As Deb Brown and I drove away from the small town we had just visited, we talked about something that the town was missing. It wasn’t one specific business or an amenity. It was a characteristic. It was hustle. We didn’t see that entrepreneurial drive we’d both noticed other places. There were businesses and entrepreneurs in town, yes, but there were opportunities for a lot more. We started brainstorming the businesses we didn’t see, ones we could imagine working there. We could imagine cleaning services and concierges, preparing and stocking visitors’ cabins before they arrive, or cleaning up and winterizing after they leave. While some people are hunting or fishing, there are bound to be some family members who’d like other activities, like maybe yoga, tours, or outdoors skills classes. Visitors take their dogs into the National Forest, so surely dog washing would be popular before people make the long drive home with a dirty dog. Then there were all the opportunities around the emerging bike tourism trend… We came up with a dozen more ideas during the drive. Why weren’t locals trying these ideas plus all the ones they could see that we didn’t? Where was the hustle? I talked with a local person about this. She felt it went back to the heavy industry jobs that used to be there. The ethic was to find a good job, and it would take care of you. As those jobs left, people encouraged their kids to get an education and get out. Probably a lot of towns have had a similar pattern. Sending your kids away makes sense if you think the town has no future. Today, any small town can choose to have a future. We all have the technology available for our towns to survive, if we decide to.Once you decide to survive, you look around to see what you have available. If all you have is the dirt under your feet and the sun in the sky, then you start there. This place has National Forest, an existing tourism base and the emerging rails to trails project. That is a huge base of assets and opportunities to build on. Could they develop or redevelop an entrepreneurial streak here? I think so, and I think it starts with youth entrepreneurship. A local group is working on that, supporting entrepreneurship training in the schools. They also developed a tiny business village, so pop up businesses would have a place to start. Another thing that might help is starting conversations around the many opportunities and unmet needs. Start online conversations, hold brainstorming events with locals and visitors, and share stories of the hustle that you see when you visit other places. Any way you can think of to get more people looking around and talking about what could be. It’s a long process to develop an entrepreneurial culture. But it’s your best bet for a prosperous place in the future. New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates. from https://smallbizsurvival.com/2019/04/how-to-develop-an-entrepreneurial-culture-and-more-small-businesses-in-your-town.html
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Guest Post by Paula Jensen Leaders are the essence of small towns and rural communities. The success or failure of any housing, community or economic development efforts in the places we call home often rests upon the level of engagement and investment of local citizen leaders. Yet, in so many communities I work in across South Dakota there is an invisible divide holding back the development of a strong leadership base. I hear experienced leaders saying, “Young people just don’t want to be involved in the community!” and I hear emerging leaders saying, “The people in charge won’t let us try anything new!” So, I am asking you, “How can we empower more people to lead in our rural communities?” To begin searching for a solution to this question, I want to help you understand two community leadership systems that exist:
The two systems listed above are quite different, yet if we are going to show emerging leaders that they do have the power to innovate and have real impact on the community, then we need to begin transforming the community’s leadership structure. Experienced community leaders can initiate this process by asking good questions, listening with curiosity, and taking new ideas seriously. Below are some sample questions to help these transformational conversations begin. Questions to transform rural leadership:
The responsibility of building a pool of leaders in our rural communities falls to both sides. Experienced leaders must let go a little bit, and emerging leaders must build a foundation of trust. This will allow a smooth community leadership structure transformation with minimal chaos – ultimately good for the future of our rural communities. So, if they want to lead, empower them to lead. #Iamrural New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates. from https://smallbizsurvival.com/2019/04/if-they-want-to-lead-empower-them-to-lead.html
The Brag Basket is open! This one is for April 26-28, 2019. Bring your good news, big or small, to share with everyone. What can you share in the Brag Basket?
