February 2009

Here are a few interesting blogs and online articles published this week that relate to Rural Small Business, ending February 28, 2009:

The statistics this week describe huge job losses in rural America.

From December 2007 through November 2008, rural counties throughout the country lost a total of 15,000 jobs.

But in December 2008 alone, rural America lost 297,000 jobs. The highest unemployment rates were in Michigan, where 20 of the 50 rural counties in the US with the highest unemployment rates in that state alone.

You can view a chart that details unemployment rates for December 2008 in all fifty states at Job Losses Explode in Rural America.

Whether you’re looking for additional sources of revenue for your existing business or to build new skills for the future, you may want to take a look at how small business owners are using social media to network.

Dipping Your Toe Into the Social Media Pond by Mark Hayward suggests ways to get started exploring these new tools ranging from blogs to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and others, and identifies some important benefits for small business owners who use them:

“Preferably, small business owners would start to use social media before a financial crisis hits, but no matter what your current situation, just ‘getting started’ today (not tomorrow!) is the most important thing.

The beauty of leveraging all of this social media ‘stuff’ for business promotion is; it does not have to be expensive, complicated, or overly time consuming.

In fact, it has been my experience, through my own small biz D.I.Y. social media activities that over time it can provide such benefits as:

* improved brand awareness
* increased search engine rankings
* quantifiable cost savings and increased profits
* enhanced networking opportunities
* the chance to help others and continue learning”

Learning to use social media to broaden your network is an important skill. But you may also want to consider new ways to network in person with those in your rural business community by checking out several articles this week discussing the emerging trend of ‘Co-Working’.

Co-working is when independent contractors, freelancers or professionals who usually work at home or on-the-road choose to ‘work together’ in a setting that combines separate work space with opportunities for social interaction.

The amenities shared in a physical setting like conference rooms, kitchens, office equipment and sometimes common support staff all provide opportunities for support, collaboration and synergy, rather than isolation.

You can read more about ‘co-working’ in “Where the Coffee Shop Meets the Cubicle”.

These new co-working models are significantly different from business incubators and executive suites that typically share physical space to minimize expenses, but still reinforce separation of each business and provide little to no social opportunities.

Who participates in co-working spaces is also different. Space in business incubators has usually been assigned to businesses whose approved strategic plan and investor list make the business likely to grow and provide jobs for its local community.

In contrast, the co-working model is more flexible and open. It provides a net for those newly laid off or downsizing their business; for the entrepreneur working on a new idea; as well the established one-person business, perhaps a web entrepreneur who would like more connection to the real world, not just the virtual world.

The support and encouragement needed by entrepreneurs varies person to person, as well as by age and generation. Yet the approach to entrepreneurial support in most of our rural communities is highly traditional, primarily focusing on incubators and obtaining investing angels.

More rural communities are looking for ways to retain their teachers and other professionals who feel isolated after moving to rural areas (and move within a year or two). And unfortunately we’re losing too many of our entrepreneurs too. If we want Gen Y to feel comfortable building businesses in our rural communities, odds are we need to consider creating some ‘third places’ or entrepreneurial nests that will foster business creativity as well as social belonging in ways they want and need.

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