Small town living, working, and playing is not the same as the urban experience. It takes different skills and interests to enjoy a safer, saner small town life. It means lifestyle changes. Some I loved immediately--no crime or traffic, fresh air, and great scenery. Other changes were not as easy to adapt to—the (one and only) grocery store is closed on Sunday, printer ink is an hour away, and credit cards are not accepted at any local restaurants.
Years Behind - Dollars Ahead
I always said that small towns should market the fact that when the rest of society decided to go crazy a few decades ago...they chose not to follow.So here they are with a clear sense of right and wrong, strong civic committment and family ties and it appears some common sense banking as well.
The Agurban newsletter article Main or Wall? tells the story so well:
Main or Wall
For the past month the stock and credit markets have been roiled by the sub-prime debacle. Congress has been discussing a $700 billion (that's $700,000,000,000) rescue plan for Wall Street. Countless times I've heard the Washington politicians and bureaucrats talk about this as a "plan to rescue Main Street!" Really? Main Street? Here's my take on the current situation, the impact I see on the Main Streets I visit and my simple suggestion for rural American banks.
First let's look at how this problem came about. Historically, Main Street banks gathered deposits and made home loans which they kept on their balance sheet, collecting a monthly interest and principle payment until the loan was paid off. Think Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey of the Bailey Building and Loan Association from the classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life." Wall Street saw the huge volume of loans, figured out a creative way to latch onto those loans, calling it "securitization" as they turned home mortgages into securities. Think Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film "Wall Street." His signature line was "Greed is, for lack of a better word, good." Click here for More
Moving to the Country
Things you should know
Moving to the Woods
We recently moved to a small town in the Northwest in a place also known as Bear Country. The woods are full of bears. There are lots of black bears and, at latest count, around 800 grizzly bears. Folks here are fond of their bears, but I am not such a fan of large, dangerous, wild animals, especially ones that wander into town.Amy, my hairdresser, told me a cub (which can be a 300 pound animal) found her backyard apple tree last summer. He climbed to the top eating apples, got stuck and could not get down. She watched the tree swaying back and forth as she drank her morning coffee, then called the Forest Service who came and took the poor baby back into the woods. By the way, her house is downtown. (Guess you know we will NOT be planting any apple trees.)
Back before the Park Rangers began shooing bears off the road, folks would feed them from their cars. My mom tells a great story of when she was a kid traveling through Bear Country with her parents. They stopped to feed the bears and one of the grand creatures stuck its head INSIDE the car to share their watermelon. Sheesh-living on the edge with nature.
I'm collecting bear stories...if you have one pass it along.
Finding The Best Small Town For You
If you're looking for small town life, here are some resources.
- Find Your Spot
- Take a free survey and locate your spot with one of the top relocation sites on the web.
- Small Retirement Towns
- Ten Small Towns That Make Great Places To Retire
- Article
- Small towns become more appealing
- Small Town Gems
- Recommendations for small towns from folks who've been there.
- Small Wander For Travelers
- Looking for a walkable small town for your next vacation? This site offers a database of cultural resources for lots and lots of towns with populations of 10,000 or less.
Affordable Small Town Property
Affordable Small Towns
Jobs in Small Towns
Helping You Find Your Small Town
If you are in the medical profession here's a site with jobs in small towns and rural areas--there are a few other kinds of jobs as well, but medical is their main focus:
Check It Out!
Small Town Recycling
Recycling Means BusinessCheck out the Recycling Means Business link
Here are great stories of real, small town entrepreneurs building recycling businesses, everything from filtering anti-freeze and making mulch to reclaiming oil from filters.
People starting and running these businesses include everyone from teachers to moms and pops and young college graduates.
This links to a report from North Carolina's rural recycling businesses. They put thousands of people to work in the recycling industry every year.
From Waste To Wealth
Publications from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance that show community models from all over the world, reports on job creation from recycling-everything from computers, textiles and pallets to food scraps.
