Good Instincts

The Entrepreneur Conference proved to be pivotal in the collaborative work I have been doing in my local area!

The Entreprenuer’s Conference

Collaboration, networking and processing the information of conferences — such as this one advertises to be — can be inspiring! However, they can also turn out to be merely an opportunity to mingle with government employees and receive dated information. However, I have registered and marked off the remainder of today and all of tomorrow so as to attend.

Will post more later …

Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.  ~Michael Burke

Small Business Provisions of The Economic Stimulus

The stimulus bill takes a comprehensive approach and attacks several problems facing small businesses at once by reducing fees, guaranteeing a greater share of certain loans, expanding capacity in the Microloan program, providing new loans to help small businesses keep their doors open through economic hardship, as well as new mechanisms to help unfreeze the secondary markets for SBA-backed loans.  More …

Moving Along

The irony to simplicity is that it is not always simple to achieve. During the past few weeks — as I tweet and sip coffee over conversations with local business owners in my area — I have busily compiled notes regarding their comments and input. Notes to assist with this site, building a team of rural business owners/freelancers interested in sharing their expertise via articles and resources.

A common challenge for businesses in rural areas is the lack of a full-service Chamber or other services to assist them with start-up and management. Even when a Chamber is established, most businesses find their ability to provide a tangible member benefit to be minimal. And in rural areas, where there are no incorporated towns or cities, Chambers don’t even exist.

But what exactly are the benefits that will effectively aid rural business development?

While we know there are numerous government entities with their answers to this questions, small business owners also know there exist countless opportunities being ignored to attain tangible results that, in truth, do not require millions of dollars.

So, let’s set up a dialogue. What services do you have? Like to have? See as vital?

Leave your comments, links and suggestions … Let’s make a difference for rural business development.

E-Group Meetings

I have been self-employed for most of my career. I am more focused upon free-lancing over actually building a small business. However, during the past 20 some odd years, it has become my passion to build support networks for other entrepreneurial-minded folks!

One consistent discovery during my career is that despite the countless resources available for networking and developing home-based and small businesses — most go unused. Or at best, underused!

Thus, a local business owner and I started, what we refer to as, an E-Group. Our main goal is to provide support (and enjoy local fare for Friday breakfasts! ) but other goals include: networking and sharing resource ideas; economic development in our area; inspiring other women to step out and consider freelancing or marketing their own services or products.

Interested? If you live in any of the rural communities south of Oklahoma City, contact me (by leaving a comment here).

If you are interested in starting a E-Group in your area, feel free to contact me. I would be happy to assist you!