• Survey
  • Book Becky to speak
  • The book: Small Town Rules
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Your town has lost its economic reason for being

By Becky McCray

Downtown Alva, Oklahoma. Photo by Becky McCray

Downtown Alva, Oklahoma, tells the story of its reinventions: from farming community, to retail trade center, to an emerging arts and culture district. Photo by Becky McCray.

 

How many times has your town lost its economic reason for being?

Think back to the reason your town was founded. Did it start with farming or transportation? Maybe it was minerals or other natural resources. No matter what it was, I’m willing to bet that it’s not the prime driver in your town right now.

Do you know what the next economic reason was that kept your town alive? Was there a boom? A new factory? Did a highway come through? Even that might not be your town’s reason now.

My point is this:
Every town has lost its economic reason for being, maybe multiple times. The survivors keep reinventing themselves.

One response I got to this was, “If we could realize ahead of time when the ‘reason’ will be lost, that would be a superpower.”

True, but I have another thought. We could deliberately cultivate new ideas all the time. Being “Idea Friendly” would be our superpower.

We’d be able to reinvent our town over and over because we’d always be trying new ideas. It wouldn’t matter whether we could predict when or how we’d lose our current reason for being. We wouldn’t need to guess what our next reason would be. We would only have to try and then observe. And then keep trying new things.

This article first appeared in A Positive View of Rural, Becky’s email-only newsletter. Sign up to get it every week:



  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • 3 Major factors in rural remote work: incentives, flexible workspaces, and a sense of community - June 6, 2022
  • How to recruit new residents, remote workers, or remote entrepreneurs - June 2, 2022
  • How cooperatives improve small town economies - May 8, 2022
  • Metaverse business idea: virtual world tour guide - April 15, 2022
  • Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns - March 28, 2022
  • Trade show booth design trend: hand drawn visuals - March 21, 2022
  • New business sign design? Don’t use cursive script - February 14, 2022
  • Way more people prefer rural than urban, new Pew Research study finds - February 1, 2022
  • Top 5 Rural and small town trends 2022 - January 3, 2022
  • How to start a real small small business - December 17, 2021

November 27, 2017 Filed Under: economic development, rural Tagged With: idea friendly

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

What is holding us back? Why does every project take so long in small towns?

How any business can be part of downtown events by going mobile

Concert-goers talking and enjoying the evening in downtown Webster City, Iowa.

Why do people say there’s nothing to do here then not come to our concerts?

Retailers: Fill all empty space, floor to ceiling

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2022 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in