Building Possibility
Eloy, AZ – Part Three
Someone has to be first. It takes a brave person, or group of persons to step up to the plate and say “We’ll go first. We believe in this town. We think our business idea is sound and we want to open a business here.” The first group of folks got together and opened up…
Read MoreSaveYour.Town 5 Stories Session 2
Sunday afternoons Becky McCray and I, as part of our SaveYour.Town project, are talking about 5 stories found on the internet during the week. Here are the links to the stories we covered this week and the 10 minute video discussion. Agritourism Toolkit – Oregon Tourism Commission http://buff.ly/1RnaZNZ Focus on business fundamentals first, then…
Read MoreEloy, AZ – Part Two
You don’t need to be born and raised in a town to believe it can be the best town to live and work in. Mark Benner, the Chamber Director moved to Eloy to help take care of his mom. Jon Vlaming, the Community Development Director for the City has only been there for a year.…
Read MoreFive Stories – Session One
Becky McCray and I have started a series at Blab. We are discussing five stories that address some viewpoint that can be used in some way, shape or form to help small towns. Todays stories were: The State of Entrepreneurship in 2016: U.S. is on the Verge of an Entrepreneurial Boom http://buff.ly/1QnB4zp – for the focus on…
Read MoreEloy, AZ – Part One
Eloy, Arizona is a town of about 16,000 located 50 miles northwest of Tucson. Mark Benner is the Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Mark took advantage of our Tour of Empty Buildings Toolkit at www.saveyour.town. I was in Tucson for Chamber professional development and had the opportunity to head to Eloy one…
Read MoreToulouse-Lautrec on a Barn
I saw the article in the paper and promptly forgot about it. Then my friend asked if I wanted to go take a picture of it. I didn’t realize it was so close to where I lived, just west of Dayton on Highway 175. What a great story! How often do you see the Peter…
Read MoreWhat Rural People Say They Need: The Survey of Rural Challenges
We all know what rural towns need, right? They need jobs, and to recruit some manufacturing and they have a huge poverty problem. Right? Well, no. At least that’s not what rural people told us. Becky McCray, my partner at www.saveyour.town, ran a survey of subscribers and visitors on SmallBizSurvival.com. Over 200 people who identified themselves as…
Read MoreYou’re the Expert
I flew back to Iowa on Saturday. Seated next to me was a gentleman from Korea and he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was an Executive Director for a local Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Jeong asked me what was a Chamber of Commerce. I explained I had the pleasure of…
Read MoreThree Words: 2016
Usually I have this post written in November. Much has happened this year for me – most of it personally. Thinking about how three words can direct the course and intention of my life in this year has not been at the top of my thinking list. Yet.. yet, those three words and the idea…
Read MoreBlab – Tour of Empty Buildings
Blab.im is a new place to have conversations online with up to 4 people who can see each other. The listening audience can ask questions via a text option. It’s pretty smooth running and meets a lot of needs. Becky McCray and I ran a blab last night to answer questions submitted to us about…
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