Making LinkedIn work for small town pros

When I saw Shannon Ehlers talking up small towns in Chris Brogan's comment section, I had to reach out! This post is the result of our emails, and hopefully, the start of a great friendship.

Guest post by Shannon Ehlers

I use LinkedIn to expand my professional network beyond the town where I live and the narrowly defined industry where I work. This is very important when you live in a town of 1100 people and work in a field like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and dietary supplements. I am a natural products chemist, and I can safely say that there is not a single soul in my town who could answer many of my professional questions.

1. Pad Your Rolodex
This is where LinkedIn comes into play. LinkedIn is a web-based professional networking service (if you're totally unfamiliar, then visit http://www.linkedin.com for more details). LinkedIn is popular as an "online resume" service, but it is also much more than that. I have a single guiding principle for my use of LinkedIn: everything I do there should build my network, either in quality or in quantity (better connections or more connections). Having a healthy professional network is also beneficial when looking for new investors, a new job or when starting a company.

Tip - Seek out people looking for expertise that you can provide. One of the best ways to do this is to answer questions in LinkedIn's Questions and Answers. Once you have helped someone with their question, follow up with a direct message. This can be one of the most effective ways to build new relationships on LinkedIn. It also allows you to become rated as an expert on LinkedIn.

2. Gather Informational Nuggets
I use LinkedIn to do research and gather testimonials and quotes, which I then can use in presentations at work, as fodder for my blog, etc. I think of this as a virtual water cooler, where I can access the opinions of hundreds of my colleagues. A current project I'm working on has to do with the accessibility of food in small towns without grocery stores, a real issue for elderly people who can't drive. As in the tip above, again I use the Questions and Answers feature of LinkedIn, but this time I am doing the asking. The best questions that I have found on LinkedIn can be answered in either concrete or abstract terms. This is the key to finding interesting and memorable answers that will make your presentation or post more effective. Also as in the above tip, I always follow up with the person whose answer I want to use and let them know I'll be quoting them (more relationship building).

Tip - This sounds complicated, but it's actually very simple. Put your question to this simple litmus test: try to answer it using Google. If you can exhaustively answer your question using Google, then maybe the LinkedIn network isn't the best place to ask it (maybe Google is).

3. Re-establish Contact
I use LinkedIn to reconnect with friends and colleagues from college and past jobs. This is one of the most obvious uses of LinkedIn. I immediately found it useful, and I still use it daily. I usually get as many invites as I give, and it is always a pleasant little moment when I get to talk to someone I haven't heard from in years. The really neat thing that makes me so glad to have it is that LinkedIn takes care of the small talk and pleasantries for you (you already know where your old friend is living, what they are doing, and maybe even some info about their family). This allows me to quickly have a meaningful conversation when we actually finally talk on the phone or via email or in person. If the reason for reconnecting is professional, then we often can move quickly to transactional mode, and if it is personal then often we can arrange for more direct conversations quickly. While not a "social" networking application in the truest sense, LinkedIn is very suitable for most of the connections I like to make.

Tip - It may seem obvious, but make your profile somewhat personal. Don't be afraid to include some details that identify you as you. Believe it or not, there is likely someone else out there with the same name as you. I've run into several Shannon Ehlers impostors this way, so distinguishing myself in my profile assures that people contact the "real" Shannon Ehlers. Personalizing your profile (within reason - no need for incriminating details!) is also a great way to make yourself stand out from the herd, and entice people to want to meet you and make you a part of their own professional network.

4. Be Your Own Billboard
I use LinkedIn to maintain an online professional reputation which can then be used as a means to expand my network of contacts. Because of the excellent rankings that LinkedIn receives on Google, it is an extremely effective reputation management tool, acting as your own electronic billboard. Without professing to be a search engine optimization (SEO) expert, I can tell you that having a well crafted LinkedIn profile is an excellent way to make sure people find the info you most want them to find when they search for your name on Google.

Tip - A companion to your LinkedIn profile should be your own blog. If available, register your own name as your domain and then connect your LinkedIn profile to your blog (placing this in the About section is a good choice, or you can generate a button from LinkedIn that can be placed into the sidebar or footer of your blog as a widget, or shoot the moon and do both!). Likewise, be sure to list your blog URL in the "My Websites" section on your LinkedIn profile (it is amazing to me how many people don't do this).

5. Capitalize on Affinity Groups
Using LinkedIn Groups is an exceptional way to find like-minded people or, if no group exists for people like you, then you have the chance to start your own group and build something new that will serve others who share your interests. Common backgrounds, a common employer, a geographical area, or a social club - all offer reasons to connect with other people who you may not have otherwise met.

Tip - At the time of writing, the Group Directory feature on LinkedIn wasn't working. I think they are working on this, but have no idea when it will be functional. In the meantime, I have found that scanning the profiles of people I know and respect can reveal groups I'd like to join. Once you've joined a group, be sure to take a few minutes to view the members. See if anyone you already know is there - you'll be surprised how often they are, so be sure to connect with them if you haven't already. Don't forget the people you haven't met yet. For obvious reasons, these group members make excellent people to address with your Q&A from 1 & 2 above.

