Each week, I publish a newsletter with a positive view of rural. Recently, I featured the idea of giving your small town a dash of color. Keith Snyder of Lincoln, Illinois, replied with some great news about how his town is letting their color and creativity out. Lots of ideas you can use here….
Many small town businesses enjoy a kind of monopoly: they are the only source for their product in their location. If you are the only pizza place in town, you feel like you have an advantage. But what do you do when you find out competition is opening soon? Do you hate the new business,…
The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one July 26-28, 2013. I’m back from my travels, but the Brag Basket is still roaming. This week, we celebrate our readers in Portugal. What good news will you add to the brag basket? Don’t hold back…
Now that most cell phones can access the internet, you might think that wifi access doesn’t matter for tourism. And no one would want to work while on vacation, right? Well, more than ever, wifi and work spaces are important to local tourism strategies, especially in small towns. Let’s start with this key point: Your…
Ratings help your customers decide. They help customers decide which product to buy, but more importantly, they help customers decide whether to buy at all. Online rating sites have shaken up almost every business category. You can adapt that idea in your business whether you sell products in a downtown store, services online, or something…
The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one July 19-21, 2013. I’m back from my travels, but the Brag Basket is still doing some traveling of its own. This week it celebrates our readers in Spain. What good news will you add to the…
The notion that you have to be born an entrepreneur is just a myth. Similarly, no time is perfect, nor do you need to be an expert or even have worked in the industry, to be a successful small-business owner. Starting and operating a successful business can be achieved by just about anyone. There is…
I talked to a small town Chamber of Commerce director. She told me how much she hated their current website. She was eager to get a new one, but replacing it would involve a committee, and bids, and approvals, and a long and expensive process. You don’t have to be a Chamber of Commerce to…
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