Charles Duhigg’s new book Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection offers practical ways to hold deeper, more meaningful, less conflict-driven conversations.

Given the divisiveness in small towns and rural communities today, these are essential community-building skills.

It’s also relevant for rural small business owners who face a variety of communication challenges with customers, employees, suppliers, community members and more.

Duhigg’s name may be familiar. He also wrote The Power of Habit, another book I found useful.

In Supercommunicators, he covers different types of conversations we have: practical, emotional, and social. Usually, we don’t even think about what kind of conversation we’re having, and that leads to the kinds of problems we’re all used to. Duhigg provides insights on how to recognize and adapt to each type of conversation.

The book’s advice on everyday conversations is particularly useful. This advice is practical and not too hard to remember. Simple graphics make concepts ultra clear. The advice on social and belonging conversations is trickier. When we’re talking about who we are and how we fit or don’t fit in, more care and more guidelines are needed. It starts to feel like a lot, but it’s better than pretending we already know all about it.

The biggest issue I had with the book is the complicated structure within sections. Duhigg often starts a story, then interrupts it with another story, then interrupts that with explanation. It makes it hard to keep track of all the narratives at the same time if you’re not reading large sections in one sitting. Despite this, Duhigg does a good job of getting the practical information across, and the illustrations make the book engaging and informative.

I received an advance copy of the ebook at no cost from the publishers via NetGalley. These are my honest opinions. The book’s publication date was set for Feb 2024.

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Step by step instructions

Ready to promote local shopping to more of your community? Try an editorial or a letter to the editor. You can submit this to your local newspaper, share it in any organization newsletters, and post it on social media!

Step 1. Easily grab these 3 simple numbers for your state or territory.

If you’re in the USA, go to Small Business Profiles at the Small Business Administration. Scroll down and click on your state or territory. You’re looking for these numbers:

• Number of small businesses
• Percentage of small businesses
• Percentage of employees

If you’re in another great country, try searching for each stat, like “Number of small businesses” plus the name of your state, territory or most relevant region. I just tried “number of small businesses New Zealand” and found out that there are 546,000 small business that are 97% of all businesses in New Zealand, plus they employ 29.3% of all employees.

Hot tip: Keep the PDF or website for your data open in a tab on your browser or on your phone, and it will be simple to find the numbers to fill in the template.

Here’s an example for the State of New Mexico:

Step 2. Copy the template below to your favorite editor like Google Docs, Word, or even the notes app on your phone!

This template was provided by the Shop Indie Local promotion of the AMIBA – American Independent Business Alliance. They are a great resource for supporting local shopping all year long.

The Google Docs version of the template is here. (That link is subject to change in future years. If it’s no longer working, just copy the text from below.)

Step 3. Look for the sections in brackets {LIKE THIS} and fill them in.

You already know your state or territory name, and you just picked up those 3 simple numbers about small businesses. Just plop them into the note or document to customize it.

Step 4. Change any wording to make it sound more like you!

It’s ok to reword it, add something, or delete stuff that you would never say. The more personal you can make it, the better!

Don’t want to change a thing? That’s fine, too.

Step 5. Add a local story, or tell about a favorite local business.

The perfect place to do this is right after “entrepreneurial spirit.” Just start a new paragraph, and include a couple of sentences like this:

Holder Drug is the perfect example in our town. Not just the pharmacy, but also their amazing soda fountain! They’ve supported my family and yours for better health for generations, and they’re always one of the first donors to any local project.

Step 6. Submit it to a local newspaper.

Just email it to the editor or anyone you know at the paper. Check their website or a recent paper to find the email address. Or text a friend and ask!

Bonus points: Print it in organization newsletters.

If you belong to any club, church or organization, submit this for the next issue of the newsletter or email newsletter.

Double bonus points: Share on social media!

One super effective way to post on social media is to actually print out the letter on paper, sign it by hand, then post a photo of it to Instagram or Facebook with all the best local hashtags. And you can post the text in the comments. Multiply it by cross posting to local shopping or buy/sell groups on Facebook.

Don’t forget the #ShopIndieLocal hashtag! 

That’s it! Ready to go? Here’s the template:

DRAFT Letter to the Editor Template: Shop Indie Local

In {ADD YOUR STATE/TERRITORY}, we pride ourselves on our independent thinking, ingenuity, and self-reliance — qualities reflected in our entrepreneurial spirit.