I hope that you have found this post useful. My thanks to Becky McCray for sharing her audience and allowing me the opportunity to write in this space. In reality, most of these will apply as well for people who don't live in small towns or work in small businesses. However, we who do face the "isolation" challenge really need tools like this. Be sure to let me know in the comments other ways that you use LinkedIn.

------

Shannon Ehlers works by day as a research chemist. By night, he runs The Midnight Blogger at http://shannonehlers.com where he advocates for small town life and shares personal interests and insights.

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Rural advantage 6: Trust

Another rural advantage, from reader Ellen Davis:

Don't know if you agree, but I find the best thing about being in a small town is the trust that people have for one another. Here's a short story to illustrate.. after working in the tech support field in Denver for 10 years, fighting the traffic, noise and smog, I moved to Cheyenne in 2006. This past April, I took the entrepreneurial plunge and started my own computer support business. Last week, I won a contract with the Wyoming State Bar to provide their network and computer support. Now, understand that this organization serves the entire state of Wyoming. They gave me the keys to their building and sole custody of all their computers, on basically just a signed piece of paper and a handshake. I LOVE that people here do business like that.. it feels so good to be trusted and to trust them. I am determined to do a stellar job for them.

I'm glad to find your website, and see that you and your contributors talk about customers as people instead of marketing targets. As was mentioned in one of Jon's blog post, I truly believe that love and care are as important in business relationships as they are in personal connections. Caring about and connecting with people really does make a difference in the world, no matter where you are or what you are doing. Kudos to you all.

Ellen Davis
Computer Sense
Cheyenne, Wyoming
http://www.sensible-computer-help.com

We're collecting rural and small town advantages, here. What would you add?


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UK award for young rural entrepreneurs

Last year, I fell in love with the Young Rural Entrepreneur award. It's back!

Emma Blane gave us an update:

It may interest you to know that Lycetts and the Field have just launched the award for 2008, again offering £10,000 to the winner, who can demonstrate the requisite entrepreneurial spirit by running a company that is either based in the countryside or is making a sustainable contribution to the rural economy.

The award is open to rural entrepreneurs under 35. Entries will be welcomed till 4th August and nominations can be submitted by or on behalf of an individual who meets the awards criteria. For further information and to enter, please visit www.thefield.co.uk.

If you have any questions please send me an email - emma.blane@lycetts.co.uk

I still love it! Imagine adapting this idea to your own region to support entrepreneurship and build a better connection to young entrepreneurs especially.

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Audio: Paying for college with Chris Penn

Financial aid expert Chris Penn shares his insight on scholarships and loans, with some special considerations for small towns and for small business owners. Chris also tells us why your credit score is a bigger consideration this year.



Links Chris mentions:

• FAFSAOnline.com
• FAFSA.ed.gov
• StaffordLoan.com
• ParentPlusLoan.com
• AlternativeStudentLoan.com

Where to find Chris:

• Financial Aid Podcast.com
• 206-350-1208
• Email financialaidpodcast@gmail.com
• ScholarshipSearchSecrets.com: free ebook on using Google to find financial aid

[Photo of Chris Penn by C.C. Chapman on Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons License.]

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Get on the telephone

I live and work in a town of just about 10,000 people. Fairfield, Iowa. Wonderful town. Quirky, interesting, small, remote, quiet (except for 35 trains that rumble through daily). County seat for a county with maybe 12-13,000. We’re 4 hours from Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis. We’re 1 hour from any town of more than 25,000 people. The nearest airport is a commuter airport that’s at least 95 miles away.

Our town has survived the farming crisis in the early 80’s, a few recessions and economic downturns, manufacturing layoffs and even grown in property valuations and jobs during this because of A. diversity in our job base. B. some really smart business leaders here; C. some significant changes in the telecommunications industry, nationally and globally.

That’s right. Global changes in the telecom industry, most notably the ending of monopolies here in the US and overseas, has brought hundreds of jobs to little, remote, Fairfield, Iowa. (Caveat: it’s not the only reason Fairfield has survived and grown. But it’s the one I’m most familiar with and it’s the one that can be connected to the most changes in Fairfield.)

Up until the mid-1980’s ATT held a monopoly on local AND long-distance telephone services. The local part of our service was delivered with ‘bell operating companies’. And the long-distance part was handled by Ma Bell, ATT. It’s hard to imagine it these days with all the competition and options for making a long-distance phone call. But that’s the way it was until Judge Greene’s order to ATT to divest itself of its bell operating companies and then to open up its network to…competition, from the likes of Sprint and then MCI and also resellers.

Long story.

Lots of change and turbulence and new competitors with new services.

And that all meant opportunity. And a company here in Fairfield took that opportunity to resell ATT long-distance services. The thinking of the founder was he’d sell it out of …where?...yes, his bedroom/office. Quietly, he’d make enough to support his family. That’s all he wanted.

And as more of his friends and neighbors wanted to do the same with him, seeing the opportunity, he soon had a company of 6 people. He expected to make enough money to buy Australia, as he’d tell us; just the 6 of him. He was a dreamer and look what happened.

I was the 13th employee. Lucky 13. 7 years later there were 700 employees…in a town of 10,000. We had offices opening around the world. I opened our office in Germany. (What a story!) Our network operations center was here in Fairfield, for a worldwide telecommunications company.

