Even with the economic struggles of the recession, it turns out there are plenty of reasons to be happy, especially if you’re an entrepreneur, says one recent study. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is taking a 25-year look at our lives through an ongoing 100,000-person survey. The self-employed, citing the greater control of outcomes and the civic ties and … More Increasing happiness on Main Street
It turns out you do. At least if you are trying to gain traction and trust in the online world. It may seem purely intuitive that bad press or reviews are not good for sales, but this short article from Fortune magazine says otherwise. This article is geared toward online sales, but the idea can … More Who needs all that negativity?
Virginia Main Street’s annual essentials training provided a two-day session focused on economic restructuring and design challenges facing communities today. A group of more than 60 participants gathered in the heart of Old Town Manassas at the renovated Candy Factory, now home to the Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas and Prince William County. Hilary … More Intensive two-day training attracts 60
A recent Daily Yonder article was forwarded to the VMS Blog from the City of Martinsville, which is pulling together community investment in their central business district through the Uptown Partners project. “The Town that Builds Entrepreneurs” uses data from Oklahoma communities to demonstrate the power of the Main Street economic restructuring approach: an incremental effort to … More Towns that build entrepreneurs
In the United States, there are 10,466 streets that go by the name of Main, and no doubt, each has a story to tell. To capture them, a new social media project, Mapping Main Street, is putting to work the internet’s capacity for sharing video, photos, and words. There’s a small team traveling the roads … More Is your Main Street on the map?
Fast Company reports that Facebook is increasing its staff by 50 percent. The nearly 500-employee increase is substantial in a good economy, and in current recessionary times, it’s a flat out boon. But why, at a time when ad revenues are down, would an expansion like this make sense? For one, costs of doing business … More Turning the economy on its head
We have been promoting the idea that recessions and layoffs, while very difficult to navigate, provide the impetus for an entrepreneurial boom. Now, the Kauffman Foundation has issued its report supporting our claims. In economic gardening terms, this is the equivilant of burning last years crops to make way for the new “green shoots.” … More Entrepreneurial stories
Revitalization experts, downtown professionals and volunteers came together for two days of focused exploration of Main Street strategies at the 2009 Virginia Main Street toolkit, “Getting Strategic About Main Street.” Participants represented more than 25 Virginia localities. Communities with the highest representation included included the host community of Winchester, Harrisonburg (four attendees), Radford (three), and Franklin … More Seventy get strategic at Winchester Toolkit
As the song says, if you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere. If the Big Apple can make a park-like setting out of one of the city’s busiest streets, what’s to stop your town from making a pro-people shift in one of your important spaces? Of course we need cars and trucks, delivery access and … More New York rethinks Broadway
Virginia Main Street 