According to the Small Business Administration’s latest Small Business Profile, our state{OR TERRITORY} is home to more than {ADD NUMBER} small businesses (employing fewer than 500 people), comprising {ADD PERCENTAGE} percent of all {ADD YOUR STATE/TERRITORY} businesses.

Our small businesses also provide the most significant source of jobs across the state{OR TERRITORY}, employing {ADD EMPLOYEE PERCENTAGE} percent of all private-sector workers, compared to an average of 48 percent nationally.

Whether you run a business or not, we all have an essential role to play in supporting entrepreneurial success and community wealth. As many of us look to share gifts with friends, family, and coworkers, we also have the opportunity to give a gift to our community. When making holiday purchases, we ask you to “Shop Indie Local” and choose to spend your dollars at locally owned and independent businesses.

Why Shop Indie Local?

When you spend your dollars at locally owned retail businesses, more money returns to your local economy than if you spend that same dollar at a chain store.  According to Civic Economics, when you spend a dollar at an independent business, about 48 cents returns to your local economy. (Spend it at a chain store and only 14 cents return; spend it at an online giant and only pennies return.)  That 48 cents recirculate through a local economy, generating ripple effects that strengthen jobs, charitable contributions, and community prosperity. Capitalizing on this local multiplier effect is key to creating jobs and wealth in our community.

On the flip side, purchasing from Amazon or other remote online retailers provides virtually no economic benefit to our community. The American Independent Business Alliance calculates that 1 percent of the cost of an online purchase will go back into your community — only if the delivery person is a local resident.

Local, independent retail businesses help employ many more people than just those on the sales floor. They’re more likely to bank with your local banks and buy from other local businesses compared to absentee-owned companies. They’re also more likely to hire local service providers like accountants, graphic designers, sign-makers, webmasters, and various skilled positions — jobs for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Local non-profit organizations depend largely on contributions from local businesses. This support builds relationships that cement commitment to civic institutions like schools, churches, and fraternal leagues that aid economic prosperity, community cohesion, and trust.

If most of us shifted even one or two more purchases to independent, community-based businesses this season, we would create dramatic, positive changes in our local economies and help induce new jobs in our state{OR TERRITORY}.

So do yourself — and our community — a favor this year by shifting more of your spending to your local merchants, service providers, artisans, and locally owned and independent businesses. Along with helping your neighbors and community, you may just find that the Shop Indie Local spirit turns holiday shopping into a far more relaxing and enjoyable experience: one that rewards both you and your community.

{SIGN YOUR NAME HERE}

Rural business people are trying a variety of different business models today, including pop-ups, shared buildings, businesses inside of other businesses and more. Entrepreneurs are using these smaller-scale experiments and tests to learn what works before making a huge investments. Learn how these Innovative Rural Business Models are being used right now in small towns in this video from the RuralRISE speaker series, featuring Becky McCray and Deb Brown, co-founders of SaveYour.Town

Innovative Rural Business Models, Becky McCray and Deb Brown, RuralRISE Virtual Speaker Series, 2023 (59 minutes)

Download the slides (PDF)

Download the sample lease agreement (PDF)

The sample lease agreement for a shared building is one that we were given permission to share with others. Please have your own legal representative make a specific lease for your situation.

Would you like a presentation on the Innovative Rural Business Models?

Invite Deb and Becky to your town or event for a presentation or workshop.

Last year during entrepreneurship week, I saw lots of articles about what big cities can do to support entrepreneurship. Advice for small towns got left out. Again.

So I wrote this entrepreneur week advice for small town economic developers and chambers of commerce, whether you serve 5,000 or 500 in your local population.

1. Create small spaces for entrepreneurs

Divide big buildings into shared retail spaces, garage-sized shops, small storage rooms for makers, and super affordable coworking for offices. These smaller spaces help keep startup costs down so entrepreneurs can grow to their next step. Then if a next step doesn’t work out, it didn’t require big financing and failure doesn’t have to mean financial ruin.

2. Recognize your artists and artisans as entrepreneurs with real economic value.

Support their efforts to sell online and at regional events. Create and support shared artist studios, workshops and galleries. Incorporate local artists into events and celebrations. Pay local artists and artisans for their work and creations.

