How do you get an entrepreneurship culture started in your town? Start them young. Photo via Norfolk County, Ontario.

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.

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Photo (CC) by Malin Andreassen, on Flickr

“If only” is a statement I hear often from small-business owners.

Sometimes the wishes are big and grandiose. But most of the time, the wishes are just what one might expect such as more customers, a big order, more space or more money to work with or in the bank at the end of the month.

Yes, often the wishes are just dreaming, yet I have also seen a them come true.

It is great when that happens but, when asked, business owners often reflect that this great positive showed weaknesses in their planning and preparation.

Issues that these owners have faced include: keeping customers happy once they start coming; getting and training an adequate level of staff, needing more space and equipment, finding where to get more raw materials, and, of course, needing more money. Even when things are going good and money is starting to come in, the demand for access to even more cash grows as well.

Business owners comment that they were looking at much larger loans or at new challenges as they considered raising equity capital or working with an angel or venture capitalists.

So should you, as the owner, give up on your wishes? Not at all. For most people, the wishing stage just gets us started thinking about the future. And those thoughts form the start of what all business owners should do, planning.

Wishing is a good lead for the next step, the “what if” statements. How might your business be impacted if a wish does happen? Are you ready to respond?

Being ready to respond will make achieving your wish feel so much better. It also may help direct what you wish for. For example, many people enjoy the creative process. If demand should skyrocket, he or she becomes a manager and loses any hands-on role. It’s something to think about and plan for to ensure that your small business continues to fulfill your dreams and desires.

Wishing or dreaming or whatever you want to call it is a huge motivator. It keeps us motivated. And that will build your business.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” The key to this story is do not let your wishes be the end of your dreams.

Photo (CC) by LeeHansen.com, on Flickr

If you have followed this blog, my colleague, Becky McCray, has provided lots of ideas for building communities and the small businesses in those areas. Her blogs have suggested things such as

• Pop-ups – https://smallbizsurvival.com/2014/03/what-is-a-pop-up-business.html
• Shared spaces – https://smallbizsurvival.com/2017/04/small-town-retail-trend-shared-spaces.html
• Tiny businesses – https://smallbizsurvival.com/2017/03/tiny-businesses-in-storage-sheds-a-rural-economic-development-tool.html

I am adding another thought to this list by suggesting that a business or a community can start your own holiday.

Businesses and communities already celebrate events such as anniversaries, grand openings, founder’s day, etc. But maybe you have a quirky idea like bacon day or ball point pen day you would like to celebrate. Go ahead. Just look at Ground Hogs Day as a developed event. Several towns have made it a major event.

And just as certain events have already spread into other communities, there may be no reason you can’t bring an existing idea to your business and community as well (you may want to check on any intellectual property rights).

From Day 1, as you start making plans, think about the possibility of making it a yearly event. Where will you start this year and how might you expand in the future.

If you can’t think of an event, perhaps you just want to grab one of the special days, weeks or months already acknowledged. Some examples include:

• National Ice Cream Day (third Sunday in July).
• National Cheer Up the Lonely Day (July 11^th).
• National Sneak Some Zucchini Into Your Neighbor’s Porch Day (August 8^th). Think of the contests and fun you could have with that.

And if nothing else excites you – National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day (September 1^st). (Check out National Day Calendar (http://nationaldaycalendar.com/) for more ideas.)

Companies such as Amazon and Alibaba did this with their Amazon Prime Day (July 10^th) and National Singles Day. They didn’t even have an event but simply highlight a single day devoted to spending money in their system for some great deals. (http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-day-vs-alibaba-singles-day-2017-7). You may say you don’t have the resources for such an event but start small. You aren’t looking to do an international event the first year.

So as you plan your marketing, don’t be limited to what exists. Feel free to create new opportunities.

Photo (CC) by Helen Gordon, on Flickr

Getting a business up and running takes a lot of hard work.

Trying to decide what business to start, determining if there is an audience, and getting your systems in order takes a lot of your effort. And these initial tasks happen at a time when you have only yourself or, at best, limited help available.

As I talk with startup-business owners, they often comment about looking forward to getting beyond the startup stage when they won’t have to work so hard.

Thinking it gets easier, though, is somewhat of a myth.

Yes, certain things do get easier. You have a market of regular buyers. Certain aspects of the business become routine. Your business has an established presence, it’s visible. And you have key employees performing some of the key tasks.

Probably one of the biggest things is that money is coming in and you have established a cash flow that can be used to pay bills and expenses. Plus that cash flow is allowing you to pay yourself and pay off some of the debt you probably took on when you started the business.

But while certain things get easier, new tasks come along and existing tasks get harder.

One of the biggest challenges is how to keep things new and fresh for you existing customers. It is much easier to sell to someone who has already purchased from your business. However with all of the competition, it can be hard to keep the customer coming back to your store.

Keeping things new means not only updated products and services but bringing on new products and product lines. It means new means of service. New ways to market and even new ways for customers to pay (think near-field communication or payment through an app) are now your challenges. New regulations come along. Finally, your cash-flow issues don’t go away. They change to finding ways to allow for your growth and to increase wages and benefits.

The bottom line, as reported by existing business owners, is that running a business gets different but it doesn’t get easier.

This should not stop you and your pursuit of a dream. Small-business ownership offers great opportunities and rewards. Just understand the realities and then enjoy the ride.