Most children of the ’60s lost their idealism years ago, opting for the rutted path of materialism that many of their parents and grandparents chose. But tucked deep inside the conscience of many of them rests the fond memory of their own fight for their ’60s causes.
Read MoreMark Hinton and Elton Klaustermeier stretch their definition of “customer service” miles beyond smiles. To them, the term means much more than common courtesy or on-time delivery.
Perhaps that’s why the “broken-down mill” they bought in 1973 survived to thrive as Big Gain, Inc., a major regional manufacturer of livestock and poultry feeds. Today Big Gain’s more than 100 employees formulate, manufacture, sell and deliver feed to dealers and beef, swine, dairy, sheep and poultry producers in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and South Dakota.
Read MoreSome folks hide from their heritage, denying their humble origin. They prefer to believe they’ve never been anywhere but up, never anything but successful, self-assured and solvent.
Read MoreWhat began as a sportsman’s show on four small Midwest radio stations evolved into a full-blown business venture that now arranges high-impact fishing and hunting adventures for companies and corporations.
Read MoreWes Schuck scratched his plan to become a lawyer. Kristi Schuck, his wife, put aside her majors in health fitness and health education.
Instead, they decided to “live a dream” and start Two Fish Recording Studios in Mankato in 1997.
Read MoreArtie Ayers hunted geese and duck in the swamps of Maryland’s Eastern Shore with Curty Gowdy, was a “wudderman” who owned seven crab and oyster boats on the Chesapeake Bay, ran fishing expeditions out of Ocean City, had his own national TV show called Sportsman’s Showcase, but none of it prepared him for Minnesota’s harsh winters – only the people of Minnesota did, who warmed his heart so much he left a Maryland he loved for them.
Read MoreIf you’re reading this after January 1, 2000, by candlelight, shivering next to a dead computer, then Bob Dale was wrong about the impact of Y2K.
As 1999 waned, he believed that 2000 would make a benign arrival, with computer clocks and calendars clicking into the new millennium relatively glitch-free. “There might be some minor inconveniences, but I’m not moving to northern Minnesota and digging my own well,” he said, defining a minor inconvenience as finding your supermarket short on some items because less confident individuals stocked up on canned goods or their favorite cereal.
Read MoreWhen a General Mills or Pillsbury president stumbles onto what seems like a fantastic idea for a new product, they have the wherewithal to bring in an army of Ph.D.s, M.B.A marketing gurus and ivy league patent attorneys in order to carry that idea to market. In a large corporation, the idea-to-market process may take years and tens of millions to play out. With General Mills, in ready-to-eat cereals, for example, long-term successes are rare, even after pumping over $30 million in advertising alone into each new product introduction.
Read MoreIf you’d asked Mueller and Prevot in 1990, Will you ever see the day when you’ll have to turn away business because of a labor shortage? they would have answered, Never.
Yet today 550-employee strong LeSueur Incorporated sits with land in Le Sueur ready for expansion, cash waiting, booming sales, so many potential customers you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting one, yet it can’t expand because workers are in such short supply.
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