Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, few experts could have accurately predicted what was about to happen to the entrepreneurial landscape in North Carolina and across the nation. While the early days of the pandemic saw many businesses shutter and close their doors, few expected that over the next two years new business formations in North Carolina would be at an all-time high.

Since 2020, the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State has reported over 300,000 new businesses registered. In 2021 alone, the 178,300 new business creation filings were more than double the amount registered four years prior.

On this week's installment of Mind Your Business, we are joined by NC Rural Center President Patrick Woodie. A native of Northwest North Carolina, Patrick understands the issues confronting rural businesses from a first-person perspective. Hear about the NC Rural Center's upcoming webinar series: The State of Small Business in North Carolina. Patrick shares how the NC Rural Center is examining data trends related to this latest entrepreneurial renaissance and how his team is adjusting their own policy focus to ensure new businesses get the support they need as the move toward sustainability.

Mind Your Business is produced weekly by the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce thanks to a partnership between High Country Radio and Appalachian Commercial Real Estate.

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