Zero Waste Toolkit
Here is a resource for communities interested in implementing comprehensive waste reduction and recycling plans. This website provides a link to the resources being developed as part of the Zero Waste project and used by small and large towns alike.
Recycling Manufacturing Businesses
The manufacturing process, from the scale of the mom-and-pop operation producing recycling tire mats or salvaged lumber birdhouses, to the large scale of a paper mill using recovered fiber, is the heart of recycling and a key contributor to establishing the recovered materials economy of the future.
Advancing Composte
Creating Jobs from Food Scraps!
Small Town Florist -- Big Time Biz
And then there's the small town florist who went online in a very big way!
FlowersFast! is the result of one small town florist who really expanded his vision and used the internet to grow and grow. Click on the Teddy Bear Bouquet to see just what he's up to.
To read the interview with Bob Rankin the owner of FlowersFast check out Dave Taylor's Intuitive Life Business Blog
It really is possible to live anywhere and run a professional, successful business, even in a small town!
The Pantry Peddler
Featured Small Town Business
Shellee and Bekki, sisters and creators of The Pantry Peddler, were born and raised on a family farm in rural North Dakota. They were taught to appreciate good food and value fresh local sources.Daughters of a third-generation wheat farming family, Shellee and Bekki were instilled with the ethics and values of their homesteading forefathers-perseverance, patience and a love of the land that kept settlers linked to the prairie and working hard.
Growing up on the prairie, food was the center of family gatherings. No matter the time of day, there was always a fresh batch of Grandma Sorenson's homemade doughnuts or Grandma Braun's delicious, cinnamon-laced kuchen pies cooling on the table, or some great family recipe waiting to be indulged.
Shellee and Bekki, being true entrepreneurs at heart, felt a desire and a need to share "a taste of the prairie" with others so in August of 2003, The Pantry Peddler was born.
Keeping in mind that family comes first, most of the Pantry items require only 1-2 added ingredients - yet, once completed, will evoke those same memories of Grandma's homemade doughnuts or cinnamon-laced kuchen. As they "peddle" their goodies from town to town - they invite you to take a step back in time - and simply indulge in it for a while!
Check out their lens: The Pantry Peddler
Small Biz Survival
The Blog that's by and for small business people in rural areas and small towns.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand bySmall Town Businesses
Small Town Marketing--How They Do It
- At Home with the Kids
- Look what Stephani does while she stays home with the kids. This can be done anywhere there's an internet connection. What do you know that you can share? What do you know that others will pay you to share?
- Writing Reports For Fun and Money
- Kevin Riley has created a great how-to write and sell information on the internet ebook. It's the best I've seen so far. I'm working on it as we speak, because I am determined to make a living in the country!
Small Town Artists Making It Big
- Prairie Fire Pottery
- These folks have been working for years in a pretty remote town in North Dakota. They do quite well and tourists come from all over to visit!
- Lone Prairie Artist
- This artist lives in a town of around 200 and has done a great job getting her name and art onto the internet. She works very hard at marketing and sells her work all over the world. She has a great blog!
- John Golden, Graphic Artist
- John lives in a small town also uses several online venues to reach customers.
- Montana Brass
- Here's a small town musician marketing himself at the county fairs. If you love music, you've got to check out his website! He is native to Montana, has just released his first CD, and is doing a great marketing job. You can hear clips of his "Call For Dismissal From an Ordinary Life" CD on his website.
- Litte Bear Canoes
- Here is fine craftsman who I've seen selling canoes on Ebay from a small town. He even lists 'small town' in his Title, so people looking for small town products can find him. At the time I wrote this he had 228 positive seller feedback notes, which means he has probably sold at least 228 canoes on Ebay.