(Interesting cultural clash. Our rural electric cooperative had a routine of regular maintenance on the weekends during off-peak hours. But for other parts of the world, and our customers who lived and worked there…these weren’t off-peak hours…)

We were pulling in employees from 2 other states as well as bringing in outside contractors to come work in a little town, far, far away from bright lights and big cities.

The company crashed and burned in bankruptcy discussed in the Wall Street Journal. (Hey, no one’s perfect.)

But all those people who eventually were laid off used their newly acquired skills to populate other companies in the area, either existing companies or startups. There spawned another surge in a new, more diversified, economy for the community.

And during this time, the internet became a force for business. This company was the first and only company at the time to allow for service orders to be entered and provisioned over the internet from the comfort of our independent sales agents’ home offices. (They expected to buy Fiji…)

That's a huge advantage for attracting sales agents, improving cash-flows from faster conversion of orders and cutting personnel costs from manually entering orders.

And changes again in the telecom arena helped another company start and thrive here. That company was Conference Calls Unlimited. From little Fairfield, remote Fairfield, we competed against national brands and their services using the changes in telecommunications and the opportunities they presented: long-distance calling, toll free calls, toll calls, email, collaboration with web conference services, VOIP, chat, hosted service applications like Basecamp and payment-processing through online merchant accounts. We used 3rd party answering services at the beginning and before that an online answering service that emailed the voicemail as an enclosure.

And then we used blogs and podcasts and YouTube videos to help spread our message. Oh, and websites, too! All made possible by changes in telecommunications.

And we hired great people. Our neighbors and friends and those we knew that delivered great service every day.

And there’s your advantage. It's our advantage, really, as businesses in rural, smaller, areas. As residents or rural communities we have the added advantage of working side-by-side with our neighbors and friends and maybe even family. That’s a huge factor for commitment, loyalty, dedication, passion. And we have all the advantages of access to a global marketplace through these changes in telecommunications without the high rents, high mortgages, high salaries and high overhead from being located in a larger city.

Not everyone is going to start a ‘telecom’ company. Even fewer will want to run a company of 700 employees 6 years after opening.

But the open infrastructure of telecom now with more and cheaper bandwidth becoming available, more calling services and options, more free hosted applications that allow any startup or small business from ANY location to reach millions in a professional and inexpensive manner is the great playing-field leveler for small business in general and in particular for small business in rural communities.

Get on the telephone. Your world's waiting for you.

About the Author: Zane Safrit’s passion is small business and the operations’ excellence required to deliver a product that creates word-of-mouth, customer referrals and instills pride in those whose passion created it. He blogs about health care issues each Monday at http://zanesafrit.typepad.com. There on the sidebar is a list of blogs and resources to educate yourself on the health care challenges you face, I face, we all face together. He also writes on small business, word of mouth, marketing, branding, innovation, and failure.

He previously served as CEO of Conference Calls Unlimited.

[Photo of Fairfield Art Walk by Zane Safrit, used by permission.]

$50k/year and no takers: the rural workforce shortage

Rural areas with sparse population, like western Oklahoma and Kansas, are up against a brick wall that is a workforce shortage.

G.L. Hoffman has the story of his cousin Craig, offering $50,000 a year, health care, and home, for farm workers. No takers. Too far out in the country. Too much hard work. Too little urban-style recreation.

Our local health care industry is looking for more ways to grow our own workforce, reaching down to eighth grade to start.

Demographics are not in our favor. Our rural towns are aging out, and quickly.

What might save us? Generation Y. Highly entrepreneurial. Extremely engaged. Make sure you and your community are reaching out to get them engaged with you. Because you don't want to end up with no takers.

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Shawn Kirsch is changing Elgin, ND, forever

This post is the fourth in a series on social media and social networking tools for small towns.

By Shawn Kirsh

Well I was born in a small town
And I live in a small town
Probly die in a small town
Oh, those small communities

All my friends are so small town
My parents live in the same small town
My job is so small town
Provides little opportunity

John Mellencamp sang the classic rock song, 'Small Town.' The words of that song still ring true throughout America, in ways that are both good, and bad.

I was born in a small town, raised on a farm and in a small town, saw the world (Iraq) after I joined the National Guard, and came back to that small town. I am back in that small town partly because of mistakes I have made, partly because I love it. I have realized that had I not made some of the mistakes I made, had the college I was attending been teaching me anything about computers and the internet that I didn't know in Jr. High, I probably would have been like so many geeks of the midwest, left North Dakota, and be working in Silicon Valley for some high tech company. Instead, I have started writing a syndicated column in small town, weekly newspapers, 'Everyman Tech,' to help small town people get a better grasp on the technology that is helping me to do the things that I do.

I went to a High School with a brilliant administration, who stretched every dollar they were given to it's maximum efficiency. They somehow managed to keep brilliant teachers there, especially in the Math and Science departments, who could've been earning twice as much elsewhere. This allowed me to go to college and be bored out of my mind. I think most small towns have schools like this. Teachers who care, who truly understand how to get through to us. The majority of my classmates were still the kind that take what the book says, and go with it. It helps them to get good grades, but the rest of us, left with a great education, and an ability to think for ourselves, always questioning things, pushing to make everything around us better than it is. We like to think outside the box, we're a creative group that doesn't want to settle for what's there, but to enhance it.

