Columbia Business Times - September 2018 by The COMO Companies Magazines | COMO Magazine

MARK SULLTROP

Why Stop at One?

Owner and Executive Chef 44 Stone and 44 Canteen

Local business owners expand into new locations. P G. 58

THE "AMAZON EFFECT" P G . 67

WHEN BUSINESS IS FAMILY P G . 73

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20 SEPTEMBER 2018

mall businesses are near and dear to my heart. Most of the companies I’ve worked for have been small businesses, and that was a purposeful choice. Executives and owners of small businesses seem to have a different attitude than those in larger companies. They’re eager to try new services, products, and processes, which means even employees low on the totem pole often have a voice in how things can change and possibly improve. Being given the chance to voice my thoughts and ideas aloud to people who listened led to opportunities where I could develop new skill sets and stretch myself in different ways. Those opportunities better prepared me for this role, as CBT’s editor, where I get to help provide a platform to other voices in Columbia. ON THE COVER But I’m not the only one at The Business Times CompaIt’s always a fun cover shoot when we ny who champions the small businesses in our community. get to go on location! This month’s When the topic of small businesses comes up in concover model is Mark Sulltrop, owner versation around the office, the energy changes. Suddenly and executive chef of 44 Stone and 44 Canteen. We visited the cellar people are smiling and talking excitedly about a new busiroom at 44 Stone for this detailness opening, the latest milestone reached by their favorpacked background. ite mom-and-pop shop, or a story they heard from a small Photography by Anthony Jinson. business owner. The excitement is contagious! Soon the whole office is abuzz. Celebrating the successes of small businesses is in our blood. This is largely because we’re a small business ourselves, and we understand that you have to earn every sale and deliver the best product to keep people coming back. We also wouldn’t be here without small businesses. CBT is made from the anniversaries, stories, and successes of small businesses in Columbia and Boone County. When putting together the stories for the Small Business Issue, we wanted to focus on how small businesses are thriving. We sought to show what growth and success look like for small businesses in all stages and ages. For example, you’ll read about how couples are building a family legacy through their business and how other businesses are carrying on the family legacy of a business built by a family member years ago (page 73, 37). Other business owners share their reasoning behind why they expanded their business to include additional locations. And others who opened a second location share why they chose to move in a different direction with a new concept for the second place, like in the case of 44 Stone and 44 Canteen and I'm Sushi Burrito and Geisha Sushi Bar (page 58). We also look into how the lack of local sales tax on online retail purchases is affecting Columbia’s small businesses and the city’s economy (page 67). And did you know about these resources that are available to every small business owner (page 85)? Join us in celebrating the small businesses that make a large impact in our community. Cheers,

STICKY NOTE MOTIVATION Local small business leaders share their favorite quotes.

“What would you attemp t to do if you knew you could not fail?” - Robert Schuller Denise Nelson, owner of Accounting Plus

“Mot ivation is what gets you started. Habi t is what keeps you going.”

- Jim Rohn Sarah Jo Crawford, co-founder of Sparkworth

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”

- Edward Everett Hale

Emma Bentley, Editor Emma@businesstimescompany.com

/Co l u m b i a B u s i n e ss Ti m e s

@ Co l u m b i a B i z

Co l u m b i a B u s i n e ss Ti m e s .co m

Teri Walden, co-founder of EnCircle Technologies

Ed i to r @ B u s i n e ss Ti m e s Co m p a ny.co m COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 21

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EDITORIAL Emma Bentley, Editor Emma@BusinessTimesCompany.com Megan Whitehead, Managing Editor MWhitehead@BusinessTimesCompany.com DESIGN/CREATIVE SERVICES Jordan Watts, Senior Designer Jordan@BusinessTimesCompany.com Kate Morrow, Graphic Designer Kate@BusinessTimesCompany.com Cassidy Shearrer, Graphic Designer Cassidy@BusinessTimesCompany.com Sadie Thibodeaux, Graphic Designer Sadie@BusinessTimesCompany.com

Inside the Issue Around the Office THANK YOU, COLUMBIA LANDCARE! Special shout out to Columbia Landcare, who worked tirelessly a few weeks ago to turn our jungle of bushes and grasses into a beautiful bed of fresh mulch and bright green plants. We appreciate all of your hard work.

MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES Deb Valvo, Marketing Consultant Deb@BusinessTimesCompany.com Bonnie Hudson, Marketing Consultant Bonnie@BusinessTimesCompany.com MANAGEMENT Erica Pefferman, President Erica@BusinessTimesCompany.com Renea Sapp, Vice President ReneaS@BusinessTimesCompany.com Amy Ferrari, Operations Manager Amy@BusinessTimesCompany.com Beth Bramstedt, Editorial Director Beth@BusinessTimesCompany.com

THANK YOU, ALEX WATHEN!

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Keith Borgmeyer, Anthony Jinson

Our editor, Emma Bentley, recently bought her first car from Joe Machens Toyota. Her salesman, Alex Wathen, made the process so simple and smooth. Now she has a shiny new ride to drive around town when meeting people in the community.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kacen J. Bayless, Mark Farnen, Sgt. Robert Fox, Al Germond, Brandon Hoops, Kermit Miller, John A. Read, Jennifer Truesdale, Marcus Wilkins, Hartley Wright INTERNS Jenna Jean Grundtner, Helena Jordheim, Madeline Knapp SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscription rate is $19.95 for 12 issues for 1 year or $34.95 for 24 issues for 2 years. Subscribe at columbiabusinesstimes.com or by phone. The Columbia Business Times 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. OUR MISSION STATEMENT The Columbia Business Times and columbiabusinesstimes.com strive to be Columbia’s leading source for timely and comprehensive news coverage of the local business community. This publication is dedicated to being the most relevant and useful vehicle for the exchange of information and ideas among Columbia’s business professionals. CONTACT The Business Times Co., 2001 Corporate Place, Suite 100 Columbia, MO, 65202 (573-499-1830) • columbiabusinesstimes.com

Contributors

Kermit Miller, KRCG 13

Kacen J. Bayless

Brandon Hoops

@KAC3N

@courtsidehoops

Jennifer Truesdale

Write to CBT editor Emma Bentley at Emma@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 23

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SEPTE MBE R 2018 VOL . 2 5 / ISSUE 3

TA BL E OF CON T EN TS

The Small Business Issue

21 FROM THE EDITOR 23 INSIDE THE ISSUE 27 CLOSER LOOK 28 BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS 31 BUSINESS UPDATE Logboat Brewing Co.

34 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT Coyote Hill Christian Children’s Home

36 CELEBRATIONS

Kasmann Insurance Agency

39 MOVERS & SHAKERS 41 P.Y.S.K. Jen Hedrick,

Simon Oswald Architecture

47 11 QUESTIONS John Ott, Alley A Realty

49 A CAPITOL CONVERSATION A Look into Mike Kehoe

51 LOCAL PERSPECTIVES: Mark Farnen

55 LOCAL PERSPECTIVES: Sgt. Robert Fox

57 OPINION: AL GERMOND Right to Work

Why Stop at One? Local business owners share their experience of expanding their business, whether it’s adding a second location or expanding into other cities.

91 NEW BUSINESS LICENSES 93 DEEDS OF TRUST 95 ECONOMIC INDEX 97 BY THE NUMBERS 98 THIS OR THAT Jonathan Sessions, Gravity

The "Amazon Effect"

When Business Is Family

Hard at Work

In Focus: Can I Help You?

How online purchasing habits are impacting the city and small businesses.

Family-run businesses give a peek behind the curtain of what working with family is like.

Greg DeLine’s relentless energy drives most of his business pursuits.

Exploring the resources available to small business owners in Columbia.

B USINE SS • P EO P L E • VOIC ES • F YI

C LOSER LOOK

Closer Look

Skylark Bookshop

Free Association

Opening a bookstore in downtown Columbia just made sense to Alex George, owner of Skylark Bookshop. “Every downtown needs a bookstore,” George explains. “Of course, there’s Yellow Dog, and they’re wonderful, but they sell used books, and we’re going to be selling new books. There’s going to be no competition between us.” In addition to selling new books, Skylark will host author events. As a published author and founder of Columbia’s Unbound Book Festival, George has many connections in the publishing industry. George says author events will be "a critical part of what we do." The quality selection also carries over to the books. Skylark will be stocked with a curated inventory of books that George loves. Though the inventory won’t be comprehensive, George says, “when you go into Skylark, you’re going to find something unusual that perhaps you wouldn’t have otherwise found.”

A trendy new boutique store recently opened in downtown’s Alley A. Catering to full-figured women, Free Association offers fashionable women’s clothing in sizes 14 through 30. Step inside and you’ll quickly see flowy skirts, jewelry from designers like Duplika and Tiny Lumber, vintage-inspired dresses, and tailored pants. Co-owner Sarah Lockwood dreamed of opening a clothing store since she was a teenager. Earlier this year, that dream became a reality when she opened Free Association with her wife, Rebecca Burkholder. When asked where the name of the boutique came from, Lockwood explains that, “it’s about being able to have a little retail therapy and throw items together in a fun and cool way.” Walking through the store, you’ll notice the care and thoughtfulness that went into choosing every item that fills the space. This isn’t your average clothing store; it’s a shopping experience.

Location: 22 S. Ninth St. Website: skylarkbookshop.com Contact: 573-777-6990

Location: 910 Alley A Website: freeassociationboutique.com Contact: 573-447-2025

Speckled Frog Toys & Books The toy business is turning into a family business with mother-and-daughter duo Shelly Cassiday-Riesenmy and Erin Babb. Together the two opened Speckled Frog Toys and Books, a store geared towards children between infancy and 10 years old. Their products are educational in nature, which is why every toy and book is chosen with care. “We’ve hand-picked everything that we carry. There’s nothing here that we carry that we wouldn’t want to play with ourselves,” Babb says. Babb would also like to see parents play with their toys. “We’re very family-focused. We really like when families come in and they play together. There’s nothing here that they can’t play with” Babb says. “I know that some parents are worried about bringing in their rough-and-tumble kids, that they’ll mess up the store, but that’s not what we’re about. We want the kids to come in and play and have a good time.”

