Big Ideas for Small Town Business Success 

I was honored to be a guest on this call with the Orton Family Foundation, and I’m happy to pass along this recording for you to listen in while we talk rural entrepreneurship, filling gaps downtown, and revitalizing your town.

From farm-to-table restaurants and food co-ops to craft breweries and tech startups, it’s an exciting time for small town businesses. Cultivating those businesses and encouraging entrepreneurs is key to thriving local economies. Our panelists, who have owned businesses, worked with entrepreneurs, and helped make their downtowns vibrant, share the secrets of their success.

Speakers are:

Becky McCray, business owner, author, and publisher of Small Biz Survival, a blog about the challenges and successes of doing business in a small town. Her no-nonsense perspective on local economies lands her in publications from The New York Times to The High Plains Journal. Home is Hopeton, Oklahoma (pop. 30).

Joe Wasson, business owner; founder, McComb Economic Development Organization; project coordinator, McComb Region Heart & Soul. Joe owned and managed his family’s furniture business in downtown McComb, Ohio, (pop. 1,600), which closed in 2013. Since then he has worked tirelessly to recruit new businesses to town, forming the McComb Economic Development Organization and securing a grant for a regional Community Heart & Soul project.

Patrick Wright, executive director, Gardiner Main Street; economic and community development coordinator, Gardiner, Maine (pop. 6,000). Patrick has been front and center in the revitalization of Gardiner’s downtown. In addition to being a partner in the town’s Community Heart & Soul project, Gardiner Main Street is one of three partners in the Gardiner Growth Initiative, an incentive program for drawing businesses to the town.

Follow along with the groups notes in this Google Doc: bit.ly/2cBIjkt.

Download file | Duration: 3:20| Size: 3.1M

One of the most common questions I hear from small town businesses that make a product is about wholesaling. Should they sell at direct markets? Should they sell to retailers at a discount? If so, how do they ever afford it?

So I asked Donna Maria from Indie Biz Network about wholesaling and selling your own product in markets. And I have 3 minutes of her answer for you, in audio.

She explains why selling your own goods at a market (like a farmers market or craft show) often leads to a struggling business, and how to sell beyond that market. How can you create a business that spans the next 30 years of your life?

Donna Maria is an experienced business coach. She connects independent businesses like soap makers, cosmetics makers, etc., with each other. Her Indie Biz Network offers them benefits like access to product liability insurance, training, and mentoring. I’m drawn to her no-excuses approach.

This exchange was actually in the outtakes from my interview with Donna Maria, telling the story of her own business. You’ll find the full interview in our podcast, here:

Donna Maria tells her small town business story

You can view all the Positive View of Rural Podcast episodes here.

But the even bigger story is that huge sweeping trends are acting in favor of small towns. The end of geographic limits, how customers are changing retail, the local movement, and people moving in are all reshaping the future of rural and small towns. I’m convinced that this is the best time for small towns to truly prosper.

I presented on this topic at the Small Towns Conference put on by Oklahoma Main Street. I had an audience member (thanks, Dea!) shoot video of my talk just for my own review, but several people have asked me to share it to reach more people. So even though the brightness on my video camera was acting up, I’ve agreed.

If you’d like me to come to your town to present these positive stories live and in person, get in touch. If you’re reading this in your email, you can just hit reply and that comes to me directly. If you’re reading this on the website, drop by the contact form to talk to me.

Jill Castilla is a fellow Oklahoman, so I was thrilled to meet her at the AMIBA national conference.

At the AMIBA national conference, I captured a few of the sessions that I thought you might be interested in. This one is about community bankers and how they get involved in your town. If you haven’t started a relationship with a community bank, now is a great time to get out and meet one. (None in your town? Try to find one in the next nearest town.)

Audio recording: 

Supporting and Partnering with Community Financial Institutions with Jill Castilla and Eric Morse. Download MP3.

Or listen online:

About the speakers: 

Jill Castilla

When Jill Castilla tweets out a post with the “#banklocally” hashtag, it’s really her. Castilla is the CEO of Citizens Bank of Edmond, where she is the fourth generation of her family to work for the Oklahoma-based community bank. Castilla uploaded her experience in the military and her years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City into Citizens Bank to create an atmosphere of responsibility and responsiveness. Her community outreach through social media is helping usher in an era of approachability and open communication in community banking.

In 2013, when Castilla was Chief Operating Officer for Citizens Bank, she was named by the Independent Community Bankers Association as a top bank social media influencer, and her quick embrace of new technology goes beyond the Twitter feed – the bank’s cutting-edge ATM systems are putting the first real changes in the technology since the 1980s. Twitter: @JillCastilla

Eric Morse

Eric Morse is the Founder of a newly launched web site, SwitchToCommunity.com, and an outspoken advocate for community banking. He is a life-long banker currently serving as SVP of Retail Banking and Marketing for Needham Bank, the evolution of community banking. Prior positions include head of corporate marketing at a Bank of America predecessor bank and global chief marketing officer for a Wall Street investment bank. He has been to “the dark side” and back! Twitter: @BankingLocal

A social media tip useful for any organization with members: cultivate your online champions. Includes a case study of how Leslie McLellan did it in Lake Arrowhead, California.

Some folks pointed out that tweets and sample posts on paper aren’t easy for people to type correctly, especially the short links. Leslie actually followed up her in-person meetings by sending out an email with the Word DOC version of the suggested posts. She only sent it to those who attended. People who don’t attend the in-person training won’t understand your goals and won’t build the sense of being a team that you really want.

Smart folks in the room for my presentation suggested using some of the newer tools that Leslie didn’t have in 2009, to make that easier for members.

1. Use Click to Tweet to make that list of sample tweets easy to use. Click to Tweet will give you a link you can actually put in your Word DOC that, when a member clicks it, will open a browser with the tweet already filled in.

