{"id":772,"date":"2009-10-25T01:36:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-25T01:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/?p=772"},"modified":"2018-01-02T15:57:59","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T21:57:59","slug":"becoming-entrepreneurial-villager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2009\/10\/becoming-entrepreneurial-villager.html","title":{"rendered":"Becoming an Entrepreneurial Villager"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Barbara Winter is one of the few folks talking about small town business. Her special focus is on being joyfully jobless. I’m thrilled she offered up this guest post. – Becky ]<\/i><\/p>\n

Not long ago, I found myself seated next to a small town enthusiast on a flight to Dallas.
\nThis man was a former pilot who had left flying when he was diagnosed with a serious illness. He had recently become a flight training instructor, but he was most excited about the little bed and breakfast inn he and his wife owned in a small town in northern Pennsylvania. It was their second such venture and he regaled me with stories about his life as an innkeeper.<\/p>\n

This former pilot was also a former city dweller who had reinvented himself as a small town entrepreneur. He\u2019s not alone in discovering new opportunities in off the beaten path places. What may not be so obvious is why so many new entrepreneurs are deciding that a small town is the perfect place to create their own version of World Headquarters.<\/p>\n

For thousands of years, anyone running a business was at the mercy of geography. If you lived near a river or the ocean, you had opportunities not available to your landlocked neighbors. Being an entrepreneur usually meant plunking yourself down in a convenient spot and dealing with whomever happened to pass your way.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all changing. Where business once meant marketing goods and services to those in close proximity, it now is more about reaching out to those who share values, concerns and ideas\u2014no matter where they are located.<\/p>\n

As a result, we\u2019re seeing people who\u2019ve built international consulting businesses from their cabins on the Western Slopes of Colorado or run an art gallery via the Internet from their home on Vancouver Island or sold their copywriting services from their houseboat.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re dreaming about becoming an entrepreneurial villager yourself, you could either create a local business that serves your community or you could serve a clientele unlimited by geography. Either kind of business is possible in the new world of cottage industries since today\u2019s cottage is apt to be an electronic one.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s not my intention to suggest that these are the only possibilities (far from it),here are a few ideas for profit centers that are especially suited to village life.<\/p>\n