Starting a business the old way is hard

On an Idea Friendly visit to Jackson County, Kentucky, I visited with a group of artists/entrepreneurs. This group had created a loose organization called the Jackson County KY Creative Community. They wanted to start businesses, but were not ready to get a building and go through the extensive process of starting a business. Some needed to see if their work had a market and value to the customer. They felt stuck. Product and excitement, but no money to get their businesses off the ground.

Smaller steps to try first

We had gathered in an art studio in McKee, KY. There was lots of discussion around taking smaller steps to start your business.

• You could sell online in places like Etsy or eBay.
• You could ask a local business if you could have just one shelf to sell your product on.
• Or showcase your artwork on an empty wall in a place like the bank, or the insurance agents office.
• You could set up a card table at an event and sell from there.

Downtown McKee, KY, car show photo by Anthony Jackson

Try using an empty lot

The group shared there was a car show coming to town soon. How could they piggyback on that event? There was an empty lot right downtown on the main highway, right across from where the cars would be parked. It wasn’t the best looking lot, it needed some attention. There was kudzu climbing the walls of buildings next to it, graffiti on the same buildings and the weeds needed some major whacking.

Ask

Kathy Spurlock owned the empty lot. I had already visited with her. I knew her time was already stretched thin, and her funds were being used for other community projects. Still, there was this empty lot waiting to be filled.

I asked her if the artists in the Jackson County KY Creative Community could possibly use it for a popup.

She said yes

The empty lot pop up was created! One artist’s husband took his weedwhacker and cleaned out an area just big enough for pop-ups. Everyone in the group spread the word a pop up was coming through social media and word of mouth. Other artists were invited. Signs were posted around the county. No one person was in charge, everyone participated as best they could.

Empty Lot Pop Up photo by Greg Lakes

It worked!

There were many entrepreneurs set up with their works displayed. Folks came and bought from them, enjoyed the car show, and ate some food from local vendors. The Jackson County Creative Community added more artists as members too. There were lessons learned.

• You can pop up anywhere.
• It’s a good idea to join in another event and promote them both for more attendees.
• People are looking for something new and unique to do. Your excitement brings them in.
• Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes and offering this kind of small step helps create more businesses in your community.
• Business can be conducted in unusual locations and empty lots are great testing grounds.
• It’s a small step. If it doesn’t work, you haven’t lost anything.

Subscribe to Small Biz Survival.

Deb Brown and I will be speaking at the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Annual Conference in Dallas on September 17, 2023.

As co-founders of SaveYour.Town, Deb and I have dedicated ourselves to helping rural communities thrive. We understand the challenges and unique opportunities that rural community builders and entrepreneurs face, and we strive to empower them to bring their ideas to life. That is why we are excited to present our interactive workshop, Bringing Your Ideas to Life: Idea Friendly Workshop for Rural Revitalizations on Sunday, September 17 at 3:45 PM.

In this workshop, we will guide you through a dynamic and engaging experience designed to spark your creativity and provide you with practical steps you can put into action right away back in your own communities.

We believe that rural areas have incredible potential. By nurturing an idea-friendly environment, we can create the towns we most want to live in.

During this interactive workshop, you will have the opportunity to connect with fellow economic developers, share your challenges, and collaborate on innovative solutions. Our goal is to inspire you and equip you with practical strategies that can be applied immediately.

Whether you are a long-standing economic developer, a local entrepreneur, or a community leader, this workshop is designed to give you the tools and knowledge necessary to turn your vision into reality.

Mark your calendars for September 17-20, 2023, and join us at the International Economic Development Council Annual Conference in Dallas.

This innovative Annual Conference will explore, modernize, and grow successful industry strategies and practices by focusing on each of IEDC’s five strategic initiatives:

• Leadership Development
• Workforce & Talent Development
• Supporting Entrepreneurship
• Fostering Economic Opportunity & Diversity
• Economic Transformation

Learn more about the IEDC conference here.

Subscribe to SmallBizSurvival.

