What Competition Has Taught America's Entrepreneur

Don't you long for business ownership past? I mean think about it. Ike Godsey was the General Store owner in the television series, "The Walton's". Nels Oleson was the storeowner in "Little House on the Prairie" (or was it Harriet? I could never quite tell.).It always seemed as if there wasn't a lot of work to what they did. They ordered products, got some guff from their wives and traded candy for chicken eggs. No real need to advertise because they were the only general store in town.Perhaps the biggest complaint in business came in one fiery episode of "The Andy Griffith Show". Storeowner Ben Weaver is absolutely livid to find that Bert Miller, a traveling peddler, sets up shop in a vacant lot near his business. Competition was not something Ben liked although Ben's fits did amuse Andy, Barney and anyone who ever watched the episode.Competition was a rare thing in rural America where business owners seemed to abide by an unwritten rule stating that if there was a grocery store in town there was no need for another grocery store. While this was helpful to small business it did little to drive prices down as a benefit to customers.Once outside chains started moving into small towns the idea of competition became very familiar to business owners. Some shuttered their shops while others adapted through better pricing or diversified and specialized goods.Many may have wanted to stop cyber shopping dead in its tracks, but online business can and does enter homes around the world based on the need and request of the customer.This has caused some local business owners to consider that they simply can't compete with both national chains as well as online businesses. Those that haven't given up have learned that they can alter their own entrepreneurial course by taking their business online.No longer is a local business destined to remain local. Many small businesses are finding that their specialized niche is resonating with online consumers. Some are even finding they have regained ground that may have been lost when a chain store moved to town.No Man's Land Jerky is just such an example. Until recently the town where they are based had no local radio connection. They existed in a converted convenience store in the panhandle of Oklahoma. They operated in a town of around 1,300 people. They sell jerky from their store, but most of the 1,200 pounds of jerky made each day is sent to online customers. If they only sold the jerky in their little town everybody would need to bu y about a pound of jerky a day to keep the business open.Small town America is the proving ground for online entrepreneurs with fresh ideas that may hearken back to an earlier time where a small business survives with ties to a community, but finds a way to deliver their products a little further from the county line.I bet if Ike Godsey, Nels Oelson or Ben Weaver were selling their television wares today they would probably be doing so online - and would probably not be trading in chicken eggs.