Marketing Your Arts and Crafts on the Internet
James Dillehay: Craftsman and Marketer
Learn how You can market successfully online and offline with the Craft Business Success Package...."We couldn't have imagined how much of an impact James Dillehay's advice would make on our business. We thought after perfecting our product everything would just fall into place, but it didn't until we started working with his suggestions. To our delight we are seeing results on a faster and larger scale than we expected in such a short period of time." ~ Ken Kobrick & Angela Greene, www.Passchal.com, featured on the Today Show
"Since reading your books, I have implemented many of the ideas. I am now happy to report that I have had some surprising success here in Santa Fe. My hang cards, booth design, and even my products themselves have been changed by your books. I have only been there 5 partial days and have sold about 4 times what I sold in the equivalent time last year. I changed the color of the walls, the height of the tables, the displays, the hang cards, the pricing and more. So, IT WORKS!" ~ Julie Anderson, CostumeSalon.com
"After reading his books, my business took on a new life. I changed my product slightly and the response was remarkable! My first order was triple what I had planned for, and other orders are pouring in! I continue to look to James for inspiration and I love his approach. Because of the techniques I learned from him, my business is thriving." ~ Cathy Marble, Chamisa Hill Designs
Ready to increase your craft sales and profits? Just click here to learn more about the Craft Business Success Package. Check It Out!
Handmade Arts & Crafts
Ideas for Marketing Your Creative Works
- Etsy Handmade Marketplace
- Here's a place to list your handmade crafts for free. You can create your own store without any sign-up fee.
- Creative Commerce
- Here's a 'free tips' site on marketing your art. It's written by John Golden a graphic artist.
- ArtByUs
- This is an online auction site that is for artists and art buyers and there are NO FEES. Unless you want bold titles or featured listings, there are no costs for photos and selling your art. Give it a go, you have nothing to lose.
Small Towns Supporting Artists
New Jobs
- Swamp Gravy
- Here is a very small town, far far away from any large towns that has developed a fabulous folk play and has received nationwide acclaim. They took what they had, stories, and gathered 300 town's folk and away they went. Several businesses have been started as a result of the growth in tourism.
- Grow Nebraska
- The result of one woman's dream, this entrepreneurial network has launched artists, crafters and food producers into success. Check out their businesses in small towns.
- Handmade in America
- North Carolina has been promoting its artists and crafters for years. This site has impact studies on how much money the arts and crafts businesses bring to a community.
- Fairfield, Iowa 1st Fridays Artwalk
- Check out this small town in Iowa. They created an event to celebrate local artists and have family fun and they had so much fun it became the 2005 Iowa Tourism Event of the Year!
Val's Art Diary
Creative Marketing At Its Finest!
She has created her own weekly video show of her at work, struggling with muse, with inspiration, with life and art. The process is fascinating to watch.
Martin Scorsese Painting
Hi guys, Thank you about all inquiries about commissioned work. Pls contact me about this using my email and not EBAY: valsartdiary@mac.com :) The rules of my d'Art lottery: Every subscriber has a chance to win. I update my board with new subscribers every week. If the dart lands on your name you have to contact me by Wednesday to claim it. Use YouTube's messaging system so I know for sure it's really you :). Remember that I post videos every Sunday and You have untill that Wednesday to claim it. If you'd like to buy this or other paintings go to my website http://www.valsartdiary.com TIPS FOR ARTISTS! Click on the link below for tips on creating art but also promoting and selling it on the internet. I also have a 16 minute long video in which I talk about my journey to becoming a full-time artist. Check it out! http://www.valsartdiary.com/valsarttips/Vals_Art_Tips_2.html
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curated content from YouTube
My First Really Rural Adventure
Moving to the Prairie
It was frightening in a way I never expected. All that space. Huge sky and empty land as far as the horizon. In the city, I was always on guard for some predator-aware of where I was, who was around me and what they were up to. Out on the prairie there didn't seem to be anyone anywhere. What an amazing sensation.It was quiet in a way I never experienced before. No honking horns, no sirens blaring, no electronic signs screaming some commercial that stuck in my head for days. As I traveled down the State Highway, to my new job on the prairie, I slowed to view a flock (gaggle? herd?) of wild turkeys with their feathers shimmering blue-green and fluffed by a breeze. They didn't even seem to notice me-just kept clucking (cackling?) alongside the road.