Everyone’s in town for the big event. Is your business ready for them? Photo by Becky McCray

Guest post by Jeremy Zeller

Do your homework – WHO WILL BE ATTENDING the event?

Cater to that audience. Families, College students, Car enthusiasts, Cosplay…yes, even them.

If you do not want to keep your store open, set up a SIDEWALK STAND or TABLE and sell there.

An assortment of products and swag to just give a little taste of what you offer for when they come back.

Bring the right FREEBIES.

This can be as simple as a bag with your logo on it, or a package of tissues with your logo on it. Chapstick, small notepads, microfiber cleaning cloths. It should be something that people use often and keep around either in their purse or car. Be sure to have your logo with the business name and what you are, address, and social media. Phone number is fine, but they are more likely to want to come back to visit or look you up first.

Hold a DEMONSTRATION.

Do you have a product you want to show off? Now is the perfect time to do so. If it is clothing, get a few models to show off your merchandise.

SURVEYS – 5 questions at max that will help your business succeed.

Examples: “How satisfied are you with the customer service you received?” “How satisfied are you with the price of our product/service?”
“What is the most memorable part of your experience?” “Where do you live?”

Collect video TESTIMONIALS or written testimonials.

People love to hear stories. Find customers that you have that can talk about a product they bought, how great it is, and maybe something that happened when they used it. Example: “I bought this Consuela Bag for my Mom on Mother’s Day. The quality is so great because we have used it while camping at Alabaster Caverns to Sand Dunes in Waynoka to visiting the Salt Plains and it still looks brand new!”

While on the topic of videos, get a video ENDORSEMENT. If it is a known official, local or state celebrity, nationally acclaimed, or organization; see if they will give approval to endorse your business and then promote it later.

Share COUPONS or vouchers.

Events a great time to get them to a bunch of people. “10% off” “Free Gift”. Be unique.

Create a SALES EVENT to take place the next day or week.

You have a chance to reach out to many people. So create your own event sometime after. Advertise it during the event taking place.

Create a POKER WALK during the event.

Work with other businesses open during the event. Do a 20% DISCOUNT SHARE. This means if they shop at one store and buy something, they get a 20% discount at another store. That store has it for another store. And so on and so on.

Be an event SPONSOR.

Before the event is happening, see what it takes to get your name on the advertisement.

Gather E-MAILS.

This is the perfect time to build up your client list. Use your phone to collect and store e-mails to increase your customer e-mail blasts.

About the Author

Jeremy Zeller is the Economic Development Director for Woods County, Oklahoma. Previously he worked 16 years for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce including the Main Street program. He holds a degree in film, video and photography from the University of Oklahoma.

Related stories

• How any business can be part of downtown events by going mobile
• Do you close during the parade? What to do instead
• What to do when festivals and events block your store

This is the story of Avard, Oklahoma, a town that knows how to make something out of nothing. Often listed as a ghost town, their population was never more than 300, and has declined since the 1950s. Avard is the kind of creative place where they wanted to raise money to restore their little lake that had dried up, so they sold dehydrated fishing licenses–good for all the dehydrated fish you could catch from the dry lake. Something from nothing!

In the 2000s, almost all of the 33 residents played a role in the Avard Folk Festival to bring cowboy and pioneer folk arts and crafts to life. Over 100 artists came from all across Northwest Oklahoma. Traditional musicians performed while craftspeople showcased their rope making, candle making, quilting and blacksmithing. They put on a trail ride, a dutch oven cook off, and an old fashioned baking and canning fair.

One of the organizers, Donna Schmidt said their goal was to preserve these arts by supporting the current artists, as well as providing exposure and hands-on experience to everyday people in a fun setting. They attracted over 500 attendees to their little “ghost town” and kept it going for several years.

That’s a terrific example of using what you already have, right down to the dry lake bed. In our Idea Friendly Method, this is the Take Small Steps part, and it focuses on creating more opportunities for your craft entrepreneurs.

Get the full video: Crafters Create Prosperity

This video clip is a sample from the SaveYour.Town video on rural craft entrepreneurship: Crafters Create Prosperity.