Don’t like to brag? Just share some good news for someone you’re happy for. It’s a conversation with friends. So jump in. And remember to cheer for each other. How do you join in? Below this post is the comment section. Add your good news there. Reading this in your email? Hit reply. Some weeks you’ll find even more comments on our Facebook Page. Want to see some past Brag Baskets and read some past contributions? Here’s the archive.
from https://smallbizsurvival.com/2019/04/the-brag-basket-looks-really-good-today.html Every town needs a future mural, or a series of them. Seems like every small town has a history-themed mural, but very few have a future-themed or even modern-style mural. Many towns use old photos as displays, including in empty buildings. They do get people talking about what you used to have. But how are you engaging people in talking about what you will become? If every single display depicts the past, who is showing the future? For every historic image, do a one-to-one match with a future image. We spend enough time reminding people our town has a past. We don’t spend enough time reminding people our town has a future. New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates. from https://smallbizsurvival.com/2019/04/wheres-your-towns-future-mural.html
The Brag Basket is open! This one is for April 19-21, 2019. Bring your good news, big or small, to share with everyone. What can you share in the Brag Basket?
Don’t like to brag? Just share some good news for someone you’re happy for. It’s a conversation with friends. So jump in. And remember to cheer for each other. How do you join in? Below this post is the comment section. Add your good news there. Reading this in your email? Hit reply. Some weeks you’ll find even more comments on our Facebook Page. Want to see some past Brag Baskets and read some past contributions? Here’s the archive.
from https://smallbizsurvival.com/2019/04/plenty-of-space-in-the-brag-basket.html You probably know better than to follow up with someone like this:
You realize that doesn’t really help either of you. But you still might be making this mistake:
That feels like it’s helping, but from the customer perspective, it’s just adding to our guilt. What if you took a different approach, a helpful approach.
Now that sounds helpful! And I’m betting you’ll have a lot more success following up to be helpful than to just add more guilt. New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates. from https://smallbizsurvival.com/2019/04/the-secret-to-effective-follow-up-what-not-to-say.html
The Brag Basket is open! This one is for April 12-14, 2019. Bring your good news, big or small, to share with everyone. What can you share in the Brag Basket?
Don’t like to brag? Just share some good news for someone you’re happy for. It’s a conversation with friends. So jump in. And remember to cheer for each other. How do you join in? Below this post is the comment section. Add your good news there. Reading this in your email? Hit reply. Some weeks you’ll find even more comments on our Facebook Page. Want to see some past Brag Baskets and read some past contributions? Here’s the archive.
from https://smallbizsurvival.com/2019/04/the-brag-basket-is-the-good-news-market.html This week at SaveYour.Town, we’re sharing how to take big empty buildings and divide them up for multiple small businesses. One model is co-working spaces, which offer shared office and workspace. Then our friend Jon Swanson sent us an article on rural churches doing innovative things, including one doing a co-working space. This seems like a perfect fit for some small town churches. The article is by Allen T. Stanton: Rural churches can thrive beyond numbers. The example he gave was First United Methodist Church in Sanford, Florida, which he describes as “a small city outside Orlando.” Stanton listed questions that a pastor named Meghan has started asking about their role in the community. “What are the needs we can meet?” and “What does it mean to be a leader in this particular community?” That’s where the co-working space for non-profits idea came up. So far, the non-profits include food-based programs, support groups and entrepreneurial initiatives focused on justice. “All of these groups were trying to find ways to work together,” Meghan said. “We want to find ways for our church to help in that.” Think about the churches in your small town. Are any of them asking questions like this? Are any sharing their buildings with outside groups or another congregation? New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates. from https://smallbizsurvival.com/2019/04/how-church-buildings-can-do-more-for-the-community.html The last U.S. federal government shutdown started on December 22, 2018, and ended on January 25, 2019. The 35 days made it the longest U.S. government shutdown in history. So how did the shutdown affect small businesses during the 35 days? According to a new BizBuySell survey of small business owners, it didn’t have any impact at all for 79% of the owners. Only 18% of small businesses said the impact was negative, with a small 4% claiming it was positive. Of those negatively impacted, 40% said they still haven’t recovered from the shutdown. The remaining 60% said they have recovered. Impact of Government Shutdown to Overall EconomyIn the overall economy, the shutdown cost the U.S. GDP $3 billion. The data comes from a report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO said, “The shutdown dampened economic activity mainly because of the loss of furloughed federal workers’ contribution to GDP, the delay in federal spending on goods and services, and the reduction in aggregate demand.” As the survey also points out, the negative impact was