Location: 906 Alley A Website: facebook.com/speckledfrogtoys Contact: 573-441-0083

Are you starting a new business? Reach out to our team at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 27

BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • VOIC ES • F YI

Briefly in the News SEPTEMBER 2018

BUSINESS

JAMAICAN JERK HUT The popular food truck owned and operated by Rex Scott and Colin Russell now has a brick-and-mortar location. Their space on Vandiver Drive previously served as their commercial kitchen and is now open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday. The restaurant still serves their famous jerk chicken and Rasta lemonade but has expanded their offerings for the upgraded space.

T EC H NOL O GY

SMART TECH WINDGO Inc., a Columbia-based research and development company specializing in smart material and vibrational transfer technologies, announced that they were granted three U.S. patents on July 17, including one that allows a user to measure a surface with an edge and project vectored measurement onto the surface. This is accomplished by means of an apparatus the company calls ProVector, which projects a tape measure image (or any other image) directly onto a surface.

“What is truly exciting is that the measurements are actually projected onto the surface without holding a device.” — David Strumpf, vice president of R&D, WINDGO Rex Scott

28 SEPTEMBER 2018

BR I EFLY I N T H E N EWS

C OM M U N IT Y

COU HOLDS MONTHLY COFFEE CHATS Columbia Regional Airport began hosting All Things Airport in August, a monthly gathering for residents to have coffee and ask questions concerning the airport. Stacey Button, economic development director for the City of Columbia, and Michael Parks, airport manager, along with other staff members, have been available to provide insight at the sessions. Meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month from 8 to 9 a.m. at the Walton Building, 300 S. Providence Rd.

C OM M U N I T Y

MEM AWARDED TOP PARTNER Missouri Employers Mutual Insurance was named the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents’ Top Partner during a ceremony July 19. The ceremony was part of MAIA’s annual Missouri Agents Connection Summit. The Top Partner award is given to an insurance company doing business in Missouri that has demonstrated the greatest commitment to, and support of, the American Agency System and its independent insurance agent partners.

C OMMUNIT Y

OVER THE EDGE In celebration of the Tiger Hotel’s 90th anniversary, a number of brave “Edgers,” including former MU head football coach Gary Pinkel, will rappel down the side of the hotel on September 15 in exchange for donations to Love INC, a local nonprofit that helps people move out of poverty.

C OM M U N I T Y

COLUMBIA’S FISHER HOUSE Fundraising efforts to build a Fisher House on the grounds of the Truman VA Hospital kicked off on July 27. The Fisher House program provides a home for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers. There are 76 Fisher Houses located in the U.S. and Europe. The estimated cost of the Columbia house is $6.5 million. Friends of Mid-Missouri Fisher House will raise money to help expand the national foundation’s efforts.

“We’re going over the edge to help prevent people from falling through the cracks.” — Pat McMurry, executive director, Love INC

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 29

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BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • VOIC ES • F YI

BU SI N ESS U PDAT E

A Growing Thirst for Craft Beer Logboat Brewing Co. expands their reach without expanding their locations.

BY MA DELINE KN A P P | P HOTOG R A P HY BY K E I TH B O R G M E Y E R

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 31

B USINE SS • P EOP L E • VOIC ES • F YI

MAKING BEER AND PLAYING MUSIC in Tyson Hunt’s garage ignited the idea of opening a brewery with his best friends, Judson Ball and Andrew Sharp. “The beer was definitely better than the music, and we thought, ‘Well, maybe we want to do something with this,’” Hunt says. Hunt, Ball, and Sharp co-founded Logboat Brewing Co. in 2014 on Fay Street. “We had to pick a path, and I think we chose wisely,” Hunt laughs. Four years later, Logboat is working on their fourth expansion of tanks and production capacity. That may seem hard to keep up with, but for Logboat, moving quickly, efficiently, and deliberately is their specialty (alongside brewing craft beer).

A ‘COOL’ EXPANSION The brewery is closed to the public on Mondays, so the Logboat crew uses that time to kick their production efforts into high gear. When the size of their existing cooler couldn’t keep up with the production and packaging speed they needed, Hunt says they decided to expand their footprint. Logboat broke ground on a new cooler addition earlier this year. The cooler is responsible for holding the beer supply for Logboat’s taproom and the packaged beer that is shipped out by their retailer, Major Brands. The new cooler, which is around 1,400 square feet, can accommodate the packaged beer and kegs that the previous cooler could not. Being restricted by the former, small cooler began to slow production down, which wasn’t cutting it for a growing business. “It really put a restraint on how much beer we can package in a week,” Hunt says. With the small cooler, any beer that wouldn’t fit in the cooler was left out. “That’s when beer starts piling up in the hallways — it’s just really inefficient,” Hunt says. The new, larger cooler allows Logboat the space to package for more than five days a week and adds two horizontal 60 barrel lagering tanks, which will increase production of Logboat favorites like Snapper and Bobber. As for a possible fifth expansion in the future, Sharp is unsure. “This current addition is maxing us out in our current footprint,” Sharp says. “Our next big conversation will be either to expand where we go or add a different location.” But no worries on ever saying goodbye to the current Logboat location. “We’ll always be on Fay Street. That’s the mother ship,” Hunt says. 32 SEPTEMBER 2018

Tyson Hunt, co-owner of Logboat

IF YOU BREW IT, THEY WILL COME During the last four years, Hunt says Logboat has become a community gathering place for people in Columbia, and they’ve been working on increasing and improving areas for beer drinkers to come together. Logboat’s outdoor area, The Logboat Park, was renovated in the spring. Formerly just a grassy open space, the brewery added a gravel area for picnic tables, creating a more “traditional-style beer garden,” Ball says. Regular usage of the outdoor space from customers and by large corporate events was con-

tinually killing the grass and calling for several sod replacements, which spurred the idea to renovate the space. “Since we opened, it’s been a battle to keep grass growing with people using the yard,” Hunt says. They also recently added shade sails over the seating area. Logboat employees recently moved into offices across the street from the brewery, which opened up the upstairs area as private rental space. Hunt says they’ve had wedding rehearsal dinners, baby showers, and many other celebrations in the space, which overlooks the brewing and production area.

BU SI N ESS U PDAT E

Photo by Sadie Thibodeaux

Creating areas within the brewery for customers to enjoy has helped educate the public on craft beer production as well as Logboat’s ethos. “People get to know what it is we’re about and who we are as independent brewers and what this means for our community and other communities. It’s been real positive,” Hunt says. Getting to know organizations, local businesses, and customers also has a lot to do with the growth and success of Logboat, Hunt says. “We’ve gotten to meet so many wonderful people through this project, and every day is new introductions and opportunities to think differently about how a community interacts,” Hunt says. “I think that’s really our focus going forward. Let’s make the best beer we possibly can and really help make our community a better place to live.”

THE GROWING THIRST Logboat’s beer is currently sold in 26 counties in Missouri, which is all they can keep up with right now. Their selling areas include north up to Kirksville, south to Lake of the Ozarks, west to Boonville, and east to St. Louis. “We originally thought we wouldn’t be selling as much beer as we’re selling, but we’ve just had so much support locally, so we’ve really focused on not overextending our reach,” Ball says. Logboat is perfectly content in Missouri for the time being. “We want to be able to take care of Missouri and other counties, so we don’t have any plans to brew out of state when we have this kind of support,” Sharp says. With the help of the additional cooler and lagering tanks, selling in Kansas City is on the horizon, though the additional cooler may not be enough to accommodate a production increase of that size. “We want to make sure Columbia always gets the beer they need and that we’re still producing the highest quality beer we can make,” Ball says. “We won’t sacrifice Columbia not getting the beer they need or sacrifice quality over expanding our territories.” The thirst in other Missouri regions is evident when hearing from family, friends, and former Columbia residents, which makes expansion a priority moving forward. Ball says, “We’ve got to make more beer, which is a wonderful problem to have.” CBT

Logboat Brewing Co. 504 Fay St. logboatbrewing.com 573-397-.6786 COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 33

BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • VOIC ES • F YI

More Than a Safe Place Coyote Hill Christian Children’s Home provides a place for large sibling sets in the foster care system.

