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Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource
  • Blue Yeti Microphone
    mistakes | tech | tools

    Exact Yeti Blue mic volume and Windows settings to reduce background noise

    February 17, 2020March 6, 2023

    The drawback to Yeti Blue USB Microphones for podcasting Yeti Blue microphones are widely popular for podcasting and home sound recording. They do have a big drawback of being overly sensitive. They pick up too much background noise even when the gain is turned way down. I know because I bought one for my own…

    Read More Exact Yeti Blue mic volume and Windows settings to reduce background noiseContinue

  • Small Steps with kettle corn
    economic development | entrepreneurship | family business | planning | rural | success

    Business plans are not worth the paper they’re written on

    February 6, 2020January 29, 2020

    by Deb Brown At least, the old way of doing them Writing a business plan is an intense project that takes up a lot of your time. You spend weeks and weeks on it, and you’re not even sure everything in it is correct. Your financial projections are just wild guesses. You’re not even open…

    Read More Business plans are not worth the paper they’re written onContinue

  • Paula Jensen
    community | economic development | mistakes | rural

    The Stop Doing List for Communities

    January 20, 2020January 19, 2020

    By Paula Jensen Have you ever experienced a time when you could envision what needs to happen but had no idea what to stop doing in order to reach the point of success? Here is a simple example: This year at Santa Day in my community someone asked, “Why do we give away turkeys to…

    Read More The Stop Doing List for CommunitiesContinue

  • A woman carries an up-cycled chair she bought at Junque Fest surrounded by a diverse crowd
    community | entrepreneurship | rural

    How to get the city to suspend the rules for you

    January 7, 2020January 6, 2020

      By Deb Brown When I was Chamber of Commerce Director in Webster City, Iowa, one of our big events was Junquefest, a three day event where vendors come to town and sell all kinds of junque. We wanted to close the streets and let the vendors park their trailers by their booths. That was…

    Read More How to get the city to suspend the rules for youContinue

  • A girl smiles while eating a meal at Eagle Butte, South Dakota.
    community | failure | rural | youth

    How Parents are Keeping Children from Becoming the Next Generation of Leaders

    December 28, 2019December 22, 2019

      By Paula Jensen It seems I have almost always been interested in leadership.  My parents modeled leadership as I was growing up through their active roles in community, church, and school.  I joined 4-H at the age of eight, was called a “ring-leader” as an elementary student (which I don’t think this was a…

    Read More How Parents are Keeping Children from Becoming the Next Generation of LeadersContinue

  • Getting local businesses to cooperate with you: Shop Hopping Around Brownsville
    Best of | economic development | entrepreneurship | marketing | rural | shop local | trends

    Getting local businesses to cooperate with you: Shop Hopping Around Brownsville

    December 16, 2019March 25, 2023

      Getting local businesses to cooperate can be a challenge in any small town. Everyone is busy in their own business, and few have time to dedicate to working with other businesses. Whether it’s a formal project put on by a group like the Chamber of Commerce or an informal get-together, there are big benefits…

    Read More Getting local businesses to cooperate with you: Shop Hopping Around BrownsvilleContinue

  • Survey of Rural Challenges 2019 results
    announcement | community | economic development | rural | trends

    Survey of Rural Challenges 2019 results

    December 5, 2019November 8, 2022

    What small town people see as their biggest challenges And what topics rural people most want help with Wouldn’t it be great if the people who say they want to help rural people would actually listen to rural people’s own challenges?! That’s why we created this survey! We use the results to create practical steps…

    Read More Survey of Rural Challenges 2019 resultsContinue

  • Paula Jensen
    community | economic development | rural

    Gathering the Doers

    November 22, 2019November 21, 2019

    The first vision board presented by the design:SD team to the community of Webster, South Dakota, on Sept. 27, 2014, stated the following phrase in bold lettering:  GATHERING THE DOERS.  There were approximately 50 people in the room that day and surprisingly none of them got up and ran out in fear upon seeing the design:SD team’s…

    Read More Gathering the DoersContinue

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