In fall 2018, Durant was voted Top 10 in the Small Business Revolution. The SBR is a nationwide Hulu series by Deluxe that selects five small businesses within one town to give financial and business makeovers. Each season, America chooses the town by a series of weeklong votes, and the experts choose the small businesses.

Durant made it to the final two cities fighting for the spot on Season Four. They ultimately lost to Searcy, Ark. during the final vote on Feb. 26, 2019. Since then, the SBR has moved on to other businesses in other cities, but Durant and its citizens haven’t quite moved on.

Stephanie Gardner, executive director at Durant Main Street, and Kara Byrd, executive director at Imagine Durant, started a project after Season Four ended called The Flip: 74701.

“The Small Business Revolution really brought to light the issues our small business owners were facing, and we wanted to help,” Gardner stated. This new series allows local businesses the opportunity to compete for the funds to implement much needed improvements.

The Flip: 74701 is an eight-episode competition series on YouTube that consists of two phases.

According to their website, the first phase begins with a Small Business Academy, “tailored to the local small business owners, which will take an individualized approach to transform every aspect of the business, from marketing to finances to customer experience using available resources and mentors.”

The second phase gives Durant business owners a chance to share their needs and ideas for improving their business. Then, business experts across Oklahoma narrow down the participant’s ideas to ten finalists.

The Small Business Academy was established in November 2019 with 37 small business participants. Phase one is anticipated to end towards the middle of May 2020. A film will be posted on The Flip: 74701’s Facebook page for the public to vote on during the summer.

The top five businesses will receive the necessary funds to make their proposed improvements.

The Flip: 74701 encourages everyone to tune into the online series in fall 2020 to see, “how one ordinary town joined together to achieve an extraordinary transformation in their small community.”

In the creation of this project, the directors hope to not only inspire the local community, but other communities nationwide to do the same on their own Main Street.

For more information, visit www.theflip74701.com.