BY HA RTLEY W RI G HT | P HOTOG R A P HY P R OV I DE D BY COYOTE H I L L

FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS, foster children in Mid-Missouri have found a safe place to grow up at Coyote Hill Christian Children’s Home in Harrisburg. Whether the children come from abusive or neglected home lives or they’re part of a larger sibling set that makes them more difficult to place in a traditional foster home, Coyote Hill specializes in providing these children with the care they need. The children at Coyote Hill live in blended families comprised of home parents who raise their biological children alongside up to eight foster children in the home. “Foster children experience everyday life in a functional family home,” says Larry McDaniel, founder and executive director. “They see a marriage working and a couple deal 34 SEPTEMBER 2018

with frustrations and conflict in a healthy way. They see problems resolved without someone getting hurt, and they know parents will care for them no matter the circumstance.” Home parent Mandy Wallace enjoys seeing the growth of the children she takes care of. “My life is enhanced with the amazing ‘firsts’ that so many of my kids get to experience. I find great joy in sharing new life experiences with these precious children. Each day becomes an opportunity to celebrate all of their firsts in our home,” she says. These firsts include a young child’s first night of sleep without fear, their first time to travel outside of Missouri, their first night of sleeping in their own bed, their first time shopping for their own clothes, and their first time feeling

safe while playing a board game with a father. Spouses not only parent and manage the home, but they also work together professionally as trained behavioral specialists equipped with the skills needed for living and working with high-risk children in a family home. This blended family environment allows Coyote Hill to serve sibling groups who would otherwise be separated and placed in multiple foster homes. Andrew and Merri Heberlein have been home parents since 2012. Keeping large sibling sets together is the biggest reason they became a part of Coyote Hill. They served as foster parents within a traditional care setting for a few years prior to joining Coyote Hill. They loved it, but they were heartbroken every

Coyote Hill FOUNDED IN 1992

FULL-TIME STAFF MEMBERS 25

AVERAGE LENGTH OF A CHILD'S STAY 1.5 years

CHILDREN SERVED IN 2017 73

VOLUNTEERS WHO SERVED IN 2017 305

VOLUNTEER HOURS IN 2017 1,606

N ON PR OFI T

time siblings were split apart because the Heberleins didn’t have the space for larger sibling sets. At Coyote Hill, the Heberleins have had as many as six siblings living together in their home. “Even if the siblings don’t arrive together or become part of one family [at Coyote Hill], they’re still on the property and the siblings can see each other and play together. We really strive to keep siblings together, as they should be,” says Merri. Building and maintaining a stable home environment is important for every child at Coyote Hill, and the home parents are the key to making this a reality. The foster children, home parents, and children of the home parents make a family unit, so when it’s time for the foster children to leave, everyone feels the sadness. “We’ve been home parents in the Wright Home [one of the Coyote Hill houses] for five years,” says Andrew, “and we’ve had 44 kids come in and out. It’s rough. Some of them were here for two years. We attach to all of the children, but we get really attached to ones who get to live here for quite a while.” Amy, the Heberleins’ daughter, says: “I think the most challenging thing for our family is to watch kids leave because we bond and develop a good relationship and watch them walk out. But they’re always going somewhere new, so that’s good.” That “somewhere new” is often the child’s reunification with their biological family or their adoption into a new forever family.

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE CAMPUS Coyote Hill will have six homes at the end of this year, but only five will house families. The original home has become an education and resource center. In 2014, an emphasis was put on improving and expanding Coyote Hill’s programs in order to meet the additional needs of the foster children. For example, 45 percent of school-aged children placed at Coyote Hill in 2017 tested below their grade level upon arrival. “Many of our kids come to us with learning gaps because the environment they’ve been in has not prioritized school or valued academics,” says McDaniel. The

“We really strive to keep siblings together, as they should be.” — Merri Heberlein re-purposing of the original home allows Coyote Hill to provide “tutoring and classes to help kids catch up and not feel behind or embarrassed when they attend school,” explains McDaniel. The educational space also offers activities for younger children and provides a space for family therapy sessions to be completed on site. “These therapy rooms provide a family environment. They’re large enough for an entire family to be comfortable in a living room with additional play space,” says McDaniel. In addition to the education and resource center, Coyote Hill added a duplex this year. One side of the duplex serves as the residence for full-time relief home parents who step in to give home parents annual vacations and a weekly 24-hour day off. The duplex allows them to always be on site and available to step in at any given time. The other side of the duplex provides space for parent aides and missionaries to spend the night, hang out during their hours off, or live in during a short term of service. Coyote Hill’s future efforts are focused on continuing to grow their programs. The Success for Life program, for example, lets preteens and teenagers who live at Coyote Hill to work on-site and earn a weekly paycheck, helping them to develop the vocational and communication skills they will need for a successful transition into the workforce. As Coyote Hill continues to grow, these programs will be an important part of the value they provide to children — not just a safe place to grow up, but a place to grow up and thrive. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 35

Brother and sister Bill and Shannon Kasmann

1923

1945

1962

Norris Sampson Insurance Agency opens in Rocheport, Missouri.

Norris Sampson Insurance Agency moves to downtown Columbia from Rocheport.

Norris Sampson Insurance Agency changes their name to SampsonKasmann Insurance Agency.

36 SEPTEMBER 2018

BUSINE SS • P EOP L E • VOIC ES • F YI

C ELEBRAT I ON S

Insuring a Community for Three Generations Kasmann Insurance Agency celebrates 95 years of service.

BY JENNA JEAN G R UN DT N ER A N D EM M A BE N TL E Y | P H OTO G R A P H Y BY SA D I E TH I B O D E AUX

MANY FIRSTS HAPPENED IN 1923. The Yankees played their first home game at the original Yankee Stadium. Time magazine published their first issue. And Norris Sampson founded Norris Sampson Insurance Agency, now known as Kasmann Insurance Agency. Sampson’s grandchildren, brother-and-sister duo Bill and Shannon Kasmann, run the agency together. The independent insurance agency provides the most common types of personal and commercial lines of insurance: property, casualty, health, and life. They work with insurance providers to offer their clients the best-fitting policies. Because they’re an independent agency, they don’t work for a specific insurance provider, which lets them research providers and policies in order to best guide and advise clients. Kasmann Insurance is also local, which means when problems or questions arise, clients can stop by the office and speak with someone face-to-face. They make themselves available to clients, and that’s what makes their agency stand apart from others, Shannon says. This year, Kasmann Insurance is celebrating being in business for 95 years and remembering the values Norris put in place: integrity, family, and community. LIVING OUT THEIR CORE VALUES Integrity has been a guiding principle for the agency since its founding, which is why their work is completed in an honest and ethical manner by agents who are experienced and well-known in their industry.

Being a family-run business is also an important value to Bill and Shannon. That is why they are proud to be the third generation running the agency.

“My family built a great, successful business, and I was really fortunate to come into something that was working so well already in the community.” “My family built a great, successful business, and I was really fortunate to come into something that was working so well already in the community — good, established name and great location,” Shannon says. BUILDING OUT RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS The agency has been able to make lasting, personal relationships with clients. Bill and Shan-

non credit these relationships as the key to their lasting success as an agency. “What has made us successful is the relationships that we’ve built with our clients. A lot of our accounts we’ve had for many years and several generations of families,” says Shannon. “Our customers appreciate having the security of knowing that we’re always going to have staff here that are very well-experienced and are going to be taking care of them.” Bill has said in the past that, “because we see our clients so often, through all stages of their lives, we build lasting relationships. We really get to know our clients when they have kids, buy a new house, or start a new career. It makes our jobs so enjoyable when we get to visit with folks about everything, not just insurance.” And with a 95-year legacy, clients know that Bill and Shannon care about the community. GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY Not only has the agency maintained an office in Boone County since its founding, but Bill and Shannon look for ways to support their community outside of the services they offer. Every year, the agency sponsors and provides volunteers for the Memorial Day Salute to Veterans Air Show and Second Chance Animal Rescue. Both Bill and Shannon love animals; it’s not uncommon to see one of their dogs, or an employee’s, in the office. Although the faces of the company have changed throughout the years, the values have remained the same. As the company has continued to change and grow, its reputation in the community has never faltered. CBT

1968

2014

2018

Norris Sampson retires from the agency (but still offers his wisdom).

The agency changes their name to Kasmann Insurance Agency.

Bill Kasmann Jr. and Shannon Kasmann take ownership of the agency.

Kasmann Insurance Agency celebrates their 95th anniversary. COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 37

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38 SEPTEMBER 2018

B U SINESS • PEOP LE • VOIC ES • F YI

M OVER S & SH AKER S

Movers & Shakers SEPTEMBER 2018

CHANG

Ian Chang

Roger Walleck

De’Vion Moore

Ian Chang was promoted to mortgage banking officer at Providence Bank Mortgage Center. Chang will be responsible for originating residential mortgage loans in Columbia and the Mid-Missouri area. Chang has over three years of mortgage lending experience and has served as a loan officer assistant and junior loan officer.

Vice president of underwriting for Missouri Employers Mutual Roger Walleck has been elected as a member of the National Underwriting Committee. Members are selected based on their underwriting expertise and positions within companies representing a diverse group of workers’ compensation writers. Walleck joined MEM in 2017 and provides executive leadership to the underwriting department and directs the company’s book of business.

De’Vion Moore will be recommended to the Board of Education to become the principal at Alpha Hart Lewis Elementary School for the 2018-2019 school year. He will replace Michelle Holz, who has accepted a position in the district’s human resources department. Moore has six years of experience in Columbia Public Schools and previously worked as a learning specialist at Hickman High School.

Steve Schnarr

The Missouri Department of Transportation named Jim True as director of their motor carrier services division. True comes to MoDOT with many years of experience in the transportation industry in various roles in safety, risk management, driver recruitment and retention, and training with titles ranging from director to president and CEO.

Tracy Lane Tracy Lane is adding on to her newest role, as executive director of The Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival and Foundation, with a position as central vice president of Missouri Citizens for the Arts. Lane has worked in the arts for the better part of three decades. In the early 1990s, she served as the manager of The Blue Note and later as co-owner of a concert production company. For the nine years before she accepted her current job at Roots N Blues, she served as the executive director of Ragtag Film Society.

Celeste Spickert McClure Engineering Co., a Midwest-based civil engineering and planning firm, welcomed Celeste Spickert as a project manager for the structural division in the Columbia office. Spickert’s experience includes structural designs with concrete, steel, cold-formed steel, wood, and masonry. She has worked alongside architects, owners, developers, and the public on a variety of building projects.

Steve Schnarr is the new executive director of Missouri River Relief. Before this promotion, he served as program manager for the organization. The board is excited to have Schnarr as the new captain of its “ship of staff, volunteer crew, and countless other patrons and volunteers that embrace the mission of connecting people to the Missouri River,” according to a press release.

