I spoke on Kansas State University Extension First Friday call. All about the book! I talked for 22 minutes, and the rest of the hour was answering questions, hearing their stories and sharing resources.
Bring me to your conference, event, or meeting. Inland Northwest Partners, Kansas State University Extension, San Juan County Utah Economic Development, NADO, and Rural Assembly are a few clients I've worked with and spoken to their audiences about the book.
Consider ordering copies for your event attendees! Main Street Illinois Annual Conference, San Juan County Economic Development in Utah Annual Business Summit and Inland Northwest Partners have all done it. Rural Assembly Everywhere gave away 5 books in a drawing at their event. Send me an email at deb@buildingpossibility.com, and let's talk about it.
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Order your book today!
From Possibilities to Reality: Save Your Small Town with these Uniquely Do-able Ideas, Projects, and Success Stories is a workbook written with you and your small town in mind.
Our readers say they use it to empower residents, entrepreneurs, and community leaders with practical strategies and real-world examples. Each section tells success stories and gives actionable advice. It is a comprehensive guide to kickstarting economic growth, fostering community engagement, and creating a thriving future for our vital local small-town communities.
I draw from my own experiences working with small towns as a cofounder of SaveYour.Town and case studies of innovative initiatives from small towns nationwide.
You'll support me best by using the button below. You can also find this book on Amazon, Ingram and Barnes and Noble.
Start a Book Club!
The Illinois MainStreet conference gave a copy of my new book to all attendees, and I had my first book signing!
Simply email me deb@buildingpossibility.com with your contact information, I'll reach out and we will make it happen!
Several people ordered the book club promotion during fundraising. I've also spoken at events where every attendee received a book.This book only works when you use it. And we love for you to gather your crowd! To make the book even more enticing, instead of paying $24.99 for each book, if you order 5 books, the price will be $20 per book. That's a 20% difference.
Let's get to work!
If you'd like a facilitation guide, here you go. --> Facilitation Guide
There are 12 book clubs in places like Largo, Indiana, McComb, Illinois, Colwich and Stockton, Kansas, Princeton, Illinois, Kittanning, Pennsylvania, Wildwood, Missouri, Webster City, Iowa and Redding, California.
The book is htting retail store shelves!
1720 Gift Shop in Natchez, MS has ordered books to go on their shelves!
Support another small business, the 1720 Gift Shop in Natchez, MS
Do you want books for your shelves, too?
Just email deb@buildingpossibility.com and we can make that happen! You receive a 20% discount for orders of five books or more, and they are drop shipped directly to you. Let's talk!
Have you already gotten your book? Here are some bookmarks you can cut out and use! One set is in color, the other is black and white. Just click on the image you want below, and it will open a new page you can print. Or use this link that is a pdf document.
Deb's SaveYour.Town BookMarks as a pdf
The Forward and Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Section One: Bring people together
- Coffee and Calendars
- Industrial Businesses Need to Gather
- Dig Deeper - Ask People What They Want
Section Two: Community
- Build a Library of Things.
- Fix Up Your Parks
- Invite The Community To Plan Events
- Why New Residents Are Moving To Rural Areas
- Dig Deeper - Montana Builds a Community
Section Three: Youth and Young Families
- Youth Involvement
- Involve Your Students
- Support High School Entrepreneurs
- Your Students Want Places To Eat
- Don’t Forget The Former Youth Who Moved Back Home With Families
- Dig Deeper - Add Young People To Your City Council
Section Four: Art As Economic Development
- Public Art: Anyone Can Do It!
- Make It Easy And Temporary
- Create An Outdoor Museum
- Make Seating
- Discover Textiles In Placemaking
- Light Up Your Town
- Use Your Fences
- Planters For All
- Crafters Unite!
- Find Places To Beautify
- Dig Deeper - Art Is More Than Pretty Things
Section Five: Empty Buildings
- Have a Tour of Empty Buildings
- Make Empty Buildings More Appealing
- Empty Lots
- Create A Downtown Living Room
- Dig Deeper- Why Are The Buildings Empty?
- Try Targeted Incentives For Code Compliance
- Empty Building Codes
Section Six: Business
- Try An Incubator Project
- Divide And Share A Building
- Plan Or Participate In A Pop-Up Event
- Attracting Remote Workers
- Tourism As Economic Development
Section Seven: Promotion and Marketing
- Make Selfie Stations
- Hashtag, Great Idea!
- Dig Deeper - Shop Local
Section Eight: Funding
- Fundraisers Everyone Wants To Participate In
- Junior Rodeo story
- Old Paint
- Fill The Empty Walls
- Consider a Transient Occupancy Tax
Find Your People
- Create More Community Leaders
Finally, Focus On Your Assets
Bonus Section
- Dig Deep Bonus -Later Hours
- Add An EV Station In Your Town
- It’s A Snowball Effect
A Gift For You
Book Club Discussion Guide
Who is Mars?
Mars Manderico is the designer I'm working with for:
- illustrations in the book
- the book cover design
- the entire layout of the book!
Why Mars?
- He educates people. Check out this article.
- He's been patient with me and answered the zillion questions I asked before I signed him onto the project.
- He is the brother of my dear friend Jube. Jube and Chris are the main instigators of why I moved to Gulfport, MS.
- I do love his illustrations - they reflect what I'm thinking about rural.