COMO | October 2019

OCTOB ER 2019 | TH E MO N EY I S S U E | FO R M E R LY CO LU M B I A B U S I NE S S T I M E S & CO M O LIVING

HEATHER RAPP MANAGES MIDMISSOURI’S ONLY CASINO Page 81

FINDING FINANCIAL FREEDOM Page 103 BROADWAY BREWERY TAKES ON THE GREAT TASTE Page 36

THE MONEY ISSUE

IT HAS FOUR FEET! AND IS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING GOOD TO EAT...

LOCK YOUR DOORS. TURN OUT THE LIGHTS. THEN CALL ATKINS TO FIGHT THOSE FRIGHTS!

EST 1925

Call or go online to schedule a free consultation: (573) 874-5100 • www.atkinsinc.com

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MID-MISSOURI’S LONG, HARD WINTERS MAKE CHOOSING THIS LIFESTYLE AN EASY DECISION ...

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October is the perfect time to add a special piece to your home.

Shop our beautiful showroom for amazing furniture, artwork, accessories and much more and enjoy some considerable savings.

October 17th thru 26th our entire shop inventory will be 20% - 75% off.

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Letter from the Editor

PUBLISHER PICKS

Friendly Financial Advice

S

While I have plenty of room for improvement when it comes to money management, I do like to talk about it (mainly other’s poor habits, not mine!) and read about it. Here are three books I’ve found useful. Maybe you will, as well.

—Deb Valvo, Publisher

“Nudge”

by Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

ing it with me – “Money, money,

money, moooneey!”

It would be an almost impossible task to talk about the Money Issue without bringing up the song “For the Love of Money” by The O’Jays. It’s a classic.

Money itself is also a classic. It’s been around for awhile and is likely here to stay. So, we asked ourselves, “how do we talk about money in a way that is new, helpful, and fresh?” Well, we did what you, the reader, does when you need financial advice: We turned to our friends.

COMO has an advisory board made up of people from across the community. Some are leaders in the business sector and others are advocates. They represent our readers and Columbia, so we asked them what they would be interested in reading about in relation to money. Many of the stories in this issue come from their ideas.

For example, we all know we need to budget in order to take care of ourselves and our family right now, but how often do we think about what will happen to our finances after we’re gone? Do you have a plan in place for how your family will be cared for? We reached out to the experts for you, and they’ve provided tips on how to get started creating an estate plan that works for you (page 99).

You will also read about how our local banks are striving to bring financial literacy and freedom to our community. They’re partnering with Love INC to help people behind on payday loans — high-interest, shortterm loans that can wreak havoc on a person’s finances —through free finance courses at ProsperU. These stories speak to financial coach Dave Ramsey’s quote, “You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.”

Whether you’re interested in learning financial tips and tricks for yourself or are curious about the people, companies, and stories behind the money-related movers and shakers in this town, you’re sure to find a story right up your alley.

“You must gain

“The Total Money Makeover”

by Dave Ramsey

control over

“Your Money or Your Life”

your money or the lack of it will forever control you.”

— Dave Ramsey

by Vicki Robin

ON THE COVER General Manager and Vice President Heather Rapp oversees the day-to-day operations of the Isle of Capri Casino Hotel Boonville, Mid-Missouri’s only casino. Read more about her role and the casino industry from Heather herself on page 81.

Photo by Anthony Jinson

O CTO B ER 201 9 | T H E M O N EY I S SU E | FO RMERLY CO LU MB IA B U SINESS TIMES & CO MO LIVING

HEATHER RAPP MANAGES MIDMISSOURI’S ONLY CASINO Page 81

FINDING FINANCIAL FREEDOM Page 103 BROADWAY BREWERY TAKES ON THE GREAT TASTE Page 36

EMMA BENTLEY EDITOR

THE MONEY ISSUE COMOMAG.COM

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President Erica Pefferman

Erica@comomag.com

Senior Vice President Fran Patrick Fran@comomag.com

EDITORIAL Publisher Deb Valvo Deb@comomag.com

Editorial Director Beth Bramstedt Beth@comomag.com

Editor Emma Bentley Emma@comomag.com

Editorial Assistant Tiffany Schmidt Tiffany@comomag.com

DESIGN Lead Graphic Designer Cassidy Shearrer Cassidy@comomag.com

Senior Graphic Designer Jordan Watts Jordan@comomag.com

Graphic Designer Sadie Thibodeaux Sadie@comomag.com

MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES Marketing Consultant Bonnie Hudson Bonnie@comomag.com

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Keith Borgmeyer, Anthony Jinson, Harry Katz, Tiffany Schmidt

Operations Manager Amy Ferrari Amy@comomag.com

OUR MISSION

To inspire, educate, and entertain the citizens of Columbia with quality, relevant content that reflects Columbia’s business environment, lifestyle, and community spirit.

CONTACT

The Business Times Co. 300 St. James St., Suite 103 Columbia, MO 65201 (573-499-1830) • comomag.com @wearecomomag wearecomomag @wearecomomag

Lit

Lunches Happiness is reading a good book …

And talking about it with others!

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Magazines are $5.95 an issue. Subscription rate is $39 for 12 issues for one year or $69 for 24 issues for two years. Subscribe at comomag. com or by phone.

COMO is published every month by The Business Times Co., Copyright The Business Times Co., 2008. All rights reserved.

Reproduction or use of any editorial or graphic content without the express written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Kristin Blake, Therasia Brautigam, Corin Cesaric, Nicole Flood, Katie Perry Harris, Jeremy Linneman, Kermit Miller, David Morrison, Amy Schneider

Join us for Lit Lunches: Our weekly laid-back, no pressure, book club-style discussions.

(No need to have read the book!)

Each Wednesday at 12:15pm one of our staff will lead this informal (and free!) book discussion on whatever books take their fancy.

Bring your lunch.

Enjoy the conversations.

INTERNS

Kelsey Bartlett, Prince Chingarande, Amy Lemuz-Guerra, Quincy Sinek, Rae Willis

What better way to spend your lunch hour?!

ON T H EM E

Best financial advice you’ve received?

Therasia Brautigam Writer

Katie Perry Harris Writer

Nicole Flood Writer

Corin Cesaric Writer

The best financial advice I’ve received is to start saving young. It’s helped me tremendously in transitioning from college to the adult world.

My first boss advised me to direct deposit funds from my paycheck directly into my retirement account. You’ll never miss the money that way.

Pay yourself first.

Set money aside in savings each month before making any other purchases ­— waiting until the end of the month means you’ll likely spend it on other things.

My sister Ciearra told me, “Spend after saving, instead of saving after you spend.”

Now I think of that before I make an impulse purchase.

22 S. 9th St., Columbia Mon – Thu: 10-6 Fri – Sat: 10-8 Sun: 11-5 mail@skylarkbookshop.com (573) 777-6990 SkylarkBookShop.com

Because books.

FEATURES

49 ON THE SIDE

87

How Columbians make it work by finding a second job.

BUSINESS UPDATE A family successor and a new location allow Brockmeier Financial Services to grow.

53 TO BUILD OR NOT TO BUILD In the third of a five-part series, local experts provide insight on designing your custom home.

99

O C TOBER 2019 | The Money Issue

WHAT’S YOUR PLAN?

13 EDITOR’S LETTER

LIVING 21 ART & CULTURE Sculpting a Balance

23 PET FRIENDLY Providing Mid-Missouri with the Best Fleece

25 WELLNESS Piggy Bank Fix & Budget Boosters

30 HOMES Just Married

36 GOURMET The Great Taste

43 STYLE Dressing with Social Awareness

BUSINESS

COMMUNITY

75

114

CLOSER LOOK

FAVORITE FINDS

76

Hey, Big Spender

BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS

117

79

GUEST VOICE

MOVERS & SHAKERS

81 PERSON YOU SHOULD KNOW Heather Rapp

84 CELEBRATIONS SuretyBonds.com

87 BUSINESS UPDATE Brockmeier Financial Services

93 LOCAL GOVERNMENT Heads Counted, Lines Drawn

96 GUEST VOICE The Enneagram & Business

Amy Schneider

118 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT Midwest Special Needs Trust

124 DATEBOOK

Take a few pointers from these financial and estate planning professionals to be prepared for the future.

103 FINDING FINANCIAL FREEDOM How Central Bank of Boone County’s ProsperU program is changing Columbia communities.

127 COUPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW Tracy and Beth Arey

130 THIS OR THAT Andrew Beverley

120 PARTNERING TO FIND A SOLUTION Local organizations work together to combat highinterest loans targeting lowincome residents.

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OCTOBER 2019

Living

30 JUST MARRIED The Sorenson Estate offers a stylish alternative to the traditional ballroom or chapel.

43 DRESSING WITH SOCIAL AWARENESS Two budding clothing businesses in Columbia are working to change the social narrative.

36 THE GREAT TASTE Broadway Brewery heads to Madison, Wisconsin, for their annual beer festival and cultural exchange.

ONE OF THE REASONS WE’RE MID MISSOURI’S APPLIANCE RESOURCE.

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OCTOBER 2019

While you’re here, visit our Sleep Shop.

Featuring SERTA, the world’s best mattresses.

Living

ART & CULTURE

Sculpting a Balance Potter Bo Bedilion stays active in the world of ceramics.

BY KELSEY BARTLET T

B

o Bedilion isn’t afraid to put a lot on his plate. For almost ten years, Bo has been juggling responsibilities as a professor and gallery director at Columbia College; all while maintaining his personal artistic career as a potter. While fulfilling three distinct roles has its challenges, Bo says that passion for the pottery drives his artful balancing act.

Bo was first introduced to pottery during his senior year of high school. “I just fell in love with it,” he says. “At the time, I was really unsure about what I wanted to do with my future. My art teacher told me that I could go to college and study pottery. In the late 1990s, I had no idea that was an option for me, that I could make a career out of pottery.”

He embraced that new option soon after, eventually completing both his BA in Art from California University in Pennsylvania and his Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Kansas State University.

After finishing school, Bo moved to Columbia in 2010 to teach as a ceramics professor at Columbia College. Two years later, he became the director of the Greg Hardwick Gallery. As director, Bo says he curates artists to include in the gallery, organizes special events, and maintains the gallery space. “We bring in regional, national, and international artists to show in the space,” he explains. “As well as hosting students’ Bachelor of Fine Arts degree exhibitions.”

Being busy hasn’t prevented Bo from committing his attention to both his students and his personal projects. At the college, Bo says he enjoys experimenting with new equipment and showcasing student work.

“We have two new kilns at Columbia College,” he says. “I’m really excited about introducing some new techniques and new glaze surfaces to students this fall.”

Additionally, Bo helps host a student-run pottery sale at the end of every semester. “It’s

Photo courtesy of Kaci Smart at Columbia College

been really great for the students to be able to showcase their work, as well as introduce functional and sculptural pottery to the larger community on campus,” he says. “It’s almost a celebration of our achievements and our creations throughout the semester.”

Outside of teaching, Bo’s professional creativity is able to flourish thanks to careful time management.

“I get a lot of my personal work done over the school breaks,” he explains. “If I’m not traveling, I’m in the studio. I split my time between my home studio and my working studio at the college, so wherever I’m at, I have access to work.”

Bo describes how he has broadened his artistic horizons even in the past year. He says he used to concentrate on making round, wheel-thrown pieces, but lately, he’s been crafting collections of seven-by-seven inch plates (pictured above). “I’ve been interested in

the idea of being able to hang up these groups of plates, developing a composition as a group, and then taking them down and being able to use them for dinner service,” he describes.

For Bo, the plates represent a new creative angle. “I found that once I made these plates, I was dealing with this flat, almost twodimensional surface,” he says. “I had this canvas to showcase glazes. So I’m developing new designs and patterns, drawing from different sources of inspiration and influence.”

He cites Columbia’s lakes and streams as sources of inspiration, as well as colors and textures from his urban travels.

Whether he’s scheduling a gallery lecture or glazing in his home studio, Bo is sure to stay busy with one pottery project or another.

“Pottery has taken me all over the country, to different opportunities, and I finally landed here in Columbia,” he says. “It’s evolved and I’ve stuck with it.”

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Living

PET FRIENDLY

Providing Mid-Missouri with the Best Fleece A look into the business of Columbia’s only alpaca farm.

BY PRINCE CHINGARANDE | PHOTOS BY TIFFANY SCHMIDT

O

n the last Saturday and Sunday of September, many alpaca farmers across the country participate in the famed National Alpaca Day. They open their farm gates to the public and showcase the alpaca herds they are raising and the products they weave from the alpaca fiber.

Like many towns, Columbia is fortunate to have a local alpaca farm, Curly Eye, where people can go and marvel at the beauty of alpacas and possibly leave with a sweater or two.

Mary and Gary Licklider, owners of Curly Eye, have been raising alpacas for almost 17 years. The then newly retired couple acquired some land and were in search of something productive to do with their extensive acreage. Initially, they leased it for cattle rearing. However, their experience was unsatisfactory, and they quickly grew dispassionate about catering to cattle.

“Cattle are big animals and they chew things. They pull grass from the root and this is hard on the land,” Mary recalls.

While searching for a different farming venture, Mary met a llama farmer at a county fair in Minnesota. Llamas are alpacas’ genetic cousins, so naturally, Mary encountered the latter and consequentially developed an interest to raise the 20-animal herd that she and her husband now own.

“I have experience with fabrics and textiles, so when I saw them [alpacas], I knew they were the real deal,” Mary says.

In addition to the alpaca farm, the Lickliders opened a fiber studio, Heartfelt Alpaca Creations, where Mary and three other women participate in the millenniaold tradition of processing alpaca fiber.

The alpaca business has emerged to be efficient and easy-to-manage for the Lickliders. Alpacas are low maintenance

animals and this, combined with their high-quality fiber, allows for a good return on their investment.

“Alpacas live very lightly on the land.

They have efficient digestive systems and pads instead of hooves, meaning you don’t get much chewed up land or erosion,” Mary shares. “The animals are also sweetnatured, and it takes us only 30 minutes a day to care for them.”

The simplicity of taking care of alpacas is also suitable during the harsh Missouri winters and summers.

In the winter, the alpacas naturally keep themselves warm with their breathable fleece, which is thrice as warm as wool.

They also keep their feet protected from the snow and ice by mostly sitting in the barn.

Summers, however, are more challenging. “The summer is more stressful because you need to sheer them all the time or they will die,” Mary says.

“However, this is not enough by itself. We have fans running in the barn from April to September and when the heat gets worse, I go out once or twice a day and spray the alpaca’s bellies with water.” Alpacas have a certain kind of vasculature in their legs and bellies, which likens their cooling process to holding an ice pack to human skin.

Alpacas are environmentally sustainable. “Alpacas are a green livestock and easy on the land. They also don’t consume a lot. For a herd of 20, we use a bale of hay a day,” Mary raves. “Their manure is nicely balanced, with less nitrogen, so it doesn’t burn garden plants.”

Curly Eye is the Licklider’s enjoyable retirement venture. It is financially viable and the amount of fiber the alpacas produce is what Mary can handle processing. The business brings them joy and as Mary jokingly mentions, has allowed her to keep up with the times and engage with Facebook more.

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Living

WELLNESS

Piggy Bank Fix When there’s more month left at the end of your money, it’s time to get some help. Here are f ive money management tips f rom Kimberly Earnest, f inancial f itness coordinator for Veterans United Home Loans.

BY THERASIA BRAUTIGAM

Mortgages When purchasing a home, have no more than 25% of your take-home pay going toward your mortgage payment, ideally on a 15-year fixed rate mortgage. To decrease your loan amount and monthly payment (and possibly avoid PMI - Private Mortgage Insurance), put as much as you can on a down payment while still saving money for an emergency fund. Thoroughly research and understand the different loan options available to find the best one for you.

Grocery Shopping Meal planning is a great way to save money on food, decrease food waste, and decrease the number of times you eat out. Plan out meals for your family one week at a time based on your schedule for the week (i.e. having leftovers ready to go on a night when there is a short turnaround time for an evening activity). Shop with a list of what you need and never shop hungry.

Utilities Get a free residential energy audit from the City of Columbia, which can help you figure out what habit changes, structure issues, and equipment might reap you the highest benefits.

Look into rebates for energy improvement projects and always consider how long it will take before the improvement project savings are greater than its cost. Manually adjust your thermostat (or automatically with a programmable thermostat) when you aren’t home and at night when you are sleeping.

Transportation The average new car payment is $550 for 69 months – over $38,000 for something that typically loses 60% of its value in the first five years. Purchase a used car to avoid that depreciation or purchase a car outright to save yourself a monthly payment. If you do take out a loan, consider the full cost of the vehicle and not just the monthly payment, and pay it off quickly. Regular maintenance checks also can help avoid major repairs down the road.

Entertainment Set a monthly budget and use the cash envelope system - putting cash in an envelope and only using it for entertainment. Look for free to low cost alternatives of things to do in Columbia by checking out websites like hulafrog.com and como.gov/parksandrec/. Cut cable and use alternatives such as an antenna, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. Also, be sure to check out the Columbia Public Library for free rentals and streaming services. Have friends over for a game or movie night with dinner potluck!

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Budget Boosters COMO readers share the crazy things they’ve done to save a buck.

Avoid the dollar bins! Ok, but in all seriousness, I have purchased 20 newspapers at a time and cut coupons for hours to get a year’s worth of toothpaste and detergent for pennies. It was worth it!

- Ashley Emel

I drove my 2000 Chevy Cavalier for three summers in a row without air-conditioning . . . and I commuted to and from Jefferson City every day for work.

- Jamie Palmer

Growing up, we used plastic Walmart bags over tennis shoes held on by rubber bands to play in the snow instead of snow boots. We strung clothes on clothesline because we didn’t have a dryer; reused vacuum bags by pulling out the dirt; made dolls out of old socks for Christmas gifts; and duct-taped deer-damaged bumpers, vehicles, and screen doors!

- Sara R. Walsh

Movie theaters that offer free popcorn tub refills have a glaring loophole that can be taken advantage of if you know a trash diver with the stomach for it . . . .

- Brandon Grammer

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OCTOBER 2019

Growing up, we reused plastic bags and we never used paper towels. We had rolling blackouts, so we only used electricity for 12 hours of the 24. We also hand washed everything.

And we took mostly bicycles when there were fuel shortages. You do a lot when it’s needed.

- Heather McGee

I’m not a fan of the frenzy of big retail sale days, but every fall I get up at 5:30 a.m. to stand in the dark outside Tryathletics waiting for the doors to open for the annual shoe sale. If you have teens, you know how fast they go through shoes!

- Jen Wilson

I drove the same car for 25 years. It still ran when I gave it away. It had over 200k miles.

- Deloris Acton

I stayed in a very odd garage Airbnb in New Orleans. My room was an old walk-in cooler with a green plastic patio table and chairs and a mattress from idk where! There was barely a shower or toilet.

It was a unique experience I will never forget, but will not do it again!

- Valerie Stegall

I slept in a cafe’ in an international airport so I wouldn’t have to pay for a room for six hours.

I found two tacos, still wrapped and still on the tray, on top of a Taco Bell trash can. Yep, I ate them.

- Dianna Borsi O’Brien

- Shane Winter

There are far too many stories of unnecessary probate problems, typically due to an unclear estate plan, or even worse, no estate plan at all.

This is a recipe for disaster.

We make the process as easy and stress free as possible.

Call today to begin the conversation.

2412 Forum Blvd, Suite 101 Columbia | 573-874-1122 NathanJonesLaw.com The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

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. Dr. Phelps is an International Speaker and Wellness Expert .

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OCTOBER 2019

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DID YOU KNOW… 25% OF WOMEN

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Just

Married The Sorenson Estate offers a stylish alternative to the traditional ballroom or chapel.