Jason Jacoby Cripps & Simmons LLC announced that Jason L. Jacoby recently joined their firm as an associate attorney. Jacoby moved to Mid-Missouri in 2012 and began working as a deputy clerk in the family division at the Boone County Courthouse. As an associate attorney with Cripps & Simmons, Jason’s primary focus will be in the areas of estate planning, elder law, and probate.

SPICKERT

Jim True WALLECK

JACOBY

Austin Powell Central Bank of Boone County announced the appointment of Austin Powell as a commercial loan officer. Commercial loan officers develop and manage credit relations with individuals and businesses who seek business-related financing. Powell will meet with clients and potential clients to discuss business loan opportunities as well as analyzing borrower financial documents. Powell began his career with Central Bank in 2012 as a teller. CBT

MOORE

POWELL

Are you or your employees making waves in the Columbia business community? Send us your news at Editor@BusinessTimesCompany.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 39

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P E R S ON YOU SH OU LD KN OW

JEN HEDRICK

MANAGING PRINCIPAL | SIMON OSWALD ARCHITECTURE | AGE: 47 Job description: I lead the SOA team in enhancing how our community lives, learns, works, heals, and plays. Many of my daily responsibilities are much more mundane and tedious than that strategic statement, but I’m really focused on building long-standing community relations and participating in projects that are meaningful to Columbia, so I pretty much do whatever it takes to make that happen! Years lived in Columbia/ Mid-Missouri: 24. Original hometown: Marshall, Missouri. Education: Bachelor of Architecture, Drury University. Favorite volunteer/community activity: In 2017, SOA celebrated 30 years of business by initiating 30 acts of kindness throughout the year. We realized how fortunate we are to have this community of clients, contractors, consultants, friends, and family who have contributed to the success of SOA, and we felt the desire to give back. Our entire team participated in these acts, logging over 500 service hours to various nonprofits. Professional background: I started my architectural career in Springfield, Missouri in 1992 and was recruited to Columbia by another local firm in 1994. About a year later, I joined SOA’s team and have been taking on new challenges ever since, the latest being managing principal since 2010. A favorite recent project: I’m super excited about the grand opening of the Special Olympics Missouri’s Training for Life Campus in Jefferson City. SOA began working with SOMO over a decade ago. The facility will benefit and serve current and future generations of individuals with intellectual disabilities and will be the largest

Photography by Keith Borgmeyer COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 41

B U SI N ESS • PEOPLE • VOIC ES • F YI

P E R S ON YO U SH OU LD KN OW

one person; they are done by a team. I used to think, to be an effective leader, I had to have all the answers and do much of the work myself (a very unrealistic, unachievable, and daunting perspective). But I have learned to identify and take advantage of other’s strengths and passions for the betterment of our projects and the success of our firm. I’m surrounded and supported by a fantastic team. How I would like to impact the Columbia community: I’d like to leave it even better than I found it when I moved here 24 years ago. At SOA we often say, “If it’s good for Columbia, it’s good for SOA.” That statement is applicable to much more than the architectural projects we are involved with. It also motivates us to volunteer and to give back.

Special Olympics facility of this scope in the United States. It will offer year-round training opportunities for athletes, coaches, and volunteers from throughout Missouri. Most importantly, it will give the athletes a place designed and dedicated solely for them. A Columbia businessperson I admire and why: Among a long list of business leaders that I admire, Susan Hart, of Huebert Builders, rises to the top. She’s a servant–leader: dedicated to putting the needs of others before hers, driven to build a stronger community and committed to helping others grow and achieve their goals. She is open-minded yet persuasive, communicative, collaborative, and a pleasure to work with. Why I’m passionate about my job: It’s very rewarding to be part of projects that have positive, profound effects on the daily lives of others. Why I’m passionate about my company: I work alongside an incredible group of optimistic, creative, smart, altruistic people. We share a common mission to leave the world a little better than we found it through our 42 SEPTEMBER 2018

projects, through our community involvement efforts, and through the raising of our families. If I weren’t doing this for a living, I would: Take on an active role in the nonprofit world, helping those in need, providing additional support and care. What people should know about this profession: Some think an architect’s main job is to make plans (blueprints) to help contractors get a building permit and build a project. In reality, our services are about so much more than a set of drawings. We are driven to solve other’s challenges by designing spaces and places that support their goals and vision. The satisfaction doesn’t come from producing the drawings; it comes when the end users experience the place or space we’ve imagined for them and it actually has a positive, lasting effect on their lives. My next professional goal: Become a certified Women Business Enterprise in early 2019! Biggest lesson learned in business: Great things in business are rarely done by

Greatest strength: I’m empathetic. As an architect, I design spaces for others, not for myself. It’s important to provide services and designs that align with their interests, their style, their needs. In my professional and personal life, I try to serve people by understanding and delivering on what they wish to experience or feel. Empathy is the corner stone of the platinum rule that I try to live by: Do unto others as they wish done onto them. Greatest weakness: I sometimes suffer from analysis paralysis and get caught up in researching, evaluating, and overthinking even the simplest decisions. It’s a good thing I live in the era of Google. (Or is it?!) What I do for fun: For quite some time, my main source of entertainment has been as a spectator for various kids’ activities and events (tennis, football, cheer, band, and choir). In a couple of years, when I’m an empty nester, I’ll likely air up the tires on my bike and hit the trails again; resurrect my easel, paints, and pastels; and give gardening another chance. Favorite place in Columbia: My screened-in deck that overlooks acres of trees. Most people don’t know that I: Spent 56 days on hospitalized bed rest before the birth of my twins. This ‘recess’ forced me to reflect on the awesome responsibility of parenthood and gave me a new perspective on what is truly important. To this day, that experience shapes how I spend my time and energy. CBT

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TEST DRIVE: Part 2

2019 VW Jetta SEL Premium My first thought when I saw this car was “This is a small car.” The Atlas was a mid-size SUV and this Jetta is a compact sedan. (Is this starting to sound like The Three Bears?) But, it was super sleek! Black paint with black leather interior and some super fancy black rims. I kept the car two days to put it through the pace of my everyday life. Here is how it scored on my test: VOLKSWAGEN: Check. PARKABILITY: I certainly thought parking this baby would be a breeze. And, it was! I loved having the backup cam in this smaller car. However, I’ll have to get used to the smaller size. I still left it too far from

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the adaptive cruise control and blind spot monitor which can be super helpful as I spend so much time on I-70. It’s not as peppy as my Passat and I think the black rims worked more for my teen boys than me. However, I definitely give it a 4/5 for sass! Beautiful car! GAS MILEAGE: Great gas mileage in this little guy. Factory information states that it gets 34 mpg. I got really close to this myself. I give it a 5/5 for fuel efficiency. I’m just starting my search, having only reviewed the Atlas and Jetta thus far, but I will tell you…this is going to be a tough decision after driving this sporty, efficient machine.

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B U SINESS • PEO P LE • VOIC ES • F YI

1 1 QU EST I ON S

sites, and we meet with others at the design table. We spend time with potential and existing tenants, and some days you pick up a broom, a shovel, or a jackhammer and help out when needed. Note that the tools I use do not require any special skills! 4. What drew you to your position? Vicki and I redeveloped some historic buildings in the river town of Rocheport, Missouri in the late ’80s and ’90s. We enjoyed the creative and business aspect of redevelopment and historic preservation. When my partners and I sold our broadcasting business, Vicki and I gravitated toward doing redevelopment in downtown Columbia.

Q&A JOHN OTT Owner, Alley A Realty

1. What’s your background? My degree from MU is in journalism. I worked with Dave Baugher and Al Germond for almost 20 years in the broadcasting business. [Editor’s note: Baugher and Germond are partners in The Business Times Company.] For about the last 15 years, my wife, Vicki, and I have been buying, redeveloping, leasing, and managing primarily commercial and historic properties in Columbia’s downtown district. Our son, Tanner, joined us at the company about four years ago. We are very fortunate that he decided to join us in our business. 2. Tell us about your job. We work with creative people in designing retail, restaurant, office, and artist spaces that meet our tenants’ needs. We work hard to retain the character, historical, and cultural value of the buildings. 3. What does your typical day look like? Every day is different, and most days that can be a wonderful thing! We meet with the people working on our projects at the

5. What don’t people know about your industry that they should? It’s just like “Fixer Upper” on HGTV. No, just kidding! These projects take many months to complete and there are many, many people involved, not to mention the permitting and regulations that can be onerous.

"We like to be involved in creating spaces that people enjoy spending time in — like places that have outlived some of their usefulness but can be made exciting again."

6. What would people be surprised to know about your work? I don’t know if it’s a surprise, but like a lot of peoples’ jobs, it never ends!

the impressive hotel developer Glyn Laverick. I will never forget the night we turned on the refurbished iconic "TIGER" sign on top of the building after it had been turned off for about 50 years.

7. Did you start your career in small business? My first job out of MU was walking the streets of downtown Columbia selling radio ads to local merchants. It gave me an appreciation for how hard small business owners work and how creative they are in attracting people to their stores. My wife was the manager of the University Bookstore on campus in her early career.

10. What’s your ‘why’? What inspires you to get up each day and make a difference? We like to be involved in creating spaces that people enjoy spending time in — like places that have outlived some of their usefulness but can be made exciting again. Nothing gives us more satisfaction than seeing lots of people enjoy the spaces we helped create.

8. What are some challenges you face in your work? The rising cost of materials and labor. An ongoing industry shortage of tradespeople. Rising interest rates.

