your town council, your chamber of commerce, and your school board sat down together for a public meeting just to compare calendars? What if these leaders started talking about possible cooperation, shared projects, or mutual goals? What if more local boards and leaders began to participate, aligning their own goals and efforts with…

    Read More Coffee and Calendars: How to build more cooperation in your communityContinue

  • entrepreneurship | tools

    Peek into competition websites with Compete

    ByBecky McCray July 11, 2011August 27, 2014

    How much do you know about your competitor’s website? Do they get more traffic than your site, or less? What keywords are sending them the most traffic? Compete.com can give you the answers. Put in three website addresses. Compete will give you their traffic chart. For websites with enough traffic, it will also give a…

    Read More Peek into competition websites with CompeteContinue

  • community | rural

    Small town profit/nonprofit partnerships

    ByBecky McCray May 10, 2011August 27, 2014

    Long ago, Rebecca Leaman asked me about nonprofits in small towns. Profit/nonprofit partnership is essentialin most small towns.  “A lot of your thoughts on small-town and small-biz development seem to apply well to nonprofits, too – certainly to the grassroots groups that keep rural communities (I live in one) rolling. Your thoughts?” At the time,…

    Read More Small town profit/nonprofit partnershipsContinue

  • community | economic development | ideas | rural

    Refresh Kittanning reaches out for ideas

    ByBecky McCray October 27, 2010August 27, 2014

    [When Mike Rizzo explained the Refresh Kitanning story to me, I knew you would want to learn about it. Here is how people in one small town are taking an active approach to economic and business development. – Becky ] My name is Mike and I created a community website to hopefully inspire growth and…

    Read More Refresh Kittanning reaches out for ideasContinue

  • Best of | entrepreneurship

    Broadband perspective from telecommunications cooperatives

    ByBecky McCray October 7, 2010August 27, 2014

    [I’m a rural telco cooperative customer, and I know so are many of you. That’s why I’m publishing this guest post on broadband from Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. –Becky] By Shirley Bloomfield Broadband discussion tableat the Midwest Rural Assembly It’s been called today’s “essential service,” with the transformative power of electricity and…

    Read More Broadband perspective from telecommunications cooperativesContinue

  • Best of | entrepreneurship | rural

    USDA’s Victor Vasquez talks rural-urban connections

    ByBecky McCray September 2, 2010August 27, 2014

    Victor Vasquez, USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Rural Development, made the keynote presentation at the Midwest Rural Assembly. He started with the story of a road trip with a big city friend. As they reached a particularly empty stretch of land, the friend asked, should we turn back? Turn back? Victor asked, why would we turn…

    Read More USDA’s Victor Vasquez talks rural-urban connectionsContinue

  • Best of | entrepreneurship | global | rural

    Rural issues come to the fore in Australia

    ByBecky McCray August 24, 2010August 27, 2014

    Our friend Des Walsh from Australia sent me a great email, that I just had to share with all of you. You might not have known but we had a Federal election here on Saturday. The outcome hangs in the balance (although I don’t think there are any hanging chads), with the likelihood of a…

    Read More Rural issues come to the fore in AustraliaContinue

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