Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Goff, one of the most gracious entrepreneurs in the Twin Cities, has for years hosted a monthly luncheon to gather women together to hear her message: They’ve got to get their financial house in order, because many of them will one day be single if they aren’t already.
The luncheons serve a business purpose, of course—Goff finds many clients who need financial planning via Invest in Yourself—but for more than 20 years she’s also brought together hundreds of local women and promoted their passions just as fervently as her own.
Her outfit choice that day made me realize she’s never let these luncheons go stale. She’s brought in fascinating speakers, shared valuable investment advice and even showcased local artisans to offer women a sure-fire draw—the ability to shop on their lunch hour! That bright blue jacket was a physical reminder that we all need to keep our companies fresh.
A long time ago I heard a young bride put this idea another way, and at the time I scoffed. She’d been married all of six months, and earnestly said she and her new husband were working hard to “keep the love alive.” Keep the love alive, after six months of marriage? Seriously? Come back in 15 years and we’ll talk, I thought.
Well, 15 more years have gone by, and my husband and I are now nearing our 30th wedding anniversary. (Yes, I was a child bride, for anyone doing the math.) Meanwhile, my business partners and I have now been publishing Upsize for 12 years, and they both are in long marriages of their own. We all know the battle to keep things fresh.
I’m going to draw inspiration from a few more veteran business owners, in addition to Goff, who’ve shared their re-invention stories with me recently.
• Lori Spiess, founder of Virtual OffiCenters and a finalist in this year’s Upsize Business Builder project, says she’s been operating her company for 33 years, yet this is her most exciting phase of growth yet. That’s because she identified a new type of client, solo and home-based entrepreneurs, a couple of years ago and has been figuring out how to serve them ever since.
• Joan Moser, founder of Spoken Impact, has been helping business owners make better presentations for years. Now she has launched Business Edge speaking groups, where professionals gather to practice their talks and get feedback. It’s a new revenue stream for her company, but more exciting for her, she believes it’s the first alternative to Toastmasters ever introduced.
• Angie Bastian, founder of Angie’s Kettle Corn (soon to have a new name, which is the point of this story), started popping corn with her husband in 2001 as a way to earn money for their kids’ college fund. Thirteen years later and their 200 employees, most in the Twin Cities, pop 150,000 bags daily.
She is unveiling a new brand name, developed by Minneapolis marketing agency Mono: Boomchickapop, and when that name is on the label, those products sell up to three times faster than the old. She’ll spend 2015 refreshing all her product lines with the new branding.
What about your business? Are you keeping the love alive? Tell me how, and I’ll try to include your stories in a fresh new year of Upsize.