I attended a very strong Church, which is both their greatest trait, and their biggest downfall. I am part of Generation Y, and you don't reach us the same way you reached people 20 years ago. My Church, like many others, hasn't come to terms with that yet. I spent many years of High School, and many hours of my time now, dreaming of how to reach out better.

I am in a community with a strong German heritage, we celebrate Oktoberfest every fall, and German's are stubborn. If you think it's hard to change the mindset of a Church, try to change the mindset of an entire county, who can't see the writing on the wall, who don't realize that we're not getting 'new' business, we're getting 'replacement' business.

I have been quoted on Twitter, which is kind of like instant messaging on crack, saying things like, "I've been tweeting like crazy this month, there's no turning back now, Twitter is the most key part of my day." Basically, I finally started adding some friends on Twitter in mid-December, and kept on adding. 'Bentrem' was instrumental in the things I have done since, continuously pushing me to establish a legit blog, not the quibbles I put up on MySpace and Facebook. Out of this, www.thattalldude.com was born. I have since gone on to write on a variety of topics, sports, religion, technology, TV, random tech news, and most recently; Small Town, USA.

I'm tired of seeing my small town die a slow and painful death, watching good people leave because they can't make enough money, or there aren't enough conveniences. Part of this is an infrastructure problem. Cell phones and internet are now an integral part of a successful business. Huge portions of rural America have either painfully slow 'high speed' internet, spotty wireless coverage, or both. I'm showing some stubborness myself, by not leaving, despite the crappy internet connection I have. With the appearance of new communication methods, such as Twitter, Seesmic, YouTube, blogging, rural America can benefit hugely.

Twitter, blogging, and the comments on my blog, have helped me to realize a broader picture of what's going on in Small Town, USA. This increased knowledge has prompted me to be more vocal around town about things, which has lead to pitching a ground up redesign of a local town's website (www.elginnd.com), and the local paper wanting to establish a digital version of what they print every week. My Church has also shown an interest in getting a web site. I have big ideas to help the Google rankings of all of these places, through the means of YouTube, Flickr, Google Maps, as well as promoting the work I have done on my own blog and LinkedIn.

My activities online have created new opportunities for me, that small town people find hard to believe. I now write for www.projectspurs.com, because the administrator spotted my blog writing about the Spurs, and thought I would make a good addition to the fansite. I write 'Everyman Tech' every monday, because my voracious new consumption online, combined with regular conversation, proved that there is very important things that people should know, and have absolutely no clue about, things as basic as defragmenting your computer, as well as exposing them to online networks their kids use every day, like Facebook. I am also receiving an increase in calls for computer help, as more and more people realize I know a whole lot more about computers than I let on.

If you are running a small business, whether it's struggling or doing quite well; if you care about your small town; if you want your Church to reach out in more effective ways; you need to be networking with people online. If you can find a couple hours a day, Twitter is great. Find some quality blogs to keep up with. Get on LinkedIn, troll through Facebook, and see what recent graduates think about their hometown once they're at college. Better yet, start your own blog, ask some hard questions. Take that question, and the feedback you get, and talk about it with people in your town. You'll be surprised at just how much a small town can be doing, and isn't.

People need to step up and make a change, will you be one who steps up? My newfound focus on my small town has prompted a desire to tour America, visit hundreds of small towns, talk with the people there, and blog about it. This will help not only me, but could help thousands of people across the country network with each other, and share the strategies their town is using, what works, what doesn't. The internet is a big place, with plenty of tools to connect, Twitter is my personal favorite.

Don't waste any more time, start connecting now. Visit www.thattalldude.com, I have a list of places you can find me on the right side, don't hesitate to connect.

Photo by Shawn Kirsh, on Flickr. Used with permission.



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Four Small Town Game Changers

Social media tools can be a great field leveler for small town professionals. I explained why we bother spending time on social networking at Liz Strauss' Successful Blog, and then offered some practical ways to get started at Chris Brogan's blog. Now, let's do a little show and tell. Here are four people living in small towns and making great use of social media tools.

Ted Demopoulos

Ted Demop is the ultimate in effective internet presence from a small town. He lives in a rural area of Durham, New Hampshire, about 25 minutes drive from Maine, Massachusetts, and the ocean.

Go ahead. Google his name. But take a snack, because he is super-present online, from his books, his consulting, his speaking, and everything else. When he started blogging in 2004, he had concrete measurable results in less than 24 hours. His web site traffic quadrupled in less than a month because of his blogging. He was able to leverage it to sell speeches, training and consulting.

Ted says he would add that social media offers a huge benefit in learning from and networking with other similar small businesses in small towns that you'd never encounter otherwise.

"Amazing what a meat packer in central Saskatchewan can learn from an organic food store in Eastern Washington," Ted said, "and a practical joke/magic shop owner in upstate New York can learn from a car wash entrepreneur in Karamea New Zealand! (examples made up -- there are no car washes in Karamea!)"

Cody Heitschmidt

Cody Heitschmidt is based in Hutchinson, Kansas. Besides using blogging for his business, he's finding other important benefits to social media.