3. Boost your food business ecosystem.

Find out about and support your growers, farmers, processors and markets. Expand the market for local foods by getting more local foods in front of more people. This includes your local residents and your visitors because both groups love to eat local.

Deb Brown and I made a 25 minute video on Food Business Ecosystems that is available for purchase at SaveYour.Town

Find this and other Global Entrepreneurship Week events listed on the official calendar at GenGlobal.

The old way to go into business

Imagine all the work that goes into starting a new business. You need to be a good business manager, a marketing guru, and a financial wizard. You need to have great credit, have plenty of your own money, and you better know the right people. You need to have all your ducks in a row.

It takes a lot of time, money and work just to get into business.

The new way is to start small

Now imagine building some steps in between. If you could buy just a few products and test them by renting a booth at a festival, you’d learn more about what works. You could run a temporary business inside another business for a month or two for more testing. You could outfit a travel trailer as a store and set up a circuit of small towns, building a customer base. If something doesn’t work, you can fix it and try again. Now jumping up to starting a traditional store doesn’t seem as hard. You’ve learned what people want to buy. You’ve established relationships with suppliers. You’ve gained a loyal following. All those smaller steps lift you up closer to jumping over that hurdle of starting a traditional business. And if you miss a jump at a smaller step, it’s easier to recover and try something new.

That’s the purpose of the innovative rural business models. They put you in a much better position to succeed, or to fail in a manageable way. It cuts time and money off the process of getting into business.

You don’t need to have all your ducks in a row, as long as you can find one of your ducks and get started.

The Innovative Rural Business Models

First is TINY

• Rather than expect your business to start full-sized, it’s much easier to start something small.  With tiny retail shops, tiny food kiosks, tiny industrial spaces, tiny offices, and tiny artist studios, starting small takes fewer resources, and puts your fragile new entrepreneur idea at less risk from big failures.

Second is TEMPORARY

• Rather than expect to start with a permanent business, try a pop-up. A temporary business will give you immediate feedback on whether there’s even a market for this idea.

Third is TOGETHER

• Rather than sink or swim on your own, start thinking about how to nurture your new business inside an existing business. This can be retailers splitting a space, or a startup using an extra office desk in a service business, or even nurturing a tiny maker inside of an existing manufacturing business. Small towns have fewer usable buildings, so we have to make the best use of every usable building we have.

Fourth is TRAVELING 

• You’re used to seeing food businesses operating out of trucks and trailers, but this idea has expanded. Rather than depending on the market in one town only, innovative businesses are hitting the road to round up customers. Retail stores and boutiques now commonly operate from a truck or trailer. Service businesses are using this model, too: wedding planners, financial consultants, and dog groomers.

Share your own story

You can add your own story, too. What have you learned about rural small business? What’s working in your own business and your own community? What have you learned to avoid?

Leave a comment or use our contact form to share, and I’ll reach out to follow up.

This is global. Stories from anywhere rural are welcome.

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I’m sharing notes from sessions and conversations at the International Economic Development Council annual conference in Dallas. First up: Retail!

Lacy Beasley of Retail Strategies moderated a panel on retail real estate and development. While it was mostly big city stuff, several topics were relevant for smaller towns.

How to convince a property owner to reinvest in their retail strip,  center or even one building in a small town

Herb Weitzman, a Dallas area retail developer, said that many retail real estate owners think ‘we’re not making any money so we can’t invest in our store or our shopping center.’

As a former rural retail store owner, I certainly recognized that small town, small business attitude.

However, Herb said that much like investment in remodeling and modernizing a retail store will increases its sales, it will also increase overall sales and the corresponding rents for retail centers. It’s possible that this is the right motivation to get some owners to act.

Small, rundown retail spaces can actually be a good long-term investment, Herb said. Buy them, fix them up and get a return.

For a small town, maybe it’s possible to find an outside investor who will purchase the rundown spaces, or to organize a coalition or cooperative of local investors to take it on.  

One municipal official from a town of 50,000 people said they need to revitalize a dilapidated shopping center, but the owner will not reinvest in it. How can the city take a role?

Herb said that city governments often come to him to point out a possible deal, like revitalizing an existing center. They will help facilitate grant applications and other incentives to make the deal work.

Local retail stores are key to rural and small town economic development. Photo by Becky McCray

Small town retail recruitment strengths: friendly, quick permitting

Herb said he likes working with “micromarkets,” which I took to be at least close to micropolitans with 10,000 up to 50,000 population. They are much smaller and much friendlier. You can sit down with them and work things out.

