February 2009

Starting A Rural Business During Tough Times

February 18, 2009

As more people in rural America find themselves laid off or working reduced hours, the idea of starting a small rural business or expanding the one you already have is something to consider. Here are several online resources to help you think things through. In Advice for the Accidental Entrepreneur, Dr. Jeff Cornwall defines who [...]

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Just Get On With It!

February 17, 2009

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations. Steve Jobs Founder & CEO, Apple Computer

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Telling Your Own Business Stories

February 16, 2009

Whether you’re speaking to customers, your employees or the local Rotary Club, odds are you’ve got stories to tell. Not tall tales, untrue and uninteresting. But stories that can inspire, influence, motivate and even turn negative situations around. Stories are often more memorable and more effective than just facts or directives. What are some of [...]

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Business Story of the Day Podcasts

February 16, 2009

NPR Radio offers a ‘Business Story of the Day’ each weekday, available as a podcast and as well as in print on their webpages. These stories are not focused on rural and small businesses, but include them occasionally. The stories are always short and to the point, and instructive about many different industries and situations.

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Collaborative Marketing with Artistic Flair

February 15, 2009

The artwork pictured here to the left is ‘Marsha’s View,’ an original pastel painting by artist Kay Gordon of Marshall, North Carolina. In recent weeks I’ve featured collaborative marketing partnerships among those in crafts. In Collaborative Marketing for Rural Small Business I introduced the idea of increasing your power to pull visitors to out-of-the-way rural [...]

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Rural Business Weekly News – February 14, 2009

February 14, 2009

There will be lots of articles in the coming weeks that try to tell us exactly what was in the stimulus package that just passed and what it all really means, but here’s the coverage from the Associated Press published today. Supposedly the 7 billion in grants for rural broadband are intended for small town [...]

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Just One Little Mistake

February 13, 2009

In yesterday’s post I discussed that the different customer groups a small business serves, seem to influence whether or not it has a website. If it’s a tourist business or one that hopes to attract visitors, that business is more likely to have a website or blog. If their business focuses on local customers, they [...]

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Everybody Already Knows

February 12, 2009

Last week, I mentioned a blog that asked why more small and rural businesses didn’t have blogs, and I started wondering the same thing myself. Then this week, I also saw the results of a national survey commissioned by Microsoft Office Live Small Business and Elance Inc. Fewer than half of the small-business owners interviewed [...]

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Where The Competition Is

February 11, 2009

There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there. Indira Gandhi

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Small Business Provisions of The Economic Stimulus

February 10, 2009

The United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Ranking Member Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, spoke on the floor of the Senate about the key small business provisions included in the Economic Recovery Package, and renewed their call for elevating SBA Administrator position to Cabinet-level status. The bill includes [...]