Episode 52: The Rural News Business
The Rural Business Show
It’s been a while since we've recorded an episode of The Rural Business Show. It’s been a year of change for our business, Nevada Central Media, as we went . This episode of the Rural Business Show focuses on the business of small-town news. The challenging environment has seen thousands of rural newspapers close their doors in the last decade. However, community news is not dead, and many publishers have successfully navigated this rapidly changing landscape. One of those is Vernon Robison, former publisher of the Mesa Valleys Progress. Vernon owned the Progress from 2004 until we...
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Episode 51: Rural Housing
The Rural Business Show
Housing continues to be a difficult challenge for rural communities. Often, jobs are unfilled because of a lack of adequate and affordable housing. Attracting builders is a challenge as is an increasing number of units being used as vacation properties. based in Moab, Utah addresses these challenges by building energy-efficient, affordable homes. The organization has created an innovative social enterprise, building affordable housing by taking several steps to reduce the cost of construction and lowering utility costs. Rikki Epperson is Community Rebuilds’ Executive Director. She recently...
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Episode 50: Rural Voice
The Rural Business Show
, hosted by Minnesota Public Radio’s Kerri Miller, captures imaginative and illuminating town hall conversations about the rewards and challenges of making a home in rural America. The town hall meetings are lively, engaging and enlightening as the host nudges rural Minnesotans to open up on important issues including entrepreneurship, housing, workforce development, and healthcare. In this episode of The Rural Business Show, two key creators of the Rural Voice, Former U.S. Congressman and Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation President and CEO Tim Penny and McFarland Communications...
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Episode 49: Rural Business Conference Helping Small Business Owners Connect
The Rural Business Show
Amidst the busy life of running a rural business, it’s often hard to find opportunities to network and connect with useful resources. Throughout the country, organizations are trying to help by putting on events that bring rural business professionals together through regional conferences. The is a perfect example. The event brings rural business owners together to help break barriers, engage minds and empower success. The is one of the organizers of this event and Executive Director Clev
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Episode 48: NC Rural Center
The Rural Business Show
Since 1987, the NC Rural Center in North Carolina has worked to improve the quality of life for the state’s rural people and places. It operates with the core belief that rural communities have inherent cultural value and are vital to the overall economic health of the state. Patrick Woodie is a life-long rural North Carolina resident and President & CEO of the NC Rural Center. He has dedicated his career to rural communities and joins The Rural Business Show to provide his insights on how small-town economies have changed over the past two decades and the main forces that will...
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Episode 47: A Small Town's Fight to Save Its Historic General Store
The Rural Business Show
Trevor Bruan of the Elmore Community Trust shares a remarkable story of how the small town of Elmore, Vermont, which has about 850 residents and no stoplight, rallied to save its only General Store and preserve the town's identity. The Elmore Community Trust also found innovative ways to fund the project and has a hopeful vision for the future. Find out more about the Elmore Store Project by visiting .
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Episode 46: The Farm Bill with Kalee Olson
The Rural Business Show
Kalee Olson is a policy associate for the Center for Rural Affairs and joins Ben Rowley in this episode of The Rural Business Show to discuss some of the Center’s top priorities for the 2023 farm bill and how it will impact rural communities. The Farm Bill comes up in Congress every five years for renewal and is a comprehensive package of laws that provides funding for agriculture, food, nutrition, rural development, and related programs. It has a significant impact on rural areas and provides funding for a variety of programs that support rural communities. The wants to make sure...
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Episode 45: Rural Strategies for Utilizing Federal Funding
The Rural Business Show
The American Rescue Plan set aside $7.5 Billion in relief funds for rural healthcare providers. Even as the money was made available, however, many towns across the U.S. were rejecting this and other Federal Relief Funds, “because they couldn’t think of a way to spend it.” Others knew how they wanted to spend it, but had to give it back because they didn’t have the resources to put that money to use. Andrea Adkins-Hutchins is the Chief Operating Officer for . Since, 1989 the company provided expert consulting services throughout the United States, working with various agencies and...
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Episode 44: Housing Development Alliance
The Rural Business Show
Scott McReynolds is the executive director of the Housing Development Alliance (HDA) in Hazard, Ky. The HDA’s programs have helped more than 2,900 low-income people in rural southeastern Kentucky become new homeowners, make home-improving repairs, and break free of debt. The organization builds homes, provides housing counseling to prepare people for homeownership, offers home repair, manages rentals homes, runs volunteer programs, helps households achieve energy savings, and provides on-the-job construction training to men and women and recovery. In this episode of the Rural Business Show,...
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Episode 43: Rural Marketing
The Rural Business Show
Meredith Gernigin is an independent lead generation strategist focused on building small and mid-cap businesses into legacy assets. How? She creates demand with curated, done-for-you marketing tailored to each client’s geographical needs. Her goal? To make businesses worth selling (or passing down) by increasing project leads so they can book and charge more. In the last five years, she’s: Organized and Implemented multi-channel marketing campaigns that average a 20x return on investment for contractors in roofing and general construction. Worked with 8-figure equipment...
info_outlineGrace Pshigoda and her husband Ashley have worked hard to renovate a historic building in their hometown of Spearman, Texas. They turned the top floor of the 100-year-old structure into a three-room bed and breakfast and are opening the main floor for community meetings and events.
The process wasn’t easy as the couple was told by a contractor the building should be condemned. They persevered through torrential downpours coming through the roof, a flooding basement, and a variety of other obstacles in order to turn the building back into an asset for the community. And they did all this on top of their regular full-time jobs as well as a farming and ranching operation.
In this episode of the Rural Business Show, Grace talks about what her community means to her and why she chose to live and work there over the many other large cities and unique cultures she’s experienced in her life. She shares lessons learned through the renovation process as well as lessons on how to do business in a community of close friends and family members. She talks about what it has meant to her to follow in the footsteps of a grandmother who did a lot of important work in the community during her lifetime and was even honored by the governor of the state.
Grace also discusses resources small communities need in order to strengthen their local economies and shares advice to those looking to build businesses in their small towns.