Rolling fields, dotted with flat-topped buttes, kept my eyes wandering off the empty road. An honest to goodness, official Department of Transportation sign was posted in the middle of one of those fields. It read: ROAD CLOSED. I would never have considered driving through a field. No city person I know would need that sign, but in the country, I have been repeatedly told by local residents, things are done remarkably different.
If you are lucky enough to find yourself in the country, be sure to watch for wild things and new roads.
Rural Retreats and Farm Vacations
Your first rural experience
- Weatherbury Farm
- A kid-friendly farm vacation.
- Animal Vacations
- Here's a directory of vacations that include animal experiences.
- Indian Creek Guest Ranch
- Western hospitality in the heart of Idaho.
Playing Farmer
Now Here's something all would-be farmers might want to check out BEFORE they leave the city for a new life on the farm.A third generation dairy farmer came up with this board game idea and won the 2006 Teachers Choice award, met Willie Nelson, and took first place in the Brainerd Inventor's Fair!
(There's even a preschool version!)
Life on the Farm Game
Small Town Life
Ning Around Your Small Town
Anyway, I found the Ning network which is a great place for creating your small town community without paying an arm or leg for webdesign or hosting. It is FREE! Check out some of the networks and see how easy it is to get your local groups, schools, business or art clubs meeting and sharing online. Here are a couple I found and one I am starting.
Live Ireland
Small Town Stories
The Online Auction or Cleaning the Barn
Business Idea for Small Towns
You moved to your dream home in the middle of nowhere. You love the land, the animals and the people, but still don't have a job. Here's my favorite suggestion.Ebay is huge. The numbers are staggering and if you have an internet connection in your town, you have a business opportunity.
What about setting up an ebay service center in one of those old empty buildings. You put in a computer line, get a digital camera and some shelves and call everyone you know to bring you stuff they want to get rid of.
You can make your money a couple of ways. Charge a membership fee, or a per-item fee or simply charge a percentage of the sale.
Put together a contract that includes these sales agreements and create an inventory sheet for each client.
If it were me, I'd also require they bring their own packaging with the product or charge a higher percentage for those you have to find boxes and filler for. I would also talk to any local grocers to recycle boxes.
You could also set up a do-it-yourself location and charge a membership fee or training fee to teach others how to do ebay or simply put together one ebay site that everyone would post products to and call it something like "MySmallTown" Shop so you can get the name of your town out there as well as just selling products.
A lot of small towns have computers with online access at schools or libraries or some other public place. Many of the grants that funded these computers stipulated that the public must have access to the computers, so maybe you could work with the school to do a lot of online business after school hours on those "public access" computers if you need more connections for your Ebay Business Club.
You might also want to approach folks with big barns or garages to see if they would contract with you to sell their 'junk' for them. Vintage is very hot!
Get Started With Ebay
No better time than the present
You may want to consider PayPal as well, since a lot of buyers want to use their credit cards or PayPal and you don't have to set up a merchant account to take credit cards! Personal accounts are free!
Absolutely MUST HAVE for the Ebay Newbie
You really must own a copy! Check it out How to Sell Anything
Getting Started with an Online Auction
In my opinion
Here are the books I'm using to unload the family 'vintage' collection.
Don't Get Burned on EBay: How to Avoid Scams and Escape Bad Deals
An absolute MUST-HAVE for understanding how you can make money and what you need to watch out for in online auctions. Very helpful for anyone just starting out.
Nickels and Dimes
Not a Living but fun money just the same!
Community Development
- How to Grow
- It takes commitment to get your small town motivated, it also takes some know-how in group dynamics. Here are my tips on group dynamics in small towns.