BY KELSEY BARTLETT | PHOTOS BY KEITH BORGMEYER

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OCTOBER 2019

Living

HOMES

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W

hen Dr. Wes Sorenson died in 2012, he left behind a parting gift to MU. A long-time professor of zoology with a passion for native plant conservation, Wes wanted to see his 400 acres off Highway WW — and the stately farmhouse that sits in the middle of it — preserved for future enjoyment.

But beyond basic conservation, the university had few plans for the Sorenson property when they first inherited it. Despite some chipped paint and dated brown carpeting, the sprawling house had good bones.

Yet Kylee Lawhead, current special events coordinator at the estate, describes how using the house for a residence seemed redundant.

“We didn’t need a chancellor’s house, we didn’t need a residence house,” she says. “We already had a bed and breakfast. Turning it into bedrooms wasn’t really going to help anybody.”

Instead, MU’s College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources hatched a different plan. The vast majority of the land would be used for research in environmental studies and forestry. The 20 acres surrounding the farmhouse, however, would be converted into an event space.

Kylee explains that a venue for weddings and corporate gatherings has proven valuable to both students studying hospitality and the City of Columbia as a whole. “It was something else to benefit students and something else to add to the community,” she says.

Flexible Elegance

Based on the electrical work, the current property managers estimate that the house was built in the 1960s. The design was classic from the start, however, making the university’s remodel job a breeze. Kylee says flipping the home was as easy as a fresh coat of paint and a round of carpet removal. The intricate wood parquet flooring and elegant molding visible today are all original.

The result is a space that feels refreshingly traditional. On the walls, various shades of cool-toned gray balance the rich wood and bright white trim, while the furniture blends modern influences with oldfashioned charm. Taken all together, the house becomes a simple, refined backdrop that allows the stars of the event to shine.

Kylee emphasizes the importance of the estate’s aesthetic flexibility when it comes to hosting a broad array of events. Each wedding, baby shower, photo shoot, and corporate luncheon brings its own color scheme and space requirements. Little things, like shifting the furniture or incorporating both gold and silver into the décor, allow the house to adapt to any event without sacrificing character.

Kylee said she has never met a theme that couldn’t be successfully worked into the estate. “It’s neutral without being a blank slate,” she says. “All the rooms kind of get fl ipped in whatever way is conducive to the wedding or event.”

Unique Appeal

Versatility is just one reason Kylee believes Sorenson Estate is gaining popularity. She also credits the estate’s scenic, distinct location for drawing in event planners. “Before we came about, people mainly went to ballrooms for their weddings and events,” Kylee says. “There weren’t a ton of unique spaces.”

Sorenson offers a different brand of elegance, striking a balance between extravagant ballrooms and rustic barn venues. While the indoor space is sleek, old-growth trees line the front driveway. The vast majority of events incorporate the scenery alongside the house, whether by taking vows beneath the towering oak in the backyard, hosting

Living

HOMES

dinners among the prairie grass, or dancing under the stars on the brick patio.

Sorenson Estate is convenient in more ways than one. In addition to providing a secluded feel within minutes of downtown, the space’s flexibility and size can accommodate all aspects of an event. Two dining rooms, a kitchen, a furnished lounge area, and two upstairs suites help encompass a variety of party functions. Kylee uses weddings as one example, explaining the advantage of being able to hold both the ceremony and reception in the same location.

“It’s one thing for guests to have to hop between the ceremony and the reception,” she says. “But for the wedding party to be able to relax and enjoy the day and have everything in one place — they’re not spending their wedding day bouncing between places.”

A relaxing and memorable experience, regardless of event type, seems to be the goal at the estate. Wes Sorenson donated the property so it could be utilized and protected simultaneously. In line with his wishes, the land is strictly preserved, but it’s also regularly enjoyed by the community.

As a result of the estate’s recent transition from private property to university grounds, distinct local ties still cling to Sorenson like

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OCTOBER 2019

confetti. Kylee recounts how one bride chose the estate for her wedding venue because she knew the Sorensons personally. During a different wedding one spring, relatives of Wes Sorenson visited to take a look at the remodeled home. Sorenson Estate is truly a piece of Columbia, lending the space a sense of community on top of a pretty façade.

The Next Event

Like many event venues, Sorenson Estate goes through annual cycles.

Bookings are high in the spring and fall, but taper off in extreme temperatures. Kylee hopes to keep bookings high as the years pass by raising awareness and maintaining the manor’s stylish air.

“We’ve got some different ideas to keep it fresh and revamped for all the different groups that are using our property,” she says. In order to draw in new guests, Kylee wants the estate to be a more visible option in the event space market.

“We’re four years old now, but that’s still really new compared to these other venues that have been here for years and years,” she says.

“You still meet so many people that are like, ‘I had no idea that was behind those gates.’”

Thank you.

Few retail businesses can celebrate 70 years of operation and we have the loyalty of our customers to thank for this honor.

Then and

Now

Columbia

Auxvasse

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OCTOBER 2019

Living

GOURMET

Broadway Brewery Co-Owner Walker Claridge

BROADWAY BREWERY HEADS TO MADISON, WISCONSIN, FOR THEIR ANNUAL BEER FESTIVAL AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE.

BY CO R I N C E S A R I C | PH OTO S BY H A R RY KAT Z

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THE MIDWEST KNOWS HOW TO DO BEER. So much so, in fact, that there’s an entire festival dedicated to it.

The Great Taste of the Midwest is held annually in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s the second biggest beer festival in the United States, and it brings breweries from all around the Midwest to celebrate and taste unique craft brews. The festival has been around for 33 years. Th is past year’s event was Broadway Brewery’s fi fth year attending.

“Th is [festival] is a little special because it’s out of market, but we’re still there with some of the best breweries in the Midwest,” says Harry Katz, marketing director at Broadway Brewery.

The festival features more than 190 of the Midwest’s finest craft brewers with more than 10 from Missouri, including Columbia’s own Logboat Brewing Co. There are approximately 1,400 beers on tap at the one-day festival that’s held in the scenic Olin Park.

Each brewery pours two-ounce samples for ticket holders to sip on. Speaking of tickets, if you’re interested in attending, you better hurry. They are only sold in Madison at certain breweries and liquor stores, and the sought-after tickets usually sell out in the first day.

You couldn’t — and shouldn’t — try to taste each beer at the festival. If you did, that would be equivalent to about 175 pints of craft beer. The goal is to be selective and only try the beers you’re really interested in. Broadway Brewery attends 10 to 15 festivals a year, but this one is one of the best and biggest that beer connoisseurs and creators look forward to.

“Th is one’s very unique in its size, exclusivity, and that it’s limited to Midwestonly breweries,” Harry says.

Th is year, eight people from Broadway Brewery attended. Every year, the owners, Walker Claridge and Paul Dickerson; the head brewer, Sean; and Harry attend, while about four other people on staff rotate in each year.

A brewery has to apply to get into the festival, which is run by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild. The guild just recently implemented a “lottery system” that’s completely random. The system makes the decision of which new breweries make the cut and will be featured at the festival.

“If you’ve been in less than five years, then you have a chance of just not getting in again,” Harry says. “Th is is our fi fth year, meaning we’re officially in for as long as we want to be in.”

The restaurant and brewery has no plans of abandoning the festival anytime soon — or ever for that matter.

“It’s just a bunch of collaboration for us, and I view it as essential,” says Walker.

A CULTURAL EXCHANGE

While the festival technically consists of only one day of pouring, there are an abundance of Great Taste Eve events that the Midwest breweries and the city take part in during the days leading up to the festival. Broadway Brewery also takes part in

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OCTOBER 2019

a “cultural exchange” with bar and restaurant owners where they bring along produce from Walker’s farm in Missouri, Terra Bella Farms, and use it to help create menu items in exchange for a place to store their kegs and have a few free meals during the week.

“Everywhere you go, there’s something going on, some sort of activity centered around the breweries and the restaurants, so you just get to see a lot of food and beer collaborations, and it’s really interactive,” Walker says.

Th is year, Broadway Brewery was in Madison from Wednesday, August 7, through Sunday, August 11.

Over the years, they’ve formed friendships with local restaurant owners. Th is year, they teamed up with Gib’s, Grampa’s Pizzeria, Heritage Tavern, and Tip Top Tavern for special events like tap takeovers, food pairings, and a Sunday brunch.

“We take up raw ingredients and then we get into the kitchen and just collaborate on whatever dishes we’re going to put out for the tap takeover and the beer dinner,” Walker says.

Th is year, they brought onions, leeks, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, basil, garlic, collards, kale, shallots, and lamb.

The Broadway Brewery team

“It’s pretty free-form. We don’t make a lot of decisions before we get there. We get the ingredients, we look at them, and then we build a menu item out of that,” Walker says.

The festival and the days leading up to it give the Broadway Brewery team a chance to see a lot of breweries and meet brewers they normally wouldn’t run into in Columbia, which inspires the creative process on both the brewery and the restaurant side of the business.

“It is a big collaboration event with the city of Madison, the chefs, and the taverns and restaurants around Madison,” Walker says.

FEST DAY

At the festival, Broadway Brewery featured nine of their concoctions, with three under the Real Ale tent, which had over 70 cask ales served from a firkin, a particular kind of cask used for dispensing liquids.

“So, for the casks, they’re all infusions,” Harry says. They opted to have their chai-

spiced infused brown ale, Hot Style Flor Blanca Mexican lager, and Shishito Pepper Idaho 7 single hop under that tent. At their booth, Broadway Brewery carried Confection #5 [German chocolate), an American double imperial stout; Equal Shares, an India pale lager; Flat Bill Pils, a Czech pilsner; Flor Blanca Mexican lager; an American Adjunct lager; Oats in the Water, a New England IPA; Summer Cut Berry Berliner; and a Berliner weissbier.

“The fun part about the fest is that a lot of these breweries bring beers that are very hard to get,” Harry says.

Since they have now been a part of the festival for five years, attendees recognize them and are glad to see the Missouri brewery returning. “We’ll get people saying it’s nice to see you back, and we’ll get regular people that come to our tap takeovers,” Harry says.

Since Broadway Brewery doesn’t distribute outside of Missouri, the festival is really

the only chance for Wisconsinites to have a taste of their beer without traveling to the Show-Me State. In that case, they could find the brews on tap in Kansas City, Columbia, Jefferson City, and St. Louis.

While travelers could also purchase the brewery’s new cans in those cities as well, a lot of the beers featured at the festival are hard to get your hands on, so the event is known for being exclusive.

“It’s a very good quick snapshot of what the Midwest and, in extension, the entire country, style-wise, is doing with beer.”

Harry says. “With so many breweries and so many tap takeovers, you can kind of see who’s pushing the boundaries on styles.”

Next year, Broadway Brewery will be heading to Madison for round six with new ideas, new flavors, and new surprises.

“We got some other ideas for next year and new restaurants to collaborate with, so who knows what we’re going to come up with?”

Walker says.

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OCTOBER 2019

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OCTOBER 2019

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Living

ST YLE

Dressing with Social Awareness Two budding clothing businesses in Columbia are working to change the social narrative.

BY PR INCE CHINGAR A N DE | P HOTOS BY KEIT H B O R G M E Y E R

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43

Vintage Huskey During their free time, most high school kids are nose-deep in homework or wandering the hallways with their friends. A unique Columbia pair, however, spent their time envisioning ideas that would bloom into a bold new clothing line. Started

by Clayton Neuner and Jack Parker, Vintage Huskey is a contemporary clothing brand with an aesthetic centered around appreciating nature’s tenure.

The business began as one of Clayton’s ideas. He was a student at Father Tolton Catholic High School and wanted to start a clothing business. He wanted to create clothes that were contemporary, cool, and contributed to the sustainability movement.

Bursting with promise and excitement, he consulted with his friend Jack and the two created designs that harkened to their vision.

Vintage Huskey’s defining symbol is the husky dog. The image can be seen in all the line’s pieces, plastered against a natural background. The designs reflect the company’s ethos of honoring the environment; the husky, which represents humans, interacts with and pays homage to the beauty and strength of nature.

“To us, Vintage Huskey is an exploration of our environment,” says Clayton. “We are taking a different approach in our style and appreciating our natural surroundings through our designs.”

The “vintage” element of the brand is their personal take on understanding that nature has always maintained its intrinsic beauty — to them, nature is vintage. However, because nature regenerates itself and is cyclical, they craft it into what they want to see it as.

Starting the business required immense personal effort from both Clayton and Jack. They didn’t seek much help from anyone, including the obvious source, their parents. Learning about the fashion industry was a process that both underwent as they moved from stage to stage in developing their brand. They financed the business on their own using money they had saved from summer jobs.

Clayton and Jack also sought their art teacher’s help in actualizing the brand’s identity. Lonnie Tapia has extensive artistic experience in the clothing industry, having worked with high-profile brands such as Lane Bryant and The Limited.

Jack says: “Lonnie was kind of my mentor. He helped a lot with creative direction and other business intricacies.” Lonnie’s help guided the two founders on how to personalize their brand and

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OCTOBER 2019

Blair Wooldridge models a new fall product.

Living

ST YLE

Founders Clayton Neuner and Jack Parker

COMOMAG.COM

45

create products that their consumers could resonate with.

Two years into the business, Vintage Huskey boasts successful returns and frequent interactions with its customers.

Clayton’s current goal is to create a strong online platform that can further personalize the business and attract more people in Columbia. Jack’s creativity is blossoming, and the brand will see three more launches of new products in the fall.

MyTurn Kids MyTurn Kids was created on Memorial Day, 2018. Megan and Cliff Judy were shopping for clothes for their daughter from a major retail outlet and, frustratingly, could not find anything that didn’t have sparkles, unicorns, or princesses.

After settling for a less tastefully designed T-shirt from the boys’ section, they recognized that there was a gap in the children’s clothing industry. The concept of MyTurn Kids became a personalized way of creating clothing that envisions girls as more than just sparkles, unicorns, and princesses.

The Judys’ vision was clear: They wanted to create T-shirts with girls mirroring women who exist in professions where

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OCTOBER 2019

they’re underrepresented. However, they had little knowledge of and experience with starting and managing a business. Megan works as a morning news anchor at KOMU 8 and Cliff is the channel manager of live programming at Newsy. Despite this initial challenge, their experiences in journalism became crucial tools to problem solving that allowed them to find resources that would jumpstart their business.

“We looked stuff up and figured it out,” Megan recalls. “The process of figuring it out was trial and error, so we made sure to ask the right people for help and advice.”

As Megan and Cliff brainstormed the intricacies of their brand, they created eight young girl personas, each with her own catchphrase, racial identity, and underrepresented profession, to drive their creative process. Their careers range from chemists and engineers to farmers and firefighters. Recently, they added an Ida B. Wells persona, named for one of the first black female journalists in America, to the list. Her MyTurn character represents the 8% of newsroom employees who are women of color.

The process of starting MyTurn Kids involved sourcing help from local organizations, professional contacts, and even friends. REDI and the Missouri Women’s

Business Center were some of the entities that helped the Judy's business and offered access to sound advice and important contacts. With this guidance from local experts, Megan and Cliff were able to actualize their dream and set their goal of $10,000 on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, which they surpassed by raising $11,600.

While Megan and Cliff ’s T-shirts have reached many customers and expanded career possibilities for many young girls, their business has also touched them personally.

Cliff recalls one sweet moment with his daughter: “One of the big moments for me was when we had Clara try on one of our prototype T-shirts. It was a plain gray T-shirt with a firefighter girl on it. After she put it on, she started wrestling with our dog. I recorded this and as soon as I hit the stop button, she yelled, ‘I’m a firefighter girl!’”

Within the first few minutes of their first T-shirts being worn, they had already assured a young girl that she could be fearless in carving out the path she wanted for herself.

MyTurn Kids makes the statement that young girls can dream and achieve whatever it is they commit to. In a world where many are reluctant to address gender inequality at work, the Judys have created a space where change can become tangible.

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to our advisory board members for their valuable insight and contributions to this publication.

Jill Orr, author

Adonica Coleman, A2D Events Andrew Grabau, The United Way

Joe Miller, First State Community Bank

Ann Merrifield, Columbia College

Jolyn Sattizahn, Chamber of Commerce

Anne Tuckley, Anne Tuckley Home & Lifestyle

Kathy Lou Neale, Edward Jones Mike Grellner, Plaza Realty

Barbie Banks, Ragtag Cinema

Muriel Browder, retired teacher

Carrie Gartner, The Loop

Nancy Allison, Shelter Insurance

Chrystal Graves, The BOLD Academy Elizabeth Laboa, University of Missouri Eric Morrison, Providence Bank Jessie Yankee, Missouri Women’s Business Center

Nickie Davis, The District Nicole Morris, The Tin Roof Stacie Pottinger, Rogue Studios Teresa Snow, MU Health Care

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OCTOBER 2019

ON THE SIDE HOW COLUMBIANS MAKE IT WORK

BY FINDING A SECOND JOB.

BY KATIE PER RY H A R R I S PHOTOS BY KEIT H BO R G MEYER

M

oonlighting, freelancing, side hustle — whatever term you use, having a second job, or a side gig, has become more of a common practice in today’s economy. A side gig can provide creative and financial benefits, as these Columbians have learned from taking this approach to making it work on the side.

“Everyone could use some extra money, no matter where you’re at in life,” says Shane Winter. Shane, a financial coach by trade, teaches a course at the Columbia Area Career Center called “Fun Ways to Supplement Your Income.” A diverse demography has enrolled the three times he’s taught the class, with the most recent class split evenly between men and women. The course covers different ways to make extra money, from secret shopping to selling online.

Shane’s firsthand knowledge of side gigs includes his own experience as a secret shopper, which he’s done for more than 10 years, as well as driving for ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft. “It’s not full-time, but it’s a way to be able to make extra money when things are tight or when you want to put

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money toward certain goals,” he says.

When she’s not working as a pre-K teacher at Discovery Days, Michele Mechlin enjoys the flexibility of being a consultant for Rodan & Fields’ skincare line of products from her home office. Michele considers her Rodan & Fields income as fun money. “It’s that extra income that’s not included in your budget that you can use for whatever you want — a new pair of shoes, a vacation, kids’ activities,” she says.

“Being a tour guide

FINDING A CREATIVE OUTLET

spend time with. I

Side gigs can supplement the budget, but they also offer the opportunity to do something different. “I always think of it as doing something extra to bring in an income or something that you really want to do for fun,” says Joe Knight. During the day, Joe works with kids as a prevention specialist at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Columbia. On an occasional evening, you can find him downtown talking about Columbia’s history and culinary scene as a tour guide for Columbia Culinary Tours.

A Columbia native, Joe spent five years living in Minneapolis, where he developed an appreciation for the food scene. He says that experience was when he “really fell in love with

50

OCTOBER 2019

has introduced me to a lot of new people that otherwise I wouldn’t

really like that aspect of being out in the city, and it gives me more awareness of what’s going on.”

—Joe Knight

the experience of food and what really good food can be.” As a tour guide, he is now able to share his appreciation of the creativity behind food with guests, both locals and visitors alike.

“Being a tour guide comes naturally,” Joe says. “I also enjoy the history side a lot.

You get to see the behind-the-scenes of restaurants and hear about why restaurants get food from different sources. You see things you wouldn’t see if you just go out to eat.”

Michele also sees an outlet in selling Rodan & Fields. “Because I had gone from working full-time to being a full-time mom, it was originally an outlet for me to have a place to put energy and creativity. It’s gratifying to have somewhere to put that energy,” she says.

It’s also gratifying for her, with her social work background, to see how it helps customers and makes them happy.

For Phil Shearrer, the term moonlighting is more accurately described as that of matchmaking — matching your skill set to a need in the workplace. Phil is an organizational development specialist at MU Health Care’s Center for Education and Development. One of his side gigs includes his extensive background as a master trainer for the De Bono Thinking Systems, which emphasizes conceptual thinking and is based on the work of founder, author, and physician Edward De Bono.

