{"id":204,"date":"2012-03-19T10:40:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T10:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/?p=204"},"modified":"2015-02-17T13:55:50","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T19:55:50","slug":"when-rural-entrepreneurs-prosper-they","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2012\/03\/when-rural-entrepreneurs-prosper-they.html","title":{"rendered":"When rural entrepreneurs prosper, they help their communities prosper"},"content":{"rendered":"
When rural entrepreneurs prosper, they help their communities prosper.\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n

That’s why I support rural entrepreneurs. The best way I can help your community <\/i>to prosper is to help your entrepreneurs and business owners<\/i>. They are the ones who will help find solutions to local problems.<\/p>\n

That’s why I was excited by the CNN story<\/a> of Tony Hsieh’s new startup investing $350 million in downtown Las Vegas. Tony is the CEO of Zappos. He wants a thriving downtown to move Zappos into, so people can have more chance encounters and create more wonderful things for the company. And they are investing in getting it.<\/p>\n

“Most developers focus on ROI. We’re looking at ROC, return on community.” <\/b>
\n–Tony Hseih<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think this is also a place where brands can better connect with local communities. (You’ll be hearing much more on that subject from me, soon. It’s tied to the Small Town Rules<\/a> book project. )<\/p>\n

A new generation of entrepreneurs are redefining small towns and small business. For example,\u00a0Katie McCaskey<\/b> is leading the charge with her Micropolitan Manifesto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s not really a new trend, though. Here are two more examples:<\/p>\n

Fred Carl, Jr.,<\/b> founder of Viking Range, is from Greenwood, Mississippi. And his prosperity has translated into prosperity for Greenwood. Read more about his community efforts at Viking Range<\/a>.<\/p>\n

George Tucker<\/b> spent 40 years building small businesses in the village of Oriskany Falls, New York. He felt it could serve as a retail hub. “He became Mr. Rural Renewal, refurbishing the buildings on Main Street. Citizens of the area describe George as a catalyst for change and community improvement.”<\/i> I found Tucker’s story at Amazon.com<\/a>, of all places.<\/p>\n

And, two more\u00a0examples from\u00a0Dave Ivan’s Can Small Towns Be Cool presentation<\/a>:
\nIn New Carlisle, Indiana, Bill Owens<\/b> expanded a floral shop into gifts, a furniture store, and transformed the community into a regional destination.<\/p>\n

In Mackinaw City, Michigan, the Sheppler and Green families <\/b>partnered to develop Mackinaw Crossing. It changed the area’s entire retail flavor from t-shirts and fudge shops to a retail shopping destination.<\/p>\n

What examples do you have of entrepreneurs helping their communities prosper?<\/p>\n

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour<\/a>. Like what you see? Get our updates<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When rural entrepreneurs prosper, they help their communities prosper.\u00a0 That’s why I support rural entrepreneurs. The best way I can help your community to prosper is to help your entrepreneurs and business owners. They are the ones who will help find solutions to local problems. That’s why I was excited by the CNN story of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,10,3,8,36],"tags":[38,32],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8983,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions\/8983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}