11. Tell us something about you that we wouldn’t learn from your resume alone: We like to spend some time each year in Ely, Minnesota, a small town near the Canadian border. It’s the “Gateway to the Boundary Waters” and offers us a chance to get away and enjoy the outdoors. Also, we have a daughter, Mackenzie, an MU grad who has a career in apparel management in New York. Not sure if she’ll be joining the family business anytime too soon! Did I mention our 15-yearold shih tzu, Sophie? CBT

9. Describe a success you’re most proud of. I’m proud of our involvement in the North Village Arts District, the Alley A Project, and the preservation of the Stephens Building, Berry Building, and Pucketts Building. Other projects too! Dave, Al, and I acquired and rescued the Tiger Hotel, eventually selling it to

Check out past questions and answers online at ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com. COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 47

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B U SI N ESS • PEO PLE • VOIC ES • F YI

A CA P I TOL CON VER SAT I ON

A Look into Mike Kehoe’s Past BY KRCG 13’ S K ER M IT M IL L ER

CAN MISSOURI LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR MIKE KEHOE KEEP HIS NEW TITLE? At this writing, he's up one round to none. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem has tossed out a legal challenge to Kehoe's appointment brought by the Missouri Democratic Party and individual plaintiff Darrell Cope, of Hartville. Beetem said the plaintiffs lacked legal standing. Beyond that technicality, he said the lieutenant governor's office should not be left vacant until the next election. He added that current law is not clear enough to prevent Governor Mike Parson from filling it by gubernatorial appointment. Thus far, the Democrats have said only that they’re considering an appeal, but it defies credulity to think this decision stops short of the state supreme court. In any case, a man who once sold automobiles by telling customers they could get "tires for life" and proclaiming, “Everyone loves a Mike Kehoe deal” now holds onto the number-two rung on the gubernatorial ladder. In a statement following the trial judge's decision, Kehoe said, "I am grateful for, and agree with, Judge Beetem’s ruling and look forward to continuing to work on behalf of all Missourians." The road traveled by this 56-year-old Republican is storied. Raised in the St. Louis area by a single mother with six children, a teenaged Kehoe took a car washing job at the Dave Sinclair Ford dealership and worked his way into sales management. A work scholarship sent him to the elite Chaminade College Preparatory School. By age 25, Kehoe was running Osage Industries in Linn, Missouri, a company that converts panel vans into ambulances. While there, Kehoe more than doubled the size of the business. In 1992, at only 30 years of age, he sold his interest

in the company and purchased the Ford Lincoln Mercury auto dealership in Jefferson City. In 2005, then governor Matt Blunt put Mike Kehoe's feet on the road to political office by appointing him to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. Almost immediately, he was confronted with the deteriorating state of more than 800 state-maintained bridges and the need to develop creative financing to do something about it.

Arguably, Mike Kehoe's bravest legislative venture was his support of new taxes for transportation needs. Highway maintenance and construction funding challenges defined Kehoe's tenure on the commission, where he rose to serve as chairman. During that time, Kehoe also solidified his relationship with Jefferson City lawmaker Carl Vogel, whom he would eventually replace in the Missouri State Senate. The senate election happened in 2010, when a term-limited Vogel finished his capitol career. Kehoe had held no elective office, but he

defeated several candidates in the August primary who had. In the Senate, Kehoe maintained his commitment to transportation and infrastructure. Early on, he backed a proposal to accelerate the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Missouri. It would have allowed a coalition of power companies to recover tens of millions of dollars in permitting costs through rate hikes. That bill stalled in committee. Arguably, Mike Kehoe's bravest legislative venture was his support of new taxes for transportation needs. In 2013, he proposed a onecent general sales tax to fund projects over a ten-year period. At the time, analysts estimated the tax would have generated $8 billion. The following year, a modified 3/4-cent sales tax proposal from Kehoe drew opposition from then-governor Jay Nixon, who said it was neither fair nor fiscally responsible. Kehoe responded that Nixon was "clueless" about the severity of the problem. But voters did not love this Kehoe deal, defeating the tax proposal by a margin of nearly three to two. The issue has followed Missouri's new lieutenant governor into that office. Money for highways will come before voters once again this year. The November ballot will ask whether to increase the motor fuel tax by ten cents, phased in over a five-year period. Kehoe has endorsed the fuel tax increase. In June, he told KRCG 13: "The cost of labor, the cost of materials . . . just everything you have that goes into highway construction has gone up. At the same time, our roads have continued to get older." Win or lose, Mike Kehoe won't have to provide anyone with tires for life. CBT Kermit is an award-winning 45-year veteran journalist and one of the longest serving members of the Missouri Statehouse press corps.

Kermit Miller anchors the 6 and 10 p.m. news for KRCG 13. You can reach Kermit at kmiller@krcg.com COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 49

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LOCA L P E R S P EC T I VE: M AR K FAR N EN

The task force estimates that Missouri has an annual, unmet transportation funding need of $825 million; the low motor fuel tax rate is the major contributing factor to the deficit.

The Road Not Always Taken BY MA RK FA RN EN

ON NOVEMBER’S BALLOT, voters will decide on increasing the tax on motor fuel by a total of 10 cents over four years, raising the tax from its current 17 cents per gallon to 27 cents per gallon. The proceeds of the tax are intended for the operations of the Missouri Highway Patrol and road construction projects. In the past, Missourians have been pretty stingy in allocating tax money for roads and bridges despite the increasingly apparent need. In 1919, the first major stretch of concrete road in Missouri was constructed. It was 15 miles long and cost $500,000 to build. That’s when drivers across the state began to clamor for their own paved roads to accommodate their

faster, more modern forms of transportation. By citizen initiative, Missouri passed its first fuel tax in 1924. It was two cents per gallon and was intended for the construction of a state highway system. Since then, Missouri has raised the fuel tax only five times — twice at the polls and three times by action of the state legislature. Missourians last approved a fuel tax increase for a phased-in plan that increased the tax by six cents between 1992 and 1996, which resulted in our current rate. Despite the low tax rate, Missouri has managed to develop the seventh largest system of highways and built the sixth highest number of bridges in the nation, but this only happened

because money for these projects also came from federal and local coffers. According to the transportation task force put together by the state legislature last year, Missouri ranks number 47 in its overall level of funding for road and bridge construction and maintenance, meaning Missouri doesn’t have enough money to take care of what’s been built and even less money to build roads needed to accommodate growth. The task force estimates that Missouri has an annual, unmet transportation funding need of $825 million; the low motor fuel tax rate is the major contributing factor to the deficit. They suggested increasing the fuel tax by 10 to 12 cents for gas and diesel fuel, diverting other revenue sources to roads and bridges, and looking into alternative fuel taxes to supplement traditional fuel tax revenues that are declining due to the rise of more fuelefficient vehicles. By a split, but very bipartisan, vote, the legislature decided to kick this issue to the voters for November. The proposition on the ballot will read, “Shall Missouri law be amended to fund Missouri state law enforcement by increasing the motor fuel tax by two and one-half cents per gallon annually for four years beginning July 1, 2019, exempt Special Olympic, Paralympic, and Olympic prizes from state taxes, and establish the Emergency State Freight Bottleneck Fund?" COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 51

LO CAL PE R S P EC T I V E : MA R K FA R N E N

The fiscal note attached explains what this proposition is intended to do. "If passed, this measure will generate at least $288 million annually to the State Road Fund to provide for the funding of Missouri state law enforcement and $123 million annually to local governments for road construction and maintenance.”

BREAKING THE PROPOSITION DOWN Let’s break this ballot issue down into its three major components. First, according to this proposal, if you win a gold medal in the Olympics, the state will not tax you on the value of your prize. Why is this included in a proposition to build and fix roads? It’s because the original legislation started with the Olympic exemption. Lawmakers added the other provisions to this bill to avoid having to write a new bill. Second, another part of this proposal creates the Emergency State Freight Bottleneck Fund. In essence, this becomes a dedicated bank account for major road and bridge projects, and it depends on annual appropriations from the legislature. Money in this fund will include funds made possible by the passage of the new fuel tax and may also include alternative sources depending on future actions by the legislature. Projects will be required to meet specific standards in order to become eligible for funding from this source, and if there are more projects on the list than there are funds in the account to cover them all, they will be prioritized by need of importance. There will always be more projects than available money, and there is no guarantee that any specific project in any specific part of the state will receive funding. That fact alone makes some lawmakers uneasy about this new proposal. Lastly, we get to the real meat of the proposition. This legislation would phase in a motor fuel tax increase over the course of four years starting in July 2019. The total increase would be 10 cents per gallon on all

motor fuels, making Missouri’s fuel tax 27 cents per gallon by July 2022. That includes both gasoline and diesel fuel. Other provisions of the new law would eventually extend the tax to all other forms of “motor fuel” including compressed natural gas, propane, hydrogen, and even electricity used for charging electric cars. The alternative fuel tax implementation follows a slightly different timetable than the gas and diesel phase-in, and complicated diesel/gallon equivalency formulas still need to be constructed, but everything should be on schedule for equivalent taxation rates by the end of 2023. Overall, the new tax plan should raise more than $400 million in revenue per year. Now, go back to the report from the transportation tax force. It says Missouri has unfunded transportation needs of more than $825 million per year. The new tax plan raises about half that amount annually. Funding the Highway Patrol operations from new fuel tax revenues should free up enough money in the overall budget to allow significant increases in road building and maintenance programs, and the creation of the Freight Bottleneck Fund insures a mechanism for dedicating some funds for specific transportation needs, but the total amount of fuel tax funds spent on actual new road projects will be less than $400 million per year, leaving the remaining $425 million or more in unfunded needs in limbo. The average state fuel tax rate in the U.S. is right at 30 cents per gallon, and acceptance of this proposed increase would move Missouri from a virtual tie for last place in funding to the safer middle ground. Our road system serves as the transportation backbone for every segment of business and everyday life in this state from small retail to farming to tourism to manufacturing and service industries. This plan shares the cost equitably between both in-state and out-of-state interests who use our highways. CBT

Mark Farnen is co-founder of Strategies LLC and publisher of CityWatch. 52 SEPTEMBER 2018

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B USINESS • PEOPLE • VOIC ES • F YI

LOCA L P E R S P EC T I V E : SGT. R OBER T FOX

We Are the First Responders BY SGT. ROBERT FOX PH OTOGRAP HY PR OV ID ED BY COLU M BIA P O L I C E DE PA RTME N T

IN MY LAST TWO PIECES, I’ve discussed the police department’s community policing efforts and the national push for officers to be the guardians of our community. But there are times when an officer needs to be a warrior. For example, in the past two years, the U.S. has experienced both the largest school shooting and the first and second largest mass shootings in the nation’s history. Last year, a 64-year-old male — with no previous criminal history — fired shots from the 32nd story of a Las Vegas hotel, injuring 909 people and killing 58 in only 15 minutes. Also last year, the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando killed 49 people and wounded 53 others. After the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida governor Rick Scott signed new legislation requiring armed security in every school and requiring a three-day waiting period between when a gun is purchased and when it’s delivered to the owner.