“I think of it as matchmaking,” Phil says.

“You’re finding that skill set and providing that niche to a group that doesn’t have access to it some other way. If you can provide that, that opens up all kinds of doors. That’s where the creativity comes in — what does this group need?”

Phil is one of only 40 or so De Bono master trainers who are qualified to teach De Bono thinking tools outside of the corporation.

He first began training part-time while still working for his former employer, and soon he began getting a lot of gigs throughout the country from corporations and government agencies like the CIA and FDA. He takes vacation time from his full-time job at MU Health Care to teach the courses; last year alone, he did 11 different gigs around the country for different companies.

“I don’t have to do this for the income,” Phil says. “I love seeing a group coalesce around those skills and sharing the joy of what I’m seeing. I love to learn, and so being able to have a variety of experiences and tools in my life gives me mental agility.”

If that wasn’t enough of a side gig, Phil also serves as the creativity engineer for a local corporate consulting firm, Aperio Consulting, working on leadership and coaching. And he spends his free time designing board games, which he considers a hobby. He describes his latest creation, “Corpus,” as one that serious gamers could play with kids and grandparents and still have fun. He hopes to introduce it on Kickstarter late next year.

TECHNOLOGY & THE SIDE GIG

Technology and the advent of the Internet has changed the side gig game — certainly, 10 years ago, no one would have thought that ride-sharing or food delivery apps could be potential sources of income. Technology makes it easier to make money, Shane adds, by not requiring a brick-and-mortar store.

Michele also sees the convenience of technology and the flexibility of selling Rodan & Fields through social media. There are no brick-and-mortar Rodan & Fields’ stores, and sales happen from advertising on social media. “It’s been a good fit for our family because it’s so part-time,” she says. “You can work the hours you want, when you want, and you can do it from home.”

Technology has made it easier to make money without a set schedule, Shane agrees.

“The majority of side hustles allow you to make money on your downtime,” he says. “You can sell T-shirts from your Etsy store at 2 a.m.”

Phil is starting to see more online learning in his side gig business as a master trainer.

“The biggest benefit is no travel,” he says. “I can take off a Friday afternoon and teach a course without having to travel.”

UNEXPECTED BONUSES

Another advantage of Phil’s side gig is that it directly relates to his day job. When he returns from a training session, there is often an informal opportunity to share with his own team — something he considers a win-win. “It really is professional development,” he says.

“I always bring back another story, another tool, another perspective about what will help things work better here.”

Joe’s gig as a tour guide has given him a better awareness of Columbia, particularly through training as a certified tourism ambassador. “It’s introduced me to a lot of new people that otherwise I wouldn’t spend time with,” Joe says. “I really like that aspect

“The majority of side hustles allow you to make money on your downtime.

You can sell T-shirts from your Etsy store at 2 a.m.”

—Shane Winter of being out in the city, and it gives me more awareness of what’s going on.” This includes being on the lookout for new restaurants and favorite foods — and he’s happy to share tips.

One of the highlights is that “you never know what’s going to happen on a tour,” Joe says. Tour guides have to be prepared for the unexpected and be flexible, whether it’s with people, weather, or restaurants. The challenge for Joe, a father of two young children, is that evening tours take him away from his family. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without the support of my wife,” he says.

For Michele, an unexpected bonus of Rodan & Fields is that it has allowed her to make new friends while reconnecting with old ones. The business gave her a reason to travel back to Albany, New York, where she lived previously, to do an event and reconnect with friends and former co-workers.

“I don’t see myself ever giving up Rodan & Fields,” she says. “It’s a no-brainer because it doesn’t take a lot of time. You can make it what you want — you can put in a lot of energy and make it a career, or do it on the side like I do. Why wouldn’t I keep that in my life?”

Any tips for those considering a side gig?

Shane advises that you balance your side gig with your full-time job. “Don’t put so much energy into your side gig that it takes away from what you really do in life,” he says.

“Pick the thing you do the best and that you love, and then farm out everything else,” Phil says. He cautions, though, to consider a side gig as discretionary income. “Don’t quit your day job.”

Editor’s Note: Katie Perry Harris is an account manager at Knorr Marketing Communications whose side gig is writing for us here at COMO magazine.

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OCTOBER 2019

PART 3

D L I U B TO T O N R O D L I U B TO Local experts provide insight on designing your custom home.

BY NICOLE FLOOD

BUILDING A HOME IN COMO

N

ow that you’ve decided to build and determined fi nancing, it’s time to turn the focus to designing your custom home.

When designing, you’ll have to tackle questions of who you should use and where you fi nd plans. To answer these questions, we turn to local experts as well as homeowner Bennett Arey, who is currently going through the building process.

“Once a client has decided that building a new home is right for them, they can take one of two general paths,” says Brian Morgan, owner of Brian Morgan Architects. “Their fi rst option is to hire an architect to design them a custom home specific to their family, how they live, and their particular site. The other option would be to select a pre-designed plan, possibly make some minor modifications, and fi nd a builder to build that design.”

Brian Morgan Architects, for example, is a custom home design fi rm that does not start with stock plans. Every drawing that comes out of their office is completely original and specific to a single project.

Cale Kliethermes, owner of Kliethermes Homes & Remodeling, says their company has a draftsman on staff and they can take clients from design through building for both custom homes and remodels.

“We typically talk to them about why they want to build. It’s important for us to fi nd out what they like in their current home, what they don’t like, and what they might want to keep,” says Cale. “Most of the time people will know they want it all on one level, or a story and a half with a basement. From there we just get into drawing it and creating the rendering and elevations to help people visualize what they’re going to be getting at the end of the project.”

Cale adds that people often begin with searches online to get a feel for what style they like. Walking through different homes and open houses can also help clients begin to get a feel for their likes and dislikes in floor plans, layouts, and styles.

“When building in a subdivision, you could be more limited,” Cale says. “When a particular builder is doing a full subdivision, they tend to stick with similar plans.” When the build is out on personal land, there tends to be fewer restrictions on style.

A Homeowner’s Perspective “We had been looking at newer construction homes for a while and ultimately found two floor plans that we loved certain aspects of,” says Bennett Arey. “We weren’t ready to decide on either house, so we consulted with a floor plan designer to see if it would be possible to combine the two plans. Luckily, the aspects that we liked from each house were easily combinable. From there, we started to work on the floor plan and look at land.”

The Areys worked with Todd Hague, from Clean Line Home Design, to combine their custom plan. “He was able to help us combine the two floor plans we loved,” Bennett says.

For Bennett, fi nding land has been the most difficult part of the entire building process so far. “We were originally looking for two to five acres south of town, but the inventory is incredibly limited and the price points were higher than we felt comfortable with,” he says. “Any land that became a possibility always ended up feeling like we would be

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OCTOBER 2019

PART 3: To Build or Not to Build

For Bennett Arey, finding land has been the most difficult part of the building process so far. He didn’t want to delay the start, so he tabled his land aspirations and decided on a lot in The Gates, a newer neighborhood southwest of town.

Construction is now underway.

Photography by Anthony Jinson.

compromising something with the house in order to put it on land.”

They knew they wanted to start building in the spring, so they tabled their land aspirations and decided on a lot in The Gates, a newer neighborhood southwest of town.

“Another aspect that played into us deciding to build was my wife’s comfort level with making design choices — she really looked forward to putting her ideas and style into our own personal home,” says Bennett.

“If you decide to go the custom floor plan route, know what’s important to you right away — don’t compromise on your musthave items and make sure you feel like you can picture the home at completion,” Bennett recommends. “For instance, our biggest roadblock came from the master closet, and we think it could have been avoided with better initial planning. After getting everything confi gured for our plan, we taped out the space on the ground and it was much smaller than we were wanting. Unfortunately, we found out you can’t always just make a room bigger. A few feet of difference can throw off the whole roof design or many other aspects of your plan.

Our best solution in this case was to bump the closet a foot into the garage and push a wall that affected our pantry.”

Lastly, Bennett recommends checking out the Parade of Homes in Columbia if you’re wanting to build a home. “If you’re considering building, I would strongly encourage touring on the Parade of Homes and really think about whether you can make all the decisions that go into building a house yourself. There are so many great

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55

BUILDING A HOME IN COMO

PART 3: To Build or Not to Build

neighborhoods and builders in town, and the ability to see them all and compare them all in a weekend is very beneficial!”

Tips for Picking a Designer

There are so many websites and resources available. A lot of clients come prepared with ideas from Pinterest and Houzz. Once I get an idea of what they may like, I can pull from my plan archives to help piece together a concept. We don’t always start from scratch.”

– Todd Hague, Clean Line Home Design

56

OCTOBER 2019

One tip for prospective homeowners looking to fi nd designers is to check with their personal and professional contacts.

“Most of my referrals come from past custom clients or builders,” says Todd Hague, of Clean Line Home Design. “I’m a design draftsman, specializing in residential construction and remodeling.”

When it comes to looking for plans, Todd says: “There are so many websites and resources available. A lot of clients come prepared with ideas from Pinterest and Houzz. Once I get an idea of what they may like, I can pull from my plan archives to help piece together a concept. We don’t always start from scratch.”

“Anyone looking to build a new home should always do their research and explore who is available to help them with this process,” adds Brian. “They should look at their work showcased online and speak with other professionals in the custom home building process. Once they narrow down their potential architects, they should meet with them to talk about how their process works, what types of deliverables they can expect throughout the design process, and make sure that all of the different personalities work well together. Designing a new home takes time and work, and you want to ensure that you enjoy working with everyone throughout the process.”

Cale adds that it’s important to fi nd someone who fits your style. “You’re really entering into a relationship with someone,” he says. “Make sure they have a similar vision and can help you accomplish your goals. The sooner you start meeting with the designer or building company, the better off you are.”

Advice for the Design Process Cale says you must know how long you

want to stay in the home. “If you plan to live in the house for 20 years, you shouldn’t really worry about trends because it’s going to change in 20 years,” he says. “If you’re going to be there for five years, then you want your home to be resalable. Any layout can be done really well and have a nice, updated look to it.”

He adds that being open to possibilities and keeping an open mind can lead you to unique designs that work really well for how you want to experience your new home. “From design and planning to layout and the fi nished product, we do everything in-house,” Cale says. “It’s easy and inexpensive to fi x things on paper before going into contract. Seeing everything laid out on paper really takes a lot of stress out of the project.”

Brian emphasizes that it’s important to discuss that what they do is a process.

“We’re working to bring together the particular characteristics of their site, how they want to live in a new house, and characteristics of whatever style appeals to them together into a cohesive design,” he says. “Th is process includes drawing up lots of different ideas and then working with the client to see what pieces appeal to them so we can fi gure out how to stitch them back together for a complete design. Th is process takes time, but we feel that it’s important, so we get it right the fi rst time. We’ll create a lot of different design drawings to ensure that we only have to build it once,” he says.

“Our focus is to understand who they are, how they live, and how we can create the perfect design to fit that exact person or family and the site on which it will sit,” adds Brian. “Our process looks at the views of the site, the sun angles throughout the different seasons of the year, and how the existing shape of the earth will best fit with a new home. Our staff is passionate about design and committed to creating the perfect solutions that match our clients and the budget.”

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Don’t Move. Improve You’ve been in your home for a while now. As attached to it as you’ve become. though, there have always been things you wished you could change. And now. finally, you think the time has come to address those changes and undertake the project you’ve always dreamed about. We can help you with that.

One of our recent projects required us to expand living space for a family. You can also maximize yours by controlling the flow of the room. Arranging furniture into zones allows you to define spaces within the room. An open floor plan brings a sense of airiness into the home, which is something our client loves.

Whether the project you have in mind is similarly ambitious. or on a smaller scale, Kliethermes Homes & Remodeling has been helping clients like you turn the idea in their head into reality since 1976.

Give us a call today to get started on that home improvement project you’ve been thinking about forever.

Call Cale today to begin your next project.

573.446.2222 | kliethermes.com 58

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Brendan Rost

Anne Tuckley

Jake Baumgartner

Glenda Hardin

Cale Kliethermes

Ross Kulik

ROST LANDSCAPING

ANNE TUCKLEY HOME

BAUMGARTNER’S FURNITURE

IRON GATE REAL ESTATE

KLIETHERMES HOMES & REMODELING

TLC MORTGAGE

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The Mortgage Nitty-Gritty

By Ross Kulik Find more at tlcmortgage.com

I

f you look up “nitty-gritty” in the dictionary (yes, surprisingly it is actually in there), you’ll find the following definition: What is essential and basic. Specific practical details.

With that foundation laid, the “nitty-gritty” of the mortgage process is really pretty simple. I didn’t say it is easy, but there are definitely some basic principles that you can follow to make your experience a good one.

First off, it’s OK to shop around. In fact, you’d be crazy not to. There is a sometimes overlooked provision in the FICO scoring formula that provides a window for “rateshopping” without having an adverse impact on your credit. You should keep the shopping within a two week window if at all possible to ensure your intentions and actions are clear.

Secondly, you don’t absolutely have to have a big down payment to get a mortgage.

Does it help? Sure.

But even in today’s post-2008 world, you can get a conventional mortgage with as little as 3% down. FHA loans usually need a 3.5% downpayment. And for a VA or a USDA loan, you may not need a downpayment at all.

And lastly, your credit might be a gamechanger? What do I mean by that? Well, it’s two fold: 1.

Good credit can save you a fortune in the long run. That isn’t to say you can’t get a mortgage with less-than-

awesome credit, but good or great credit can save you thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars in interest.

2.

Once you are moving through the process toward a home purchase, you must be very careful to avoid other things that could impact your credit before closing. If you agree to purchase a home, don’t go out and take a loan out on a new car in the time leading up to closing?

While that advice seems elementary,

it happens more than you might imagine. You want to avoid anything that will change your variables ahead of closing…period.

To summarize, getting a loan isn’t always easy. But it also doesn’t have to always be difficult either. Like most other things, getting a grasp on the basics will help you in the long run. Find the right loan officer, let them help you find the right loan product, and then bask in the light of knowing you are on the path to homeownership.

Ross Kulik

TOTAL LENDING CONCEPTS Ross grew up in St. Louis but calls Columbia, MO home. He is married with 2 wonderful daughters and 2 sweet dogs. Over the last 20 years, he has counseled numerous families on how to purchase and refinance their homes. As you may know, the mortgage industry has changed immensely. How do you know who will best help you through this process with honesty and integrity? Ross’s repeat customers say that he made their transactions effortless, and they appreciated his honest and straightforward approach. When Ross is not working, he enjoys spending time with his family, hiking and biking on the many trails and parks in and around his hometown.

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6 Tips to Help Save on Your Home Remodel come back. We ended up rebuilding the porch from scratch. Getting it right the first time helps you stay on budget.

By Cale Kliethermes Find more at kliethermes.com

D

etermining the budget for your home remodel takes time and can feel like a daunting task. We all have expectations of what we want our dream home to look like.

Getting a handle on how much these dreams will cost you will set you up for success.

It’s best to plan early and be realistic about your budget. During the 43 years we have been serving Columbia, we’ve learned a thing or two about projects that run smoothly – and those that don’t.

Here is a list of budgeting tips to help you get started: 1. FIND YOUR PURPOSE FOR REMODELING A good question to ask yourself when determining your remodeling budget is, “Why am I remodeling?” You could be growing your family, looking to increase the value of your home, or just looking for a more appealing and functional home.

2. DETERMINE THE AMOUNT YOU WANT TO INVEST How much money do you have in short-term savings? If you know that the project will exceed your savings, it’s best to consider financing. When this is the case, go back to your family budget to determine how much money can be applied to a home equity loan or refinanced mortgage payment.

3. DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE A common misconception about finding a

5. CONSIDER ALTERNATE MATERIALS AND DESIGNS In many instances, older furniture can be repurposed or more affordable materials can be used to be more cost-efficient. Oftentimes, the contractor has negotiated discounts for many of the different materials they use to help offset their markup.

contractor is to get three bids and simply compare estimates with other contractors to find the best deal. If your objective is to get a quality job at a fair price, this tactic can often be very misleading.

If you’re concerned about getting a “good deal,” consider relying on a contractor that has an excellent reputation. Get recommendations from friends, relatives, neighbors, and local lumberyards.

4. PLAN FROM BEGINNING TO END Before getting started on your home remodeling project, it’s very important to come up with a well-thought-out project from beginning to end. You will save time and money if you think through your plan and get it right the first time.

We had a client who once got a referral from their realtor for a screened porch build by a handyman. A year later, we received a call from them saying the porch was falling apart and the original handyman would not

6. DON’T USE PRICE AS A DETERMINING FACTOR Never use price alone as a determining factor when planning your home remodel.

Whenever you encounter a low-price offer, some questions should immediately come to mind. For example, why is the price so low?

What’s missing here? Has the contractor figured enough into the cost to provide me with the level of service I expect?

If you find a contractor that you feel really good about, but their price is more the you can afford or you simply do not want to invest as much as has been quoted, just explain this to the contractor. A professional contractor will welcome the opportunity to help you redesign your project or make whatever changes are necessary in order to better fit your budget.

At Kliethermes Homes & Remodeling, we love all types of home renovations. It delights us to make the client’s dream a reality. If you are thinking about how you could update your home but don’t know where to start or how to budget the costs, contact us to learn more!

Cale Kliethermes

KLIETHERMES HOMES & REMODELING Cale Kliethermes has learned the construction business from the ground up, working with his father to uphold the 40-year legacy that is Kliethermes Homes & Remodeling. Having been immersed in the industry since his teenage years, Cale possesses decades’ worth of expert knowledge and experience regarding new construction and remodels. Cale studied business administration and finance at Regis University, in Denver, Colorado, and earned his CGR (Certified Graduate Remodeler) designation from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). He also served in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps, where he built secure housing and observation posts. Cale specializes in leading homeowners through the creative process of designing their ideal home, and he is skilled in determining unique solutions that result in life-changing differences.

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A Small Investment Can Result in a Big Payoff

By Anne Tuckley Find more at AnneTuckleyhome.com

I

n business, we accept the old adage, “you have to spend money to make money.”

The same is often true when selling your home.

Needing to sell a home is not always the result of a positive change, and even when it is, many are hesitant to put any money into the property before putting it on the market, figuring the buyers will likely change it anyways. Other buyers argue that they can simply put a condition into the contract to recognize the imperfection (I’m flinching as I type this).

Will the buyers paint your walls or rip out the new flooring? Possibly, but you know what? It doesn’t matter. By making the investment to fix up your home now, you are increasing the value of your home. Think about it - what’s $500 in paint and materials when you ultimately sell your home for $5,000 more because of the new paint job?

Like business, there are wise investments and there are poor investments when it comes to getting your home ready for sale.

Huge projects like installing a deck are not necessarily going to recoup your costs.

Focus on the little updates. Here are my top 5 recommendations to get your house market-ready.

1. Staging - Hire a staging professional to prepare your home. They will be able to tell you what to leave out, what to pack, what needs to be arranged, and what odors need to be covered up.

You may have an absolutely stunningly decorated home, but it looks like your home. A professional stager will prepare your home so that potential buyers envision it as being their home.

4.

Paint - Neutral walls reign supreme when it comes to home sales. Even something as simple as the color of your door impacts the cost of your home. Be sure to also touch up those scuffs.

2.

Cleaning - We all accept or overlook areas of dirt in our own home.

Sometimes we get a little “blind” to it. Hire a professional to get a truly deep clean.

5.

3.

Lighting - Lightbulbs are cheap.

Replace all of your lightbulbs to ensure all of your lights are working properly.

Something as simple as a burnedout bulb will leave a potential buyer questioning the condition of the home.

