There is an easy way to tell who the entrepreneurs are in a small community. Simply ask people about the work picture in their town. You’ll most likely hear a version of one of these two statements.

“Work? There’s no work in this town. Unless you work for (Insert single big employers name here), you’ve got to make your own work to get by.”

Or “If you’ve got the passion and the energy, it’s a great place to start a new business.”

And so it is… If you’re the optimistic type.

For every “There’s not enough people here to support a business,” there is an optimistic entrepreneur lurking around the corner thinking “There’s no competition here. This place is a wide open opportunity.”

Scott Duke, originally from Mississauga Ontario, and now calling Revelstoke, BC home, is the perfect example of the optimistic entrepreneur who thrives in small communities. The serial entrepreneur has run a landscaping business, had a hot dog cart, and ran a wakeboarding camp, rented cottages as well as jet skis between Mississauga and Muskoka, where he saw the light of doing business in small towns.

Since coming to Revelstoke, he found his next niche and has since put together a team to dominate it. With 85% of Revelstoke residents saying that Stoke FM, the community radio station he launched, is their preferred radio station.

I sat down with Scott in the Stoke FM’s studio to learn how he did it, and the result was a resounding endorsement of small towns as the best place for entrepreneurs to be.