Connect Business Magazine

Since 1994: The Magazine for Growing Businesses in Southern Minnesota

Author Archive

Vault Denim

Mar 2012 • Category: Hot Startz!

The example set for Brooke Linder while growing up in Cleveland, Minnesota, was a mother who worked five jobs. “She sacrificed everything she had for us kids,” said 26-year-old Linder in a telephone interview.



Arnold Ziffel Revisited

Mar 2012 • Category: Editor's Letter

As a child in a major Midwestern city, I watched Green Acres. Bumbling Eb, channel-surfing Arnold Ziffel, greenhorn Oliver Wendell Douglas (Fresh air!), and screw loose Lisa Douglas (Times Square!) were all half-brained Hooterville hoots…



Java Lava

Jan 2012 • Category: Hot Startz!

Owner Kay Prescher said in a telephone interview, “I was always the person that wanted to be around everyone and make them feel happy.” The 38-year-old Wells native’s business, Lava Java, opened within the last year in the downtown Mankato Mall.



Jiffy Lube

Jan 2012 • Category: Hot Startz!

The new owner of Jiffy Lube franchises in Mankato and Rochester, Tony Chahine (pronounced Shuh-HEE-nee), was raised in a close-knit, middle-class family in Los Angeles where dad had a security-related job and mom stayed at home.



Rise to The Highest

Jan 2012 • Category: Editor's Letter

Several Connect Business Magazine readers have inquired about sursum ad summum, the phrase I have been placing atop my signature below. Translated, this Latin means, “Rise to the Highest,” and was the official motto of my Ohio high school, Walnut Hills.



Off-The-Cuff

Jan 2012 • Category: Off-The-Cuff

Before starting my editorial yarn, I first have to thank our panel of Minnesota State College of Business professors for choosing our 2012 Business Person of the Year, an honor shared this year by North Mankato kettle corn moguls Dan and Angie Bastian.