Realtor - Hire a real estate agent. Yes, you legally can sell a home yourself, but unless you have extensive experience in the industry, an agent is going to be able to help you get your home priced right and sold quickly.

Yes, they get a commission, but they are working hard and spending considerably to promote your home and get it off the market as quickly as possible for you.

Anne Tuckley

ANNE TUCKLEY HOME Anne has been in the interior design industry for over 20 years and has resided in many metropolitan cities from NYC to Houston while honing in on her skills. Her specialties are interior design and home staging, with a focus on unique perception. Anne graduated with a BFA in fine art with a concentration in design and illustration. She has extensive experience in designing new construction as well as remodeling and conceptualizing out-of-the-box ideas. She ensures cutting edge design and superb customer service.

108 CORPORATE LAKE PLACE, COLUMBIA, MO 65203 573-639-1989 | ANNETUCKLEYHOME.COM

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Online isn’t Always On Point for Savings and Quality

By Jake Baumgartner Find more at baumgartners.com

S

ometimes furniture shoppers believe they can save money by purchasing furnishings online. The truth often turns out to be quite the contrary. Cheap furniture is cheap for a reason. Often it’s cheaply made and also provides no savings as it has such a short lifespan.

Outside of the quality factor, furniture is easily one of the more personal purchases you make. You have to sit on it, stretch out on it, feel fabrics … kick the tires. Not to mention you need to feel confident how these new pieces will integrate in your home. Scale is hard to determine simply with photos and measurements. There’s also the “feel” to how the piece fills space. Our consultants help people make those types of decisions each and every day. And they do it quite well. We answer questions, make suggestions and give shoppers a sense of confidence in their ultimate selections.

Shoppers often place too much trust in reviews. Sadly, fake reviews are prevalent and there’s no current policing in place. It’s not uncommon for online businesses to pay for fake reviews through a marketing company.

When the purchase price goes up, so does the danger of relying on reviews for decision making purposes.

And if a problem arises? Oh, boy. That’s an entirely different set of issues and challenges.

Local stores like us prioritize taking care of problems to the client’s satisfaction. Let’s face it, some of the online savings is also only realized because there’s essentially no legitimate customer service. And when you’re making a purchase of this size, from start to finish, customer service is VERY important.

It also happens to be an area we excel.

Our customers know the owners are in the stores, very invested in the well-being and happiness of our clients.

We understand the importance of providing a good value and staying within budgets. And given our history of 70 years in business, it’s something else we do very well.

After all, our clients are our friends, neighbors and families.

We’ll continue to beat the “shop local” drum as long as we can, and for a variety of legitimate and important reasons. If you’re living and doing business in these communities, hopefully you feel the same way.

Jake Baumgartner

BAUMGARTNER’S FURNITURE Jake essentially grew up in the furniture industry as he is the fourth generation involved in Baumgartner’s Furniture. Working very closely with his father, Alan, Jake has been devoted to the stores full-time since 2004. His greatest enjoyment, however, still comes from working closely with the customers. He is married to Sarah and they have two active boys, Noah and Laine. Jake received his degree in finance from Saint Louis University.

573-256-6288 BAUMGARTNERS.COM

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Maximizing Investments: Illuminating Your Home

By Brendan Rost Find more at rostlandscaping.com

T

ake a moment and envision your home with the landscape of your dreams – perfectly maintained, well-balanced, and naturally drawing focus to your front door.

Now picture it again at night. Many of you may see lighting throughout the landscape illuminating your path— you’re on the right track. But even if you’re picturing complete darkness, this article is for you, too.

Outdoor lighting is a feature that can elevate your existing landscape or invigorate your upcoming project. For most of us, our home is our biggest investment and our landscape is an extension of that, so maximizing usage of the space is paramount.

Proper lighting highlights key features, adds security, increases functionality, and enhances the overall enjoyment of a space.

At Rost Inc., we often use lighting to highlight points of interest like specimen trees and boulders in the landscape or interesting architecture on the home. This adds definition to the space and shows off key features that make your home special.

There are a number of pitfalls to avoid when designing your lighting package, such as the runway effect, which happens when your walkway lighting has too much symmetry; it overexposes the area.

Pool areas and patios flourish with lighting systems in place because they help you

maximize your usage and enjoyment of the space. Mobile apps also make controlling your system as easy as changing a song.

These areas benefit from color fixtures that let you to choose any shade imaginable to set the mood or help set the theme for events or holidays. We can also use fixtures to eliminate dimly lit areas around the property and allow you to feel more secure.

The list of benefits goes on, but I’ll let the photos of past projects do the rest.

Now is a great time to look into landscape lighting. The industry has seen a renaissance in the past few years with the rise in quality and affordability of LEDs and smart controllers.

Integrated fixtures are now available that wick heat away from the LED panels and double the life of the LEDs over their non-integrated counterparts. This eliminates the need for

routine maintenance and bulb replacement that has plagued halogen bulb systems for decades. Integrated fixtures come with a 10year manufacturer warranty that ensures your system stays relevant for years to come.

Lighting is a growing trend in the landscape industry that will only continue to expand and become more accessible as the technology progresses. It has already eliminated the need for short-lived, limited soffit fixtures just through its versatility and ease of use. This is complimented by the minimally invasive install process and quick turnaround time for new systems. Ever-expanding product lines ensure that whether it’s path lights, cans, wall lights, or washes, we’ve got you covered, and all you’ll need is to find someone with the design and install experience to make it a reality. (We can help you there, as well!)

Brendan Rost

ROST LANDSCAPING Brendan Rost is a Columbia native and son of owners Tim and Toby Rost. He grew up playing at the garden center and nursery and has worked in all divisions of Rost Inc. since. Brendan received his B.S. in Horticulture and Design from the University of Missouri and now works as a designer in the landscaping division. He thrives on building relationships and creating unique landscapes that complement the space.

573-445-4465 ROSTLANDSCAPING.COM

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An Unmatched Respect + Appreciation Featuring Glenda Hardin Find more at IGREALESTATE.COM

I

t’s no secret that hiring a real estate professional is key to navigating the purchase or sale of real estate. Our licensed experts are trained and educated to smoothly get all parties through the process with a delightful outcome.

Your agent is only as strong as their personnel team of experts working alongside them. Every transaction is different and with each, a unique set of skills are needed.

Perhaps it’s legal, negotiations, marketing, or sales. It’s crucial you hire an agent whose brokerage has experts in all facets.

HIGHEST LEVEL OF RESPECT The truest determination of career success is the desire to never retire. Hard work, sharing of knowledge, genuine drive, and an ability to thrive in all environments are just a few of the constants in Glenda’s career. As our designated broker, and one of the highest positions in a real estate brokerage, Glenda has proven time and time again that Iron Gate Real Estate has unmatched experience and expertise at their fingertips.

GETTING STARTED Growing up on a dairy farm in MidMissouri, Glenda has been able to watch our communities grow into what we know today. She began her professional career as a teacher and then owner of her own nursery school. It was always a goal to have a career that allowed her to be an incredible mother

to her three children, who are still a huge part of her life. While it seems she never got away from teaching, she translated her skills into the real estate industry in 1968 and has been an icon in Mid-Missouri ever since.

DECADES OF EXPERTISE After getting her broker license in 1972, Glenda began teaching and training agents – many of whom we now know as staples in Columbia. Originally beginning her career with Gaslight, she travelled across the state ensuring agents understood every aspect of a real estate contracts and their responsibilities.

Glenda wrote contracts when they were literally written and then carbon copied because there was no copy machine. She chased deals on foot, via pay phone, and now through text and QR codes.

As we sort through thousands of online listings, Glenda can pick up the tiniest of details, as she remembers inventory being printed in a monthly book.

It is truly her ability to continue to thrive, as

the industry is in a perpetual stage of change, that defines Glenda’s greatest strengths.

50 YEARS LATER As one of our on-call brokers, Glenda still reviews hundreds of listings and contracts that funnel through Iron Gate Real Estate. Our agents can often be overheard introducing Glenda as someone who “has forgotten more about real estate than most of us will ever know.” At IGRE, we know that having an experienced DR with a wealth of knowledge is key to offering our agents the best service.

HOW TO KNOW YOU’RE GETTING THE BEST Ask! When interviewing your agents, ask about their brokerage experience levels. How many cumulative years of experience are found within their management team? Who is training and teaching as the industry evolves?

A professional agent and professional brokerage are always happy to answer these questions in depth.

Glenda Hardin

IRON GATE REAL ESTATE Glenda has been a real estate Broker since 1972. She has been a trainer and/or managing broker for all those years. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri specializing in Business Education.

She loves working as a Broker of Iron Gate Real Estate and enjoys working with an excellent staff and team of real estate experts. Helping agents grow their businesses is her specialty. Her experience makes her the go-to person for the agents in the Company. She enjoys reading, movies, cooking, traveling and most of all spending time with her family. Her Son, Curtis Hardin is a local Classic Country singer and she travels extensively to his gigs.

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OCTOBER 2019

Affordable

INDULGENCE You don’t need our permission to pamper yourself but you might just need to know some ways to do so affordably!

Here are some great options

Nikki Aleto

COACHING

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You can actually stimulate the body’s energy meridian points by tapping with your fingertips — literally tapping into your body’s own energy and healing powers.

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to feel like a million dollars ... without breaking the bank!

Call to schedule a free phone consultation and see how I can help. nikkialeto.com (573) 424-4344

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Do any of these symptoms sound familiar?

Lack of energy Stubborn belly fat Can’t sleep Depressed Anxious Irritable Brain fog Decreased libido Joint pain Let’s get to the root cause of your symptom(s)!

Feeling lethargic, experiencing low libido and feeling “off” isn’t normal. The same goes for memory loss, inability to focus and irritability. Often considered normal signs of aging, these symptoms are actually common in people suffering from a hormone imbalance. Visit your Evexias clinic today and see how we can help you rejuvenate, regenerate and restore your body back to feeling optimal.

www.evexiasmedical.com 68

OCTOBER 2019

Changing the Odds LANDING THE JOB SEMINAR Join us!

Friday, October 25 8:30 am - 2:00pm Chamber of Commerce

Reward Yourself... with the experience of world-class relaxation and rejuvenation.

Call 573.365.8108 today to book your visit.

Our amenities include salt purified co-ed whirlpool, eucalyptus infused steam room and dry heat saunas in ladies’ and men’s locker rooms, meditation/resting area with fireplace, café for lunch, smoothies and other beverages, yoga classes, a fitness room, movement studio and indoor/outdoor pool.

At Spa Shiki we use natural and organic products free of harsh chemicals and toxins in all our services and treatments.

Thank you to our Sponors PRESENTING SPONSOR MISSOURI EMPLOYERS MUTUAL Gold Sponsors Atkins, Inc., Columbia College, Huebert Builders, Job Point, JobFinders Employment Services, Salon Nefisa, True North of Columbia Lunch Sponsor Atkins Inc. Breakfast Sponsor McClure Engineering Media Sponsors KRCG CBS 13, The Business Times Company, The Columbia Missourian Printing Sponsor Columbia College Gift Certificate Sponsors The Assistance League of Mid-Mo/Upscale Resale, Salon Nefissa

# 1 Spa in Missouri

www.SpaShiki.com

INSTANT GIFT CARDS MAKE THE PERFECT GIFT FOR EVERY SPECIAL OCCASION! 70

OCTOBER 2019

Resource Bag Sponsor Moberly Area Community College; Resource Item Sponsors Moberly Area Community College, Morgan Restaurants, Nathan Jones Law, Shelter Insurance - Mike Messer, Show Me Leaders, Sky Zone, White Dog Promotions LLC

columbiamochamber.com/events

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Downsizing is the new ‘Upsizing’

O

ne of the biggest obstacles for some guests taking a tour is the fear they are giving up their independence. In actuality, this is far from true! We’re here to shed some light on the downsizing process and how The Village of Bedford Walk is Missouri’s premier place to retire - where downsizing can really be the first step to upsizing you or your loved one’s life!

Karen Hayes, our Move-In Specialist, is unique to The Village of Bedford Walk. She helps with the entire move-in process including choosing the furniture, putting floor plans together and so much more. The best part is this service is included for all our new move-ins.

“When a resident moves here from out of state, I make contact by telephone and email. If they are within a few hours, I enjoy making the drive because I learn so much by spending an hour or so in their home. It helps me make the transition easier for them because I get a real feel for what they like. I get to hear stories about pieces of furniture and mementos. I also help them find a moving company, measure the items they want to bring along and put together a notebook with a few different ideas for floor plans. Once they get here, I spend a few hours with them getting them set up.”

A common misconception is when someone sees an empty apartment and thinks, “Oh, it’s so small. I can’t bring all my furniture.”

Karen’s floor plans help them understand how it all comes together. She often puts down tape so that residents can visualize their furniture in their new home.

Karen Hayes maps out a plan with new residents.

KAREN OFFERS THESE TIPS TO DOWNSIZING: 1.

Find items in your home that you rarely use and move them out of sight to the garage or a closet. Put Post-It notes on the items you think you cannot live without.

In a few weeks, think about whether you have used those items. This can help you start the process of thinning out and downsizing. You do not need to rush the process; take as much time as you can.

And of course, you can always ask family members what they would like to have.

2.

A big concern is what to do with all of those photos and files you have collected over the years. For photos, decorative photo boxes, scrapbooks or photo albums are good options. For files, Karen can help look up the length of time suggested to keep certain records, and if it is time to get rid of them, there are companies who can come to you to shred.

3.

When it comes to furniture, Karen can help decide how to proceed. There are several places in town that will pick up your items as a donation for a tax write-off.

There are also a few resale shops in town.

“Making the decision to move is the biggest challenge. This demographic has worked their entire life to earn money, to buy a house, to be self-sufficient – it can almost feel like a step backward to move. Once they manage those feelings and actually come for a visit, they see how fun Bedford Walk is and how they can interact with other residents. It is really a great community – they become the best of friends.”

With over 100 activities each month, private transportation, daily luncheons by awardwinning Peachtree Catering and more, making the move to The Village of Bedford Walk will leave you feeling as if you have truly upsized.

Call or stop in today to take your tour.

415 Bailey Drive, Columbia 573.203.5656 | TheVillageofBedfordWalk.com

Business

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CREATING THEIR OWN PATH

FINDING FINANCIAL FREEDOM

NEW RESOURCES, SAME GOAL

SuretyBonds.com celebrates 10 years of business and challenging the status quo.

How Central Bank of Boone County’s ProsperU program is changing Columbia communities.

A family successor and a new location allow Brockmeier Financial Services to grow.

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OCTOBER 2019

CLOSER LOOK

Business

OCTOBER 2019

love for me to come and open a restaurant here at this location, so I took the opportunity.”

Formerly located on East Broadway, Th ip’s Asian Bistro re-opened in April at their new location on Walnut Street. In addition to the new location, they also updated the Th ip Thai cuisine. Kitt says the bistro is still Th ip Thai, but with more Asian cuisine on the menu and a variety of new options for the customers.

Kitt says he hopes to build up more of a bar/late-night scene at the restaurant. They currently have a full bar and he hopes that, in the future, they can start serving food past midnight.

807 E. WALNUT ST. 573-442-5011

Jypsyloot

Just Jeff’s

Beginning as a hot dog cart on MU’s campus, Just Jeff ’s has evolved into a local favorite for burgers, hot dogs, and more.

Owner Jeff Spencer says the switch from mobile cart to permanent location was kind of an accident.

He rented a building on the Business Loop to sell food on rainy days when he couldn’t make it to MU. “After about the fi rst week of being there, I was selling more food there than I was on campus,” Jeff says.

The location became permanent, and its success has led to the opening of a second location on the south side of town in May. There, customers can find the same fan-loved menu and drive-thru, with the addition of indoor seating.

For now, Jeff says his future plan is to just keep everything going. “My wife said I can’t open up more restaurants,” he laughs. “It’s been one crazy ride.”

SOUTH LOCATION 510 E. GREEN MEADOWS RD. 573-673-8741 FACEBOOK .COM/JUSTJEFFSCOMO

Thip’s Asian Bistro

Kittikoon Chompupong, known as “Chef Kitt,” says he saw an opportunity to re-open his restaurant in a new location. The new space “was vacant and one of my regulars had ownership of this building. He said he would

Hannah Selovich, owner and operator of Jypsyloot in downtown Columbia, says it took years of people letting her sell her custom jewelry in their stores for her to get where she is today. Because of that, she says it’s important to her that she now gives that chance to other local artists and musicians in her store. “I’ve got about six or seven local bands that sell their CDs or shirts in my store,” Hannah says.

With the help of Caitlin Trowbridge, her friend and business partner, Hannah was able to open her store. “Without her education and her urging me to go on, I wouldn’t have opened my store,” Hannah says. “It wouldn’t be possible without her.”

The store features Hannah’s handmade items and upcycled vintage pieces as well as local handmade jewelry and local band merchandise. Jypsyloot opened in May and while Hannah says the experience has been hectic, “It’s been so incredibly rewarding at the same time. It’s been a really big learning experience for me, above anything.”

814 E. BROADWAY JYPSYLOOT@GMAIL.COM FACEBOOK .COM/JYPSYLOOT

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Briefly in the News O CTOB E R 201 9

ED UCAT I O N

Columbia College Dedicates New Hall On September 25, Columbia College dedicated New Hall, their new $20 million academic and residence hall, as well as the Robert W. Plaster School of Business.

HEALTH

Boone Hospital Center Ranked No. 1 For the fifth year in a row, Boone Hospital Center was ranked the #1 hospital in Mid-Missouri

by U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News ranks hospitals based on 12 specialties utilizing a mathematical model combining reputation, mortality rate, patient safety, and care-related factors such as patient services.

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OCTOBER 2019

Business AWARD S

Veterans United Awarded Top Workplace Veterans United Home Loans has been named one of the country’s 100 Best Workplaces for Millennials in 2019, coming in at number 11. The list was compiled by Great Place to Work and FORTUNE. Veterans United is the most significant VA lender in the country and has nearly 2,700 employees nationwide, of which more than 1,800 are millennials.

EXPANS IO N

Fresh Ideas Creates New Partnership Fresh Ideas Food Service Management announces its fi rst partnership in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with the preeminent independent school in the region, Boyd Buchanan. Fresh Ideas provides food service management solutions for K-12, higher education, and commercial markets.

EDU CAT IO N

New KBIA Radio Series COMO200, the mayor’s task force on bicentennial celebration planning, has partnered with KBIA, an NPR-affi liate station, to produce a multi-part series delving into the often-unheard histories of Columbia’s black community. The “You Don’t Say” series will record conversations between members of the black community about their lives and their memories of the people, places, and events of Columbia’s past. The series of eight to 10 episodes will be recorded, edited, and aired on KBIA. L AW

Evans & Dixon LLC Expands Chicago-based Roddy Law Ltd. joined Evans & Dixon in September. Th is partnership will expand Evans & Dixon’s roster of full-time attorneys to more than

90 and will add a new office location, increasing the fi rm’s footprint to seven cities, including Columbia.

“This expansion is a significant addition to our firm, and will enhance our ability to serve clients who have substantial interests in Chicago and Northern Illinois,” — TIM TIERNEY, MANAGING MEMBER OF EVANS & DIXON. CO MMUNITY

U.S. Cellular Supports Veterans For the third consecutive year, U.S. Cellular associates in Mid-Missouri helped extend the reach of Operation: Veteran Smiles, a program created by teenager Amelia Day to bring smiles and basic necessities to veterans. In support of

BRIEFLY

this initiative, the associates packed more than 120 toiletry kits, wrote personal cards, and hand-delivered them to patients at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital.

AWAR D S

StoryUP Chosen

by Apple

StoryUP, the makers of a mind-powered virtual and augmented reality product called Healium, was chosen to attend Apple’s summer entrepreneur cohort, an immersive technology lab for organizations founded and led by women.

