Keep it simple

Successful small town businesses keep it simple.

Hart and Con Pekrul keep it simple.
The secret to long-lasting success. 

Here's what I noticed in the back room at a local winery, run by Con Pekrul. All the equipment is simple. Barrels and buckets, second hand tables, a used refrigerator.

Here's Con's father Hart, filling bottles by hand. An automatic bottler would be too expensive, Con said. And Hart, a retired banker, won't entertain such extravagant ideas.

The wine labels are still printed on plain paper in one color. There is only one label design, so each variety is stamped with a rubber stamp.

This careful attitude has helped them beat the predictions of their accountant and to build a strong business for more than seven years.

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Get professional website help

Small businesses struggle with website options. With all the do-it-yourself tools available, it's tough to know when to turn to a professional for help. Long ago, Martin Kelly put this up as a comment here. I think it's still relevant and helpful to small business owners.

A few of the do-it-yourself website choices

A few website basics, and why professional help can be worth it
By Martin Kelly
martinkelley.com

I think the do-it-yourself tools have been great. The more that goes up online, the more useful the Internet becomes.

The most important things to have up on a website is your contact information, of course. After that I always recommend pictures or something else that will give potential customers an idea of what you're like.

What business should I start?

Wondering what business to start? Looking for business ideas?

Andy Hayes offers an excellent coaching package, two hours of one-on-one brainstorming and planning. He calls it Fireworks and Firebombs: Find a Business Idea that Gets You Excited and Will Pay the Bills.

Disclosure: Andy Hayes is a friend. I am not an affiliate and do not receive any payment for recommending him. I believe he offers a terrific service.

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Failure can lead you somewhere better

Harrison Ford caught at the premier of
Cowboys and Aliens
by jyw104 on Flickr

"What made you choose acting as a profession?"
"Failure in all other fields."

Harrison Ford.
(found on IMDB)

Part of our series on the importance of failure and how you respond to it.

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Back to school brag basket

The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one August 26-28, 2011.

Baskets of school books.
Photo by Katie Day on Flickr.

Even though I call this the Brag Basket, it's not really about bragging. It's about sharing.

What can you do in the Brag Basket?

• introduce yourself
• share some great news from this week
• congratulate a friend
• laugh about something wonderful that you tried that failed
• applaud for each other

Don't hold back because of that word, "brag." When you hold back, you hide your good news and accomplishments that might inspire others.

Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.

How does it work? You write a comment on this post, email me, or catch me on any social network and share your thought.

This is not an ad. (I delete the ads.) It's a conversation with friends. So jump in. And remember to cheer for each other.


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Keeping your fire alive

Another lesson I learned from my time as a Mary Kay consultant.

A new Mary Kay consultant was sitting next to a more experienced director next to a fireplace.

Keep your fire alive. Photo by Becky McCray

The new consultant asked, "Why should I waste one night each week going to success meetings? I could be using that night to hold a class and make more sales!"

The experienced director said nothing. She picked up the fireplace tongs and carefully pulled out a glowing red-hot coal from the grate. She set it on the bricks in front of the fireplace. Separated from the heat of the fire, the glow faded, and the ember quickly cooled.

"Ah, I see," the new consultant said.

Of course, this lesson could apply in any business, but I think it's particularly telling for people who work independently. Let's look at what happens at a typical Mary Kay unit weekly success meeting:

• Results are tabulated and rewards are given, with public recognition.
• Goals are set for short term and long term.
• New information is shared about business management and about product.
• People get together and socialize.
• Fun is encouraged.

Few independent business people have such a powerful weekly session. Your challenge is to find ways to get all of those benefits on a regular basis. Look for meetings and events locally that provide some of the elements. You could put together a group that meets online to provide most of the rest. But watch out for the people with the wrong attitude. Spending time with negative thinkers is like throwing your glowing ember into a pail of cold water.

How are you keeping your ember alive? How do you recharge your fire weekly?



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Another alternative financing source

With small business lending incredibly tight, more innovative alternatives to financing are coming up. This one has a big string attached: a complete change in how you manage your business.

Springfield Remanufacturing Company is a small city success, based in Springfield, Missouri. They got famous for using completely open book management, calling it the great game of business. Every worker is also an owner of the business, and all that financial training paid off as workers were able to build up and hive off their own divisions as separate firms.

