Not every small town can be saved. And maybe we shouldn’t try to save every small town. If a town can’t get its act together enough to accept help or seek opportunities, should outside groups spend any of their limited time and resources on them? Or should they focus on the ones with the best…
The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one Sept 21-23, 2012. Have some good news this week? Put it in the Brag Basket. I’m out of the digital world this weekend, so please speak up and cheer for each other. Baskets for fall(CC) by…
In a small town, you may need several lines of income to survive. So, sometimes, people try to start multiple businesses all at once. That’s a mistake, and to see why, let’s take a look at farming. Farmers take their time in adding any new crop. That new crop will take acres away from the…
Sheila Scarborough has been my friend for over 4 years, which is a long time online. She’s one of the most confident and capable people anywhere. She’s made an impressive transition from an officer in the Navy to freelance writer to entrepreneur and business owner. I’ve learned a lot from her about the world of…
As we walked through downtown Belton, Texas, we stumbled on this live window display. The little girl and boy were clearly enjoying being part of the window display, and they certainly caught our eye. We didn’t step in to buy anything, but stopping people in their tracks is a first step. It gives you a…
The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one Sept 14-16, 2012. Have some good news this week? Put it in the Brag Basket. I’m out of the digital world this weekend, so please speak up and cheer for each other. Baskets o’Fall(CC) by beau-foto…
Since our book Small Town Rules was released by Que Publishing this spring, Barry Moltz and I have been sharing lots of videos, interviews, and guest posts all over the web. So I’m offering this series to share some of these ideas here. Even if you aren’t interested in the book itself, you can learn…
By Jon Swanson “Are you Martha or Molly?” I figured it was a simple question. He acted like he owned the place. “I’m George,” he said. The sign says Martha and Molly’s,but the customer service was George’s. It was a clothes and shoes shop in northwest Ohio, on a road where most of the cars…
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