The Missouri startup, incubated at the Missouri Innovation Center and ECJC in Kansas City, joined other companies from around the world for the session in Cupertino, California, working with Apple experts and engineers.

HEALTH

MU Health Care Recognized for ALS Treatment MU Health Care has been named an ALS Certified Treatment Center of Excellence by the ALS Association, the fi rst hospital in Mid-Missouri to earn the designation.

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. MU Health Care’s ALS clinic brings together disciplines such as physical and occupational therapists— all available in one appointment to provide the most convenient care possible.

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Business

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

OCTOBER 2019

N A N C Y S I LV E R

A 33-year veteran employee of Job Point, Nancy Silver retired in September. She served as vice president for 23 years. Through her service, Nancy helped bring more than $20.9 million in grants to Job Point and more than $4.5 million through fundraising efforts.

M E L I S S A G A L L OWAY

Melissa Galloway has been selected as the new principal for West Boulevard Elementary School. She began her new role in July. Melissa has 22 years of experience in education at both the elementary and secondary levels at different schools in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

KLINGNER & A S S O C I AT E S , P C

MU graduates Jack DeCamp and Alex Keneipp have joined the Klingner & Associates, PC engineering team. Both will provide technical support and engineering assistance for projects throughout the Midwest – Jack for mechanical engineering and Alex for structural engineering.

DANIEL LINNEMAN

McClure is excited to welcome former intern Daniel Linneman to the company as a full-time structural designer in the

Columbia office. At McClure, Daniel will be working on cold-formed steel design and working closely with structural designer Josh Garton and project manager Celeste Spickert.

CAROL MCENTYRE

First Baptist Church of Columbia Pastor Carol McEntyre has been elected to serve as moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Moderator is the highest elected officer of the fellowship.

Carol will be presiding over the fellowship’s annual meeting, as well as serving as the chair for the governing board.

consumer loan sales and the management and supervision of the banking center employees at the Forum banking center and the continued business development of Columbia and the surrounding area. Providence Bank in Columbia has also named Billie Connally vice president, retail market manager for the central Missouri and Texas markets. She will develop a service culture and relationship building strategies, as well as facilitate banker development for the retail line of business. Billie has more than 20 years of banking experience.

MISSOURI

JESSICA MACY

EMPLOYERS MUTUAL

Services for Independent Living, or SIL, hired Jessica Macy as their executive director in June. Jessica’s professional experience includes serving as the executive director of Boone County Council on Aging, deputy director of SIL, and director of development at the Food Bank for Central and NE Missouri. Jessica joins SIL from New Chapter Coaching where she was a senior associate.

Nothanael Leon has been hired as a process engineer.

Nothaneal joined MEM after more than 23 years in strategic business operations management with Xerox Corporation. Jennifer James, CPCU, has been added as a regional underwriting manager. Jennifer joined MEM from State Farm, where she spent 24 years in various underwriting and leadership roles. Cindy Kuhn has been promoted from executive sales manager to director of sales. Cindy joined MEM in October 2018 with more than 28 years of sales and territory management experience with roles at Safeco and most recently at Liberty Mutual.

PROVIDENCE BANK

Michael Wagner was named vice president, director of consumer loan sales, and banking center manager at Providence Bank. In his role, Mike is responsible for

S I LV E R

G A L L OWAY

MCENTYRE

MACY

WAG N E R

C O N N A L LY

LEON

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OCTOBER 2019

Business

PYSK

Heather Rapp Vice President and General Manager, Isle of Capri Casino Hotel Boonville JOB DESCRIPTION

I’m responsible for the oversight of and ensuring success of all property operations and team members. My job includes the oversight of close to 900 slot machines, 20 table games, 3 restaurants, a 140-room hotel, and more than 400 team members.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science from Upper Iowa University PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

I’ve been in the gaming industry, and with the same company, since 1997. I started in the food and beverage department before moving to the marketing department in 2000. I have held most marketing positions within the company, ending with the role of regional senior director of marketing, which meant I oversaw marketing operations for the four Isle of Capri properties in Missouri.

When Eldorado Resorts purchased Isle of Capri in 2017, I was fortunate to be able to come back to the property as the senior director of marketing and hospitality before accepting the general manager position in May 2018.

HOMETOWN

St. Lucas, Iowa. Population 198.

YEARS LIVED IN BOONVILLE

15 years

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FAVORITE COMMUNITY ACTIVITY

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic School Auction is my favorite event of the year. Th is event benefits my daughters’ school and raises over $50,000 each year. It’s a fantastic event and such a great show of support. I also enjoy being involved with any Community Aces event. Community Aces is the Isle of Capri’s charitable giving and volunteer program, through which we host dozens of different volunteer opportunities throughout the year.

WHY YOU ENJOY MANAGING THE ISLE OF CAPRI CASINO HOTEL BOONVILLE

It’s truly something new every single day.

Some days it’s a good new and some days it’s a bad new, but I welcome the challenge of both. I have a fantastic team that works hard each and every day to accomplish our goals.

WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BEING A FEMALE GENERAL MANAGER IN THE CASINO INDUSTRY

Historically, my position has been primarily held by males. I have been very fortunate to work with and learn from these leaders. I have also had the opportunity to have incredible female mentors. I made every effort to observe their behavior and emulate it as best I can.

They taught me to always be confident in my abilities and put on my own oxygen mask first.

current guests without gaining enough of a

"I have a knack for digging into a problem, asking the right questions, figuring out the root cause, and pushing myself and my team to get it fixed."

THE NEXT CHALLENGE FACING THE CASINO INDUSTRY

Like any industry, our biggest challenge is, and always will be, innovation. When your main product offering is entertainment, guests need to walk away feeling like they had an experience worth the price tag. We ask ourselves two questions every single day: First, how do we enhance our current offerings to stay exciting for our existing markets? Second, how do we expand our offerings to attract new audiences without alienating our current audience? We know the gaming industry is all about timing.

Be an early adopter and you may lose your

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OCTOBER 2019

GREATEST WEAKNESS

I’m impatient, have very high expectations, and overthink most things.

NEXT PROFESSIONAL GOAL

Fingers crossed I hit the Powerball so I can retire early, buy a chain of Chick-fi l-A restaurants, and live on a beach somewhere.

WHAT YOU DO FOR FUN

I’ve been blessed with really great friends and family in this life, and I enjoy spending time with them. I also enjoy reading, shopping, traveling, eating, and watching Cardinals baseball and Iowa Hawkeye football.

WHAT YOU DO TO RELAX

Find a quiet spot in my house and bingewatch Netfl ix or the latest reality TV show.

CURRENT FAVORITE TV SHOW

I’m a big fan of the Chicago shows on NBC: “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago PD,” and “Chicago Med.” FAVORITE INDULGENCE

Cream cheese frosting. Plain. No cake, no cupcake. Just give me a spoon.

FAVORITE RECENT PROJECT

I have had the pleasure of working closely with our food and beverage team, as well as our design fi rm, to develop a brand-new restaurant for our property called The Brew Brothers. The Brew Brothers will replace our current buffet and will offer a large beer selection (both craft beers and standard domestics), delicious appetizers and desserts, and mouthwatering entrées.

root cause, and pushing myself and my team to get it fi xed. I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty to find solutions to our problems.

new audience to make up the difference. Be a laggard and you find yourself constantly playing catch-up, with your guests moving on to the next big thing somewhere else.

IF YOU WEREN’T WORKING AT THE CASINO, YOU WOULD . . .

Run a nonprofit that helps young, underprivileged women develop career skills to be successful. I feel there is a need for more strong women in the workplace, and some may need a little boost to get there.

BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED IN BUSINESS

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and don’t keep doing something just because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” I hate that way of thinking, and I welcome change.

Change is hard, change is frustrating, but change is how we grow and get better.

Change is the only constant.

GREATEST STRENGTH

I have a knack for digging into a problem, asking the right questions, figuring out the

FAVORITE PLACE IN COLUMBIA

Target!

FAMILY

My husband, Jeff, and I have been married for 11 years and have two daughters — Avery, who is 10, and Devyn, who’s 7.

ACCOMPLISHMENT YOU’RE MOST PROUD OF

My children. In today’s society, many people feel they have to choose family or career.

I’m proud that I’ve been able to raise two beautiful, smart little girls who are going to change the world, and I’m doing it while still accomplishing my career goals.

MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THAT YOU . . .

I started in the casino industry as a cocktail server in Marquette, Iowa, with the intention of only working there for a few months to make some fast cash between my freshman and sophomore years of college. Fast forward a couple of decades — I’m still here and wouldn’t change a thing.

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CEO Josh Kayser and COO Danielle Burrow

Creating Their Own Path SuretyBonds.com celebrates 10 years in business and challenging the status quo.

BY EMMA BENTLEY | PHOTO BY ANTHONY JINSON

84

OCTOBER 2019

U

nlike many states, Missouri has few surety bond requirements, so it isn’t surprising that many people have no idea what a surety bond is or who needs one.

Josh Kayser, CEO and founder, was in the same boat when he founded SuretyBonds. com back in 2009 after purchasing the domain name. At the time, he had minimal knowledge about the surety bond industry, but he did know about marketing and the internet, and that would be a game changer for the industry.

Business

2009 The domain name SuretyBonds. com is purchased and the website launches.

2011 The business earns $1 million in revenue.

2014 SuretyBonds. com is named Small Business of the Year by the Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

2016 The site’s instant purchase portal launches, offering full bonding service without agent integration.

2018 SuretyBonds. com expands their paid internship program to include up to 20 students per semester.

2019 Staff increases to 50 employees and the company celebrates 10 years of business.

Changing the Status Quo Surety bonds, a form of insurance purchased by and often required for many professionals in heavily regulated industries for the protection of their customers, is an offshoot of the insurance industry, which has a reputation for being a bit antiquated.

“Insurance is always behind the times technologically.

Surety is even further removed from that, so a lot of what we’ve been able to do is question the status quo,” explains Chief Operations Officer Danielle Burrow.

“We have definitely made bonds way more accessible,” says Josh. “When we fi rst started, it was very difficult to get a bond.

The consumer didn’t know where to go. There were some people online trying to do it, but they were traditional insurance agents who did bonds as one part of their job. They didn’t know what they were doing with the online thing, but they thought they’d give it a go. And they weren’t really good at it.”

SuretyBonds.com was really good at the online portion of the business, and because Josh and his team weren’t familiar with how the surety process went, they questioned each step of the process and changed the things that didn’t make sense, explains Josh.

“We like to think we’ve forced a lot of the change [in the industry] with our innovation,” says Danielle.

It used to take one to two weeks for a simple notary bond request to be filled, and the process was labor intensive on the person and agency issuing the bond. SuretyBonds.com has cut down that time to where now, if you send in your notary bond request during the business day, you may have it in as little as 15 minutes.

“It’s very fast and efficient,” says Josh.

Striving to Stay on Top Danielle says their efficiency and quickness is what often surprises their customers the most. Other surety agencies out there only have part of the bond process online: They can take payment or receive an application for a bond, but they can’t do it all.

It’s SuretyBonds.com’s efficiency that makes them stand out, and they’re continuously looking for ways to improve the bond process for their consumers and employees. By the end of this year, they hope to knock that 15-minute notary bond process time down to mere seconds, all without an employee having to touch the transaction.

“We’ve come very far,” says Danielle. “We’ve had guidance and help from different avenues with marketing or business structuring, but as far as building the company and how we’ve chosen to build the software and build our teams and prioritize things, we were just making up things and trying to test ideas and move quickly. We wanted to learn as we go and make sure everyone’s comfortable learning as we go.”

Josh is quick to add that the experimentation was out of necessity. “We were making it up, but it was also deliberate in that we were doing what we were told people in surety did, and we’d get to a point where it just didn’t make sense and we had to change that part of the process,” he says. “Changing that was not necessarily making it up as much as we weren’t accepting it the way it currently was.”

CELEBRATIONS

"We like to think we’ve forced a lot of the change with our innovation."

They’ve maintained their employee base of 35 full-time employees and 15 to 20 paid student interns over the last few years, yet the amount of business they complete has grown.

“We’ve been pretty stagnant on the employee count for three or four years now, but we’re doing three times more business now than three or four years ago,” says Josh.

“We’re utilizing technology to make the people that are here more efficient and work on more meaningful stuff than data entry,” explains Danielle. They want their employees to be engaged and to use their creative brain power. “Efficiencies and technologies are what drive our growth, not the employee count.”

They’re always looking for ways to save time and do more with the staff they already have, and that’s allowed them to see double digit growth in premiums, renewals, and profitability over the last four years, Danielle says.

And in addition to the quantifiable growth the company has seen over the past few years, the insurance industry as a whole has taken note of SuretyBonds.com’s work and improvements. The top insurance carriers continue to tell SuretyBonds.com that they’re the fastest growing agency year-over-year.

Danielle explains that this means “we continue to grow our book of business with them at a faster rate than our competitors.

We generally attribute this to technological innovation made possible by our marketing and development teams to get both high-quality and high-volume leads [potential clients seeking bonding assistance] every day.”

Danielle also credits their customer care team with helping them stay on top. It’s a true team effort.

SURET YBONDS.COM 3514 INTERSTATE 70 DR. SE 1-800-308-4358 SURET YBONDS.COM

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OCTOBER 2019

BUSINESS UPDATE

Business

New Resources, Same Goal A family successor and a new location allow Brockmeier Financial Services to grow.

BY KELSEY BARTLET T | PHOTOS BY ANTHONY JINSON

Lon Brockmeier, founder

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87

T

en years ago, Lon Brockmeier decided he wasn’t ready to quit. Undeterred by a mandatory retirement age, Lon left his longterm job at an accounting firm to start his own firm — on his own terms. Creating Brockmeier Financial Services allowed Lon to keep providing the services he loved on his own timetable and with a distinctly personal touch.

“Everything we do starts with the client relationship,” Lon says. New clients begin their journey with Brockmeier Financial in a discovery meeting, he explains. Before proposing any plans, Lon meets with each client to learn about their individual needs and desires when it comes to managing their wealth. He says formal, paid engagements are only discussed after an in-depth discovery meeting and a few weeks of reflection.

“In the discovery process, we try to understand what you need, what your concerns are,” Lon says. “If, as we relay that to you, it seems on track, then right behind that we have the technical solutions to make that happen.”

For years, Lon has proven his passion in tailoring financial services to his clients; whether it’s providing investment help, retirement planning, or helping pick out a business successor.

And a decade after Brockmeier Financial’s opening, Lon is gaining more fi rst-hand experience in picking a successor.

FATHER AND SON For the past few years, Lon’s son Greg Brockmeier has steadily taken on larger and larger roles in the business. Greg joined as an advisor and then gradually took on more management responsibilities with the end goal of having Greg take the reins from Lon as the owner of Brockmeier Financial Services. The succession process, however, is almost as flexible as Brockmeier’s personalized service offerings.

“We are in process still,” Greg says. “Because we have that family dynamic, we can adapt or evolve to each of our needs.”

“I can stay as long as my son will tolerate,” Lon jokes. “Hopefully, that's a little longer.”

Currently, father and son share ownership responsibilities. Greg is well acquainted with all of Lon’s long-term clients, both by the numbers and on a personal level. As Brockmeier Financial gradually changes guiding hands, Greg and Lon are making the best of the transition for clients and the business as a whole.

88

OCTOBER 2019

Greg Brockmeier, financial advisor

“Our clients really appreciate knowing that we have a succession plan in place,” Lon says. “They appreciate that if I walk out into the parking lot and get run over by the UPS truck, they know who's responsible for servicing their account. They really know who Greg is. You go to other fi rms and you don't know that.”

In addition to giving clients a sense of security, Lon says having two skilled financial advisors on board has diversified the business’ brainstorming process.

“I'm a very linear thinker,” Lon explains.

“Greg is more of a starburst thinker. Sometimes his ideas seem a little bizarre at fi rst, but it’s creative. That's been very dramatic in shaping our practice.”

TRANSITION TIME Greg’s creativity has combined with Lon’s experience to craft a transition period that seems anything but unsteady. Together, Greg and Lon have moved Brockmeier Financial to a new location, and they have their sights set on keeping the business ahead of the industry curve.

Brockmeier Financial moved to its new office in June. Greg and Lon say that a growing number of families serviced created the need for more space and, potentially, more staff down the line. A larger conference room allows Greg and Lon to hold large family meetings, a practice which Lon says is helpful when dealing with two or three generations of clients inheriting assets. If client numbers continue to grow, the new space can accommodate a third professional advisor and up to four interns.

Greg and Lon agree that the new office increases Brockmeier Financial’s capacity without sacrificing their hands-on consulting style. “Th is relocation enables us to have that family business atmosphere without being institutionalized in a huge building,” says Lon. From their updated locale, Greg and Lon have space to stretch out and look ahead.

They say that maintaining their client-fi rst approach and expanding the business’s use of technology go hand in hand, working together to create the best version of Brockmeier Financial in the future.

Business

"Because we have that family dynamic, we can adapt or evolve to each of our needs.”

- Greg Brockmeier

“We live in this age where there's so much information out there. It's hard for people to understand what they really need to pay attention to,” Greg says about financial planning. “People are feeling very lost and alone when it comes to making important decisions. By understanding what our clients really need, we can help separate all the stuff that doesn't matter to them and really focus in on what is important.”

Greg plans on producing online content such as blogs, podcasts, and webinars to educate clients on their financial options in a manageable way. “With digital education campaigns, we can distill down that information that's out there into more easily digestible chunks,” he says.

Online content would supplement the technological solutions Brockmeier Financial already utilizes like e-signatures, an online investment portal, and the Vault, a “multi-generational online store box” that allows a client to selectively assign access to important documents.

Lon says Greg’s relative tech expertise improves the business’s ability to serve clients.

“We can enhance that client experience by providing them with state-of-the-art digital

BUSINESS UPDATE

capabilities. Having someone who is very familiar with not just the digital medium, but also with what others are doing in the medium that works, is very helpful.”

ON THE SAME TEAM More than anything, Greg and Lon want to use their joint talents to resist the trend towards de-personalization and commodification. They believe that continuing to emphasize compassionate flexibility in financial planning will set them apart from other fi rms.

“We have the tools and the resources of an institutional fi rm without the confl icts of interest,” Greg says.

“We understand what our clients want to do, and we actually have a confluence of interest here,” Lon agrees. “We can really work together. We're on the same team.”

BROCKMEIER FINANCIAL SERVICES 2801 WOODARD DR. 573-442-6146 RAYMONDJAMES.COM/ BROCKMEIERFINANCIALSERVICES

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J OIN U S F O R O U R 1 2 T H A N N U A L

Purse Passion

Enjoy an amazing silent auction of designer handbags while you enjoy complimentary appetizers and wine.

October 22nd, 2019 Bidding begins at 5:30pm & closes at 7pm The Country Club of Missouri Purchase tickets at TrueNorthofColumbia.org PR E S E N T E D B Y :

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A Treasured Columbia Tradition Continues...

Enjoy three fabulous days of shopping and helping support King’s Daughters’ mission of funding the Mid-Mo Dental Aid.

Friday, November 1 5:30pm-9pm $50 admission

• Includes 2 cocktails & appetizers • Fabulous gift bags with advanced ticket purchases • Plus special discounts that evening only

Saturday, November 2 9am-5pm $5 admission

Sunday, November 3 10am-3pm $5 admission

2 0 + PA R T I C I PAT I N G V E N D O R S !

VIP tickets may be purchased at The Tin Roof, Fringe, Kelly Fields & Word of Mouth Catering.

Advanced tickets available at participating vendors.

See our Facebook page for more information.

