Still popping
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Andrew Tellijohn
1w ago
Angie and Dan Bastian started Angie’s Kettle Corn in 2001 out of the garage of their Mankato, Minnesota house with little more than a desire to work together and build up college funds for their three children. By the time they sold what became Boomchickapop in 2017, they had filled the funds of not just their own kids, but those of many other families who invested along the way. “We didn’t have any money, but what we did have was a zero percent-interest credit card solicitation for $10,000,” Angie Bastian said at a 2015 WomenVenture event attended by Upsize Founding Editor Beth Ewen. They use ..read more
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Sweet marketing music
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Andrew Tellijohn
1w ago
Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small. But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad. “I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more optio ..read more
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Make accountants the new “cool kids”
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Gwen Martin
1w ago
The shortage of accountants is old news by now. Every day I talk to clients and fellow business owners about how this challenge is impacting their business. The Wall Street Journal says accountants are leaving the industry “in droves.” The CPA Journal calls it a “severe crisis.” And recruiters are having to go further upstream to secure future hires.  With fewer graduates choosing careers in accounting, and more baby boomers retiring, businesses are struggling to fill their accounting roles and keep their accountants long term. This talent shortage isn’t going away. And, at this point, mo ..read more
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Five steps in scaling your sales systems
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Mike Huey
1w ago
Business owners and top executives usually fall in one of two buckets. The first is the owner who really knows how to produce the product or service the company makes. They systemized their operations using principles like LEAN management. The second group is the owners who are excellent salespeople. They close deals. They either make most of the company’s sales or oversee the sales department themselves. They hope they can get salespeople who can sell like them, as well as them and as fast as them. They later get frustrated because no one sells like they do. Sales really is as repeatable as y ..read more
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Ten things to know about the Corporate Transparency Act
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Jeffrey O'Brien
1w ago
1. What is the Corporate Transparency Act? The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is a federal law passed in 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act that took effect on January 1, 2024.  The CTA requires small or midsize businesses to file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report with the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and subsequently update that information for changes to the ownership or control of the business.  2. What is the purpose of the Corporate Transparency Act? CTA’s stated purpose is to prevent and fight tax fraud, money laundering, f ..read more
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Exit planning gap: More than half of MN businesses unprepared
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Lisa Meyer
1w ago
The 2023 Minnesota State of Owner Readiness survey reveals a growing trend among business owners to prioritize exit planning yet highlights a significant gap: more than half have not yet formulated a formal transition strategy.  This underscores the crucial need for education to equip business owners for a successful business transition upon exit. What is an exit plan and why do you need it?  A business exit plan prepares an owner or owners by serving as a roadmap for the eventual departure from their company. It typically involves several advisers, such as a certified exit consultan ..read more
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Cultivating a culture for growing your business and your people
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Ayme Zemke
1w ago
The unique dynamics of a small business make workplace culture crucial to its success. Unlike large enterprises, small organizations depend on tight-knit teams to play pivotal roles in everyday operations. Research reinforces the link between a positive workplace culture, employee engagement and business success, elevating an organization’s opportunity for long-term growth and sustainability. But what defines a strong workplace culture? While many factors contribute, a strong workplace culture is built on respect, a shared purpose, open communication and a sense of belonging. It’s an environme ..read more
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Listen then act is winning recipe for CKC’s founder 
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Beth Ewen
1w ago
If you’ve ever packed lunches for your picky kids—no crusts for this one, hair-trigger gag reflex for that—imagine trying to please 45,000 mostly school-aged customers a day. That’s the challenge for Nancy Close, founder and CEO of CKC Good Food. At age 24 she bought her parents’ restaurant and soon started a catering business, preparing food for a relative’s day care business. “I had an extreme interest. I had a little nephew there. It was so important every day to do the best I could,” she recalls.  Today she’s 63 and a new inductee into the NAWBO Minnesota Women Business Owners Hall of ..read more
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Stutrud stepping down
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Andrew Tellijohn
2M ago
When Mark Stutrud decided in the early 1980s to pass up a master’s degree in social work to open a microbrewery, the initial feedback wasn’t good. His father thought he was crazy. And the head of the Brewers Association of America, to which Stutrud was applying for membership, wrote a letter back discouraging him from moving forward. “Please know that I am not encouraging you to do so, because it is a long and hard road that you are planning to go down,” wrote William O’Shea, executive secretary at the time. That now-framed letter decorates a wall in the entryway to Summit’s corporate headquar ..read more
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‘Help one another’ urges Charter Solutions CEO and Hall of Famer
Upsize Magazine | Minnesota Small Business Magazine
by Beth Ewen
2M ago
Anyone who meets Dee Thibodeau gets an instant jolt of confidence and can-do spirit, qualities that bounce off her during a dizzying string of daily meetings that she considers routine. “I am a very social person, so I am out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And what you do is you build your relationships.” The fast-talking, big-laughing CEO of Charter Solutions was inducted into the Minnesota Women Business Owners Hall of Fame in November. Her world view began to form much earlier. “I always thought I could do anything I wanted to do. That started probably when I learned to walk,” Thibodeau t ..read more
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