The day after those bills were signed, the National Rifle Association filed an appeal claiming that the bill violated second amendment rights. While these mass shootings have resulted in legislation reforming gun laws, the availability of firearms remains protected by the second amendment, meaning that preventing legally qualifying individuals — like all three of the shooters in the attacks named above — from purchasing firearms in the U.S. is difficult, if not impossible. So who will protect the public from these types of shooters? The answer is obvious: the police. They were the first to respond to the mass shootings mentioned above, and they handled each threat. The Columbia Police Department’s mission statement states, “To protect and serve by partnering with the community to solve problems and responsibly enforce the law.” We’re the guardians and the warriors of the community, but we’re being asked to only be guardians.

The city council has directed the city manager to provide a plan of transition, timeline, and budget to transform the police department into a department focused on community-oriented policing. Columbia police officers have gone through training advocating a guardian mindset in officers — to be the protectors of their neighborhoods — but that mindset isn’t always the appropriate one for every situation. For example, when the Broward County Sheriff Department responded to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, they stood outside of the school instead of going inside to find the shooter and end the threat to students and staff. Could the emphasis on a guardian mindset and the downplaying of police as warriors have influenced why the deputies remained outside? Has the emphasis on officers to only be guardians led to people forgetting the need for law enforcement to protect and, in some circumstances, be warriors as well? Columbia police have responded to multiple shootings downtown this summer after increasing numbers of young men have begun walking around the district openly carrying guns. When officers arrive on scene, they’re often met with hostility and non-cooperation. The challenge officers face is having the capacity to be both guardian and warrior, to act appropriately and safely in tense, rapidlyevolving situations, even while knowing their actions will be second guessed by the public. It is easy for citizens and politicians to applaud the guardian officers engaging with neighborhoods, but we also need to support the police when they deal with difficult situations and, though few, violent and dangerous individuals. The police department’s challenge is to maintain the safety of the public, the officers, and even the suspect while operating within ever tightening, social media-defined parameters of acceptability and reasonableness. Our council’s recent enthusiasm for community-oriented policing only has credibility if it comes with support for a long neglected police department struggling to serve its growing city. The silent pro-police majority of Columbia residents have to speak up and show their support for the officers because they are politically and literally in the firing line. CBT

Sgt. Robert Fox serves in the Columbia Police Department and leads the department's community policing efforts. COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 55

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Columbia Daily Tribune March 10, 1955

A Wasted $15 Million BY A L GERMON D

THE PASSAGE OF PROPOSITION A on the August primary ballot would have included Missouri in the list of states with a right-to-work law. The proposition, however, was doomed from the moment petition bearers began spreading out in force across Missouri a year ago trying to get signatures. Their spiels to the public were confusing but convincing. Many petition signers — some barely old enough to vote — probably had no idea what they were affixing their signature to. To them, it was likely just another petition like the one they signed a few weeks earlier regarding medical marijuana. Proposition A came up a cropper — failed miserably — this election just like it did in August 1978. The outcome was preordained, bought and paid for with a flood of money — more than $15 million by one estimate — and a gazillion yard signs spread across the state. Defeat was never in doubt. Opponents to the proposition claim the right-to-work law is “Wrong for Missouri.”

Well, that’s their opinion. A right-to-work law for Missouri would have invoked section 14(b) of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, also known as the Labor Management Relations Act. This would have exempted employees from having to pay union dues where co-workers bargained collectively in a closed shop setting under provisions of the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act of 1935. In what was billed as “Wrong for Missouri,” in fact, could have been right for the Show-Me State. A right-to-work law might have brought more business and industries to Missouri. More jobs. More revenue from taxes to relieve and rejuvenate tight budgets across the state. The defeat of right-to-work was a pyrrhic victory for organized labor. Over the long term, many unions have been defanged. Union membership has plunged from 25% of the workforce decades ago to historic new lows — in the single digits, by most estimates.

The outcome was pre-ordained, bought and paid for with a flood of money — more than $15 million by one estimate — and a gazillion yard signs spread across the state. Labor peace is widespread. Strikes are a rare occurrence these days because public sector workers are generally forbidden to strike and, therefore, inconvenience the public. And the public is also hardly ever inconvenienced by the demands of organized labor because labor and management seem to be able to work things out. Both sides are at peace. Columbia’s major private sector employers remain immune from unionization. It’s in the government and education fields where there’s any sign of the employee versus employer testiness that often breeds unionization. Organized labor and its allies spent more than $15 million to fight against rightto-work this go-around. This time they won fair and square. But the $15 million could have been invested by organized labor for job training and enhancement, programs for minorities, young people, apprenticeships, and health and pension plans while buttressing many of the other great benefits organized labor has brought to the workforce over the years. What a waste. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 57

58 SEPTEMBER AUGUST 20182018

WHY stop at ONE? Local business owners expand into new locations. P HOTO G R A P H Y BY A N TH O N Y J I N S O N

Rollie Bartels Tiger Express Car Wash

o say that Tiger Express Wash has been successful in expanding to multiple locations would be an understatement. Since Rollie Bartels opened his first car wash on Nebraska Avenue in Columbia in 2006, he has opened two more locations in Columbia and seven locations south of St. Louis with three more on the way. Bartels’ secret to success is pretty straightforward: Go where the competition isn’t. Opening car washes in smaller markets like Troy, Missouri, ensures he’s the only tunnel-style car wash around. “Many [of our markets] don’t have a tunnel car wash for many miles,” Bartels says. “Troy has a population of 13,500, and we’re the only car wash in that town. It’s our No. 2 store in revenue behind the Grindstone location [in Columbia].” Bartels has focused his business expansion on the area south of St. Louis, where he says any existing competition predominantly offers 60 SEPTEMBER 2018

touchless car washes that use high-pressured water to do the cleaning rather than the series of brushes that Tiger Express uses. Washes, which range from $10 to $20, also include a pre-soak applied manually by an employee and additional towel-drying at some locations. Offering a service that differs from the competition is key, and Bartels asserts that his system gets cars cleaner than touchless systems. While opening car washes in smaller towns ensures little competition, it nevertheless has presented challenges. While Columbia’s water and sewer system accommodates the three Tiger Express Wash locations — making the business the seventh largest sewer user in Columbia — smaller municipalities aren’t always able to meet the demand. To solve this problem, Bartels got innovative by employing mechanisms that recycle the water used during the wash to keep the tunnel clean. “A car wash is like a cruise ship. You’re cleaning it nonstop because it’s a wet environment,”

Bartels explains. “With the new ones we’re building, we’re doing things to try to curb some of that water use.” With so many car washes, Bartels focuses his time on new locations to oversee building and development. His three grown children, who all live in Columbia, are also involved. His daughter, Emeri, manages marketing, while sons Collin and Maxwell handle operations, manage the business’s 130 employees, and ensure consistency in service across all locations. Looking ahead, Bartels sees potential in expanding Tiger Express Wash to other states. Looking back, he remembers the time and labor that went in to opening that first car wash 12 years ago and to developing the business into the successful chain that it is today. “Starting out, it’s pretty much seven days a week for the first five years,” he says. “You have to commit your life to it.” By Jennifer Truesdale

Nikki Reynolds End of the Rainbow Child Care Center

hen Nikki Reynolds started working part-time at End of the Rainbow Child Care Center as a college student, she never imagined that she’d be the owner of the preschool. Satisfied with the business and enjoying working with the nearly 160 children the facility serves, expansion was not on her mind. “I said: ‘No way. I’m happy where I am,’” Nikki remembers. But Jared Reynolds, Nikki’s husband, thought the idea of expanding to a second location was an idea worth exploring. “I thought it was a great opportunity and we should definitely look at it,” Jared says. The growth of south Columbia, the lack of competition in the area, and the opening of Beulah Ralph Elementary School seemed like a winning combination for a second location. In 2017, they bought a plot on Scott Boulevard, directly across from the elementary school. Nikki agrees that the location is ideal and the need for child care is rising. “The demand for

school-aged children really isn’t there anymore, but every day I have to turn away infants and toddlers because that’s the highest demand,” she says. With the new location set to open this month, Nikki and Jared are excited but say they’ve learned a lot along the way. Meeting building codes, state and county requirements for child care centers, and even details like getting approval for playground fence materials required patience, time, and a lot of paperwork. “It was very eye-opening going to all the meetings with the fire department, the light department, the sewer department — it was a process getting through the city,” Nikki says. As Nikki has continued managing the original location, Jared has tackled a lot of the construction details at the new location. “It’s been quite a learning experience,” Jared says. “As far as designing a building from scratch goes, the biggest thing I’ve learned is that you have to double-check everything and ask what options there are when working with

the architect. [The original design] had windows that were rated for a 65-story skyscraper for a single-story building. So we started going through every single detail to find ways to save money without cutting quality.” While the Reynolds’ plan is to eventually sell the new location to the person who will be managing it, Nikki says she’ll be actively involved in the management of the new preschool to ensure quality services for the children and a positive work environment for staff. “I will divide my time between the new location and our main location,” Nikki says. “The centers are at completely different stages, and therefore will require different tasks on a dayto-day basis. Our staff is the heartbeat of the center, and at our main location, a lot of our teachers have been able to call End of the Rainbow their home away from home. That will be our goal at the new location as well.” By Jennifer Truesdale COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 61

