Do you have a few dreams swirling around for your rural location, but you aren’t sure what to choose? Do you have an itch to create something, but you aren’t sure what that looks like? Or maybe you suffer from a good ol’ case of decision fatigue, and are overwhelmed from all the ideas that you want to put out there THIS MOMENT. If you are nodding your head to any of these questions, you’re in exactly the right place! 

There are a lot of foundational components to getting a business off the ground and I don’t want you to get overwhelmed or discouraged. This is the tough part about starting a rural business. The good part is that if you’re doing something for the first time, you can take your experience and learn something for the next thing you launch into the world. You are going for progress, not perfection.

So, take a deep breath and remember that the good things in life are often hard, even if they look much easier, when other people do them on social media. That doesn’t mean you’re doing them wrong, it often means you’re doing them well.

Finding the right idea can often feel like the hardest part in building a rural business. It’s certainly the one that has the most pressure on it. That’s totally normal. It’s because you want to build something that works, right? 

There are a lot of incredible rural businesses out there building empires with their bare hands, so when you are just starting to plant a seed for your own little rural empire, it can feel like you have to do everything others are doing to succeed. You don’t. Sure, you can get there, but don’t compare your little seed to a 20-year old tree. 

Every successful business you see out there started with this simple business model. Ready for it? First you meet people and begin to grow your list; then you build relationships with value-driven, passionate content; and lastly you sell to those people, by pitching your offer.

Yup, it’s that simple. There is no need to overcomplicate it at first. After all, this idea is just a baby, so you need to give it time to learn to crawl and then walk. Pretty soon that baby idea of yours will stop holding your hand at the bus stop, so don’t rush it.

So let’s look at how to take your rural business idea and turn it into profit in four steps… 

1. Create Your Idea
2. Clarify and Validate It
3. Pre-Sell It 
4. Launch Your Product/Service

Let’s get right to it. 

#1 Creating Your Idea

Now that you have a pretty simple business concept to start with – what’s the big idea?! I want to give you some guiding questions to work through as you are brainstorming your future business and offer. Grab a notebook and write the first things that come to mind. Don’t worry about the HOW right now, you just need to nail down a simple WHAT. 

A really great place to start is to consider doing what you already know. People want to buy from someone who has gone through what they are going through. They want or need your happy ending, so you want to take a look at your own personal transformations, your own ‘before’ and ‘afters’. What is something that you have overcome or learned how to work through? What is something that interests you so much, that you are willing to stick it out no matter what? I don’t want you to be humble here. Own your passions so you can share them, because that is how you create a business from scratch. Where do your passions meet your potential? 

#2 Clarifying and Validating Your Idea

Once you have identified the transformation you are offering your ideal clients, you will want to quickly validate your idea right? So you want to go find a few rural businesses that are doing something similar and likely serve people you would serve. It’s time to study their model, their social strategy, their audience comments and try to understand what they are doing right and more importantly, what you would do differently. If you can’t find someone doing something you want to do, don’t panic. It doesn’t mean that your idea isn’t profitable, it simply means it hasn’t been done before and you’ll need to do a little more footwork coming out the gate. 

This second step is about creating your own model around all of the ideas you have been working through. Before you actually create something, you will want to clarify what it is you would create, so you know the journey or outcome your product will provide for your ideal customer. Some products or services need more explanation than others. A wedding photographer is likely more self-explanatory than providing business coaching with an online course platform. 

At this point you just need to solidify your concept and figure out the reason behind creating it, so you know why you are showing up. Especially in times that feel really discouraging. So let’s outline it – who is being helped, what are they being helped to do, where do they end up and why? It’s time to map out that concept, so you can presell it, and then launch.

#3 Pre-selling Your Offering

Now you may be thinking, “Presell?! How do I sell something before I create it?” Well, this is the one thing I like to advise a little differently to ensure that you don’t spend months or even years perfecting something that you aren’t sure will sell in the way you want to sell it. It’s like creating a fully-stocked mask business during the pandemic, right when the mask shortage is already over. You want to make sure that what you are selling will sell before you create the product. So how do you do this? First, if you have a physical product, you will want to create/prepare the prototype of it. Perhaps you would like to sell candles using your own honey. Create a prototype of what that final product looks like. If you have a digital product or service, you are simply going to outline everything your product or service will offer. This could be selling a course on ‘How-To Homestead’ or even pre-selling a magazine. You want to have a list of what the product, service or program is offering your customer in advance. 

Next – you are going to reach out to people already following you on your favorite social media platform. (Think Three Fs: friends, family and followers.) You also want to reach out to or join a few Facebook groups that are relevant to your offer and would likely have members who are already similar to your ideal customers. Your goal is to pitch your idea to these people already interested in you (your three F’s) or your offer (relevant FB groups). Now most likely, you aren’t going to get a ton of folks in your DM right away, but that’s okay. For the few who do engage, you want to message them and offer them a heavily discounted version of whatever your offer is, so you can test out the process on them, get some feedback (you can use as reviews later), and ultimately know your product concept is ready to be received.

#4 Launching Your Product/Service

Step four is actually launching the darn thing. This is the what, where, and who. There are so many ways to launch, but you aren’t looking to overwhelm yourself. You are starting with ONE offer to create a MVP (minimal viable product), so you can get it out into the world. This is how you will actually test it, learn how to grow it, and hopefully confirm your passion for it. 

Jot down what the offer is, how much it will cost, and how you’ll create it. Next, choose one place to sell it. Maybe it’s Etsy or your own 1 to 2 page website? Maybe it isn’t even online and it’s showing up at local markets. Then jot down who you are selling your offer to. If you are building an audience from scratch, you will need to show up pretty consistently, with value, for your ideal customers, wherever they are. The most important step here is simply showing up often. Launching a business isn’t a “build it and they will come” situation. You have to build it, share it, show up for it (even when no one is there), and give a ton of value until people really know and trust you.

Over the course of my professional career, I’ve had the privilege of working with hundreds of small business owners that are either starting from scratch building a new business, or simply igniting an old flame of an idea they loved, but became too busy to proceed with. During this time, I’ve learned that one thing holds a business back more than anything else. Do you want to guess what that is? It’s a lack of passion. 

Passion for your craft will be the only thing that will help you succeed. You CAN build a successful rural business based on what matters most to you. Your progress in life – your specific experiences, your unique background, and your special blend of personality and perspective – these are elements of success. 

So show up to the table, as yourself, with what you love most, and the people you are building this for will be there waiting for you.

Photography by Elena Matkovska of Elena Matkovska Photography

more business articles:

• 150 Business Ideas For Rural Entrepreneurs
• 5 Tips for Growing Your Rural Business
• Use your natural relationship skills for business