Small Town Crime or Not
Police Patrols
Here are real, honest to goodness quotes from the "Law Enforcement Roundup" section of our small town newspaper.A kid on Kelly Road was skateboarding in the middle of traffic.
Horses got loose on Springcreek Road.
A sign was knocked over on Walters Canyon Road.
Bears were spotted on Northwood Lane and behind a store on US Highway 8.
Graffiti was found on a school in Pinewoods.
True stories, although the some place names were changed.
Saving Small Towns
Can you save your town?
- Saving Your Town
- Sandy Wilbur, who worked in rural places for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, has several helpful articles for those living in small towns.
- Sell Your Town
- Here is some good information on marketing your hometown.
Advertise Your Town, Product, or Business
- Cowboy.com
- Here's a place that targets those in the ranching business and those looking to become ranchers. They have fee ads which can reach folks looking for the small town life.
- Craigs list
- Here is one of the all time popular sites on the web. It ranks #7 after Yahoo, eBay...and the ads are free! Be sure to read their policies, because there are limitations to commercial advertising.
Tell Us What You Think About Small Towns!
Do you long for a place in the country or love the city lights?
Small Town or Bust Stuff
Small Town or Bust Postcards (Package of 8)
Photos & Products Celebrating Small Towns
Small Town or Bust Greeting Cards (Pk of 10)
Photos & Products Celebrating Small Towns
Small Town or Bust Tile Coaster
Photos & Products Celebrating Small Towns
Free Advertising
In the World Wide Web You Must Be Seen
Affiliate Marketing or Promoting Other People's Products
Gotta start somewhere
This is something to think about if you really like the internet and don't have your own product to sell.
One of the easiest ways to get started is to check out ClickBank
You can sign up as an Affiliate, pick out some products, copy your new affiliate link and paste it to a blog, an ad, your website and voila! (Once you get some traffic that is!)
Affiliate Marketing Guru
Make a Fortune Promoting Other People's Stuff Online: How Affiliate Marketing Can Make You Rich
This is the one I recommend for really getting an understanding and step by step look at how to be a great affiliate.
The Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People's Stuff Online
Rosalind keeps coming up with fresh and profitable methods to being an affiliate, so this one book is linked to her online and you get updates and new info.
Small Town Blogs
In their own words...
Moving to a Small Rural Town from LA
Yet Another Small Town
About a City Girl Gone Small Town
The Place I Call Home
Blogging From the Blue Ridge Mountains
Loose Leaf Notes
The Quilting Life in a Small Town
Tumbling Blocks
Small Town lifestyle blogs
Astoria Rust
Fragments From Floyd
Keepin' It Rural
Just trying to dispel a myth, as well as give those of you living in small towns some ideas on sharing your place, ideas, and businesses with the world outside.
Storytelling Online: The Blog
There are some stories to be told in small towns and the best storytellers I've ever met were small town people. They notice details, remember everything, and are great entertainers. They are also grammatically correct. These are all keys to creating an online presence that can lead to marketing your own services or products or simply making commissions from promoting someone else's products. So You Want To Be A Writer?
Writing is one of the great ways of making a living online

This is truly the soup to nuts book on creating e-books. Tiffany Dow has succeeded in making great online profits through her writing career and she has put together the best information for getting your information product written and sold. If you want to write online for a living, this is the book you want!
Writing for Online Profit
- Creating Online Reports
- Kevin has created a great step-by-step guide to create online e-books and booklets. Very user friendly. If you enjoy writing or just have a passion you want to share, or you're looking for a way to create some online income: You must check this out.
- Ebook Empire
- Tiffany Dow has been writing for the internet from her small town for years. She is a great success story and offers a lot of very good advice for a writing career on the internet.
For Building Your Small Town Business Online
In my opinion
- A Writer's Guide to Internet Marketing
- I have spent many dollars and hours reading ebooks in the last two years and this is by far the best read, the best information, and makes the most sense for how to make a career of writing online. Tiffany has achieved it and I'm glad I finally found her books.