"I just like meeting people and seeing whats going on in there lives and broadening my mind through them," Cody said. "Not directly business related but valuable to my mental state."

He also uses Twitter to keep up with what is going on in the world, tech, business, and sports. Facebook is helping him to reconnect with friends from the past. To keep up with Twitter and Facebook and three email accounts, he coordinates through Digsby.

While the actual business or career networking is a smaller part, it has led to some business for him. But it's also enjoyable.

"Crap, it's just fun isn't it?" Cody said.

Britt Raybould

Britt Raybould is from a small town in Idaho. She works social media a little differently. Rather than trying to put herself out there with social media, she more often uses other people's social media to connect with them.

She finds potential partners and also friends. Living in a rural area means having a limited peer group locally, but Twitter helps her to maintain contacts with like-minded people in other places. She has also turned it into a way to learn new business skills, experimenting with WordPress, PHP, FTP, hosting, etc. Now she can offer those skills to her clients.

"I've had a few jobs come from Twitter and my blog, but in my case, I view it as a way to have conversations I wouldn't otherwise have," Britt said. "For all the business chatter about social media, I sometimes think we overlook that, at it's most basic, it's comparable to two neighbors chatting together over a fence."

Shawn Kirsch

Shawn Kirsch is going to change Elgin, North Dakota, forever. He's starting by using social media.

His online interaction from blogging and from Twitter have motivated him to take action in his town. He pitched a complete redesign to his local town's website, and now his local paper is wanting to establish a digital version of what they print every week. His church is also showing an interest in having a website. Now he's writing a column called "Everyman Tech" for the local paper. By writing about the Spurs on his blog, he got noticed by the administrator and picked up by www.projectspurs.com.

"I've had more unique ideas, that are both feasible and potentially life altering, than I ever would have had without Twitter, and I owe it all to the inspiration my Twitterbuds give me throughout the day," Shawn said on Twitter.

Shawn has lots more to say, in a guest post by him to complete this series of four articles.

You

What's your story? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

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4 part series on Social Media from a Small Town

What could a small business in a small town gain from spending time on social media tools like blogs, Twitter, and FaceBook? And how can they get started? And is anyone doing this right now? Those are the questions around our 4 part series on social media for small town small businesses.

1. Social Networking and a Small Town Business - Why Bother? at Liz Strauss's Successful Blog explains four different ways you can benefit from these tools, besides just looking for customers. (honestly, she proposed the title and topic!)

2. Social Media Starter Moves for Small Town Small Business just fit right in with Chris Brogan's series of social media starter moves. So that will give you four different strategies and how to use them.

3. Four Small Town Game Changers profiles people who are using these tools right now to improve their business from small towns.

4. That Tall Dude is Changing Elgin, ND will give you a more in depth look, with a guest post by Shawn Kirsch.

Hmmmm.... maybe we need to pull those together into an easy to download e-book...


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Local stores worth 3 times more than chains

Need ammo for your shop local campaign? Use this fact: local merchants are worth three times as much to your local economy as the chain stores.

From Civic Economics:

The analysis demonstrated that locally owned merchants generate more than three times the local economic activity of their competitor chain stores on equal revenue.

Found in The Full Value of Main Street, at Preserving Small Towns. Pointed out by Small Towns.

We know why. The local merchants spend much more of their money locally. The chains ship profits out of town. The local merchants are more involved in the community. The chains feel no ownership in your town, and their local managers are limited by corporate policies.

Thought you might be able to use that in your local Chamber of Commerce shop local campaign.

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Small business ideas for small towns ebook

Need ideas for a small town small business? We have a new ebook for you.

20 Small Business Ideas for Small Towns is a short ebook detailing 20 different ways you can make a successful business in a small town. It also covers seven ways to generate your own ideas, so you can dream up the small biz idea that best fits you.

This booklet is brought to you by Network Solutions, thanks to Shashi B.


If you want to purchase paper copies in bulk, just send me an email.

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Would you live in a small town?

Our Friend Shawn Kirsch is starting a conversation on living in small towns. His goal is to revitalize his hometown.

I understand completely why people move away, and leave North Dakota completely for that matter. But as much as it may benefit me to move away, and be around more people with the same mindset as me, technology wise, I would rather be the guy who turns things around, and gets people to move here.

Make no mistake. Shawn gets the problem.

The problem I see is the people with money have no vision, and the people with vision have no money. This is compounded by the people that have the clout to do something, don't want to listen to young people with 'radical' ideas like blogging and social networking.

Join the discussion at Shawn's place.

[Photo: My hometown, Alva.]

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May 1 talk to your neighbors

On Thursday May 1, Barbara K. Baker proposes we revive some real world connecting. Get out and chat with a neighbor.

Maybe even deliver a little May Day basket. Do you remember those little baskets of flowers you would leave on a neighbor's door? Just exactly the kind of thing that used to be a hallmark of small towns, now nearly gone.

Even as we build stronger connections in the online world, we are losing connections in our own physical community. Share some social love with your real world neighbors.

Care to help promote? Twitter it. Change your Facebook or BrightKite status. Blog it. Utterz it. Take a picture and share it in Barbara's May Day Flickr group.

Remember: it’s all about visiting with a neighbor. You're from a small town. You can do that.

