For those of us who live in rural locations, meeting up ‘half way’ with friends, customers, clients and suppliers between our various small towns is commonplace.
But figuring out where that half way point might be, and what places there are to easily meet up or have a lunch meeting, is usually a challenge unless you frequent particular roads and visit the same ole places often.
If this sounds like a challenge you face, take a look at a website called MeetWays. Meetways will not only calculate your halfway point, but will suggest any type of meeting place you might have in mind, whether it’s a coffee shop or a pizza place.
Similar in style to MapQuest, you must know both addresses or their zip codes and enter them into the site. But after that, the MeetWays site will map it for you. The whole process will take you a couple minutes.
And if you need to make arrangements while you’re on the road - there is a iPhone app available for the site.
Some small business owners are choosing to save money and in some cases save their businesses by moving their offices home, according to this article in the Dallas Morning News.
“We’re seeing probably twice as many businesses doing that compared to a year ago,” says George Cloutier, founder and chief executive officer of American Management Services, an Orlando, Fla.-based consultant to small businesses.
The article discusses the unique difficulties a small business owner may encounter moving their business to their home, including business image, zoning and tax issues, employee perceptions, moving costs and the distractions that must be managed when working within your home and family environment.
In July 2008 Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. This law was created in response to dangerous levels of lead and phthalate (a chemical in plastic materials) found in toys and other children’s products. This law is scheduled to go into effect February 10, 2009.
This new law poses a big problem for handcrafted toy makers and those who handmade clothing because it requires expensive testing by rural business owners to prove their handmade toys are safe for children. Artisans must have their products certified by third party businesses that often charge $100.00 to several hundred dollars per test. And each part of a toy or piece of clothing - paint, buttons, a zipper - must be separately tested.
Retailers are also required to make sure everything they sell in their store is certified safe as of the February 10,2009 date. Anyone who violates this new law can be fined tens of thousands of dollars.
Right now, there is no distinction made between handmade artisans and large manufacturing firms, or mom and pop stores and chain stores. A second vote needed to finalize changes to the law that should help handcrafted and rural businesses will not take place until AFTER the law goes into effect. Until then, you can read more here.
Home based and rural businesses are uniquely prepared and positioned for tough economic times.
Many rural businesses start in their home - and stay in their home. For specialty or web & mail order businesses there is often no reason to move out. Lower overhead expenses are helpful to a business whether they are starting out or trying to keep costs down. And if they’re home based, those overhead expenses don’t get higher. The seasonal nature of many rural businesses often imposes a limit on expansion of operations and leased space. Because the purpose of their existence is to serve the traveling public visiting to enjoy the seasonal differences. The same ‘prime real estate’ that supports a flourishing tourist location during Summer may be a ghost town by Winter, and seasonal businesses know that a high-dollar year round rent in such a location would an albatross around a rural business’s proverbial neck.
It is a fallacy to believe that a home based business must move out if it is to grow and survive - especially in 2009. Home based businesses can allow a quality of life and a multi-tasking environment that integrates family. If the pace of daily business is different or slower at times, a home based rural business owner can make progress in other parts of their life.
While non-home based businesses are trying to pare down their overhead expenses to prevent them from dragging down their bottom line, rural businesses are already ‘lean and mean’ and geared up to face the difficult economic challenges of 2009. Home based and rural businesses are uniquely prepared and positioned for tough economic times.