- 1 and 1 Webhosting
- 1and1 website templates are easy to use for building your own website, the cost is very reasonable. I can upload my own html site whenever I want and I can quickly add RSS, newsletter automation, and many other features. I tried a couple of other hosting services and this one was really the easiest for me. Just thought I'd let you know.
- Work At Home or from Anywhere
- I learned most of what I know about building a business online from the Make Your Site Sell folks. Their videos and downloads are full of helpful info on what it takes to make a successful online business and they are free! The product is the only package deal out there that makes sense. No hidden costs! If you're not building your own website, this is still the best information on what a web business looks like.
Scroll down and watch the SBI Video Tour. Very informative.
How to Use Squidoo for Marketing
Still Learning
- Social Networking on Squidoo
- Tiffany Dow has really put a lot of work into helping us all understand how to use Squidoo effectively. She also guarantees her products, no questions asked.
Marketing Your Product, Website or Blog with Articles
It's not that hard
You pick the topic, related to your site of course, and write about 700-800 words on the topic. Once it gets published, it can be read by thousands of folks looking for just such information. You become famous and your website gets traffic. It's actually one of the fastest ways I've gotten traffic to blogs.
For help with writing the articles this is a handy little program I ran into the other day. It is called Instant Article Wizard and it gives you all kinds of help cranking out articles. It's worth a look.
Instant Article Wizard
Here's a blog with a comprehensive Article Directory where you can post your articles. Have Fun!
The One Internet Resource That Can Save Your Sanity
Truly this is worth the investment
I read about IMC for years, but didn't want to spend the money. I finally broke down a couple of months ago and purchased their Insider Secrets. Wow. Three notebooks, CD's and DVD's with step-by-step, easy, understandable info on the different kinds of business models, marketing methods AND some great case studies where you get to see how they turned around some businesses who were not doing too well.
If you're going to buy one thing this year, save your allowance and get this if you are serious about a real online business. They know their stuff.
Spring So Soon?
I love snow
What's really bothering me is, you guessed it, the bears. In my first year in the mountains, I'm still not adjusted to the idea of 800 pound animals wandering around nearby. In the spring they wake up hungry and without a lot of berries ripe yet to keep them fed and happy they can wander off the mountain.
Or so I've been told by locals who just love bear sitings.
Stop By and Say Hey!
Do you have a small town story? (Or a Bear story!) Do you have ideas about how small town folks can make a living? Do you have a small town business or home for sale? Do you just want to say hello? Here's the place. (If you must critique, no bashing please, keep it constructive.) Thanks!
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- StephenC StephenC May 17, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
- Very informative lens and I liked learning and looking around the small town.
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- Swisstoons Swisstoons May 5, 2009 @ 11:37 am
- As someone who lives in suburban Detroit, I really enjoyed my visit to your "small town" lens. Lots of good information, and a fun read.
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- OhMe OhMe Jan 9, 2009 @ 11:47 am
- Great lens. Lensrolling to all my Pendleton South Carolina lenses
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- expert_edge expert_edge Dec 27, 2008 @ 9:07 pm
- This is a very nice lens. You have put together some great information and advice for living and doing business in a small town. I'd love it if you'd drop by my lens and say hi when you get the chance.
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- rose08 rose08 Jul 26, 2008 @ 9:38 pm
- Yahh, I really like small town life, which is full of sunshine, close to nature and on relaxed cadence. Beautiful pictures. You have shared very valuable information with us through such a well created lens with great resources. Thanks for your effort and for sharing your experience on small town business. I would like to share with you an interesting and informative site about online studies, including accounting course online, electrical engineering online
, online computer classes and many other courses.
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by Ms_Appleseed
I was raised in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest and have a definite entrepreneurial interest.
At the age of ten, instead of running a le...
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