Becky’s email newsletter

A reader wrote to me this week about an influx of low-income people into his town, using subsidized housing and other community services. He said a town council member had talked about them as “a drain on resources” and “dead weight.” I got angry when I read that. But it took me awhile to figure…

“Everything gigantic in American [retail] is about to get smaller or die.”James Kunstler, wrote that in 2013 in Business Insider. He said big retail was on the brink of a scale implosion. At the time it seemed a little outrageous. When I’d quote it in speeches, I’d couch it by calling him a “contrarian economist.”…

How many variations of this have you heard:  We’re so small, we can’t afford to let people duplicate effort.  It would be so much more efficient if we didn’t have so many overlapping projects.  If we just knew what everyone was doing, we could streamline things.  We already do something like that; why should we…

I thought you’d like this, from a recent local economic development newsletter that I received: “We just finished our annual business count. We use this comprehensive employment database to drive our economic development, planning and to keep aware of trends….We don’t include home-based or mobile businesses.”  Anyone else see something wrong with that or is…

The conversation over pie for breakfast in a tiny local cafe started with Mike telling me how small town retail, at least in his town of 1100, was really something from the past.  “They’d have to have some kind of economy of scale to survive now,” he said.  “No,” I said. “In fact, the smaller…

There’s a good reason I don’t make these emails easy for you to share on Facebook. I know you want to share them. You like the message, and you want to get it to more people. That’s good. Why on earth would I stand in your way?  Because I want people not to just read…

Last weekend, I spoke to an audience of mostly big city marketers in Tulsa. Despite our differences in scale, we all face some similar challenges. After all, we are all trying to sell some kind of change.  That struck a chord with Eric T. Tung, and he made this graphic on the spot:  Often, what…

Last week, we talked about where to find potential entrepreneurs locally. Then I saw a Tweet from my friend Jon Swanson, saying he’d just opened a tiny storefront online.* That’s when I realized I forgot to list the online places to look for local entrepreneurs.  Right now, rural people from all over are making at…

You and I talk a lot about encouraging more entrepreneurs in your community. Maybe you’re wondering about where to find those potential entrepreneurs. A couple of people have asked that question lately, so let’s look into it. The more you cut down barriers to entry, the more people will be able to try different entrepreneurial…

“Every one of your Innovative Rural Business Models is illegal!”  That was the code enforcement guy at a recent event I spoke at. I just agreed. Yes, sure they are in some towns or in some circumstances. But so what?  Don’t let a law or rule stop a great project for your community.  The code…

It’s kind of a hidden place, upstairs in the newly-reopened movie theater in Elkhart, Kansas. It’s a little bar, almost a little speakeasy, tucked above the ticket booth and concession stand, with exposed brick walls and uncovered rafters, and a view out the little windows that overlook the whole downtown. It’s a small space, a…

When I was speaking about how everyday people can shape the future of their towns, an audience member asked about local governments. How can they survive, even as they need to do more with less money? How do they keep the water flowing and maintain all the other essential services? It’s a critical question, and…