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Small Biz Survival: Small town advantages

Running a small business is tough enough. But if you're running a small business in a small town, there's a secret you need to know... it's more fun than being in the big city!

You don't believe me? Well here's the top 5 small town advantages ...
1. You don't need GPS Navigation
2. Out network is smaller, but we care about you and your business
3. No “rush hour” - only “rush moment”
4. Random encounters are good for business
5. People are helpful

If you recognized your small town in that list, then join us for more articles, tools, resources and more fun at Small Biz Survival, The Small Town, Small Business Resource

Cast: Becky McCray, Laurie Reyes, Jeanne Cole, Glenna Mae Hendricks, Jodell Durkee.
Music by Frenz, from Pod Safe Audio.

Mobile post sent by BeckyMcCray using Utterz. Replies.

Feedback?

We can refine this now through May 2, so I would love your feedback! All I ask is you find something positive to say, along with suggestions, ideas, and criticisms. :)

Broadband access is too important for bad copywriting

Winner of the most deceptive headline of the week award is Cherry Creek News for this gem:

SCHWARTZ BRINGS BROADBAND TO RURAL COLORADO

The actual story? A bill passed one step of the legislative process. Several big steps to go. So that is hardly bringing it, right? And what does the bill actually propose? Mapping. It directs a state official to map the regions underserved by broadband. I must say that I'm underwhelmed, compared to the definite headline.

I haven't ranted on broadband nearly enough lately. Here's what better rural broadband could mean:

• Local business competing globally
  
• Entrepreneurs innovating new technologies
• Local professionals connecting to training, resources, conferences
  
• Web workers from all over moving (back) to small towns
  
• Students learning from the full range of available media
• Communities tying together into regional information alliances

While the US has improved on average in e-business readiness, according to the 2008 rankings, the rural-urban divide persists.

The IBM/Economist analysts came up with some guiding principles, intended for helping developing countries, but equally applicable to US states and regional development groups:

• Let the market build it... Competitive telecoms and Internet service markets are more efficient than governments in building networks and finding affordable price points for consumers. Policymakers should allow market forces to determine the course of the digital economy, and must resist the urge to steer its ICT industry into technology-specific directions.
• ... but step in when needed. Governments must, at the same time, ensure that investment finds its way to society's digital have-nots. Rural and poor communities, for example, tend to be left behind if service providers follow a purely market-driven course.
• Lead by example. In poorer countries, governments should strive to be an early adopter of digital practices that other organizations and individuals can emulate. They can also create demand for technology and digitally enabled services, both through their own direct purchases and through the creation of additional channels for procurement, tax filing and other operations.
• Don't do it all. Governments must champion digital development, fund their own ICT infrastructure, regulate lightly and encourage others to adopt — a complex juggling act. But they must also be as unobtrusive as possible if digital business is to thrive. For one thing, they should remain staunchly technology-neutral in their procurement and licensing practices.
• Keep at it. As this year's rankings show, it is precariously easy to fall back on more strategic digital objectives, and thus lose some of the ground gained in building networks and communities. The world of e-readiness is a place with ever-shifting targets, where policy and practices must be reviewed and refreshed frequently in order to meet the aspirations of the communities that governments serve.

So despite the exaggeration in news headlines, we have a long way to go.

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Three recommendations

Our long time Friend Zane Safrit is writing about small business in a new location. His insights on health care, failure, success, word of mouth marketing, and more are now at Zane Safrit. Update your feed reader!

New friend G.L. Hoffman has a terrific article on small towns and the loss of design, in Design and the WalMarting of America.

Used to be, the local small town retailer, whether a clothing store, gift shop, furniture store, or whatever, was owned by someone with real passion for their store. They lived, breathed and slept clothes, gifts or furniture. They knew their stuff.

What they had was DESIGN. Sure, more of their stuff was made in America, but the distinguishing ingredient was the inherent design and quality sense of the store owner. That is what you buying. You went to the gift shop and got a wedding gift, chances were very good, no matter the price point, that it was of good quality and had been designed well. If it wasn’t, the passionate store owner would not inventory it. So, all of us got used to having quality items naturally in our personal and work spaces.

Read the whole article at What Would Dad Say.

Third, a real world friend now working up to being a techie Laurie Reyes has made her first blog adventure. She'd love to have some comments and tips!


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How to work with a Virtual Assistant

For small town small business people, virtual assistants could be one of the best kept secret tools. A good VA can take some of the administrative load off of your shoulders, and make your business more successful. As a bonus, VA's can work from anywhere, so I see them as an emerging class of small town entrepreneurs. For this installment of the Small Biz 100, I interviewed former small town gal and current virtual assistant Michelle Wolverton, aka Chel Pixie, on how to work successfully with a VA.


Tell me about the services you provide. I know you do some things that I'm sure most don't.
I provide a wide range, so wide that sometimes it's hard to really narrow down the services that someone might need from me. Obviously anything that I can do virtually, which includes managing contacts (especially after conferences when you come home with all those business cards), making appointments and arranging for service that one might need in the normal course of business and/or personal, and I manage social networking sites for some clients.