And that brings us to the alternative financing. When the workers understand every financial detail of the business, they can even decide to loan the company money, when acute need arises. That's what happened for one Springfield firm trained in business by SRC's method.

Read and watch the whole story at PBS: SRC Manufacturer Goes Small in Era of "Too Big to Fail."

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The Brag Basket is worth waiting for

The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one August 19-21, 2011.

Even though I call this the Brag Basket, it's not really about bragging. It's about sharing.

What can you do in the Brag Basket?

• introduce yourself
• share some great news from this week
• congratulate a friend
• laugh about something wonderful that you tried that failed
• applaud for each other

Don't hold back because of that word, "brag." When you hold back, you hide your good news and accomplishments that might inspire others.

Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.

How does it work? You write a comment on this post, email me, or catch me on any social network and share your thought.

This is not an ad. (I delete the ads.) It's a conversation with friends. So jump in. And remember to cheer for each other.


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How to use historic photos and postcards in tourism

Small towns change slowly, but they do change. Historic photographs and photo postcards show how your town used to look. But how do you share those with visitors? They're on display in the museum, right? Well, young people aren't going to your museum. So, let's reach those young people where they live, right on their phones.

Anybody can do this idea

Dig out those old photos. Figure out the locations they match up to, and go there. Hold up the photo so it looks right in perspective, and take a picture of it. Here are examples from @backroadsnews:



It's a style being popularized by Dear Photograph. But I see it as a major tourism tool.

Go make your own photos like this in your town. Put them on your website. Post them on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and then make a movie of them and put them on YouTube. (In other words, spread them around.)

If you just did that, that would be super cool. But, let's go another step.

Social media marketing notes from Peter Shankman

Ben A. Smith's Social:IRL events have brought a series of nationally known speakers to cities like Wichita, Kansas City, and Ben's current hometown of Lawrence, Kansas. I attended the Social Media Customer Service Bootcamp featuring Peter Shankman in Lawrence. Here are a bunch of notes, not particularly smoothed out.

Peter Shankman works the crowd

The point of the day: How to generate revenue.

Try things. If they don't work, try other things.

Saturday is the best day to pitch USA Today. They are making the Monday paper.

If you are creating content, have a backup plan for when you succeed. Anything can blow up viral on you. What will you do with those thousands of visitors?

Coopetition at the Angels Camp Farmers Market

[Small town business is competitive, but we're also cooperative. That's why Shelby French's presentation at the 140 Characters Conference in Central Sierra caught my attention. It's her job to get local businesses cooperating even though they are nominal competitors. -Becky]

Shelby French promotes "coopetition"
at the Angels Camp Farmers Market.

Being tasked with marketing the Angels Camp Farmers Market and with promoting its participating vendors and sponsors is the perfect job for someone like me. Thru Social Media I am able to not only promote the details and events of each week at the market but also the 50 plus participants responsible for its success. By doing so, I then increase my Social Media exposure every time I promote one of them.

Let me offer an example. August 19th, the weekly theme for the market is Cobbler Night. Let's say on the Monday prior to the 19th, I post on my Facebook to my 115 fans the details of the theme. The cobbler cooking demonstrations, or the participating farms who are offering their favorite cobbler recipes using their fruits. My favorite cobbler is cherry. So on Tuesday I mention and tag our cherry farmer, Apkarian Family Farms, to their 148 fans. Wednesday I post a cobbler recipe provided by the chef at Black Oak Casino one of our market sponsors, reaching their 1600 fans.

Thursday I mention and tag our weekly participant, Angels Food Market and their private labeled cherry jam and syrups, 675 fans. And finally on Friday, I tag The Red Apple and their flaky good cherry pies and cobblers, 211 fans. Potentially, in one weeks time I have helped promote 5 local companies and potentially reached 2749 facebook fans.

Website tips in the weekly roundup

Matt About Business Weekly Link Roundup

Each week, I collect the 10 best posts that I've read and share them with you here.

These posts focus on small business solutions or resources online (or both!).

Enjoy!

Matt Mansfield


How The New Facebook “Places” Feature Can Be Used As A Marketing Tool
Link: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2010/11/25/how-the-new-facebook-places-feature-can-be-used-as-a-marketing-tool/
My Take: Facebook expands your reach with "Places". Learn more in this overview.

The title-less brag basket

The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one August 12-14, 2011.