Join us at the Country Club of Missouri 1300 Woodrail Avenue, Columbia 92

OCTOBER 2019

Business

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Heads Counted, Lines Drawn

BY KRCG 13’S KERMIT MILLER

M

issouri voters passed it in November. The Republicancontrolled state legislature tried and failed to repeal in it May. Now, the state auditor is in the process of soliciting applicants for the position of “nonpartisan state demographer,” the individual who will oversee the process of redrawing congressional and Missouri legislative boundary lines in the Show-Me State.

Amendment 1, the so-called Clean Missouri Amendment, survived a push for repeal in the final week of the 2019 legislative session, when GOP leaders in the senate decided not to use a parliamentary tactic to force a vote. And while the effort could return in 2020, with a legislative resolution and a new ballot question, State Auditor Nicole Galloway (who was given the authority under Amendment 1) intends to move forward with the selection of a demographer.

Amendment 1 promised to ensure the district maps drawn after the 2020 U.S. census would promote competitive races and cut out partisan gerrymandering. Toward that end, a single demographer will replace the bipartisan redistricting panels of political appointees employed in the past. The demographer will use a first-of-its-kind mathematical formula crafted to ensure fairness.

“Missouri’s engaged in an experiment,” Sam Wang of the Princeton University Gerrymandering Project told the Associated Press last fall. The Princeton project uses math to measure partisan advantages in redistricting.

So now, the spotlight falls on the selection of the demographer, someone appointed by the only Democrat who is now holding statewide office in Missouri (and who wants to step up to governor in the 2020 election). The law requires Nicole Galloway to develop an application process and seek out qualified candidates. She then must select at least three (there can be more) applicants “with sufficient expertise and qualifications.” The final list goes to the majority and minority leaders in the state senate. If they cannot agree on one individual,

the two leaders each can scratch a third of the names from the list. A lottery then makes the final selection.

A request to interview Galloway or someone else in her office involved in the demographer selection process was declined.

Press Secretary Steph Deidrick responded by saying: “While fulfilling her constitutional duties to perform audits and issue financial reports, Auditor Galloway refrains from commenting on such matters until the State Auditor’s Office completes its work.

Consistent with this policy, she will not be commenting about the application process until the selection of the nonpartisan state demographer is complete.” When I asked about applicant qualifications, Deidrick directed me to the Office of Administration website, noting the requirements for the position created by Amendment 1 are the same as those for the demographer job that already exists in state law.

The OA website says that job requires a “Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in demography, geography, statistics, economics, sociology, urban planning, anthropology, epidemiology, or actuarial science, which included coursework in demographic or statistical analysis; and . . .”

(Pause for a breath.) “. . . three or more years of professional experience in demography, statistics, economics, geography, or research, including work in modeling, analysis, forecasting and project management, and utilizing geographic information systems (GIS), database, and statistical software applications.”

A candidate with a bachelor’s degree and five years of professional experience might also be considered, and 24 earned graduate credit hours from an accredited college or university in the specified areas may substitute for one year of the required experience.

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Amendment 1, the so-called Clean Missouri Amendment, survived a push for repeal in the final week of the 2019 legislative session, when GOP leaders in the senate decided not to use a parliamentary tactic to force a vote.

Of course, there is no mention in the OA language about an applicant’s partisan history, and that is what raises eyebrows among skeptics, specifically among Republicans who don’t trust Galloway to not take advantage of an opportunity to tip the balance of political power in Missouri back toward the Democrats.

In the past, critics have noted the fact that Galloway is free to name an unlimited number of demographer candidates. Some have suggested she could overwhelm the senate leaders with partisan people, so many that neither could veto all who might wear the label.

On the other hand, one might argue that Galloway now must go out of her way to be above reproach in naming a demographer. Any hint of partisanship is a potential weapon which Republicans can use against her in the gubernatorial race. And under Senate Bill 213, which took effect August 28, the new demographer must file a financial interest statement, something that partisan people who aren’t candidates for office are generally not eager to do.

The application window for the nonpartisan state demographer opened September 5 and will close December 4. A release from the state auditor’s office says all applications ( forms Kermit Miller available online at auditor.mo.gov) anchors the 6 and will be posted in an effort to ensure 10 p.m. news for transparency. Following staff review, KRCG 13. You can the names of the finalists will go to reach Kermit at state senate leaders in January. kmiller@krcg.com

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Part 3

Team Building through the Enneagram

BY JEREMY LINNEMA N

I

n my last two articles, I suggested that when you know your motivations, strengths, and weaknesses, you can get the right things done in the right way for the right reasons at the right time.

The Enneagram personality profi le has been our guide to understanding our core motivations and the strengths and weaknesses that are likely to follow from our desires. Once you are growing in self-awareness, though, what’s the next step for a leader?

The self-aware leader will surround herself with a team that brings new strengths to the table, offsets or minimizes her own weaknesses, and creates a group greater than the sum of its parts. The Enneagram is one of the great resources for team building.

PURSUING A WELL-BALANCED TEAM It is, of course, inappropriate to hire employees based on personality profi les, but when you’re assembling teams among your people, it can be wise to consider motivation and temperament. Consider these two teams:

TEAM ONE: A nonprofit is led by a Challenger (Type Eight) in the executive director role. He prizes productivity, action, and results. For an operations director, he has hired an Achiever (Type Three), who is outgoing, energetic, and efficient.

The rest of their small staff is composed of a Reformer (Type One), who is reliable, hard-working, and driven for perfection, as well as other Challengers and Achievers.

What are the strengths of this team? They will be competent, productive, and action-oriented. Simply put, they will get things done. They will come in early and work late. They will push each other to a higher level, and no

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The Reformer (Type One) operates well in black-and-white, right-andwrong decisions. They lead with their morals and convictions and do well communicating vision and strategy. They might struggle with flexible or undisciplined work environments, feel frustrated when not consulted on decisions, and may often feel underappreciated or neglected.

The Giver (Type Two) works well in busy, active environments, and they’re

quick to serve and meet others’ needs. They prefer working closely with a few people and value honest feedback. Twos may feel offended if they’re left out of a project and often need time to grow into leadership roles.

The Achiever (Type Three) loves to work. Th rees naturally gravitate toward team building, leadership roles, and opportunities for upward mobility. They thrive in highly visible roles and projects, enjoy managing complexity, and rise under pressure and deadlines. Threes, however, can struggle to work alone, tend to be generalists and not experts in any one field, and are the most likely to become workaholics and experience burnout.

The Creative (Type Four) enjoys quiet, reflective personal space — the open office trend is their nightmare come true. Fours thrive on freedom for creativity and innovation and need the ability to express their thoughts and emotions with others. Fours struggle with rigid schedules, corporate structures, demanding bosses, and repetitive assignments.

The Sage (Type Five) is an expert and scholar who values concrete, measurable progress. They analyze data, apply abstract concepts and principles, manage finances and projects, and maintain connections between the details and the big picture. Fives even like meetings. But the Sage struggles with a lack of direction or focus, unclear expectations, shared workspaces, and any overlap between their professional and private lives.

The Loyalist (Type Six) thrives on a consistent work environment in

a stable, fair company. Sixes do well as managers and enjoy ongoing feedback and collaboration. But Sixes may struggle with primary leadership positions, not receiving recognition for their loyalty, and a lack of stability in their position.

The Enthusiast (Type Seven) enjoys open work environments and laidback schedules. They thrive on spontaneity and easily blend their work and personal lives. They’re optimistic and future-oriented and can tolerate, and even prefer, a high level of organizational change. Sevens do not appreciate tight, rigid environments, “boring” work, long meetings, and may struggle to stay focused on long-term tasks, projects, and relationships.

The Competitor (Type Eight) works to win: They are productive, self-

motivated, and easily step into leadership positions. They work well under hard deadlines and in right-and-wrong situations. Eights struggle with a lack of clarity, especially when they’re not allowed to fi x something, and they don’t do well in long, slow projects or meetings.

The Peacemaker (Type Nine) enjoys calm environments and close relationships. They value listening to others, responding to questions, and working together toward progress. Nines may struggle in high-drama teams and conflicted relationships. They don’t move naturally toward leadership positions, often struggle under deadlines, and typically resist organizational change.

Business

Leaders can promote team health by aligning their members' strengths and work styles with their responsibilities, schedules, and even work spaces.

GUEST VOICE

one who works with them will doubt their abilities. However, what does this team lack? None of these personalities (in general) lean toward patient, easy-going, gentle, or reflective leadership. In the case of a nonprofit, the team’s volunteers may feel overworked and underappreciated. They might feel they need to perform at a high level to get noticed. They may likely be concerned that the staff is headed for burnout.

TEAM TWO: In this small business, the CEO is an Enthusiast (Type Seven) that loves to have fun and take his employees out to eat. He is visionary and optimistic, but admits that he’s quick to move away from confl ict or withdraw from long-running tasks. His team, though, is diverse.

There’s a Giver (Type Two), who is genuinely unselfish, supportive, and provides relational warmth to the office. A Creative (Type Four) listens well and helps customers see the beauty of their product.

The office Sage (Type Five) is thoughtful and objective, and helps the CEO move with patience and attention to detail. There are several Loyalists (Type Six) around who have spent years building a healthy, stable culture, and they even remember employees’ birthdays.

Working among this second team sounds delightful. Where someone has a particular strength, there’s another team member whose strengths round out or complete the group. Where there are weaknesses or proclivities to unhealthy behavior, others’ strengths provide stability to the whole.

When a team is well-rounded and each member is growing in selfawareness, employee satisfaction and retention will rise. Transitions will be less painful. Clients, customers, and volunteers will connect deeply and stay engaged.

PROMOTING TEAM HEALTH The final step in team building is recognizing how your team members work most effectively. Leaders can promote team health by aligning their members’ strengths and work styles with their responsibilities, schedules, and even work spaces.

WHAT IS YOUR NEXT STEP? While it may sound idealistic to work within a perfectly balanced team, there’s always a simple place to begin: Where you are.

What do you lack? Where are your weaknesses creating a tough environment or hindering growth? Do your teammates have strengths that are not being maximized? Take a moment to consider the strengths and weaknesses of your team members, and if you know them well, think about which Enneagram styles you might identify for each of them. What would you consider to be the collective strengths of your group? What are the collective weaknesses?

In other words — what’s missing? Who among your team could use encouragement or empowering? Who might need a change in role or emphasis? If you’re not the leader of your team or organization, how might you gently bring about positive changes to the culture?

When you consider your own work habits and notice how different your co-workers are from you, you can pursue a well-balanced team and promote your team’s health. The Enneagram enables deeper reflection, increased self-awareness, and more effective teambuilding. What is your next step?

Jeremy Linneman is teaching pastor of Trinity Community Church in Columbia, Missouri. He is the author of a few short books and has been an instructor in the Enneagram since 2014 (before it was cool). He and his wife, Jessie, have three sons and spend most of their free time outdoors.

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Passion for Finance Fuels Creation of Mortgage Business GREG DELINE , a businessman and philanthropist in mid-Missouri, passed up an opportunity in the early 2000s to buy a mortgage brokerage only to instead build one from the ground up.

In 2002, his mortgage brokerage opened for business and was only the beginning of his venture into the mortgage arena.

Through the years, his brokerage evolved. As it grew, Greg had the opportunity to absorb it into a new company he formed, now known as Total Lending Concepts (TLC), a fullservice mortgage banker that is licensed in multiple states, including Missouri.

His vision was to be a lender, not just a broker — to help people find the best loan for their situation. That is where Greg’s philosophies of business and philanthropy intersected. “I have a passion for figuring out the financing part of a situation for others,” says Greg. “Helping people achieve goals by overcoming that barrier is rewarding.”

To get started on the complex journey, Greg enlisted the help of two people he knew would take this challenge head on and incorporate a mutual desire to see it through completion: his daughters, Aimee Briggs and Jessica Christiansen.

“We were taught to never shy away from a challenge,” says Aimee, executive vice president of DeLine Holdings, who helped build the new business. “My dad instilled a philosophy of working hard and ‘following your heart.’ We share a love of real estate and finance.”

EVOLVING THE MORTGAGE BUSINESS

Aimee and Jessica, an attorney in Jefferson City, went to work pulling documentation, completing licensing needed and ensuring paperwork was filed. Greg has always said, “How do you find good people? You raise them.” So, it was only fitting that his daughters would follow in his footsteps and help start the mortgage business.

“One thing is for certain. He is Greg in the office and Dad outside of work,” Aimee says. “It’s a balance that we have been able to maintain and respect over the years.”

TOTAL LENDING CONCEPTS NOW

TLC has progressed as a residential mortgage banker that offers competitive rates as a non-depository lender, originator and underwriter, and funds all loans in-house. Greg and the entire TLC team create the highest levels of efficiency through speed, timeliness and accuracy to avoid costly delays and to ensure a superior customer experience.

“We take pride in the customer service we offer our clients,” says Aimee. “We worked hard to build a model that achieves high standards and exceeds expectations at every step of the homebuying or refinancing loan process.”

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E

ven though Nathan Jones estimates he has helped thousands of clients with estate planning over the years, he has a bit of a problem with the term.

Namely, the “estate” part.

“When people hear ‘estate planning,’ it tends to conjure up pictures of mansions and people who have estates: rich people,” says Nathan, a partner at Nathan Jones Law. “The immediate reaction is they don’t need estate planning because they’re not a super-rich person. [Estate planning] is merely planning for whatever assets you have — whether that be a lot or a little — to go to the people you want them to go to as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

It does apply to you. It applies to all of us.”

To many, “estate planning” can be a daunting concept. They don’t know how to start. They think it will be costly and complicated. They think they can keep putting it off because they have all the time in the world.

They don’t like thinking about the end.

You know, The End. “The reality, what I try to explain to people, is it’s not if, it’s when,” says Polly Reynolds, vice president and trust officer at The Trust Company. “None of us is getting out alive. None of us.”

So, if we all know, generally, how it’s going to end, trust planning at least gives us control over what we leave behind and who we leave it to. A little bit of planning while we’re around goes a long way after our time is up. And getting your affairs in order is not as difficult as you may think.

“It’s honestly for the relief and peace of mind of knowing that things are going to be taken care of,” Nathan says. “There’s a lot of value in that.”

When to Start

Polly says the majority of her clients are between the ages of 50 and 85. Nathan says his clients don’t conform to an age range as much as they do a series of life benchmarks: having children, retirement, the loss of a parent.

“We have a lot of people who lose a parent and they come in and say their parents had everything set up and they want to make sure they do that for their kids,” Nathan says. “Or they say their parents didn’t have anything set up and left them a mess. They don’t want that to happen to their kids.”

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"If you have a cell phone and a checking account, you have an estate."

Polly Reynolds The Trust Company

Vice President / Trust Officer

Neither Nathan nor Polly think it’s ever really too early to get started looking after your assets, though. Polly says she especially likes to get in the ears of her younger clients. It usually takes a bit of coaxing before they get started down the road.

“If you have a cell phone and a checking account, you have an estate,” Polly says.

“Sometimes people don’t want to talk about it, but I make my clients talk about it. I can’t make them do anything. I’m not an attorney. I can’t draw up a will, draw up a trust. What I can do is tell them the importance of it, give them an action plan, and then nag them.”

If you don’t have a ton of assets, estate planning can be as simple as naming a beneficiary for your life insurance, joint titling your car with your significant other, or setting up a payable on death recipient for your bank accounts.

If your estate involves multiple real estate holdings, businesses, bank accounts, spouses, former spouses, children, stepchildren, irrevocable and revocable trusts . . . it can get a bit more complicated.

The simplest place to start, according to Eric Morrison, senior vice president and Columbia market president at Providence Bank, is making a list. While he’s not a licensed estate lawyer, his career as a banking professional has given him years of experience helping clients get their arms around the entirety of their assets.

“Just list out everything that, if something happened to you, would need to be navigated,” Eric says. “If we begin with the end in mind and think about how this would all get navigated if you weren’t here, that might lead us down the right path."

How to Start

Greg Brockmeier hears variations on the same story when he speaks to reticent clients about starting to get their estates in order.

It’s too expensive. It’s too complicated.

Greg, financial advisor at the Columbiabased Brockmeier Financial Services branch of Raymond James, has an answer for that. Just talk to somebody in the field.

“Talk to the advisory professional — that estate attorney, that financial

advisor,” Greg says. “Interview who you feel comfortable working with. Most people will give an upfront, objective view without a cost or obligation, just an entry discovery meeting where you get to know the client and what they’re looking for.

They can usually give you a good direction of what next steps to take.”

Polly says she’ll take a look at a potential client’s situation free of charge, then suggest a course. Eric says that, even though you need to be working with certified financial planners and estate lawyers when it comes time to put thought to paper, you should start out with a much wider net than that. Th ink about your own personal network.

“I always encourage people to reach out to a banker they know, even if it’s a banker where you don’t think they have any idea about estate planning,” Eric says. “Reach out to them and ask if they have a business banker who has contacts with estate planners. Or maybe it’s your accountant, or if you know someone who’s a business owner and you ask, ‘Who did you use for your estate planning?’”

Another thing to remember about estate planning is everything is not as final as it may seem. While your “last will and testament” means just that upon death, it doesn’t mean you can’t keep adjusting its contents until that time. It’s a living document. Adjusting it is as simple as your attorney helping you out with a codicil to augment, add to, or subtract from the document without redoing the whole thing.

“The best you can do is have your will reflect reality today and try to account for life happening,” Nathan says. “Everything is amendable. Some amendments are as easy as swapping out a name. Other times we’ve got to scrap the thing and start from scratch. It just depends on what has led up to that redoing of the plan.”

Why It’s Important

Nathan is coming up on 15 years working as an attorney. He says his experiences working with disorganized estates are just as instructive as working with organized ones, if not more so.

Assets that are not accounted for end up going through probate. That is where things really get messy.

"It’s honestly for the relief and peace of mind of knowing that things are going to be taken care of.”

Nathan Jones Nathan Jones Law Partner

“I see of a lot people failing to plan and fi nding out that there might be a year and a half worth of probate work that has to happen inside of courts, or a family fight gets started because things weren’t laid out correctly,” Nathan says. “All of that can be avoided with some pre-planning.

Doing probate work has given me a lot of practical knowledge of what happens when things aren’t done right. Having that theme running in the back of your mind is really helpful to spot little pitfalls here and there.”

You may think that, when you die, all of your assets will transfer to your spouse.

Not so if you haven’t explicitly set them up to do so.

Imagine you have a family farm that you just assume will pass down to your four children. But how would that work out so that each gets an equitable share?

These are the sorts of decisions you have to enshrine in law now, or else you’re leaving it up to the state to determine a solution.

“It can get as messy as people think it can,” Greg says. “It can be very drawn-out litigation, hurt feelings, broken families. It can get very nasty. Making sure everyone’s communicating effectively, working with the existing advisory professionals, and working with the individual that’s creating the plan and the beneficiaries, the other people involved in that — those are all important considerations to make.”

The time immediately after a loved one dies is already fraught with emotions.

You don’t need the added pressure of determining who gets what. That’s why it pays to start thinking about it ahead of time. And, Polly points out, that’s why it pays to designate a trained professional to be the punching bag when the time comes.

It’s all part of the job.

“We can settle a will, we can be named a trustee and then people can get mad at me if they want to, but I’m not a family member,” Polly says. “The family is not going to blow up if they get mad at me.

That’s why I try and help families plan and get all this down to where it’s in black and white. When kids come to me, they can be mad at me if they want, but this is what their mom and dad said, and this is how it’s going to be done.”

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FINDING FINANCIAL FREEDOM How Central Bank of Boone County’s ProsperU program is changing Columbia communities.

BY KR ISTIN BL AKE PH OTO S BY KEITH B O R G MEYER

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M

elissa Hecht moved to Columbia from Peru in 2008, and the thought of returning to Lima to see her family seemed like only a hypothetical possibility — there was the distance, the price of plane tickets, and the fact that she and her husband were hoping to buy a house in the near future.