The unique thing about me is that I can switch from installing and configuring Wordpress to writing a legal document to creating databases for musicians to market their music. These all came about because I'm a geek, have been trained as a legal assistant and got some experience working as an intern for Matthew Ebel.

What surprises clients or what don't they know?

Some clients are surprised at the depth of services I'm willing to handle, some are surprised to find out that x tool will work great for a task they need completed. I really think the biggest thing that they don't realize is what to delegate and how. It really is a big task to sit down and look at the things you're dealing with and say, oh okay, I can hand this over, but now I need to find the time to do that. It has to be a priority, and I think it surprises clients to know how difficult it is to get started. Once they start, it seems to get easier to think, "now that's something that I can give to the VA and it'll save me time".

How do people find a VA? How do they make a good match?

I've connected with clients via Ning, LinkedIN, Twitter, email, phone, Skype, and WOM. I think the first step is knowing that you CAN have a virtual assistant. Most corporations and companies look inside the box for someone that can be in office doing those same tasks for 8 hours a day. My clients tend to understand they can have someone do this work for them and not BE there. It can be hard to find someone that fits to bring into your home office.

I'm sure that some people utilitize Craigslist.org, job boards and other service, but I'm guessing that the majority of people find VAs through online networking services or WOM.

Trials are the key. Sometimes I hit it off with clients instantly, sometimes we don't, it really takes an effort on both sides of the fence to make the relationship cement. If the client is having difficulty knowing what they need me to manage or what they can have me manage, then it's a lot harder on both of us to find a good place to start. If you're going to take on a VA, be prepared to know what you can delegate. Ask yourself, "can I let go of this task and let someone else handle it for me?" If the answer is yes, just let go of it. It'll make your life easier. That's my purpose.

What makes it work? How do you manage across the distance?

To put it simply, it's the acceptance of telecommuting plus the tools to collaborate online. Tools like Google Documents and Calendars, Skype, Plaxo, oovoo, Todoist, de.lici.ous, Basecamp, Backpack, etc. have changed our way of thinking about how we communicate with our co-workers and business partners. For myself, that includes almost always being connected.

Companies like The Advance Guard, crayon, and Abraham Harrison are starting out as digital offices and they are doing it successfully. What absolutely has to be present is lines of communication between co-workers and even between clients.

This article is part of the Small Biz 100, a series of 100 practical hands-on posts for small business people and solo entrepreneurs, whether in a small town, the big city, or in between. If you have questions you'd like us to address in this series, leave a comment or send us an email at becky@smallbizsurvival.com. This is a community project!

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POV: Grant Griffiths is a recovering attorney

Another great connection via Twitter! Grant D. Griffiths lives about 4 hours away from me, so that qualifies as practically neighbors around here. When he emailed me, I promptly asked him for a guest post sharing his story. Enjoy.

Clay Center
by bmcguirk

Needless to say, I was excited to come across Becky's blog, Small Biz Survival. And as she mentioned, we are practically neighbors. I first heard about Small Biz Survival on twitter and was immediately hooked.

Like Becky, I live and work in a small rural community. I, my wife and two of our children live in Clay Center, Kansas. Clay Center is a community of approximately 5000 people.

Since January 2005, I have been operating my family law practice from my home office which is located in a large room in our basement. I have utilized technology to its fullest and have no in house employees. In fact, I have taken advantage of my technology so my virtual assistant and I communicate via the Internet. We almost never see each other in person and exchange all of the work she does via email. I dictate on a digital voice recorder and email her the recorded files. She in turn transcribes what I have given her and she returns the finished documents to be via email.

I have marketed my family law practice for over three years now by using one marketing tool and that is a blog. The Kansas Family Law Blog has been my only marketing tool and what is great about using a blog to market, it has placed me on the same level or even above those firms who work in the "big city" and who use the Yellow Pages. By using Internet based marketing, no longer are those of us who live and work in the rural areas tied to just working and making our living there. Blogging enabled me to expand my practice to a state wide practice. I handled cases both in my own rural area and in the metro areas of Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita, Kansas.

Technology, whether sitting on your desk or that which is available on the Internet, has removed the barriers of living in a rural community. I am not new to blogging as I have been doing so now for over three years. One of my blogs that has actually brought me the most attention is Home Office Lawyer. Because of the traffic and readers I have been able to attract with Home Office Lawyer, I have given webinars to groups of individuals from all over the country. Once again using the web to connect with clients and prospective clients from all over the country.

Small Biz Survival is another example of the reach you can achieve using the Internet. And the reach someone from a rural community can accomplish. Like myself, Becky's readers are not all from her rural community. Becky, myself and others have a readership that extends from all over our home states, the United States and I would venture to guess, the world. It is important for those who read this blog and live and work in a small rural community to consider this in their own business. The worse thing someone from a rural community can do is to limit themselves to thinking they are tied only to their locale; and not marketing to the entire world. If you live and have your business in a rural community, and if you want to expand your market to either your state, your country or the entire world, you have to change your mindset and expand your thinking.

Last September we launched a blog called Home Office Warrior. Seeing that my readership on the Home Office Lawyer was expanding to include not only lawyers, but others who worked from a home office, we saw a need for a blog such as Home Office Warrior (HOW). HOW is what we call an "Internet Magazine for the Home Office Entrepreneur." And what is most amazing is we are getting readers and subscribers from all over the world. Once again, illustrating the power of the web in gaining a readership from all over the world.