Kwang "Kory" Yoo I’m Sushi Burrito, Geisha Sushi Bar, I Am Sushi & Grill

he costumed heroes on the mural at I’m Sushi Burrito crane their necks for a glimpse of the fresh ingredients filling seaweed wraps behind the counter. As patrons select from toppings including marinated pork belly, spicy tuna, pineapple mango salsa, and zesty Thai chili sauce, an adjacent TV shows the Hulk smashing an intergalactic eel on the hood of a taxi. Like the colorful comic book characters that theme his eatery, Kwang “Kory” Yoo has a mild-mannered side. But his culinary alter ego usually runs the show. “Our presentation is always focused on fun,” says Yoo, also the head chef and owner of Geisha Sushi Bar. “I don’t like simple.” Perhaps there is no better example of the restaurateur’s flair for the dramatic than Geisha’s signature sushi boats that billow fog from dry ice, an idea Yoo says is unique to his restaurant. When it opened in 2008, Geisha’s atmosphere and menu made it an immediate hit 62 SEPTEMBER 2018

among Columbia’s student population, but its location on Broadway put it just far enough from campus to deter the grab-and-go lunch crowd. That led him to open I’m Sushi Burrito. “I visited my friend in California, and he showed me a place serving sushi burritos,” Yoo says. “I thought, ‘I bet the kids in Missouri will love them.’ They’re cheap, they cost about $10, and they’re a good size.” With his third restaurant — I Am Sushi & Grill, which opened last month on Columbia’s south side — Yoo aims to carve out another niche. It is the most upscale location of the trio, featuring top-shelf ingredients such as uni (sea urchin) and toro (a premium cut of tuna). Yoo’s latest muse is yakitori, a flavorful Japanese kabob served with pipettes of soy sauce and a 400-degree stone on which customers can sear various meats to any desired temperature. “Most Asians learn to cook at home when they’re young,” says Yoo. He was born in South Korea, moved with his parents to the U.S. in the

late ’90s, and got his first cooking gig at the St. Louis chain Wasabi Sushi Bar. “I’m always thinking about what I can be doing next, checking Google and Pinterest, and thinking about Japanese and Korean food,” Yoo says. Overseeing three establishments — in addition to parenting 1-year-old twin boys and a 3-year-old daughter with his wife, Seungah — leaves Yoo little time for much else. Even so, he is concocting a fourth menu for yet another sequel, or perhaps prequel: a Korean barbecue restaurant that will return him to his culinary roots. The date and location have not been determined, but fans of the original trilogy are sure to marvel. “Columbia is a small town, but it’s growing really fast,” Yoo says. “A lot of students from big cities come here and they still want the food from the big city. I want to bring something new every time, from other cultures.” By Marcus Wilkins

Mark Sulltrop 44 Stone, 44 Canteen

any who venture into Mark Sulltrop’s pub on the south side of Columbia wonder where the name, 44 Stone, came from. “Stone” is a unit of weight in the United Kingdom, and 44 stone was the combined weight of Sulltrop and original business partner Dave Faron, both burly gentlemen, when they opened the restaurant in 2011. The British theme runs throughout the establishment; Faron was born in England and his mother contributed much of the art in the restaurant that features Scotland, London, and Ireland. But Sultrop likes to stress that 44 Stone is an Americanized take on the traditional English “gastropub.” “I like to have a point of reference for people,” says Sulltrop, who has since bought out Faron’s portion of the restaurant. “For example, I have a roasted lamb dip sandwich on the menu. Some people aren’t as familiar with lamb, but if you put it in a French dip, they have context and might be willing to try it.”

That thinking translated to Sulltrop’s second restaurant, 44 Canteen, located downtown on Ninth Street. The new restaurant opened in 2015 next to The Blue Note, where short wait times and quick bites are the order of the day. The menu includes fare like the Phillystyle taco with steak marinated in Boulevard’s Heavy Lifting IPA and a Korean burger featuring house-pickled cucumber kimchi. “We didn’t want to cannibalize ourselves with the second location, or have customers thinking, ‘We don’t need to go downtown because we can just go to 44 Stone,’” Sulltrop says. “It’s a different experience, and it’s definitely a different demographic downtown.” Sulltrop had always loved 44 Canteen’s location. The building was home to Trattoria Strada Nova from 1990 to 2007. It’s certainly a more elegant home than a food truck, a direction Sulltrop once thought he might go. “Our taco features were always popular when we would do them for tap takeovers at

"WE DIDN’T WANT TO CANNIBALIZE OURSELVES WITH THE SECOND LOCATION." 44 Stone,” says Sulltrop, who has witnessed Columbia’s craft-beer revolution up close. “At 44 Canteen, people come in, get drinks, eat, and they’re out. They don’t course-eat.” Sulltrop and his wife, Marsha, have two children — their son, Ely, and daughter, Maris — so a third restaurant doesn’t appear to be in the future. For now. “I have plenty on my plate with two places,” Sulltrop says. “But I always have ideas — which is dangerous.” By Marcus Wilkins COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 63

Aucky El-Tayash The Grind

ucky El-Tayash is a social dynamo with the gift of gab and enthusiasm for new challenges. He knew from a young age that he needed to be his own boss to fully harness his entrepreneurial energy. And that was before he tried coffee for the first time. “I was pretty old for a first-time coffee drinker,” says El-Tayash, who had his first taste at age 25. “My brother let me try a special coffee drink that he makes. Of course, I put like seven sugars in it.” That recipe eventually became “The Aucky,” the signature coffee drink at El-Tayash’s south side coffee shop, The Grind. He describes it as the perfect drink — not a latte and not a cappuccino — with the right amount of milk and sugar served three-quarters full in a 12-ounce cup. “We’ve perfected a technique of steaming [milk] so you get that thickness but not the foaminess,” El-Tayash says. “And it’s made with breve milk to give it richness.” That first sip took place at It’s A Grind, a cof64 SEPTEMBER 2018

fee shop once located in the same space under different ownership. When El-Tayash learned that the space was going to be available, he took it over in 2016. “In Columbia, you can feel old pretty quick — everyone stays the same age,” jokes El-Tayash. “I found myself hanging out at coffee shops a lot with friends. So, I wanted a big place where you can hang out.” Comfortable chairs, fireplace seating, study stations, and a patio — The Grind has cozy covered. Add a menu of creative beverages and you have a quintessential neighborhood coffee shop. In July, El-Tayash opened a second shop next door to Wilson’s Fitness on the north side of town. This location offers scoops of protein powder as additions to smoothies as well as “protein dots,” no-bake confections packed with protein powder. “Since I opened the first place, I never forgot about the north,” El-Tayash says. “There are

a lot of people up there and still a lot of things missing. I want The Grind to be that area’s neighborhood coffee shop, too.” El-Tayash knows about the neighborhood-shop feel thanks to his father, Youssef, who opened Campus Eastern Food on Locust Street in 1986. A Libyan immigrant, Youssef brought Aucky into the business in 2008 and changed the store name to A&Y Global Market, now on Fourth Street. But Aucky eventually sold back his portion to venture out alone. “There’s a unique style of conducting business in Columbia,” says Aucky, a Rock Bridge High School and MU alumnus. “For example, if you open up a business and you expect everything to be the same in the summer when you lose 50,000 people, that’s a problem. Being born and raised here gives me a unique advantage. It’s the best place for me.” CBT By Marcus Wilkins

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 65

66 SEPTEMBER 2018

ANALYZING THE

AmazonEffect

How online purchases and the failed attempt to pass the use tax are impacting Columbia.

by Kacen J. Bayless

ANALYZING THE

This past November, the City of Columbia proposed a use tax. Small business owners advocated for it; voters appeared confused by it; city officials tried to explain it. In the end, it failed. “It’s really a difficult thing to explain. A use tax — what’s a use tax?” says Richard Sheets, deputy director of the Missouri Municipal League. The proposition, which Columbia voters narrowly rejected by 51 percent to 49 percent, would have imposed a tax on out-of-state purchases at the same rate as the city’s local sales tax, which is two percent. The tax was mostly directed at online sales — without a use tax in place, shoppers often don’t pay sales taxes when they buy from out-of-state companies on the internet. If the tax had passed, it would have helped level the playing field between local businesses and out-of-state and online sellers. After the failure of the proposition, many local business advocates fear that businesses and community services in Columbia will suffer at the hands of online retailers, who can often offer similar products with fewer consumer taxes tacked on. 68 SEPTEMBER 2018

AmazonEffect

THE AMAZON EFFECT

THE EFFECT ON COLUMBIA

On August 11, 1994, the world’s first online sale took place — a purchase of Sting’s album “Ten Summoner’s Tales.” (That’s the one with “Fields of Gold” on it. It sold more than 10 million copies around the world.) Since then, e-commerce has completely revolutionized the way we shop. In today’s marketplace, consumers can access just about any product or service they need (or want) with the click of a button. Although this technological evolution has made shopping significantly more convenient and accessible to the consumer, a significant amount of the money used on online retailers is money no longer being spent at local brick-and-mortar businesses. This phenomenon has often been called “the Amazon Effect,” in obvious recognition of the online giant’s dominance in the online retail market. Although it’s probably the most recognizable name in e-commerce companies, Amazon isn’t solely responsible for “the Amazon Effect.” According to the U.S. Census Bureau, e-commerce sales in the first quarter of 2018 totaled $123.7 billion, a 3.9 percent increase over the fourth quarter in 2017. E-commerce sales will likely top half a trillion dollars this year. “Ten Summoner’s Tales,” if you were wondering, sold for $12.48 plus shipping. Sheets says he’s seen the Amazon effect become a continuing trend in Missouri the past 10 years with a steady increase in internet sales and a decrease in local purchases. He says this trend has had a negative impact on local budgets. “City sales tax revenues from Columbia and other cities have really fallen and flattened out,” he says. “That says that local sales are decreasing, so that’s a direct indication that businesses aren’t having the customers come in to their place of operation and purchasing things. They’re just not shopping locally anymore.” City Manager Mike Matthes says the city uses a 10-year trend manual to track economic metrics from the past decade. He says sales tax per capita began to fall in Columbia about ten years ago, “when internet shopping really exploded, and now it’s just grown exponentially every year.” Matthes says the city loses about $10 million annually in sales tax revenue to out-of-state retailers — retailers that, as of right now, don’t collect local taxes.

