Some are free, some are not, but all are valuable!
1 – Get our free email newsletters.
Each week, we write and send a personal email to you and 4,000 rural friends like you. We write about how to make your town a special kind of place. Many of our best ideas make their first appearance in the newsletters. Sign up right here for free.
2 – Bring us in for a keynote, workshop or speech.
Your event deserves real rural speakers who will fit right in with your people and still bring practical steps that work for small towns. We don’t just talk about rural issues; we live them. We’ve spoken at hundreds of events from the local to the international. See Becky’s speaking details here and Deb’s speaking details here.
3 – Make the most of an Idea Friendly Action Visit.
More than just showing up to speak, we want to get to know your town. Deb’s our expert on this. She’ll come to town, spend several days with you, point out potential and help you see the specific steps you can take to make meaningful change. It’s not about gathering ideas or building consensus. It’s about unleashing people to take action. Spoiler alert: we end up falling in love with every town we experience this way. Learn more about Deb’s Idea Friendly Action Visit. Becky does quicker, one-day visits for towns. Learn about Becky’s rural visits and support here.
4 – Join us for the video and audio of the month.
Once a month, we share a video with an audio version on a topic you’ve told us matters to you. Rather than boring slides, you see our faces. There’s an audio version for listening on the go. We keep it lively and interesting. To get even more from it, bring a group of your local folks together and hold a watch party. Check out this month’s video here.
5 – Find just the right topic in our video archives.
When you become a Megaphone Member, you get access to the entire archive of our videos. Want to bring more life to your downtown after 5? Spur entrepreneurship with the Innovative Rural Business Models? Deal with the Committee of Negativity? We’ve got you covered, and more. Grab your Megaphone Membership here.
6 – Go more in-depth with our toolkits.
Have a lot of empty buildings you need to fill? Try a Tour of Empty Buildings. It’s a great way to get those buildings cleaned up and get the whole town talking about possibilities. Need more activity downtown? Hold a Pop-up Fair. Your sidewalks look better when they’re crowded with mini-businesses and happy shoppers. Want to make your town more open to new ideas? Get the Idea Friendly Method kit with videos, printable resources and more.
7 – Get all the toolkits plus all the videos.
Our Insider members get insider access to us, all our toolkits and unlimited access to our video archives. Join the Insiders here.
8 – Discover our Survey of Rural Challenges.
What do rural people most want help with? Over 1700 rural people have shared their needs with us since 2015. Discover more and share the results of the Survey of Rural Challenges.
9 – Get intensive community-wide support.
Invest six months to work with us in person and online to generate lasting change in your community. Learn more about our Intensive Action Package here.
10 – Search over 15 years of past articles for free.
We’ve been at this a long time, so we have a large archive of stories, photos, videos, podcasts and blog posts available for you to search through. Read Deb’s newest stuff at Building Possibility and Becky’s newsletters here. For how-to articles going back to 2006, read Becky’s rural small business stories at Small Biz Survival.
BONUS: Add our voice to your story with interviews and guest posts.
We love to talk and write about small towns, and it shows. We bring passion to features on rural, business and community subjects. We’ve been featured on radio, on TV, in magazines and newspapers, in books from respected traditional presses and upstart non-traditional publishers, in academic research and university publications. If you’re working on a story or publication that could use an authentic rural voice or two, we’d love to hear from you. Get in contact to let us know what you need here.