And that’s your hidden secret as a small town: you’re small, you work with people personally, and you’re friendly. 

Panelist Christopher Walker with Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers said that retail deals are taking longer in the 2020s, especially permitting. It takes them an average of 370 days in the western US to get a permit, 203 days in central US, and 320 days in the east.

One store started in 2020 took until 2023 to permit, Chris said. All that time, stores or restaurants are paying “dead rent” for space they can’t do anything with. Many times they have employees hired, but waiting and doing nothing.

Those numbers shocked me. How long does it take for your small town to issue a retail permit? A week or two? Maybe a couple of months at the most? Start considering that a competitive advantage. And be sure you are extending just as much support to locally-owned retail stores as you would to a chain you would recruit.

Recruiting chain grocery stores

Another audience member said that their grocery market is considered saturated in a retail study, but the stores they have are dirty and under-stocked. How can she tell that story to recruit a new grocery retailer?

Rita Williams with Kroger said to work through a retail broker if you want to recruit a national brand. The national chain retail grocery recruitment process takes 3 to 5 years from start to store.

If existing stores are being neglected by their chains, try to find out if any of those existing stores are planning to pull out, Rita said. That additional information may help get a retailer to look past the “saturated market” label.

Knowing that an existing store plans to pull out is critical for small town and rural markets. You may only have one store, and you will want to act immediately to organize a cooperative or community-owned grocery.

Importance of local retail

Find out what the community wants before acting, Rita said.

It feels obvious, but too often local leaders are pressured into quickly making large investments in retail recruitment or supporting an outside chain.

If you want to save your town, start your own small business.

If you want to encourage more locally-owned retail, start by dividing up a retail space for smaller experiments.

If you want more reports from IEDC or more practical information for small towns, subscribe to SmallBizSurvival.

If we meet at a conference, I’ll be happy to give you some of my time. If you need more help, then it may be time for a coaching call. Photo (C) Eva the Photographer, courtesy of SMTulsa.

Years ago, Thursday Bram asked me some questions about how freelancers and other consulting and professional folks can avoid giving away too much of their knowledge for free. Her article at Freelance Switch is no longer online, so I thought it was time to share it here, as well.

Here’s some of my best advice on how to draw the line between free and paid conversations.

What is your reaction when someone asks to just ‘pick your brain’? Do you have a standard reaction that you use across the board or are there people that you’re more willing to talk to?

I decide how to handle people seeking free advice based on my existing relationship with them. Some people are close friends. I’ll help those folks more than someone who emails me out of the blue. Most of the questions seem to come from folks who don’t know me at all. So I try to assess the situation based on our relationship.

Do the people who just want to ask you questions typically turn into paying clients without much help from you?

It doesn’t happen by magic, you do need a strategy. And even then, not all of them will convert. Some are just freebies no matter what you do. I’m a collector of good phrases to use.

• Liz Strauss told me she would say, “If you’d like me to do that for you, I charge $XXX/hour.”
• Denise Wakeman said she will point people to her matching products already available. If someone asked her to look over their publication, she would give them the link to her sales page for a publication critique. Those products are really packaged services.
• Cathy Stucker would say, “I can spend ten minutes with you, and if you require more assistance I will be glad to schedule a consultation at my regular rates.”
• My colleague Deb Brown offers 15 minutes at no charge. When she gets on a call, she sets a timer. When it’s up she asks, “Do you want to go on with a paid conversation? That costs $XXX per hour.” 
• Sheila Scarborough used to invite folks to talk with her at her weekly co-working session, Round Rock Jelly. If the question is more involved than can be answered there, it’s a consulting job.
• Jennifer Navarette told the story of meeting with a potential client in his office. He asked lots of questions. Finally, she stood up to come around the desk and reached for the keyboard. Her partner interrupted, “You do know that we just crossed into paid time?” he asked. “Oh, yes,” the prospect said, instantly converting to a paying client.
• Barry Moltz used to say, “time to turn on the meter.” (He’s from Chicago. Can you tell?)

Even with a special phrase in your arsenal, you still have to have a way for people to pay you.

What strategies have you used to turn this sort of person into a paying client? If it isn’t possible to do that, how do you keep this sort of person from wasting your time?

