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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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