Stop by most any rural coffee shop and you probably will hear a discussion about attracting more people to the community. Then the question arises, can it be done? The Center for Small Towns, located at the University of Minnesota, Morris, plans to look at that question. Mark June 4th and 5th on your calendars…
. Years ago, a town near me won a grant to improve their downtown. They hired an architect, who drew up 3 alternative plans. The council looked them over, debated which one would work best, then sat on those plans with no further action for a couple of years. They couldn’t come to an agreement on which…
The Brag Basket is open! This one is for March 7-9, 2014. It’s like this one was made just for you, with your name on it and everything. What can you do in the Brag Basket? introduce yourself share some great news from this week congratulate a friend applaud for each other confess your…
You want to start a business. But finding a good idea is a task many prospective business owners find daunting. There are many suggestions on how people can find a business idea. Brainstorming, building on a skill or talent, or using an idea you have seen somewhere else are three commonly used techniques. Another method…
When a reader or friend likes your site so much that she puts a shortcut to it on her iPhone, it’s a big compliment. It also means you ought to create a special icon to represent your site on iPhones. How do you do that? With special icons called Apple Touch Icons. This does take…
I’ve been thinking about how we have all we need. We don’t need to learn more, read more, acquire more. That’s why what John C. Shepard, planner from Wyoming, USA, said caught my attention: “Implementation is my watch-word for 2014.” That deceptively simple sentence could change everything. What if you made implementation your watch word?…
The Brag Basket is open! This one is for February 28-March 2, 2014. What can you do in the Brag Basket? introduce yourself share some great news from this week congratulate a friend applaud for each other confess your undying love for rural places How do you join in? Below this post is the…
Mark Riffey Interview Mark Riffey looks at small town business the same way he looks at all small business: you’ve got to do things right to succeed, and you have a responsibility to others when you’re in business. Mark has long impressed me with his smart writings about small business. While he’s not always saying…
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