But once she got to planning and budgeting, Melissa saw that it could be a reality. She is now able to visit her family in Peru every other year, and she and her husband were able to purchase a house.

“Creating your own budget isn’t always the prettiest or most fun thing to do, but you have to get resourceful and keep your big goal in mind,” she says.

Melissa, consumer banking officer and manager at Central Bank of Boone County, wants to help others reach the fi nancial freedom she’s found for herself, and so do her co-workers.

This summer, Central Bank of Boone County launched a new financial program for the community called ProsperU. Fully sponsored by the bank, this program offers free evening classes that are open to any member of the community, whether they’re bank customers or not.

Ranging from creating a personal budget to crafting a business plan, ProsperU courses tackle three different focus areas: financial, small business, and personal. The program also allows community members to meet oneon-one with bank employees at no charge.

ITS BEGINNINGS

Sarah Moreau has worked for Central Bank of Boone County for over a decade and is spearheading this endeavor as ProsperU’s program director. The response, she says, has been quite positive.

Six hours after putting up ProsperU’s July class listings, Sarah returned to her computer to see that 80 people had signed up for classes.

Six days later, that number jumped to around 150. “A huge swath of our community is coming in — we’ve got an age range from 15 to 70,” she says. “That tells me my program is hitting right where we want it.”

Sarah suggests that there’s this unspoken expectation for everyone to be a money expert by age 18, and that just isn’t the case. Although many people in the community want to have their finances under control, they often don’t know how to take the steps to get there. Enter ProsperU.

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Sarah Moreau, ProsperU’s program director

OCTOBER 2019 CLASS CALENDAR OCTOBER 1 BUSINESS

Owning a Business: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly OCTOBER 3 FINANCIAL

Understanding Your Credit OCTOBER 9 PERSONAL

Ask a Handyman OCTOBER 15 FINANCIAL

Personal Budgeting OCTOBER 17 PERSONAL

Insurance 101 OCTOBER 23 BUSINESS

Small Business Marketing OCTOBER 30 BUSINESS

Small Business Social Media — Beginner

“The program is trying to bridge the gap between banking seeming unavailable or unapproachable and being that resource that people desperately need,” Sarah says.

ProsperU has been in the works for about two years, says Central Bank of Boone County president Joe Henderson.

It started as a discussion on how to increase the number of homebuyer loans, but when research showed that most people had little savings and felt fearful about finances, they knew they needed to broaden their scope beyond home loans.

While the bank’s staff was working on their ProsperU curriculum, they discovered that a bank in Boston had been doing a similar program for nearly a decade. They flew the director out from the East Coast to work through some questions, and Sarah visited them to figure out what worked and what didn’t. “We have an ongoing mentor relationship,” Sarah says. “Because the program is so unique, it’s nice to have someone else going through the process with us.”

In June, attendance per class was around 10 people, but as the program has grown in popularity, they’ve had to cap classes at 35 people.

In addition to marketing to the public, they’ve started partnering with organizations like Love INC and hope to expand these relationships to schools and other groups, Joe says. If a group comes forward, they’ll find a way to make it happen in their learning space on Seventh Street and Broadway, he says. “Th is is not just something we’re finished with after a year,” Joe says. “We have a budget behind the program, and we’re committed to making this thing successful for many years to come.”

EN ESPAÑOL

Joe and Sarah approached Melissa about creating a Spanish program within ProsperU, and she jumped right on board.

A native Spanish speaker herself, Melissa started chipping away at translating course materials into Spanish, which took about three weeks. The fi rst Spanish class launched in the middle of August, and right now the courses of-

fered in both English and Spanish are about making a budget and personal finances. “I’m not going to lie to you — it was challenging. But it was fun,” she says. “You cannot rely on Google Translate, that’s for sure.”

Even if the Spanish-speaking community is fluent in English, Melissa knows it can be more comfortable for them to hear it in Spanish, especially in complicated subjects like finance and law.

“Latinos are part of this community, and Spanish is part of our identity,” she says. “We hope people can see that we are here for the community.”

WHY IT MATTERS

A balanced budget is powerful, and Sarah knows this fi rsthand because she’s seen it and lived it. It wasn’t long ago that she had a one-on-one meeting with a client who started crying when she realized home ownership was a possibility for her. Another client felt destined to live a life in debt, but after meeting with Sarah, she realized that that fate didn’t have to be final. “Sitting down with me made her realize, ‘Oh, it’s not that bad at all, and I can maybe meet all of these goals,’” Sarah says. “Sometimes we get in our head that it’s going to be bad forever, but it takes an objective person to say, ‘Oh, it’s not that bad.’”

With an accountant and a business owner for parents, Melissa realized at an early age that it’s less about how much a person earns and more about how that money is spent. “You can have goals,” she says, “and if you plan it, you can achieve those goals, like going on vacation or going to the school you want.”

And ProsperU is on a mission to equip the community to attain these goals. Joe says the vision of ProsperU is to empower strong financial lives. “We believe, as a community, if everybody is stronger financially, the entire community will benefit,” he says.

Sarah says the program is all about relationship building, and she’s excited to see how it will grow. “Th is is a unique, one-of-a-kind program, and we have so much opportunity,” she says. “The more we can engage with our community, the more impact we can have on making banking approachable.”

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ELSASSER & ASSOCIATES I

’ve been working with Sherri for three years and have enjoyed every moment. She is creative and anticipates the possible future events of our transactions. When we meet, she is prepared with various options and outcomes – including great ideas I’ve not discussed with her yet and frequently ones I’ve never considered.

This helps me and my partners make decisions well in advance of deadlines. Consequently, we have time to consider our options, make careful decisions, and then take the necessary actions.

This is especially true in Sherri’s tax planning throughout the year.

Sherri’s expert planning has helped us save considerably. We have tremendous confidence in Sherri – even in regards to the most difficult tax and accounting decisions. Her efforts regularly lead to superior outcomes for us.

Elsasser & Associates 1517 Chapel Hill, Ste. 200 Columbia, MO (573) 234-2720 elsassercpa.com

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When we meet, she is prepared with various options and outcomes – including great ideas I’ve not discussed with her yet and frequently ones I’ve never considered.

Brian Struchtemeyer Managing Director Grey Iris Holdings

TIGERS COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION W

hen I started Melvin Home Inspections in 2016, there was no doubt that I would use Carrie and her staff at Tigers Community Credit Union to take care of my business banking needs.

I’m cheerfully greeted by people that know me by name when I walk into their branches.

They provide excellent service, and always make sure that my transactions go smoothly. They’ve always been willing to sit down with me and answer any questions regarding my additional banking needs.

Because all of my business and personal accounts are with TCCU, it makes it easy and convenient to manage them. My business and our family are proud members of the Tigers Community Credit Union family, and would recommend them to anyone looking for such personalized service.

They’ve always been willing to sit down with

me and answer any questions regarding my additional

banking needs.

Tigers Community Credit Union 3310 Bluff Creek Dr., Ste. 101 Columbia, MO 65201 (573) 443-8462 tigerscu.org

Johnny Melvin Owner Melvin Home Inspections

HAAS ACCOUNTING

PROVIDENCE BANK

O

T

ur company, AFI, operates dozens of apartment complexes nationwide. This number is increasing and soon will reach over one hundred. This industry presents unique challenges related to accounting and process design.

Haas Accounting Services has been an instrumental part of the creation of our proprietary, transparent, and integral accounting system. This accounting system helps us to be an industry leader by accomplishing the following: • Closing the books by the second day of the month for the previous accounting cycle.

• Daily bank balance “soft” reconciliations for more efficient cash management.

• Produce robust monthly accounting packages which contain Best Practice reports, practical, and plain language reports for various stakeholders.

Haas Accounting Services participates in a variety of our process design teams. She provides key insight and input to make our processes more efficient and effective.

Quality control and analysis of anomalies is also provided by Haas Accounting Services.

I couldn’t be more pleased with Haas’s attention to detail and follow through.

Haas Accounting has been

instrumental in

building a state of

the art proprietary, transparent

and integrated

accounting system.

HAAS ACCOUNTING SERVICES

Haas Accounting Services, LLC (636) 485-8118 haasaccting.com

he best part about Providence Bank is they make you feel welcome. Within the first week that my wife and I moved our accounts to Providence, they started calling us by name as soon as we walked in the door. When we were buying our home, they did everything they could to not only earn our business, but to make the financing part as easy as possible.

The Providence team basically allowed us to look for a home and know that when we found the right one, the money would be there and the close would happen quickly. I cannot emphasize enough how much they just make banking so easy, yet keep it completely professional at the same time.

When we decided to open our second B&B Bagel Company location, even though we allowed other banks to bid on the project, of course we chose Providence Bank as our partner.

I cannot

emphasize

enough how

much they just

make banking so easy, yet keep it completely

professional at the same time.

Providence Bank (888) 206-2730 myprovidencebank.com

David Atkins CEO Alexander Forrest Investments LLC

3855 Forum Blvd.

Columbia, MO (573) 449-2800 8 North 5th St. Columbia, MO (573) 442-6023

Brad & Becky Newkirk Owners B&B Bagel Company

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BLOOM BOOKKEEPING

COLUMBIA CREDIT UNION

I

I

t wasn’t all that long ago that my books were a mess and my tax deadline was looming. My accountant at that time promised me tax prep services, but after four months of zero results, I had to move on and find someone else.

Needless to say, I was stressed!

The “holy spirit” of accounting gods guided me to Lara Pieper of Bloom Bookkeeping.

In less than two weeks Lara produced what my previous accountant couldn’t in four months.

Lara’s turnaround, competency, efficiency, knowledge, and follow through reassured me that phenomenal bookkeepers do exist!

I love working with Lara because she listens to my small business needs. Whether I have QuickBooks struggles or questions about a line item, Lara is quick to respond and communicates in a manner I can understand.

I highly recommend Lara and feel blessed to have found her!

Lara’s

turnaround,

competency, efficiency,

knowledge, and follow through reassured me

that phenomenal bookkeepers do exist!

Bloom Bookkeeping, LLC 204 Peach Way Columbia, MO (573) 777-2775 bloombookkeeping.net

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OCTOBER 2019

Susan Leuders Owner Dermistique Face and Body

discovered Columbia Credit Union eight years ago. A friend of mine loved her experience and encouraged me to give them a try.

I started banking with Columbia Credit Union and was quickly impressed with their no pressure atmosphere, competitive rates, and my overall customer experience.

Just for becoming a new customer, my friend and I each received $100!

I also love the way CCU empowers their members with tools like the credit score analysis. This tool is a free service that walks you through your credit score, line by line, explaining the impact each item has on your overall score. In addition, they have saved me so much money!

The most recent savings came from refinancing an existing loan, saving us over $300 a month.

I would highly recommend Columbia Credit Union to anyone!

Columbia Credit Union 310 E. Walnut St. Columbia, MO (573) 256-2500 comomoneypeople.com

I started banking with Columbia Credit Union and was quickly impressed with their no pressure atmosphere, competitive rates, and my overall customer experience.

Stacey Cole Brand Director Joe Machens Dealerships

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Community

118 BUILDING TRUSTED RELATIONSHIPS The Midwest Special Needs Trust has assisted individuals with special needs and their families for 30 years.

114 FAVORITE FINDS Spending money never looked so good with these wallets, wristlets, and money clips.

127 COUPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW Realtors Tracy and Beth Arey talk about their family and pushing each other to win in business.

g i B , y e H nder e p S

Y NE O G M ED N I D OK EN S P ER LO ER V EY D. O GM IDT NE R O M GO H B CH EIT NY S SO K A Y F O B TIF OT BY PH D E YL ST

ed t us oat s e B ogb o. at L ing C w Bre

if &G of : m sy a e r t r g ou no sc Mo llet Roof a W ifts Ti n sG lin’ The r i K and

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OCTOBER 2019

t

Community

FAVORITE FINDS

Ve lea ga th n er !

Ca in n b th e w ree o wa rn ys .

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TEAM COLUMBIA Oers State-of-the-Art Denture Implants Denture implants are a major advancement in dentistry, especially for those suffering from loose-fitting dentures.

Adding implants to the denture helps reduce slipping and can greatly improve the ability to eat and speak naturally.

They are a treatment method proven to work and makes the denture-wearing process an overall better experience.

Call today to see if denture implants are right for you. www.ColumbiaDentures.net

Lorenzo Neilsen, DDS

Joshua Prather, DDS

3310 Bluff Creek Drive,Suite 103 Columbia, MO 65201 Heath Bryan Coleman of Missouri, DDS, LLC and Associates - General Dentistry

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OCTOBER 2019

Providers are general dentists, not specialists. Implantology is a specialty area not recognized by the ADA that requires no speciďŹ c educational training to advertise this service.

Community

GUEST VOICE

You Affect Columbia’s Tourism

BY A MY SCHNEIDER

I

n the last two issues of COMO, I’ve introduced you to why tourism is important to Columbia and Boone County, as well as what the Convention and Visitors Bureau, or CVB, does to bring visitors to our area. For my last article, I’m going to take some time to discuss how important you are to the success of the tourism industry in our area and the big and small things you can do to make Columbia the best destination possible.

First, I want you to take a moment to think about the last time you were traveling and needed help or had a question. Did you find the help you needed? Was the person friendly?

Were they memorable? Did that interaction color the experience you had and affect how you talk about the destination to friends and family now?

My favorite personal example of an over-the-top experience is from the first time I visited Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I was traveling alone on a Sunday afternoon to attend a conference. I had traveled all day, needed to eat, and the hotel staff pointed me towards downtown. When I arrived, I found a restaurant that looked open and approached the hostess stand only to find out they were closing for the afternoon. Apparently, my disappointment was quite obvious, and she immediately apologized.

But she didn’t stop there.

She made a phone call, walked around the hostess stand, told me that the restaurant with the best burger in town was still open and proceeded to walk me a few blocks down the street and into that restaurant. And she was right; the burger was amazing! That hostess and that experience has stayed with me for years. Plus, even though I didn’t eat in her restaurant on my first trip, you can bet I did the next time I visited!

What if everyone who visited Columbia had this kind of “wow” moment or interaction?

What if that moment happened everywhere they went? From the airport to the taxi, the hotel, restaurants, retail, events, and even a random person walking down the street, people have dozens of interactions everywhere they travel. What if we all were welcoming and

excited to help? Those visitors would remember Columbia as a welcoming city and they would come back. Not only would they come back, but they’d also tell their friends and family what a great experience they had here.

Remember, you never know why a person is visiting. Perhaps they are looking to bring their business to town or move their family.

Their welcome into our community could be the reason they decide to make that move.

Ready to get involved?

The CVB has an active Columbia Tourism Ambassador program. The CTA program inspires employees, tourism partners, volunteers, and Columbia citizens so they can turn every visitor encounter into a positive experience. From the time a visitor hits the city limits to the time they see the population sign in their rearview mirror, we hope every person the visitor talks to was informative, pleasant, and went out of their way to make sure they felt welcome in Columbia.

We have over 200 active CTAs and continue to build our CTA team by holding classes every other month. There are also monthly lunch and learns around Columbia so CTAs can get an inside look at the variety of attractions Columbia has to offer. We have volunteer opportunities at events and conferences where our CTAs can put their skills to work welcoming visitors and telling them about our community. Our CTA program is a great way to take Columbia’s already welcoming, friendly, vibrant community to the next level, and it’s a great way to show your love for our city.

The CVB is a department of 11 people and it is our job to encourage visitation to Columbia. As much as we’d like to, we can’t welcome each visitor to Columbia individually. Once a visitor arrives, we put their experience in the hands of the community, so we will always look to you for help in making each visitor’s experience a positive one.

Now that I’m wrapping up my series of articles, it’s my hope that you have a better understanding of tourism and its positive effects on the Columbia economy and community. I have the privilege of coming to work every day and promoting the place I choose to live with my family; I can’t think of anywhere else I would want to be.

Amy is the director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau for the City of Columbia.

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Building Trusted Relationships Midwest Special Needs Trust has f inancially assisted individuals with special needs and their families for 30 years.

BY QUINCY SINEK PHOTO COURTESY OF MIDWEST SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST

M

idwest Special Needs Trust, a nonprofit that administers trusts across nine different states, celebrated 30 years of business in August. Executive Director Kathy Birkes, who’s been with MSNT since 2016, says their success “sends a message of solid, secure confidence to individuals.”

MSNT administers special needs trusts for people with disabilities. The trusts are fi nancial tools that allow people with disabilities to receive and hold money while retaining their eligibility for public benefits and services. Th is is “an ongoing and continuing process, and it will be there for anyone as long as they need it,” Kathy says.

The nonprofit was founded by Jerry Zaff t, an attorney in St. Louis. Jerry had a child with special needs and soon realized there was an issue within the financial world affecting his family.

“He did a lot of estate planning and he had seen circumstances where a grandmother inadvertently left money to a grandchild and made them ineligible for their needed services,” Kathy says.

Jerry chaired the Mental Health Commission and worked with Keith Schaefer, who was the director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health at the time. They met with then Governor John Ashcroft to promote the idea, and he put together blue-ribbon panels across the state to look into the issue. Jerry wrote a bill that had bipartisan support and passed through the legislature easily, and by 1989, MSNT was established in state statute.

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The fi rst trust account the nonprofit set up was for Jerry’s son, Jeff rey. “It's been a matter of growing and developing ever since then,” Kathy says. Now, MSNT has overseen and administered over 2,000 trusts and currently has almost $40 million in trust assets.

Kathy says they’ve become a thriving organization that helps provide support to families trying to figure out long-term financial support and care for their loved ones with special needs.

“These are families that have to spend a lot of time just trying to navigate the system and figure out the services and how to get to them, and then they have other children. They're also trying to think about their retirement for their family, for themselves. They've got a lot of bases that they're trying to cover,” says Kathy. “We just want to figure out a way to not overwhelm them, but to make them aware of a resource and maybe something that can relieve some of their anxiety and relieve some of their worries about the future.”

EXPANDING BEYOND MISSOURI MSNT can establish and open trusts in eight additional states, but they can also administer a trust no matter where the trustee lives in the United States, says Kathy.

Two years ago, Kathy presented at a conference in Hong Kong after the country’s government became interested in the idea of special needs trusts. Last year, Kathy was asked to present at the

Midwest Special Needs Trust Mission: To provide compassionate, professional special needs trust administration services to enhance the lives, and often the abilities, of people with special needs.

Full-time Staff: 8 • Kathy Birkes • Jennifer Homer • Casie Stephens • Mary Lou Hughes • Nathan McKee • Sterling Odneal • Heather Allen • Gabe Wilkerson

Founder: Gerald "Jerry" Zafft

Name Change: Missouri Family Trust became Missouri Special Needs Trust in 2005.

States Where MSNT Can Open a Trust: • Missouri • Illinois • Kansas • Kentucky • Tennessee • Nebraska • Oklahoma • Arkansas • Iowa

Community

Jerry Zafft, MSNT founder, champion, and award winner, along with Keith Schafer, former Director for the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

Fifth World Congress on Adult Guardianship in Seoul, South Korea on special needs trusts and to meet with academic, legal, and governmental representatives.

These two opportunities demonstrate how MSNT is reaching across the globe, not just across Missouri.

“We often have folks telling us how much they appreciate [our work] and what a difference it's made in their life, and they're just so grateful for it,” Kathy says.

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD To celebrate their 30th anniversary, they created the Jerry Zaff t Award; the fi rst recipient of the award was none other than Jerry Zaff t himself.

“We wanted to reach back to some of the folks that were involved during that original effort to create the organization and we wanted to say ‘thank you,’” Kathy says.