Your town has people and assets to build on. You have local crafts, local arts, and people who make things. We’re going to give you practical steps you can take to use what you have and what you make to create prosperity.

Find out more

More articles for arts and crafts entrepreneurship

Overcoming the Challenges of Craft Vending in Small Towns – Jeriann Ireland shares her story as she steps up from a craft hobby towards a craft business.

10 Tips for Increasing Your Sales at Art and Craft Shows – micro biz enthusiast Glenn Muske has 10 tips to get more money coming at shows.

Donna Maria on wholesaling your products – helping you think through the process of growing beyond shows.

Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium hosted by Oklahoma State University. It’s an online event on October 13, 2020.

What is the Symposium about?

The Symposium is meant to raise awareness, attract resources and stimulate research toward solving grand challenges facing rural communities. And goodness knows we have some grand challenges.

I’ll be facilitating two community round table discussions where you can share your challenges, opportunities and success stories. 

Who can participate?

Yes, Oklahoma State faculty and students will participate, but it’s open to all of us. Rural community members from across the U.S. and around the world are invited to connect  and learn about the latest discoveries, trends and approaches for rural renewal.

Corporate partners, non-profit organizations, government and tribal leaders, and anyone with a passion for rural people and places are invited to participate. I think I fall into the “anyone with a passion for rural” category.

What will the event be like?

There will be invited speakers, oral and poster presentations by researchers, round table discussions for community leaders, networking opportunities, and award presentations.

The students from the Rural Scholars program will describe their studies and present the findings of their work in actual rural communities. Their projects include deconstruction (how best to remove dilapidated structures) and comparing ag technology between rural Oklahoma and rural China.

Other speakers will cover rural issues including:

• broadband access
• health systems
• water resources
• infrastructure and economic development
• education and youth leadership development

What virtual platform will it use?

The event is using Whova and Zoom. I just participated in another event using this same setup, and it’s user friendly. Here’s a screenshot of a discussion session from that event:

This was the SMTulsa conference on the Whova platform with Zoom streaming. It made it easy to connect for group discussions and speaker presentations.

You don’t need a Zoom account to participate.

How much does it cost and where do we register?

You are invited to register and join the Symposium no matter where you live. I’d love to see you at the community round tables!

The cost is US$25. 

The schedule is online, and you can register for the Symposium here.

How one town got the city council to change the rules and enabled a great new event to bloom. Photo via Deb Brown.

By Deb Brown

When I was Chamber of Commerce Director in Webster City, Iowa, one of our big events was Junquefest, a three day event where vendors come to town and sell all kinds of junque.

We wanted to close the streets and let the vendors park their trailers by their booths. That was illegal, but we went before the city council and asked could we do that just for this event. The prior two years we held this event in the park and with no trailers allowed. We did have some vendors build a set up on site so it looked like a little store. Now we had an example of how they did it before and how having trailers onsite would make sense. The council said yes. 

Our pilot was still officially against the rules, but by allowing this small step, the council got good information about how it could work if they did change the rules. 

Get people on your side in advance

In another example, our Farmer’s Market is now downtown on a side street just off the main drag. They wanted to close the streets Saturdays from 7:30 to 11 a.m. Again, that’s against the rules. The Farmer’s Market people got their ducks in a row first, then went to the city to suspend the rules. 

There are two businesses on the street they wanted to close. The farmer’s market people talked to the coffee shop people, and they thought it was a good idea. It was, too. More people buy coffee. The other place on the street is a hair salon that has clients to serve on Saturday mornings. The salon owner worked with another business that has a parking lot nearby to allow her clients to park there are Saturday morning. 

Since both businesses involved had already agreed, it was easier for the council to say yes to a rule change.

How to do this in your town

Come up with a small pilot project as a test, before you ask for a big rule change. Then you have some evidence to take back to the council.

When you do your real-world test, be sure the council is invited. There’s nothing like the practical experience of being there to help them make a positive decision!

Go in advance and talk to anyone who will be affected by your plans. Don’t let them be surprised by a news story or a post on Facebook.