Offer them the help they need, but in a way that respects your valuable time. Here are three ideas of how to educate people on your own terms.

1. Create a standard resource you give to people that want to do it themselves. Invest a few hours in creating a simple how-to booklet, paper or downloadable PDF, and save those hours you would normally spend trying to assist the freebie-seekers. You probably have all the info you need in your article or email archives.
2. Do workshops. Charge a modest fee. Then Do-It-Yourself-ers can be encouraged to take the class, online or in person. This lets you group up the learners, help them all a certain amount, get paid for it, and allow some of them to see that they really do want professional help. Record the session. Then the next time you get hit up for more free advice, you can refer them to where they can purchase your workshop. Do NOT make this a pitch for your service. Do make it an honest useful training.
3. Package your services into a defined product. Then charge for it. If you often get asked to look over someone’s plan, make that a service. Same with requests for help getting unstuck on a project. Once it’s a product, it’s easier to refer and sell.
4. Set up a professional-looking place people can see your coaching or consulting offers. And give them a way to pay. They can’t buy something you aren’t actually selling. Use one of the many easy to use online learning platforms that lets you collect online payments.

You don’t have to charge everyone every time.

Decide in advance how much you want to reinvest in others. Maybe you’re happy to review a resume, reassure someone just getting started or spend some time with promising people in your area. Maybe you like to help at a conference whenever possible. That’s up to you.

Set your limits, and be ready to speak up for yourself.

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Kids in a canoe photo (CC) by CC Chapman

Our latest Survey of Rural Challenges said natural resources are rural communities’ best rural assets, but most places don’t have enough outfitters to take advantage of them as tourism development.

Here’s how rural people like you can take small steps to grow into outdoor outfitters. 

• Gather Your Crowd to attract groups and organizations that want to help
• Build Connections to borrow equipment and acquire insurance
• Take Small Steps by splitting the work with different businesses and organizations in the community.

Both Deb and I visited Eastern Kentucky last year. I visited Estill County, and Deb was in Jackson County. We each shared a version of this process to help get tourism ideas off the ground.

Ask around, others may help

Kathy from Jackson County wanted to start her own outdoor business but she only had one side by side ATV to use. Then another person offered a canoe for Kathy to rent out. This started a conversation around the room of how she could start now, using what others offer and they would help her too. 

Small steps to take now

In Estill County, we sketched out the steps to grow their own outfitters for river and forest recreation. Here are some of the key steps:

• Talk to an existing outfitter in a similar area from the surrounding communities. Ask lots of questions.
• Find local outdoor recreation groups. Their members might be good potential operators, partners or customers.
• Consider covering startup costs with Sponsor-A-Canoe with local business logos or wraps.
• Cover insurance costs by finding a sponsor or getting a discount through the chamber or organizations like the American Canoe Association.
• Break up all the parts of the business and find a person or group to manage or run each part. One group might own the canoes, another has a trailer and can handle payroll, another might volunteer for part of the work during startup.

It’s not as traditional as starting all at once with a business plan and lots of debt, but it’s more of the rural approach. We’re used to making do and making things work.

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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.

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At the Main Street Now Conference in Boston, I joined a trolley tour of the six Dorchester Main Streets.

We got a chance to walk through The Guild‘s expansive building. While this space is only one of many projects of The Guild, it was the one that caught my attention as useful for small towns.

The building was furnished and opened in less than 5 months for less than $100,000. It’s intended as a healing space, a calm space where anyone from the neighborhood can come in and relax for a time. They also hold special events for the community. Not weddings or parties, but more community oriented gatherings.

The art is from local artists. Many of the earth-toned wall hangings are dyed with the actual dirt from this neighborhood, that’s how rooted this is in the community.

• You could pop-up a similar community healing space temporarily, and for a lot less money. I bet small towns could borrow just about everything they’d need, including the building.

Which feels better downtown: a calming space or an empty building?

Vacant buildings, especially formerly significant ones, are reminders of loss, Trinity Simons Wagner of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design said at the Placemaking Conference.

That empty building as a reminder of loss adds negative weight to everyone’s perception of your downtown. Your people deserve a calming space like this much more than yet another empty building.

This also ties into the Wellness Travel trend we’ve mentioned. Wellness appeals to both locals and visitors. maybe pop this up around the time of a big event.

Photos by Becky McCray.

What do you think about doing this in your community?

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