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Finding the money to renovate an old building in a small town: grants, loans...
Empty buildings in small towns are often empty for a reason, and that reason is often that they need work before any business could use them. Remodeling costs can be astonishingly expensive, so people...
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From kids with summer jobs to kids with summer businesses with these small...
Some of 2018 Student Startups with some supportive adults. Photo via Norfolk County, Ontario. Norfolk County, Ontario, is home to dozens of real businesses started by kids in grades 6 through 12,...
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US small businesses can get small loans through Kiva
Yolanda is just one of the US business people who has received a loan through Kiva.org. Photo by Brandon Smith via Kiva You might have heard of Kiva, where a crowd of regular people pool money to...
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Quick insights into local tourism trends
If only there was someone in town who had up-to-date information about our tourists and visitors. Photo of B&B owner Julia McCray in her kitchen. Small town tourism groups and chambers of...
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Commerce builds communties
What do customers want? Doing business makes us think about other people’s perspective. Photo by Deb Brown, used by permission. You’ve probably heard me say this one before: The best way to save your...
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Easy economic development tip: Write down all new businesses in your small town
What’s on the list of new businesses in your town? Be sure to include all the sneaky businesses that popup inside another business. This is an easy idea for small town economic developers, chambers of...
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Shipping container businesses downtown: don’t make this big mistake
Lots of big cities have started shipping container business villages. I love the idea. But many of them are making a huge mistake that I don’t want to see small towns copy. The Big Mistake: Ignoring...
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Support local entrepreneurship by giving Rising Stars business awards
Want more entrepreneurs? Give more awards to entrepreneurs! Photo courtesy of Norfolk County, Ontario. Awards are a great way to recognize your small businesses in small towns. Unfortunately, most...
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Build Tomorrow’s Community Business Sector
Photo (CC) by North Charleston, on Flickr Want a strong local economy? Then it should come as no surprise that you need a continuous flow of new businesses. That message is one that we hear often and...
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What business does every small town need? A store full of tiny retail spaces
A formerly-empty department store downtown converted into space for multiple tiny businesses in Washington, Iowa. Photo by Cathy Lloyd Small towns are so different, there is no one business will work...
View ArticleThe small town stereotype: Old White Guys in charge, stuck in the past
I often hear jovial stories and stereotypes, in and out of rural places, about how small-town people are stuck in the 1960s and refuse to accept change. They joke that we nostalgically hang on to our...
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Small towns as testing grounds for future technology
The infrastructure for the future will be built in rural places first. Photo by viya via Pixabay. Necessity breeds innovation, and rural people have always been innovative. Working with limited...
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Solving the rural Brain Drain at Career Day
It’s cool to be rural, don’t be part of the brain drain. That’s the message to students at a career day event in Texas. Photo shared by Jimi Coplen, Haskell, Texas Guest post by Jimi Coplen Executive...
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Two 2019 small business trends that are good for small towns
Rural people may be the remote workforce urban employers are looking for. Photo via picnoi Brother released their small business trends for 2019, and two struck me as particularly good for small...
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What businesses would work in a small town with empty land
Whether it’s just an empty lot or a huge tract of vacant land, experiments are the best way to fill it. Photo by Becky McCray A small town official wrote in to ask me what business would work on...
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How do you start a microbrewery? With micro-steps
What’s the right way to get a microbrewery going? Start small. Guest Post by Deb Brown When I visited Decatur County, Iowa, several people said that wanted a brewery. They talked about the big...
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Are all small towns dying? Can you save a small town?
Neligh, Nebraska. Photo CC by J. Stephen Conn on Flickr. There have been too many years of disinterest and disinvestment in rural America and at times I grow weary of defending the value of the rural...
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How church buildings can do more for the community
This week at SaveYour.Town, we’re sharing how to take big empty buildings and divide them up for multiple small businesses. One model is co-working spaces, which offer shared office and workspace....
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How to develop an entrepreneurial culture and more small businesses in your town
How do you get an entrepreneurship culture started in your town? Start them young. Photo via Norfolk County, Ontario. As Deb Brown and I drove away from the small town we had just visited, we talked...
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How $5 and a bowl of soup can rebuild your community
Five businesses and community groups pitched ideas at the first “Food for Thought” event put on by Main Street Enid, Oklahoma. Photo by Becky McCray. Have you heard of “soup” events? People pay a...
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