This is my favorite finding from our latest Survey of Rural Challenges: rural people are optimistic about the future of their community. In fact, they were twice as likely to say they were optimistic than negative about their community’s future! Over 300 rural people answered the question, Do you think your community will be better…
8 years ago, I asked Deb Brown if she would like to do something together for small towns. Deb was a full time Chamber of Commerce director, and I had my liquor store and cattle ranch. We started by making email courses and picked the name, SaveYour.Town. Fast forward through 8 years of experiments, and…
Your friends and fellow newsletter readers Sue, Julie and Marieta shared how they’re getting more food to the people having the hardest time affording it right now. We told you about Julie Kent, the librarian from Erie, Kansas. In 2020 the library shared seeds and plants and support. Here’s her latest update: We continue to…
Rural trends are kind of my thing. Seems like everyone has a “top trends” article for 2022, but not many of them cover rural trends and small towns. We focus only on trends for rural and small towns. Want to skip ahead and see my trends for 2022? Watch the rural trends video here. Where do…
If you set up entrepreneur training, you want to reach as many potential entrepreneurs as you can. When only a handful sign up and even fewer show up and some drop out before the end, it’s discouraging. It’s just possible that some of the problem is in how the training is delivered. For formal training events like conferences, there are certain accessibility…
I’ve been thinking lately how many large challenges we face as a society that come down to not thinking from other people’s perspectives. Our communities could use more empathy. Doing business with each other can help us build empathy. Selling something requires us to think about other people. We have to think about what other people…
It’s possible to get so attached to the plan, that you can’t do anything else. Deb told me about a town that decided to rehab some old cabins in their park. They formed a committee that reported to the Parks and Recs committee that reported to the City Council, who made the final approvals. So…
When I toured the picopolitan small town of Rosalia, Washington, I met a painter who had a big corner building downtown. She said that she had moved to town anticipating that an arts scene would develop, and then she could be part of it. Since the arts scene hadn’t really developed, she felt fairly lonely as an…
SMTULSA Conference brings together a select group of people to discuss social media marketing strategy, email marketing, SEO, and other techniques to help business people rise above the noise and make a mark that will give their business longevity. TULSA, OK (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 22, 2017 “There has never been a better time to be a…
Pernod Ricard, owner of Absolut vodka, is building a terrific connection following Small Town Rule 7: Build Your Local Connections. They are working with local distilling entrepreneurs worldwide on a project called Our/Vodka. Each will be called by the local city name, like Our/Austin or Our/Melbourne. The local partner will open micro-distilleries that will produce vodka following a set…
Regional supermarket chain Piggly Wiggly is proudly proclaiming their localness as a selling point. This is exactly how to do Rule 7: Be Local. “At Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company, we know what it means to be ‘local.’ Our founder, Joe Newton, had a vision when he started this grocery store chain in 1947 — to buy local,…
These two bits from a 2012 Citibank small business survey really stood out as Rule 1: Plan for Zero moments. Both business owners and employees have gone without or delayed pay, to help the business survive. Almost one quarter of business owners have gone a year or more without pay to keep their business alive. …
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