essentially limited to businesses who were dealing with government workers. BizBuySell surveyed more than 1,000 small business owners across the U.S. on a range of issues. The goal was to get their perspective on recent events such as the government shutdown, tax reform and more. Negatively Impacted BusinessesBusinesses who had a negative experience identified several different factors. Again, it was in great part driven by businesses who lost federal workers as customers. More than half or 56% said it was because customers who lost wages couldn’t purchase their product or service. Along those lines, another 26% said closed offices meant fewer customers in their location. The closed federal offices were responsible for losing government contracts and loan delays. Eighteen percent of businesses said they lost contracts and 13% responded there were SBA Loan delays. Regarding other issues, 10% of businesses experienced disruption in the delivery of their products. And an equal number also said travel was more difficult, which was in part due to federal employees not working. TaxesOn the topic of taxes, businesses were asked how the new regulations of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act affected them this year. The largest percentage of the responses came from 33% of owners who said their taxes remained the same. An almost equal number or 30% said they were not sure. The remaining respondents (14%) said it raised their taxes, while 22% said it lowered their taxes. Their sentiment about the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act was also a mixed bag of opinions. When asked how it affected their business 35% said positive, 20% negative, and 45% said it had no impact. It was noticeably different when it came to men and women. More men (38%) said it was positive compared to women (22%). The answer about the negative impact was higher with women at 28% and only 17% of men felt the same way. An almost equal number of men and women felt it had no impact at all. Half of all the business women owners (50%) said the Act didn’t have any impact and 45% said the same. Image: Depositphotos.com This article, "Wow! 40% of Small Businesses STILL Haven’t Recovered from the Government Shutdown" was first published on Small Business Trends from https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/04/impact-of-government-shutdown.html Trump’s national emergency declaration has the support of 50% of small business owners over 50 years of age. The data is from the latest BizBuySell survey about small business owner sentiment. Small Business Owner Sentiment Survey ResultsAccording to the survey, business owner sentiment on this is issue is close to a statistical tie. An almost equal number of people say they agree (45%) or disagree (41%) on Trump’s declaration. When you break down the data according to age, owners over 50 agree with it at a higher rate. More than a third or 37% of this group disagreed with the declaration. For those under 50, more people disagreed (48%) than those who agreed (37%). The Issue of ImmigrationCurrently, a crisis is brewing in the southern border of the U.S. as more migrants make their way through Central America. For small business owners, the issue of immigration is a thorny one because many industries rely on migrants. While everyone is well aware illegal immigration is not sustainable, the country needs a solution. The BizBuySell survey asked owners if stricter immigration policies affect their small business? The majority (58%) said no, and an equal number of respondents at 21% said it would have a positive/negative impact. The goal of the BizBuySell survey was to see how small business owners felt about a range of issues. The company surveyed more than 1,000 small business owners across the U.S to determine the outcome. They were asked about business risks, immigration reform, and even data security along with other topics. Risks to BusinessesThere are a host of issues small business owners face day in and day out. The survey asked what was the biggest external risk to your business in the next two years? While immigration is getting the headlines right now, only 4% of businesses said it was a risk. Topping the list was a possible economic recession at 38%. Talent shortage was next at 17%, large competitors at 12%, and government regulation with the same 12 percentage points. Taxes, healthcare costs, and cybersecurity came in at nine, six, and two percent respectively. Although a small percentage of businesses said cybersecurity is a risk, it is a growing problem. Cyber attacks are costing small businesses $53,987 on average. In the survey, 53% of the business owners are confident their business and customer data are properly protected against external threats. Over a quarter or 26% are not confident and 20% said they are unsure. So how are owners currently storing their business and customer data? Forty-two percent of businesses use third-party cloud solutions and another 38% use manual records at a secure location. Businesses also use a combination of online files, external hard drives, and third-party on-premises software. When it comes to protecting your data having multiple solutions will ensure the safety of your data. The key is ensuring each method has robust security and a quick and reliable recovery system in place. Image: Depositphotos.com This article, "50% of Business Owners Over 50 Back Trump’s National Emergency Declaration" was first published on Small Business Trends from https://smallbiztrends.com/2019/04/small-business-owner-sentiment.html |
ABOUT MEHello I am Dian Arispe 28 years old from Miami. I love reading articles about business consulting and like to learn more about it. ArchivesNo Archives Categories |