New video: Against the Rules

We’ve partnered with SaveYour.Town to bring you a video with 8+ practical ways to get your idea done no matter what the “rule enthusiasts” say. Learn more about it at: SaveYour.Town Against the Rules

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

Most chamber events skip over the non-retail businesses. How can foundries, insurance agents and other non-retail businesses promote themselves through events? Photo provided by Deb Brown.

Events that showcase your non-retail small business 

You want people to learn about your business. Events sometimes help with that. You’re just not sure how to create an event for non-retail businesses that people will come to.

Who goes to the insurance agency if they don’t need insurance?

Who goes to the packing plant unless they work there? 

When the chamber of commerce or other groups put on business events, they don’t usually feature non-retail businesses. 

One event that can work is something like A Walk Around Town Event featuring non-retail businesses. The object of the event is to set a time frame for people to visit businesses in town.

We have a Foundry in my town, Webster City, Iowa. They love to do events. The office staff put hard hats, safety glasses and heavy aprons on everyone (and make sure you have closed toe shoes). Then the boss takes the visitors around the plant. I got to see the hot steel being poured and how it turns into a product by the end of the visit. Employees on the floor explain the process and answers questions. Everyone gets a small steel gift.

These backroom kind of tours are fascinating and create a new, fun learning experience for more people to learn about your business.

Imagine if you could combine your backroom tour with several other businesses, so people could tour more than one business in a day? That could be your Walk Around Town event!

This could be tricky to plan by yourself. Mainly because each business involved will have a different outcome in mind. You might be looking or employees. The insurance firm is looking for new customers. The construction company wants referrals. All those outcomes are related – they require people to know more about you first. Having an event to showcase your business is a great way to get started. 

You don’t need the chamber or economic development people to do all the work for you. You don’t need permission to plan an event!

Then how can you create events that people will attend? Here’s the secret: don’t plan it all yourself. Leave it half planned and have room for the other businesses to step up and add to the event. Gather your crowd, ask other non-retail business owners to join you for coffee or a beer. Talk about the big idea – having an event to bring people to your businesses to see what you do. 

Ask each other what kind of things you need to have this event. Can you do it on the same day as a community event? See if  someone has connections to the chamber or others who are doing events so you can check their schedules. Maybe check the school and sports schedules to avoid overlapping an important event there. Do you need a bus to take people around? Someone can find the bus or use their own work bus. This is building connections, and often you might use these connections for other things too.

Finally take some small steps. Not all the business owners will want to be involved. That’s ok. This kind of event works if there’s only a couple of businesses involved. Ask the business owners who are participating to prepare some hands-on activities that tour visitors could do. Remember, you are not doing all the work, they are.  Each non-retail business is responsible for their business. 

Maybe some of these businesses don’t have any idea how to create interesting or exciting activities. Why not ask your employees for ideas? Offer them the opportunity to plan it out and make it happen. A small step could be to tell your Chamber about it and see if they want to help with the marketing part of it. Another small step is to tell your Economic Development folks too. They might have some people in mind they’d like to invite on the tour. You might even want to partner with another business. Are you going to serve coffee and cookies? Is there a business in town that could help with that? 

SaveYour.Town has a video this month that focuses on creating events that people will attend. You’ll get more ideas from events I’ve planned to promote businesses in my community, and how I let go of some control and half planned events in cooperation with others. This video is available for purchase only until September 15, 2019. You’ll get two weeks to watch the video with as many folks and as many times as you want.

You’ve tried everything to get locals to come out to downtown businesses, but have you bribed them with cookies?? These jewels were at the Hotel Pattee, Perry, Iowa. Photo (CC) by Sheila Scarborough.

Our friend Maury Forman of Washington state, sent us this idea from Madras, Oregon:

On February 16 the Madras Downtown Association and Petite Sweets hosted the first-ever Cookie Crawl. Participants paid $5 and received a box and map that listed all the locations where the beautifully decorated cookies were available. Petite Sweets decorated cookies to match or represent the business.

