Skip to content
  • Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • SaveYour.Town
Small Biz Survival
The small town and rural business resource

The small town and rural business resource

Small town main street
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS
Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Baskets for bread vendors on display at the La Merced Market in Mexico City.
    brag basket

    Good news on display in the Brag Basket

    BySmall Biz Survival May 3, 2013December 15, 2014

    The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one May 3-5, 2013. What good news will you add to the brag basket? Don’t hold back because of that word, “brag.” When you hold back, you hide your good news and accomplishments that might inspire others….

    Read More Good news on display in the Brag BasketContinue

  • Red and green peppers
    entrepreneurship | ideas | rural

    Small town business idea: vegetable gardener for hire

    ByBecky McCray May 2, 2013August 27, 2014

    We love sharing small town business ideas, and this one came from Pamela at the Kansas Kids “More Than a Museum” in Hutchinson, Kansas. Seems a woman living in Hutch is a good vegetable gardener. So her business is helping out those who need help with their gardens. Not landscaping, or yard work, but vegetable…

    Read More Small town business idea: vegetable gardener for hireContinue

  • economic development | rural

    Optimism for Small Towns at National Planning Conference

    ByBecky McCray May 1, 2013August 27, 2014

    Guest post by John C. Shepard, AICP, Laramie County, Cheyenne, Wyoming Small town and rural planning is not city planning writ small.  Yet we are also part of the same global economy as our urban cousins, facing the same economic and demographic trends.  Over 5,000 urban and regional planners traveled to Chicago last week from…

    Read More Optimism for Small Towns at National Planning ConferenceContinue

  • Suggestions of How to Build Community by Syracuse Cultural Workers
    community | rural

    Are the CAVE people actually good for your town?

    ByBecky McCray April 30, 2013August 27, 2014

    Do you know what the most commonly asked question is at any of my talks? It’s always about dealing with the negative people, the people who say you can’t, the roadblocks. Jack Schultz calls them the CAVE people: the Citizens Against Virtually Everything. I find that encouraging and discouraging all in one. It’s encouraging because…

    Read More Are the CAVE people actually good for your town?Continue

  • How automation helps you be more personal
    customer service | entrepreneurship | rural | social media

    How automation helps you be more personal

    ByBecky McCray April 29, 2013August 27, 2014

    One of the principles of a small town business is to be personal. Sometimes, automation can help you to be personal. Here’s what I mean. A friend was taking registrations for an event. If you’ve ever dealt with event registrations, you know it generates a lot of emails. One of the options in his marketing…

    Read More How automation helps you be more personalContinue

  • A 4th Century mosaic of a basket of snails
    brag basket

    Brag Basket full of snails

    BySmall Biz Survival April 26, 2013December 15, 2014

    The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one April 26-28, 2013. What good news will you add to the brag basket? Don’t hold back because of that word, “brag.” When you hold back, you hide your good news and accomplishments that might inspire others….

    Read More Brag Basket full of snailsContinue

  • What to consider before you make your first hire
    entrepreneurship | rural | workforce

    What to consider before you make your first hire

    ByGlenn Muske April 25, 2013August 27, 2014

    Your small business has launched. Things are going well. Your day is spent working with your customers or restocking shelves. Yet you have so many other things to do. Nights and weekends are your time for ordering, recordkeeping and planning. Family members, who you hoped to spend more time with, see less and less of…

    Read More What to consider before you make your first hireContinue

  • Broken clock
    mistakes

    Are you mortgaging your time?

    ByJNSwanson April 24, 2013August 27, 2014

    We mortgage our time when we say yes to a project. If we say yes to too many projects, we can create a huge debt, more than we could ever get done with the new time we get. There are catastrophic strategies. We may have a breakdown. We may declare time bankruptcy and walk away…

    Read More Are you mortgaging your time?Continue

Page navigation

Previous PagePrevious 1 … 147 148 149 150 151 … 398 Next PageNext

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

The Best of Small Biz Survival

TREND 2025: Retail’s Big Split: what small town retailers can do now

99% of the best things you can do for your town don’t require anyone’s permission

Get started as an outdoor outfitter without breaking the bank

How to get customers in the door of small town and rural retail stores

Read more of the Best of Small Biz Survival

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses.

Logo with "Shop Indie Local"
Graphic of US currency with the text Move Your Money, bank local, invest local
Multicolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week"
Save Your Town logotype
Copyright © 2006–2026 Becky McCray • Site by Webdancers

  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • SaveYour.Town