Even though I call this the Brag Basket, it's not really about bragging. It's about sharing.

What can you do in the Brag Basket?

• introduce yourself
• share some great news from this week
• congratulate a friend
• laugh about something wonderful that you tried that failed
• applaud for each other

Don't hold back because of that word, "brag." When you hold back, you hide your good news and accomplishments that might inspire others.

Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.

How does it work? You write a comment on this post, email me, or catch me on any social network and share your thought.

This is not an ad. (I delete the ads.) It's a conversation with friends. So jump in. And remember to cheer for each other.



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A fam tour for locals

I've lived around here for ages. The last time I climbed to the top of the Glass Mountains, I was probably 10 or 12 years old. I only went back this year because I had friends in from out of town. I wonder, how many people live here, but don't even know you can hike to the top?

Climbing the Glass Mountains
with Jon and Nancy Swanson.

Which leads me to my next question:
What if you did a fam tour for your residents of your local attractions?

Put together a fam or press tour of your best local attractions and a few hidden gems. Plan it as though you were planning for the biggest, most important travel writers.

Invite your local bloggers, Twitter and Facebook users, and Flickr photographers. Include a few former locals who are also online writing, blogging, etc. Today, these people are your biggest, most important travel writers.

Comment on the resulting posts. Ask permission to reuse photos, videos and stories to promote your place. You'll collect all sorts of new materials to use.

And if you're lucky, you'll also eliminate a few cases of "never been there" among your locals.

For more ideas on working with locals, check out the latest Tourism Currents newsletter on online champions and earned online media.

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3 Small Town Business Ideas

Lots of people arrive here looking for rural business ideas. That's why I keep coming up with more and more ideas you can use to start your own small town business. Here are three new ones to spur your thinking.

My grandmother's
1941 Kerr canning manual

Teach canning classes
If you learned to can from your grandmother, and you can quote the Ball Blue Book from memory, then you could be teaching people. I heard from @SlowMoneyFarm that canning classes go as high as $150 apiece.

This one is just weird
A food truck for pets. I have no clue why this popped into my mind, but there it is. Someone is probably already doing it, but you could adapt it for small town festivals and fairs.

Bring outside retailers in
Few small towns have a perfect retail system. We all have holes. Take a look at what folks can't get locally, and then set up a delivery service. I read about people bringing in IKEA furniture or Costco discount items from Inspired Livelihood. Think of it as any other group buying service. People put in orders, and you deliver the items. And for the sake of your hometown, try not to duplicate your existing merchants.

Want more small town business ideas? Look through our free booklet, 20 Small Business Ideas for Small Towns.

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Mobile apps and video marketing in the Weekly Roundup

Matt About Business Weekly Link Roundup

Each week, I collect the 10 best posts that I've read and share them with you here.

These posts focus on small business solutions or resources online (or both!).

Enjoy!

Seven Ways to Engage Customers on Your Website
Link: http://www.pbsmartessentials.com/2011/07/seven-ways-to-engage-customers-on-your-website/
My Take: Getting people to your site is only part of the equation for success. The other two parts are engagement and conversion. This article has some solid tips on engagement.

The Startup’s Toolkit [Infographic]
Link: http://www.socialmeblog.com/2011/07/26/the-startups-toolkit-infographic/
My Take: These guys did a survey on what tools startups are using these days and then presented the results in an easy-to-read image. Themes, trends, and more are revealed!

44 Useful Mobile Apps for Social Media Marketers
Link: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/44-useful-mobile-apps-for-social-media-marketers/
My Take: A long, long list of new and shiny toys to play with this weekend. Enjoy!

5 Ways To Use Google+ With Your Internal Teams
Link: http://www.openforum.com/articles/5-ways-to-use-google-with-your-internal-teams
My Take: I love articles which describe ways to use online tools and social media within an organization. This one's has some handy internal uses for Google+.

29 Tips to Make Your Video Marketing Easy
Link: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/29-tips-to-make-your-video-marketing-easy/
My Take: Great tips on using video online from 29 separate folks who have done so successfully.

Marketing Must Change: A Q&A with Michael Stelzner
Link: http://www.mpdailyfix.com/marketing-must-change-a-qa-with-michael-stelzner
My Take: I really enjoyed this conversation about the new role of content in marketing.