2. HREF Share is similar to Click to Tweet, but not as cute. What it does better is work with Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter posts. So you could create one link for Twitter, one for Facebook. You’d put your sample post, then “click here to post to Twitter” for the Twitter link. Then you could customize your post for Facebook, and “click here to post to Facebook.”

Michael Shuman Interview

Economist and Author Michael Shuman knows a heck of a lot about why we have a local movement. He’s also the author of the books Small Mart Revolution and Local Dollars, Local Sense.

In this interview, he goes all economist on durable and nondurable goods right at the start, but hang on, because we move right on to small towns, the return of local manufacturing and the resurgence of local retail, local foods, and why price is not enough to win. What is? Michael tells us. We brainstorm a little about how small town businesses could reach out regionally. We also are pretty harsh on old-style “attraction and retention” economic development.

You can find Michael’s writings and sign up for his e-newsletter here: http://michaelhshuman.com/ Be sure to check out his 24 Top Tools for Local Investing (PDF).

Why this podcast exists

If you’re “just a business owner” or “just” someone in a small town, you often feel like you’re the only one. Either the only one with a positive outlook or the only one who is trying to create change. The whole point of this podcast is to bring all of us together. You are not alone.

You can subscribe in iTunes through this link.

Or you can subscribe in any podcast tool, RSS reader or music manager. While each tool has a different setup, usually you’ll just need to copy this link and paste it where you add your podcast feeds: https://smallbizsurvival.com/?feed=podcast

You can view all the Positive View of Rural Podcast episodes here.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour.

Mack Collier Interview

Mack Collier leads the highly influential weekly #blogchat, publishes the most popular discussions of social media for business pricing, and leads corporations and businesses of all size to be more social and better serve customers. He’s also the author of Think Like a Rock Star, and he’s based in a rural area of Alabama.

Mack doesn’t let the lack of decent broadband stop him. He doesn’t try to hide his accent or play down his rural roots. He is who he is.

Mack and I have been online friends for quite a while, and we’ve been fortunate to meet in person at South by Southwest and other places. He’s like many other rural people who’ve become well-known; he’s genuine, kind and very capable.

Catch up with Mack’s writings, #blogchat and his speaking here: MackCollier.com.

Photo of Mack (CC) by Matt Dickman on Flickr. 

Why this podcast exists

If you’re “just a business owner” or “just” someone in a small town, you often feel like you’re the only one. Either the only one with a positive outlook or the only one who is trying to create change. The whole point of this podcast is to bring all of us together. You are not alone.

You can subscribe in iTunes through this link.

Or you can subscribe in any podcast tool, RSS reader or music manager. While each tool has a different setup, usually you’ll just need to copy this link and paste it where you add your podcast feeds: https://smallbizsurvival.com/?feed=podcast

You can view all the Positive View of Rural Podcast episodes here.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. 

Mark Riffey looks at small town business the same way he looks at all small business: you’ve got to do things right to succeed, and you have a responsibility to others when you’re in business.

Mark has long impressed me with his smart writings about small business. While he’s not always saying “small town,” his small town background influences all his work. Now that we’re practically neighbors (neighboring states counts, right?), I thought it was high time we talked.

One of my few can’t-miss subscriptions is Mark’s Rescue Marketing blog. His Who I Work With page is fantastic marketing as well as a model for you to learn from.

Why this podcast exists

If you’re “just a business owner” or “just” someone in a small town, you often feel like you’re the only one. Either the only one with a positive outlook or the only one who is trying to create change. The whole point of this podcast is to bring all of us together. You are not alone.

You can subscribe in iTunes through this link.

Or you can subscribe in a different podcast tool, RSS reader or music manager. While each tool has a different setup, usually you’ll just need to copy this link and paste it where you add your podcast feeds: https://smallbizsurvival.com/?feed=podcast

You can view all the Positive View of Rural Podcast episodes here.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. 

Grant Griffiths founded a global high-tech company from his basement in a small town of fewer than 4,000 people, and he’s been successful for five years now.

Grant Griffiths shares what has made his business a global success from a small town. Photo by Becky McCray.

Grant explains how he founded his business with his son and works with a virtual team of people all over the world. Grant likes to say he’s a cranky sort, but he’s dedicated to his customers. We also talk about youth entrepreneur perspectives today.

Find Grant’s business at Headway Themes.

Why this podcast exists

If you’re “just a business owner” or “just” someone in a small town, you often feel like you’re the only one. Either the only one with a positive outlook or the only one who is trying to create change. The whole point of this podcast is to bring all of us together. You are not alone.

You can subscribe in iTunes through this link.

Or you can subscribe in a different podcast tool, RSS reader or music manager. While each tool has a different setup, usually you’ll just need to copy this link and paste it where you add your podcast feeds: https://smallbizsurvival.com/?feed=podcast

You can view all the Positive View of Rural Podcast episodes here.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. 

Yoga seems like a hard thing to give a sample of, unless you just give away a class for free. Listen in as we brainstorm some other ways to bring people into the experience. Photo CC by Tom Mooring on Flickr.

During a break at an event last year, a small town yoga studio owner and I talked about her marketing. She knows that if people come to one class, they usually like it and return. She asked if she should make that first class free to get them in the door. I said no, because a whole class still seems like a big hurdle to someone who has never tried yoga. Then I started making up alternative ways to get people to sample yoga.

Even though it was during a break, the audio was being recorded, so you get to listen in for a few minutes while we brainstorm out some alternatives.

MP3 download: How do you sample yoga?

No matter what you offer, you can find ways to give people samples.

I love to brainstorm with local businesses like this when I speak and visit different towns. It’s some of the most valuable time we spend together.

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