In the next few weeks, I will be what I am calling a "recovering attorney." And having a mindset that does not lock me into only focusing on my rural community or even only my own state has enabled me to do this. Because I have a love for blogging and because I have spent the last three years educating people about blogging, I have opened my own blog design and consulting business, G2 Web Media. And I won't be tied to only Kansas. In fact we already have clients from all over the U.S.

So, even a country boy from the middle of Kansas can have a business that draws clients from all over the country.

Thanks Becky for allowing me to share a little bit about my own story.

Targeted training opps for small biz with employees

If you've reached the point of having employees in your small biz, I suggest you to pay attention to Winning Workplaces' training webinars.

Any given day, there are great workplace trainings going on in the metros. I get flyers all the time for the terrific events at big city business schools, chambers of commerce, and other places I can't get to easily. But I can get here, online.

Winning Workplaces is all about sharing the best ideas from the best small businesses that care about people. Really. Their webinars for small business give you access to terrific training by real small business people who have built real, successful small businesses that are also wonderful places to work. Their next two topics are developing a customer service culture and building ownership mentality among employees. If you have a small workforce, I'll bet you need to sit down and participate in these two topics!

The cost is much, much less than going to one of the training events you get flyers for. If you sign up far enough in advance, you can sneak into an interactive webinar for $50. Recording of past sessions are discounted to $35, because you lose the interaction. Some of their previous topics were:

• Growing Leaders from Within
• Family-Friendly Workplace Practices
• Making the Flexible Workplace Work
• Open Book Management: 10 Ways Business Succeeds When Employees Have Skin in the Game

While you are at Winning Workplace's website, take a look at their toolkits. Some amazing info around topics like learning and development, teamwork and involvement, and work/life balance.

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POV: Britt Raybould: Building a biz outside your home town

At SXSW, Britt Raybould and I met, introduced by Chris Brogan (who else?). We had some excellent conversations about working in a high tech field, without being from a major metro area. We both got lots of surprised comments from the big city folks. Of course, I wanted to introduce her to you, too.

Before I answer your official questions, a little background might help put things in context. In 2006, I was working full-time for an in-house marketing group. Miserable, and convinced I wanted a PhD, I started applying and got rejected. One of my graduate professors recommended I join a mentoring program offered by my college that started in the fall of 2006. The program matched me up with an experienced communications consultant who met with me monthly and provided career advice. Through that program, I figured out I didn't want to do a PhD (yet), which was good because I got rejected yet again, but I also knew I didn't want to stay at my current job. So, knowing that I had a significant chunk of money saved, originally for school, I quit my job (my last day was today a year ago).

I started looking for another job, and even interviewed for several prospects. I wasn't particularly excited about any of them and they never reached the point of an offer. By this time, is was the end of April, and my mentor wanted to know if I had time to do some work for her. After that, she recommended me to a client she didn't have time for that needed some project management, and the rest as they say, is history. Now, I'll go into your official questions.

How did you find your first clients?
I found my first clients through two channels: 1) My mentor recommended me to two clients, both of which have evolved into a long-term clients with monthly retainers; 2) within my community, both of my parents are well known and they've mentioned what I do to acquaintances. These individuals often own small businesses, which in turn makes them curious about what I can do for them. Sometimes I make a connection. Once in awhile, I also get project work from people I used to work with in previous jobs.

You told me you have managed to tap into a network of business people for ongoing word of mouth. Have you done anything to encourage that (other that exceptional performance)?
As far as encouragement goes, the only thing I actively do is consistently deliver, as you say, exceptional service. For some unknown reason, my current clients seem to talk about what I have to offer with little prodding from me.

How do you track and manage your activity? Or how do you motivate yourself?
I track and manage activity in two ways: 1) I keep a time sheet next to me at all times, with space for a client name, project, and times; 2) as the sheet fills up, I enter the time into Quickbooks, which lets me create my invoices at the end of the month.

Motivation is trickier. For example, I'm not a morning person, so I absolutely loathe the times when I have to do conference calls or go to meetings before 10. To make it manageable, I make small deals with myself like I'll get to read for pleasure in the afternoon for a couple of hours if my mornings are packed.

Bigger picture, my main motivation comes from the fact I refuse to fail. I'm my own worse critic, and I have impossibly high standards. It drives me crazy if I know I'm not meeting my expectations, let alone a client's, so I keep pushing, reaching for that next level.

How about overcoming rural isolation? Any good tips?
For me, isolation isn't a big deal because it's what I usually prefer. However, I'm realistic. So, once a month, I plan a trip to Salt Lake (where I used to live) and schedule lunches, dinners, etc. with all my friends that still live there. I have clients in Salt Lake, so I usually schedule clients meetings, too, allowing me to expense many parts of the trip and enjoy myself at the same time.

I also make it a point to reach out and stay in touch with the people I've met at conferences. Realistically, 98% of the people around me have little knowledge of what I actually do, let alone how I do it. I'd go crazy if I couldn't connect with people who are into the same things I am, so I rely on Twitter, email, phone calls, etc.

Thanks for the chance to share.



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