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Small Biz Survival
  • Becky McCray and Deb Brown featured on the Virtual Speaker Series
    economic development | entrepreneurship | global | rural

    Innovative Rural Business Models: video

    November 16, 2023November 9, 2023

    Part of our Global Entrepreneurship Week celebration Nov 13-19, 2023. Rural business people are trying a variety of different business models today, including pop-ups, shared buildings, businesses inside of other businesses and more. Entrepreneurs are using these smaller-scale experiments and tests to learn what works before making a huge investments. Learn how these Innovative Rural…

    Read More Innovative Rural Business Models: videoContinue

  • Becky McCray and Deb Brown present Refilling the Business Pipeline
    economic development | entrepreneurship | failure | mistakes | rural | success | trends

    Refilling the rural business pipeline

    July 7, 2020July 6, 2020

    This is a short sample from the SaveYour.Town video “Refilling Your Business Pipeline” featuring Deb Brown and me. Small towns and rural communities will need new business startups to revitalize their local economies, but not many people have the resources today to do a startup the way it’s traditionally been done. Part of what holds…

    Read More Refilling the rural business pipelineContinue

  • Small Town Business Lights
    entrepreneurship | marketing | rural | social media | tech | tools

    Show and Tell – How Video and Maybe Even LIVE Video Are Important for Small Town Business

    April 20, 2020April 12, 2020

    By Chris Brogan They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes, it might be worth a thousand dollars, too. Over the last ten years, restaurants and bars who post their best dishes or drinks as photos on sites like Instagram have learned that people love seeing examples of what they’ll get if…

    Read More Show and Tell – How Video and Maybe Even LIVE Video Are Important for Small Town BusinessContinue

  • 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

  • How do you start a microbrewery? With micro-steps
    economic development | entrepreneurship | rural

    How do you start a microbrewery? With micro-steps

    March 11, 2019February 24, 2019

      Guest Post by Deb Brown When I visited Decatur County, Iowa, several people said that wanted a brewery. They talked about the big barriers in their way: finding the right building, the right funding, the right people. The big idea seems really hard this way. Why not start smaller? Start by using the Idea…

    Read More How do you start a microbrewery? With micro-stepsContinue

  • Where’s your video?
    entrepreneurship | marketing

    Where’s your video?

    May 13, 2013September 27, 2016

    Small town businesses sometimes struggle for the right words to describe themselves. At a conference lunch table, the yoga instructor was trying to explain to the middle-aged guy from the economic development group what a yoga class is like. At first it made sense, but when she got to the part about breathing into the…

    Read More Where’s your video?Continue

  • entrepreneurship | planning

    4 ways to jumpstart your business (video)

    January 24, 2013August 27, 2014

    To help you get a better handle on your business, I put together a webinar in cooperation with Cory Miller’s Entrepreneurship Lab, called 4 Ways to JumpStart Your Business. We managed to make business planning just a little less stodgy than the usual 5 pound binder. The recording is now available to everyone, so I’m…

    Read More 4 ways to jumpstart your business (video)Continue

  • community

    The anti-startup: doing good in your community

    January 23, 2013August 27, 2014

    Let’s think creatively about how we do good in our communities. I just ran across my notes from 2011, when I heard Alon Nir (@TheKotel) explain his project, Tweet Your Prayers. He called his talk “The Anti-Startup,” and he proceeded to tell us how he ignored all the “rules” of business to make a difference. Alon…

    Read More The anti-startup: doing good in your communityContinue

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