“We really wanted to honor Jerry and all of his efforts.”

In terms of the future of MSNT, Kathy says she is working on developing a strategic plan with the board. She says

NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT

it’s always good to revisit what they do and to look into the possibilities of wraparound services and additional support — after all, MSNT wants to make sure they’re reaching all people that could be benefitting from their services.

Kathy believes a strategic plan is their next big step, and within that strategic plan they will surely think about the next 30 years and how to best serve people with special needs within that timeframe.

“I really feel very passionate about the work that's being done,” Kathy says. Their work is important to the community because it helps those who would otherwise be negatively affected by the system, she adds. “When we can help each other, we all rise.”

MIDWEST SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST PO BOX 7629 573-256-5055 MIDWESTSPECIALNEEDSTRUST.ORG

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OCTOBER 2019

S

ierra Williams, a single mom in the Columbia area, took out her first high-interest loan after her income tax refund was seized by the IRS following a miscommunication with her student loan provider. Sierra had been recently laid off from her job at Student Transportation of America and was in the middle of a move; she was counting on her refund to finance moving expenses.

“I had my back up against the wall and had no other options. I’m a parent, and I have bills and other needs. I just resorted to getting a payday loan when I needed it,” Sierra says.

But Sierra’s loan was financed with an interest rate of 179.93%, making it impossible for her to stay up-to-date on her payments. “I felt like I was drowning, like I would never get out of this,” she says.

High-interest loans often come in the form of payday loans, which are created on an unsecured, no collateral basis. These loans let borrowers leave the loan office with cash advances, as do title loans, which allow borrowers to make cash advances against their car title. But these loans often come with extremely high interest rates, kicking off a cycle of debt that can be catastrophic for one’s personal finances.

HIGH-INTEREST, HIGH-CONCERN Eric Morrison, senior vice president and Columbia market president of Providence Bank, says it's difficult for borrowers to pay off high-interest loans because they often result in layering multiple loans on top of each other in order to make payments.

“You get into a vicious cycle,” First State Community Bank President Joe Miller says.

Joe has seen interest rates as high as 1,300%, and even with lower rates, borrowers usually pay at least twice the amount they originally borrowed.

According to Consumer Federation of America’s payday loan consumer information, Missouri is one of 32 states that legally authorizes high-cost payday lending with largely unregulated interest rates. There are restrictions on payday loans that limit the amount borrowed to $500 with a 14- to 31day loan term.

“The problem with that is the amount of interest being charged on those loans is extraordinary,” Joe says. Someone could take out $100 and have a payoff amount of $200 the next week.

FUNDING A SOLUTION Providence Bank, First State Community Bank, and five other local banks have partnered with Love INC to help Columbia residents struggling to pay off their highinterest loans.

Jane Williams, co-founder and program director of Love INC, describes Love INC as a place for people to be matched with resources.

“We network resources and relationships to love our neighbors forward. We strive to serve the whole person and involve the whole community. We believe everything to help our neighbors is right here in our hearts and homes,” Jane says.

One of their resources is the Extra Mile Program, a budgeting program that matches participants with a coach that guides them through how to budget expenses.

Extra Mile Program Coordinator Kelli Van Doren begins the program by interviewing coaches and participants. Anyone that pays their bills qualifies to be a coach, Kelli says.

Some coaches like to create spreadsheets for their participants to keep track of budgeting, while others like to keep it old-school with paper and pencils. Kelli explains that by having a wide variety of coaching styles, they can better match them to participants.

Because of grant restrictions, participants in the programs must fall within a certain income range. For an income to be at 100% of the poverty level, a family of four must be making about $25,100. With the Extra Mile program, Love INC can serve people up to 250% of the poverty level, which translates to an average household income of $62,750 for a family of four. The average income of clients at Love INC is $22,000. Participants must also have some sort of ongoing income to budget to be enrolled in the program. Kelli says most of their participants are employed, but some are retired or on disability assistance.

Once both coaches and participants have interviewed with Kelli and coaches have undergone training, the coaches and participants are matched primarily based on their schedules and personalities. They then select meeting times and locations on their

own and begin meeting once a week for 16 weeks. Over this time period, participants learn basic budgeting skills and have one-onone personal guidance from their coaches.

After completing four weeks of the program, participants have the option to apply for an Extra Mile loan to help pay off their high-interest loans. These interestfree $1,000 loans are offered to participants through the generosity and determination of local banks, including Providence Bank and First State Community Bank.

Since 2018, Joe has worked as a facilitator to contact other local banks about creating a fund for the Extra Mile’s loan program.

“The bank culture in Columbia has always been a good culture. We are all engaged with a lot of not-for-profit organizations in town, and this one particularly struck home for me,” Joe says.

The first reception fundraiser in 2018 raised $15,000 for the loan fund, and a second round of fundraising in the spring of 2019 raised another $10,000 to $12,000.

“We’ve raised this fund through the generosity of the banks in town,” Joe says.

A SOCIAL ISSUE Sierra, after turning to her payday loan as a last resort, was referred to Love INC to get help figuring out how to make ends meet.

Once enrolled in the Extra Mile program, she learned about their interest-free loan, and after completing her first four weeks, she was able to pay off her $1,343 loan debt.

Kelli explains that for every week a participant completes, they receive a $20 gift card. At weeks eight and 16, participants also earn $100 via check to be used towards bills or debts.

Sometimes, if a participant’s payoff amount is slightly over the $1,000 loan, Love INC will provide the participants with their rewards early to help them pay off the loan in its entirety.

Since being matched with her coach, Rita Bond, Sierra has been on the fast-track to budgeting her finances.

“There are situations that I was shy in, and these two [Rita and Kelli] went in and grabbed the bull by the horns. There’s times when I wasn’t assertive enough to make a phone call, and they spoke up for me,” Sierra says.

Rita says Sierra isn’t the first person to come to Love INC struggling to pay their highinterest loans; two out of three people she has coached have had payday loans.

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These high-interest loan companies tend to pop up in low-income neighborhoods in Columbia. “They typically locate near neighborhoods where people are going to be struggling to make ends meet,” Jane says.

Since many banks require a certain credit score or minimum amount for lending, it's difficult for low-income citizens to obtain a short-term, unsecured loan from a bank. This leads to last resort, high-interest loans from companies that take advantage of the situation.

“They know they’re lending to high-risk people. And because they know some people won’t pay them back, they justify the high interest rates for everybody. That’s how they stay in business,” says Jane.

BANKING AS A TOOL Even though banks may not be able to lend to all people stuck in high-interest loan situations, they are still a resource that can be utilized.

Kelli explains that Love INC is a “big friend of banks” and helps participants set up relationships with local banks. Many people can save money by having their paycheck deposited into a bank account rather than using a prepaid card for their paycheck, she says.

At First State Community Bank, they also offer a junior savers program for kids under age 18. These younger customers can open a savings account and get paid for good grades. Joe says that budgeting and learning to save money are primary ways to have good financial health, and that starts early.

“People can have very good jobs and still struggle financially. It comes down to budgeting and understanding what needs and wants are,” Joe says.

As local banks and Love INC continue to grow their partnership in an effort to combat the struggles that high-interest loans are creating, all Columbia residents can contribute to the program. Love INC is always looking for more coaches for the Extra Mile program, and as Jane says, just being aware of the situation and advocating against such high-interest rates can make a big difference in the community.

“We would like to see legislative change to curb the interest rates. Telling the story will raise awareness, so there will be more public will to accomplish that,” says Jane.

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Member SIPC

What’s most important to you?

I use an established process to build personalized strategies to help you reach your goals.

Setting goals is always the first step to any successful strategy. If you believe yours deserve more attention, we should talk. Call today for your consultation.

Mark Richardson ,CFP® 2415 Carter Ln Suite #104 Columbia, MO 65201 573.442.1276 mark.richardson@edwardjones.com

Mark Richardson, CFP® Financial Advisor

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If you’re making time for these activities...

October

(And hopefully you are.)

You should also be making time to prepare for the future.

OCTOBER 2 2

True North’s Purse Passion Country Club of Missouri 5:30 to 7 p.m.

We can help you do just that as an independent investment advisor.

We choose strategies to determine investments that meet your goals - with no commission, no hidden fees, no surprises.

OCTOBER 1

OCTOBER 4

Tigers on the Prowl

Drop-in, Drop-Out Improv Comedy

Holiday Inn Executive Center 5:30 to 9 p.m.

Talking Horse Productions 6 to 9 p.m.

OCTOBER 3

Columbia Experimental Music Festival

4210 Philips Farm Road, Ste. 109 Columbia, MO 65201

This is a Trust Representative Office.

Magic and Wine

Café Berlin 5 p.m. to midnight

Country Club of Missouri 6 to 9 p.m.

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

OCTOBER 12

Mizzou Arena 7:30 p.m.

573.876.7000 Toll Free 800.285.7878 thetrustco.com

OCTOBER 8

OCTOBER 4

Mature Living Festival Parkade Center 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Mizzou 2019 Homecoming Parade Stankowski Field 8 to 11 a.m.

2019 OCTOB E R 1 2 -1 3

O CTO B ER 19-20

Hartsburg Pumpkin Festival

Central Missouri Renaissance Festival

Hartsburg, MO

Exit 144 along I-70 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

OCTOB E R 1 3

Explorations in Color: Artist Q & A The Montminy Gallery Boone County History & Culture Center 1 to 3 p.m.

OCTOB E R 1 6

The Price Is Right Live Jesse Auditorium 8 p.m.

O CTO B ER 19

Bear Creek Run Half Marathon Albert-Oakland Park 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Great Circle’s Diamond Night Holiday Inn Executive Center 6 p.m.

O CTO B ER 20

Campus Movie Fest Mizzou Campus Noon to 3 p.m.

OCTOB E R 1 7

An Evening with Branford Marsalis Missouri Theatre 7 p.m.

OCTOB E R 1 8

Odyssey Chamber Music Series: Fall in France First Baptist Church 7 p.m.

OCTOB E R 1 8 -20

Techstars Startup Weekend Veterans United Home Loans 6:30 to 9 p.m.

2019 Columbia Walk to End Alzheimer’s Columbia Cosmopolitan Recreation Area 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

2019 Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk Mizzou Arena 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

O CTO B ER 25

Jenny Hayes

Halloweenie The District 4 to 6 p.m.

O CTO B ER 31

Polly Reynolds

Loud Luxury, Dzeko The Blue Note 8 p.m. to midnight

Fall Festival Christian Fellowship Church 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Deeply committed for the greater good of our company, and more importantly, our clients.

Want to celebrate some amazing people in the nonprof it world?

Join us November 7th for our annual Impact COMO awards luncheon where we'll honor some incredible people and organizations.

The Atrium November 7 11:30am-1pm Tickets available at MidMoTix.com

presented by

sponsored by

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OCTOBER 2019

Community

COUPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW

Tracy & Beth Arey HOW DOES YOUR COMPETITIVENESS PLAY INTO YOUR RELATIONSHIP? T: Neither of us like to lose, either in gin rummy or representing sellers and buyers in the same transaction. We look for a win-win outcome.

B: We are both competitive and it pushes us to win in business. Although we love this dynamic, we are humbled and grateful for all the opportunities we have been given.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE YOU’VE TRAVELED TO TOGETHER? T: Th is summer we took the RV over 4,000

miles to Banff National Park and the Calgary Stampede.

B: We just got back from Banff, Canada.

Bucket list place that did not disappoint!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE ART/CULTURE ACTIVITY IN COLUMBIA? T & B: True/False tends to grab our attention

Realtors Tracy & Beth Arey talk about their family and pushing each other to win in business.

welding program, and Rilee is in nursing school at Oklahoma Baptist University. Eleanor Jane and Hunter Kate [our granddaughters] are a pure JOY. Honey B and Pop love to spoil them.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TOGETHER?

the most since we enjoy documentaries.

WHAT MAKES YOU MOST PROUD OF YOUR PARTNER? T: How she can make everyone but herself come fi rst!

Tracy: 36 years

WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE DON’T

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST DATE?

T: She was Mrs. Missouri, USA.

Beth: Tracy had a Corvette (yes, I was impressed). He picked me up and we drove around the county.

B: He was a professional bowler.

T: First real date was a rock concert in Omaha, Nebraska.

RELATIONSHIP DYNAMIC?

T: I like Addison’s and Sophia’s.

T: As Realtors, it’s always a part of our daily life, and we feel it’s a well-oiled machine where both of us have certain strengths to make it work well.

B: Chris McD’s.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAMILY: B: We both grew up in Iowa and moved to

Columbia the day after we got married. We have four children: Carter, Bennett, Anderson, and Rilee. We also have two beautiful daughtersin-law, two baby granddaughters, and two dogs. Carter works with Flat Branch Home Loans, and Bennett works in our brokerage as a Realtor. Anderson is at State Tech in their

KNOW ABOUT YOUR SPOUSE?

HOW DOES BUSINESS PLAY INTO YOUR

B: We have learned to be respectful of each

other and to listen to understand each other’s perspective. We have shared goals in life and business, so it’s easy to strive for those both day and night since we are together a lot. We are a yin-yang business dynamic; we complement each other so well.

B: Tracy has an incredible work ethic and is very generous.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT IN COLUMBIA?

WHAT IS THE KEY TO A LASTING AND HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP? T: For us, it’s always a work in progress because to be lasting and healthy you need to say and do simple things to keep your relationship lively and positive.

B: We take time to get away and travel. We prioritize family and we have a shared faith.

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ADV ERTISER INDEX ACCOUNTING PLUS.................................................................................................................... 131

KING’S DAUGHTERS.....................................................................................................................92

ACHIEVE BALANCE......................................................................................................................28

KLIETHERMES HOMES AND REMODELING.....................................................58 & 61

ANNE TUCKLEY HOME..............................................................................................................62

LINKSIDE AT OLD HAWTHORNE.........................................................................................10

ANTHONY JINSON PHOTOGRAPHY...............................................................................106

MACADOODLES............................................................................................................................ 48

ART AND SOUL PHOTOGRAPHY.........................................................................................28

MEDIACOM.......................................................................................................................................... 8

ATKINS, INC...........................................................................................................................................7

MERCEDES OF COLUMBIA....................................................................................................... 4

BAUMGARTNER’S FURNITURE & CARPET........................................................35 & 63

MISSOURI EMPLOYERS MUTUAL.......................................................................................95

BLOOM BOOKKEEPING...........................................................................................................110

MY SISTER’S CIRCUS....................................................................................................................57

BMW OF COLUMBIA.....................................................................................................................11

NATHAN JONES LAW..................................................................................................................27

BOONE COUNTY LUMBER COMPANY............................................................................22

NAUGHT NAUGHT INSURANCE AGENCY................................................................... 126

BOONE HOSPITAL............................................................................................................................5 BROCKMEIER FINANCIAL SERVICES.............................................................................107 BUSENBARK FLOORING AND GRANITE.......................................................................42 CAPITOL EYE CARE INC...........................................................................................................102 CARSON & COIL............................................................................................................................. 126 CENTRAL BANK OF BOONE COUNTY............................................................................. 111 CENTRAL MISSOURI AUTO BODY......................................................................................78 COIL CONSTRUCTION............................................................................................................... 123 COLUMBIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.........................................................................70 COLUMBIA CREDIT UNION....................................................................................................110 COLUMBIA MARKETING GROUP........................................................................................78 COMMERCE BANK........................................................................................................................83 CONVERGENCE FINANCIAL......................................................................................................2 D & M SOUND...................................................................................................................................86 DAVE GRIGGS FLOORING AMERICA...................................................................................9 DDS DENTURES + IMPLANT SOLUTIONS OF COLUMBIA................................ 116 DELINE HOLDINGS.......................................................................................................................98 DOWNTOWN APPLIANCE.......................................................................................................20 EDWARD JONES.......................................................................................................................... 123 ELSASSER & ASSOCIATES......................................................................................................108 EVEXIAS................................................................................................................................................68 FERGUSON..........................................................................................................................................16 GFI DIGITAL...........................................................................................................................................3

128

NIKKI ALETO COACHING..........................................................................................................67 ODYSSEY CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES............................................................................... 112 ORANGETHEORY FITNESS......................................................................................................27 ORGANIZE THAT SPACE........................................................................................................... 94 PCE, INC................................................................................................................................................86 PROVIDENCE BANK......................................................................................................... 6 & 109 SECURE DATA TECHNOLOGIES................................................................................40 & 41 SELECT REALTY GROUP - ALISSA GERKE.....................................................................78 SHELTER INSURANCE AGENTS............................................................................................92 SKYLARK BOOKSHOP..................................................................................................................15 SOCKET.................................................................................................................................................74 SPA SHIKI.............................................................................................................................................70 STANGE LAW FIRM.......................................................................................................................66 STATE FARM - PHYLLIS NICHOLS.......................................................................................47 STUDIO HOME..................................................................................................................................12 SUPERIOR GARDEN CENTER/ROST LANDSCAPE......................................64 & 112 THE BANK OF MISSOURI..........................................................................................................72 THE BROADWAY HOTEL...........................................................................................................24 THE KLEMPKES- IRON GATE REAL ESTATE................................................................27 THE LASER CLINIC........................................................................................................................69 THE TRUST COMPANY................................................................................................. 124 & 125 THE VILLAGE OF BEDFORD WALK....................................................................................71

GRAVITY.................................................................................................................................................91

TIGERS COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION............................................................................108

GREAT CIRCLE..................................................................................................................................66

TLC MORTGAGE............................................................................................................................. 60

HAAS ACCOUNTING...................................................................................................................109

TRUE FALSE FILM FEST........................................................................................................... 129

HAWTHORN BANK..................................................................................................................... 132

TRUE NORTH.................................................................................................................................... 90

HELMI’S GARDENS.......................................................................................................................47

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI HEALTH CARE....................................................................18

INSIDE THE LINES......................................................................................................................... 80

WE ALWAYS SWING JAZZ SERIES.................................................................................... 116

IRON GATE REAL ESTATE..............................................................................................52 & 65

WILLIAMS & ASSOCIATES EYECARE.................................................................................83

JC TOTAL HEALTH..........................................................................................................................57

WOMEN’S WELLNESS CENTER...........................................................................................29

JENNINGS PREMIUM MEATS................................................................................................ 48

WONDERS OF WILDLIFE..........................................................................................................14

OCTOBER 2019

Super Circle & Silver Circle Passes On Sale Now Lux Passes On Sale October 1st

TRUE/FALSE March 5-8, 2020, Columbia, MO truefalse.org/attend/passes

FILM FEST

Community

THIS OR THAT

Card Wallet

Night Owl

Pizza Tree

Shakespeare’s

Mac Computer Netflix At Your Desk

In a Meeting

Pop Fly

East Coast

West Coast

Modern

Traditional Certain

Save

Spend

Text

Call Non-Fiction

Podcast

Playlist

Introvert

Extrovert

Creative

Analytical

Optimistic Coins Car

Realistic Parking App Truck

Books

Magazines

Cluttered

Minimalist

Card Game

OCTOBER 2019

Cable

Tea

Fiction

130

iPad

Coffee

Skeptical

Love both of them.

That’s easy! My grown children both live on the West Coast.

And I tripled my interest rate at Neighbors Bank!

Spring and fall.

Not sure I can even still tie a tie after three years of the Veterans United dress code.

PC

Big-Picture

Road Trip

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Rose Music Hall

Details Soda

Neighbors Bank, Chairman & CEO

Money Clip

Early Bird The Blue Note

Andrew Beverley

Cash

Board Game

Concept

Execute

Take Out

Sit Down

Mexican

Italian

Improviser

Planner

City

Country

Summer Bike Cat Business Pen Half Full Cake Solo

Winter Walk Dog Casual Pencil Half Empty Pie Team

300 St. James St., Suite 103 Columbia, MO 65201