Author: Becky McCray

Quick check: how much time do you spend thinking about the kind of town you’re moving towards, versus how much time you spend thinking about the past?  It’s going to take a crowd of people to build the kind of town you want to live in. The catch is you can’t attract a crowd of…

If Deb Brown and I put on a rural conference, it might look a lot like RuralX. Here is how they describe it themselves. “#ruralX stands for Rural Experience; a “come as you are” convergence of thinkers and doers with a desire to share creative energy, positive motivation and compelling new ways to “ruralize their…

No one creates jobs in a vacuum.  They need to connect to customers.  They need to connect to people at suppliers and service providers. They need to connect to people who help them think of the new ideas that generate new value that create more demand that lead to new jobs.  They need to connect…

I wanted to check in and make sure you’re getting all the bonuses you’re entitled to as a subscriber. Because we all love bonuses!  You don’t get the Small Biz Survival articles from Glenn Muske and Becky McCray (that’s me!) on small town business, entrepreneurship, tourism, marketing, and economic development, as well as the podcast…

Last week, I invited you to reach out to each other in the Brag Basket. And you did. So you get bonus points: Katy Kassian Paul and Brenda Anderson Lisa Harper (+10 for encouraging others) Hope Spano (+40 for encouraging!) Cindy Kelly (+10) Jeanne Cole (+10) Mary Pothast (+10) Bruce Dierking Katy F. Terry Cheyenne…

Did you know I think of you each week when I write these emails? I try to think of you so that what I write is the most useful and most personal it can be. Because of that, you might get the idea you’re the only one here. You’re not. It’s you and 2,142 of…

I operate with a set of assumptions about rural places and small towns. I want to share them with you so you’ll know what I’m assuming whenever I talk with you. (Yes, I know what happens when you assume. Call them basic beliefs instead of assumptions, if you prefer.) When I tell you that I…

I’m leading a workshop on becoming a more professional speaker. It has me thinking about why I speak. When you go to all the work of creating a conference or event, I know that you’re trying to serve the needs of your rural people. You want your participants to go on a journey. They should…

I’m hoping you’ll be joining Deb Brown and me for our webinar… March 16 – this Wednesday – at 6 pm Central Time for one hour.  Rural business people are trying a variety of different business models today, and using these smaller scale experiments and tests to learn what works before making a huge investment….

Beauty salons. Even really small towns probably have one. But when was the last time an economic developer considered them as important business development tools?  Last week I was speaking to the Northwest Oklahoma Workforce Board about the 8 Innovative Rural Business Models. When I got to the Business Inside a Business model, my own…

Patrysha Korchinski with Community Futures Yellowhead East (Alberta, Canada) asked my advice for rural people who want to startup businesses. I said try small experiments and test as soon as possible.  I want you to test your business startup quickly because you’ll be more likely to succeed. You’ll save money over building a full-scale business…

Russ was telling me about his dad, how he had been one of the small group of guys who improved his small town in the 1950s and 1960s. They served on the chamber of commerce board together, belonged to the Kiwanis Club together, and went to the country club together. These were the people who…