• For example, the barber shop offered a cookie that looked like a barber pole
• and Windemere Real Estate distributed cookies with a for-sale sign.

Organizer Whitney Stubblefield said the event was a great way to encourage the residents who usually do not appear at community events into the downtown businesses.

Sweet! It’s not just a way to get people into businesses, it gives them a chance to talk to each other, with cookies. I don’t even think the cookies have to match the businesses. It would be fun to get all kinds of home-made or random cookies from everyone.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

Five businesses and community groups pitched ideas at the first “Food for Thought” event put on by Main Street Enid, Oklahoma. Photo by Becky McCray.

Have you heard of “soup” events?

People pay a small amount, say $5, to attend a local pitch event. Local groups pitch their ideas, everyone votes, and the winner gets the money.

The real winner is the community, of course. It boosts activity, gets people talking to each other, builds momentum and rewards people who are doing great things locally.

The first one I heard of was the Detroit Soup project. I got to attend one when Main Street Enid, Oklahoma, kicked off their series called Food for Thought. Wheeling, West Virginia, calls theirs Show of Hands.

How Wheeling’s Show of Hands Works

Alex Weld and Jake Dougherty from Wheeling Heritage shared more about it at the Main Street Now conference in 2019. Materials from their presentation are currently available through the Main Street Now 2019 app, but I expect they are likely to disappear over time.

Wheeling holds events quarterly. The organizers said they wanted to disprove the common belief that “nothing is happening here.”

Action inspires action, they said. Public action inspires even more action and illustrates change.

Lots of people are invited to come together, pay a small amount at the door and enjoy a bowl of soup from communal soup pots. Local groups share their ideas for a project or business, and everyone gets a vote. Winning pitches earn the money raised, and everyone has a great time.

There’s a lot of talking and networking as people see friends and acquaintances they may not see everyday.

Each event also features an update from a past winner, building momentum.

Getting started

They started small and kept expenses low. They borrowed an event venue and brought potluck soup.

Initially, they worried that ticket sales might not add up to very much award money, so they looked for a sponsor. They found a local business to donate $1,000 seed money for the first winner. Then they put money raised through ticket sales on top of that. The sponsor committed to seed four events that way, a full year. Now that they’ve been going for awhile, even more businesses participate by sponsoring. Now most winners receive around $5,000 total.

They limited the number of pitches to four. That kept the event from being too long and kept it easier to decide who to vote for.

Finding applicants to pitch

To make sure they had four presenters their first time, they personally talked with people to encourage them to participate and pitch. They picked exciting projects, ones they knew would draw people to the event. Over that first year, most of the ideas came from nonprofits. Now more presenters are from small businesses wanting to start or expand.

You can’t put the application up and sit back and wait, they said. You have to groom solid applicants.

What holds people back?

They found that many small business people said they had a worthy idea, but just weren’t ready to pitch. That got the organizers thinking about the barriers holding small businesses back from growing, so they ran their own survey.

What they learned was that there were all kinds of knowledge gaps, different things people struggled with in their businesses. As a result, they began doing more small business training events in town, building a network of potential participants.

Do your own Soup event

As you’re thinking about putting your own spin on this event, think about non-monetary prizes. Jeremy Zeller with Oklahoma Main Street suggested pop-up space for example. What else could you offer winners?

Consider how many “winners” you want, and whether winner take all is the right split. Maybe you can make sure each idea walks out with some funding. Maybe awards can be in proportion to the votes received.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

A little trick to keep people mixing at any event, indoors or out. It works as long as there’s food!

Holding an event and want to get people to mix across some divide?

Put the drinks and plates on one side, the food and cups on the other.

See what you did there? You’ve separated the food from the plates, and the cups from the drinks. This simple trick of making people move around to get their basics will get them to mingle, at least a little.

This works if you have two separate groups of people you need to mix up, or if you have a physical divide in an event space you want to bridge, or if you have two groups hosting and you need them to not cluster up with their friends.

Now, be prepared. It will feel inconvenient to people. They will say you’re stupid for laying it out this way. Just smile and remember that you have a bigger goal: building community.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.