The advantages and challenges of starting and growing a small-town business with Colby Williams. Colby is a small business owner and the founder of Parengo Coffee in a small town in Missouri. We chat about launching and building a coffee shop (Parengo) and then we (23:45) discuss the topic of his book “Small Town Big Money”, which is about the opportunities which exist in small towns for small business.

Colby founded Parengo Coffee in Sikeston, Missouri with his parents in 2013. They have won several awards for coffee roasting and for entrepreneurship, including a 2015 Fellowship which he received with the Delta Entrepreneurship Network from a pitch competition.
His time with the other fellows gave him the idea for his book, “Small Town Big Money“. The book is about entrepreneurship in small towns and how smaller communities are changing to intentionally attract entrepreneurs.

Colby is the Vice President of Historic Downtown Sikeston, which is their neighborhood revitalization and economic development organization, and he works with several agencies to mentor other entrepreneurs. He also writes a column about entrepreneurship for B Magazine (bmagazine.io) out of Cape Girardeau.

Small-Town Business with Colby Williams – discussion includes:

• Why should we consider launching a small business in a small town, and what types of businesses are a good fit?
• Define what you mean by “Small Town” (i.e. demographics & population)
• What are some of the competitive advantages of launching your small business in small town?
• How do you use small-town stereotypes to your advantage?
• How to scale to the Big Money level, even from a small town?
• Tell us about the advantages of embracing authenticity and other non-corporate values.
• How do you alter your town’s paradigm in order to attract entrepreneurs and to boost your local economy?
• How does a small town benefit from an online entrepreneur?
• What are some of the challenges with starting a small business in a small town?

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