Connect Business Magazine

Since 1994: The Magazine for Growing Businesses in Southern Minnesota

CURRENT ISSUE: September 2016

Cownie Connection

Writer’s Block

As the deadline for this issue rapidly approached, I found myself with an acute case of writer’s block when it came to this column. Panic was about to ensue. (And trust me, panic only tightens the grip and prevents any useful thoughts from getting through). So, on the eve of the deadline, I decided to just let go of the chaos in my mind, by going to the chaos of the KISS concert at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato.

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Cover Story

Friesen’s Family Bakery and Bistro LOCATION:

For the owners of Friesen’s Family Bakery and Bistro in Old Town Mankato, their business model is not just a part of their business strategy, it is the very heart of it. A business model based not on how money will be made, but how it will be spent.

Locally.

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Special Reports

Creative Spaces – Mankato’s Envision Lab

It’s been eroding for years now. A “normal” work day is certainly not what it used to be. The decline of the “9-to-5” job that has historically defined our country’s workforce, is evident. Some working well before 9am and well beyond 5pm. Others, though, taking more control of their time, working when they want, and on projects that they deem valuable. Some experts say the freelance movement is the industrial revolution of our time.

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Feature Story

Thriveon
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Headquartered in New Ulm with additional locations in Grand Rapids and Bloomington, Thriveon is a family-owned IT managed services company that provides businesses technology leadership and proactive IT strategies for growth. With a roster of 20 full-time employees, up from 14 in January of 2015, Thriveon helps companies with 15 to 500 computers improve how they leverage information and technology to achieve business success.

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Feature Story

True Facade Pictures
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Plot: A young man born in New Hampshire and working in the film industry in New York City, follows the love of his life to a small city in southern Minnesota.

Scene: Mankato, Minn.

Cue: Ryan Sturgis.

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Editor’s Letter

Making a Difference

I have always been amazed at the mettle of my friends and acquaintances who take the plunge into starting or buying a business. Cutting ties with a steady paycheck, benefits, regular hours…a boss, has always been a scary proposition for me. Yet, I understand why they do it.

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Hot Startz!

Hot Startz! features very new or reformed businesses in our reading area. Contact us to be considered.

Covered Bridge Furniture
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Davy Kreider is a long way from the Pennsylvania farm he grew up on. But what he learned there in the middle of Amish country, has traveled with him throughout his life; starting as a worker in his parents’ retail greenhouse business, to teaching at a Mennonite Parochial school in Pennsylvania

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Spinner’s Bar and Grill
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Spinner’s Bar and Grill on Belgrade Avenue in lower North Mankato has new ownership after almost 13 years, but new owners Clay and Sandra Oachs say Spinners will remain the same beloved neighborhood bar it’s always been.

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Ginger P. Designs
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When Janesville resident Gina Peterson started planning her wedding just more than six years ago, she kept running into a problem. Peterson says, “I just couldn’t find what I was looking for with my wedding invitations. Everything seemed very traditional or not in line with my style.”

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