Social Media Fatigue
Link: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/fatigue/
My Take: A call to reflect on how you are using social media if you feel it's getting stale.

Is Better Task Management on Your To-Do List?
Link: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/is-better-task-management-on-your-to-do-list/
My Take: Some handy tools to stay on top of your tasks.

Upgrade Your Online Presence — in 5 Days or Less
Link: http://www.bnet.com/blog/small-biz-advice/upgrade-your-online-presence-8212-in-5-days-or-less/3596
My Take: Straightforward tips for assuring you present yourself well online.

Three of Our Favorite Trend Sources
Link: http://www.smallbizlabs.com/2011/07/three-of-our-favorite-trends-sites.html
My Take: Love these links! Wanna' stay on top of business and social trends? You will, too!

Matt Mansfield is the Head Tour Guide at Matt About Business (http://www.mattaboutbusiness.com) where he helps entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies use the web to manage and market their business by connecting online strategies and tactics with real-world results.

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Put something juicy in the Brag Basket

The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one August 5-7, 2011.

A juicy basket of blackberries
by Melystu on Flickr

Even though I call this the Brag Basket, it's not really about bragging. It's about sharing.

What can you do in the Brag Basket?

• introduce yourself
• share some great news from this week
• congratulate a friend
• laugh about something wonderful that you tried that failed
• applaud for each other

Don't hold back because of that word, "brag." When you hold back, you hide your good news and accomplishments that might inspire others.

Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others' stories brings us a bit closer to being a community.

How does it work? You write a comment on this post, email me, or catch me on any social network and share your thought.

This is not an ad. (I delete the ads.) It's a conversation with friends. So jump in. And remember to cheer for each other.

New here? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Subscribe.

Rural Advantages make a comeback

Thanks to Mike Knutson, I found the Reasons Rural Rocks series at Podcasting through the Prairies.

Iron weed decorates the roadside
in Northwest Oklahoma

Things we know, but take for granted, like:

8. Going to your neighbors' and surprising them for coffee and it isn't considered breaking in @return2rural

7. Open starry skies, flowers on dirt roads, fragrant fresh air, abundance of wildlife, commUNITY, escape... @dizzyraerae

6. Family-run restaurants that still serve REAL, fresh, home-cooked food. @ACSRC

Stop by and read the Top 10, then add your own ideas on Twitter, with the hashtag #ReasonsRuralRocks.

We started a Rural Advantages series in 2007:

1. No 'rush hour'; only 'rush moment'
2. Random encounters are good for business
3. People are helpful
4. No need for GPS Navigation
5. A smaller, better network
6. Trust

Maybe it's time to bring it back. 

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Local photos for tourism

Want more local photos for your tourism efforts? Sponsor a photography event.

Alva's Picture My Weekend event
draws photographers from all over the region.

Help your local creative types put on a photography workshop or even a simple photo walk. Both are perfect for small towns.

A photo walk is a group of photographers walking through an area more or less as a group, shooting lots of photos. Anyone can pull one of these off, with maybe one or two helpers. Photo walks also fit well into other events. Do a photo walk through your arts festival, your quilt show, your car show, or your heritage festival.

A photography workshop can be much more organized with class sessions and hands on time. This calls for a committee of organizers.

Pick an area in your town, one you need more photos of. Historic? Tourist friendly? Great looking? Must do attractions? Let that be the focus of your photo event.

Make an easy way for them to share photos with you: a specific email address, or even a laptop where they can upload photos during the event. Get creative and ask them how they want to share! Explain to participants what you do to promote tourism, why it helps your town. Invite them to share their photos with you, and allow you to reprint them.

If you miss that one step, you miss a big opportunity. Those who ask not, receive naught. 

Make it easy, make it reflect what the photographers themselves want, and make it fun. Then make a new folder on your hard drive, because you're about to get a whole bunch of new and interesting photos.

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Follow Smart People to Google Plus

My best advice for Twitter users has long been this:
Follow smart people.

I'm sticking with that advice as I spend more time working with Google +.

What makes G+ different for me: Conversation.
The setup invites conversation with threaded comments. I'm seeing lots of questions, followed by plenty of back and forth discussion. This works well for expected things like crowd sourcing. (I got tons of recommendations of photo book printers by asking.) It also works for the Brag Basket. (I'm getting more comments on the Brag Basket in G+ than here.)