Articles

Let go of those whose mind you cannot change

Some people default to the negative. You know them.  They say things like “that will never work here”and “we tried that before and it didn’t work.” It can be difficult to reason with that group of people, referred to as ‘the committee of negativity’.  Nothing you say will be taken seriously.  There’s an argument for every…

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We eat in small towns

We do eat in small towns. We don’t meet if we don’t eat! Church potlucks, fundraisers of all sorts, events downtown – you’ll often find food on the menu of activities. Many communities have unique kinds of food that you can find in their areas.   Chislic is a traditional dish of cubed meat commonly…

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Survey of Rural Challenges

Take the Survey of Rural Challenges! Wouldn’t it be great if the people who way they want to help rural people would actually listen to rural peoples own challenges? The survey is open for rural people from all over to tell about their needs. It helps us at SaveYour.Town and SmallBizSurvival.com to tailor our offerings…

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Art in the Rural

Art projects, events and pieces are often the last thing towns think of when it comes to economic development.There is a bit of a tendency for people to think of art as something other people do. If they think of art in their community at all, they think of murals or art exhibits.  Art is…

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Human Behavior and the Idea Friendly Method

How does Human Behavior affect how we use the Idea Friendly Method? The Idea Friendly Method is simply stated as You find your Big Idea and Gather Your Crowd around accomplishing that idea, You turn that crowd into a powerful network and Build Connections and then You and the crowd take Small Steps to accomplish…

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Want a coffee shop? Start small

Brandon and Alicia had this idea that the old bank building they own just might a good coffee shop with WiFi. They looked at prices for all the equipment, got ideas for other vendors to go into the location, and started planning big. But how do they know it will even work as a coffee shop?…

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Say Thank You

Support your businesses with a thank you. A small group of us stopped in to the Pancake House in Paulding, Ohio just to tell them thank you! They are more than a pancake house, they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. And they are local business owners providing a much-needed service in your community. I get…

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Paint the Streets in Your Small Town

Arts R Alive, a local group in the small town of Webster City, Iowa, bring sculptures to West Twin Park. They together in 2015 and thought it might be fun to paint the streets as a way to do a little fund raising.  18 x 18 squares were laid out, businesses and organizations were invited…

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Weed Whackers and Window Cleaner Ninja

I visited Roscommon County, Michigan and toured a few empty buildings.  On one corner, a major intersection into town, there was an empty building on each corner.  We talked about building possibility, working with the county and the town and hosting a tour. Next to one of the buildings that needed to be torn down…

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Using the Entire Town to Fundraise

Akron, Iowa has a big idea of building an aquatic center. They knew it would cost a lot of money. They will write grants and apply for different kinds of funding. However, without full support of the community, those requests won’t go very far.  Some of the small steps they are taking to raise funds…

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