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Survey of Rural Challenges 2015 – 2025 results
February 3, 2025February 3, 2025

Download the PDF report Executive Summary The Survey of Rural Challenges asks rural people to share their ground-level insight into the challenges they face and the assets they can use. This report analyzes over 2200 responses from communities across the US and Canada from 2015 to 2024. The responses show what’s changing and what isn’t…

Read More Survey of Rural Challenges 2015 – 2025 results
economic development | finance | resources | rural

Finding the money to renovate an old building in a small town: grants, loans and other funds
July 30, 2018July 15, 2018

Empty buildings in small towns are often empty for a reason, and that reason is often that they need work before any business could use them. Remodeling costs can be astonishingly expensive, so people often ask where they can find grants, loans or other funds to help them. Here are some of my favorite “usual…

Read More Finding the money to renovate an old building in a small town: grants, loans and other funds
economic development | resources | rural

Expensive code compliance doesn’t have to ruin your small town
May 28, 2018May 27, 2018

Many small towns face an incredibly expensive hurdle to saving and using their downtown buildings: code compliance costs. Most municipalities have adopted one of the standard international building codes. Which are, well, standard. And no matter who does the inspections or enforcement, everyone thinks their compliance person is over-zealous. I can relate. One smart move…

Read More Expensive code compliance doesn’t have to ruin your small town
announcement | finance | resources

27 Strategies for Raising Small Business Capital
June 6, 2016June 5, 2016

How many different ways can you think of to raise money for your small town business? Bank loans, of course, but then where? Maury Forman with the Washington State Department of Commerce Office of Economic Development & Competitiveness has put together 27 different strategies for raising capital in an ebook called Startup Widsom. Good news:…

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entrepreneurship | resources | rural

2 online resources for starting your business
July 20, 2015June 29, 2015

Everyone faces challenges when thinking about going into business. Being based in a rural area adds some special challenges. You may not have immediate access to anyone who can sit down with you in person. You can’t just drop in on a small business support center, because there probably isn’t one for 50 miles…

Read More 2 online resources for starting your business
entrepreneurship | marketing | resources | rural

Helping artists market their work
June 8, 2015June 7, 2015

My online friend Rick Wolff asked about folks who educate artists on marketing their work. He drew lots and lots of responses. I think artists are important businesses in small towns. We have plenty of creative and interesting people who paint, sculpt, make pottery, do all kinds of traditional arts, and that’s not counting our…

Read More Helping artists market their work
entrepreneurship | resources

3 places to get free business forms
December 23, 2013August 27, 2014

A friend who is buying a business is needing a number of spreadsheets, contracts and legal forms. That got me looking for reputable and reasonable places to find sample business forms online today. For US-based businesses, I found these three: 1. BizFilings.com Business Owner’s Toolkit Lots of checklists useful for going into business, a nondisclosure agreement…

Read More 3 places to get free business forms
economic development | entrepreneurship | resources

2 Business Intelligence Sources
November 20, 2012August 27, 2014

Reader Micah Choquette asked on Twitter: @beckymccray any tips on finding business info and demographics for my town? Do ppl keep records like biz’s that opened/closed ths yr?— Micah Choquette (@meetmicah) November 14, 2012 This is a tough question, because most small towns lack this kind of basic economic data. Two online resources can help,…

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Survey of Rural Challenges 2015 – 2025 results

Finding the money to renovate an old building in a small town: grants, loans and other funds

Expensive code compliance doesn’t have to ruin your small town

27 Strategies for Raising Small Business Capital

2 online resources for starting your business

Helping artists market their work

3 places to get free business forms

2 Business Intelligence Sources

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