On top of the loss of sales tax revenue, some local businesses are now being forced to compete with retailers from out-of-state. “As transactions have moved from physical brick-and-mortar to the internet, our local businesses lose those sales, and then because we lose those sales, they’re not taxed, and so it’s that killer app of the internet that’s really making it hard for both,” Matthes says. Despite Matthes’ claim that online sales are making it hard on both city revenue and local businesses, the city spent more than $129,200 on Amazon purchases from March 2017 to March 2018, as reported by the Columbia Daily Tribune, perhaps an indication of just how ingrained e-commerce has become in the day-to-day operations of a community. Matthes says when purchasing products like office supplies, the city buys from different suppliers on a case-by-case basis, and that only a small percentage of purchases were made through Amazon. Joe Chevalier, co-owner of Yellow Dog Bookshop in downtown Columbia, says that when he opened his bookstore five years ago, Amazon and other online retailers were already in place, so he hasn’t necessarily noticed a trend in lost sales over the years. However, Chevalier says that at his previous job, at Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, California, customers would occasionally ask him for book recommendations in-store and then purchase their books online. Although it sometimes happens at Yellow Dog, Chevalier believes the customer service offering from a physical bookstore differentiates them from online competitors. “Some things you can only get from a real physical book store, and one of those is the customer service, the interaction with the booksellers who work in the shop,” he says. Chevalier admits that online sales aren’t going away anytime soon, even with Columbia’s large amount of locally available products. “If you’re buying something from Amazon, then that money is going to that corporation,” he says. “It’s not going to whatever local business that you could have bought from instead. When we spend that money in our community, it stays in our community. It goes to support people who are living here.” COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 69

ANALYZING THE

“A use tax — what’s a use tax? It’s really a difficult thing to explain.” Richard Sheets

70 SEPTEMBER 2018

AmazonEffect

WHY A USE TAX? After the use tax proposition narrowly failed last November, city officials tried to make sense of the situation. Both Matthes and Sheets believe that many voters were confused by the wording on the ballot. “It just barely failed in the city, by 130 votes, I think, largely because people don’t understand it and why it’s important,” Matthes says. “I think a lot of folks view it as a new tax, and they don’t want to pay it, and I get that.” Matthes says that if the use tax had passed, it would have “solved just about all of our financial problems.” “Our citizens have to realize that those taxes go to provide those essential services that they all want. They want good streets, they want police protection, they want fire protection, they want good water and sewer, and all [that tax revenue] goes to pay for that,” Sheets says. “Making that connection is not always done by some of our voters, and that’s what we need to educate the public about.” Even without the use tax, there is some hope for those who believe that out-of-state retailers should be taxed the same as local businesses. Even with all the talk about leveling the playing field, brick-and-mortar businesses are still holding their own nationally. According to the Census Bureau, e-commerce sales still generate less than 10 percent of total retail sales.

In states that have a statewide use tax — Missouri being one — Amazon has decided to collect sales tax. Under the agreement, the seller of a product is required to collect and remit taxes on each Amazon sale. And in late June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that internet retailers can be required to collect sales taxes even in states where they don’t have a physical presence. That decision has many brick-and-mortar business advocates feeling optimistic. “Main Street retailers shouldn’t be put at a competitive disadvantage by a tax loophole that favors online retailers,” Missouri Senator Roy Blunt said in a statement about the case. “That’s why I welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision and backed Senate legislation allowing states, if they choose, to collect sales taxes they are already owed from out-of-state and online businesses.” Sheets says the Supreme Court’s decision was a positive one for the state, but now the decision to impose the tax has to be implemented by the state legislature, “and that’s a wild card right there, so that takes a lot of negotiations with our legislature.” “We’re going to be working with the Missouri Municipal League and approaching the legislature to see if there’s a very simple way to recapture those taxes and send them to cities that are desperately trying to survive without them,” Matthes says. “And it truly is our bread and butter services that have been hurt the worst — police and fire, parks, and roads.” CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 71

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When Business is

Family Asking three small businesses about the advantages of working with family. BY E M M A B E N TL E Y

Many of us try to keep our work separate from our family life. But for three local families, that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the case. The Rost, Spry, and Kinser families enjoy combining their work with their family members. Not only do these families work alongside their loved ones on a daily basis, but they also run the company

together. That suddenly puts a lot of pressure on creating and maintaining a healthy workâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;life balance. However, these families arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t new to running a business together. Over the years, they have learned their limits, placed boundaries, and still look forward to working with their loved ones every day.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 73

Rost

ROST INC.

What started out as a summer job for Tim Rost in 1985 has turned into a successful landscape design–build firm entering its 33rd year of business. Tim and his wife, Toby, run Rost Inc. with their two children, Allie and Brendan. But it hasn’t always been this way. When Tim’s landscaping employer went out of business in 1985, Tim found himself finishing up jobs for clients his employer had abandoned. Many of those clients were builders in the area, and with a housing boom hitting Columbia, there was plenty of work. Soon Tim found himself in need of help at the office. Once Toby finished college, she took on meeting with clients and answering phones, providing a personal touch to match Tim’s know-how on the work site.

Toby instilled in their children from a young age that it’s important to treat people kindly and with respect. “I’ve always told my kids, ‘Always be on your best behavior.’” she says. “We want to be good, upstanding citizens that support the town, our clients, and our employees who work for us, because it’s much more than the work and the workplace. It’s about treating people decently and being there for people.” And while Tim and Toby’s children didn’t see themselves joining the family business when they were growing up, both children have now taken on roles within the company. Allie handles the company’s social media accounts and helps with advertising. Brendan just graduated with a plant science degree and is now on staff.

As for how they divide up the work, Toby explains: “We each have our own divisions, so there’s no stepping on toes. There are boundaries that we set up, and we try very hard to talk about them if we think we need to without necessarily crossing over to the person’s particular part of the job.” Another boundary the family has added to their lives is not talking about work at home. “That’s really hard to do, but we’ve tried to segment our lives so that it’s not always about talking about work,” says Toby. The family also invests time and energy into hobbies and separate vacations to allow them time apart from each other since they’re so often together. But Toby wouldn’t change how things are set up. “The joy and the advantages of [working with family] are just magnificent,” she says.

74 SEPTEMBER 2018 Photography provided by Rost family

Family The

Business Perspective

What’s been the most rewarding aspect of working in a familyrun business? John Graves,

The most rewarding part is realizing that you have contributed positively to your employee’s lives and your community’s economy while providing a good standard of living for your own family. Whether you work for yourself or for someone else, everyone wants to make a positive difference in the world and be happy doing it.

Downtown Appliance Home Center

What are your family values and how do they contribute to your business success? Don Helmreich, Downtown Appliance Home Center

What are your family values and how do they contribute to your business success? Michele Spry, Midway Electric, Inc.

How have you built or maintained your family-run business? Adam Kinser,

We’ve tried to remain true to my parents’ values that they impressed upon me when they started Downtown Appliance Home Center over 50 years ago. These include treating your customer like you would expect to be treated, treating your employees like you would expect to be treated, and, no matter what, working hard and doing the right thing. These values have allowed us to outlast many chain stores that have come and gone in Columbia’s retail history.

Family is extremely important, as they’re the ones who support you the most and are constantly encouraging you to be the best you can be. We are very fortunate to have dedicated employees, but their families mean something to us as well. Our employees work hard, and we know they look forward to being home. Giving them the time they need, as well as being there for them when they come back, is something that is a must.

By only hiring good people and by performing our services in a professional and timely manner. We also research our local customers and their needs while performing the services. We like to provide our customer with a concierge style service.

ServiceMaster

How do you measure success for your company? Toby Rost, Rost Inc.

We want to have a good workplace for different people in the community and we want to create something beautiful. And while, yes, we want to make a profit as well, it’s more important for us to have a business where it’s somewhere people like to work and where it’s honest — you’re getting what you pay for. We really strive to keep everything just tip-top because we have a reputation to uphold.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 75

Spry

MIDWAY ELECTRIC INC.

High school sweethearts Brandon and Michele Spry always knew that they wanted to be business owners one day, says Michele, but they didn’t know when that dream would come true. Brandon was working for an electrical company in Columbia in 2001 when the opportunity presented itself. The electrical company was closing their Columbia branch, and while Brandon looked into the possibility of working for another company, the Sprys eventually decided it was time to go into business themselves. Later that same year, Midway Electric, Inc. opened their doors. “We’ve built Midway Electric Inc. with purpose and pride,” says Michele, who serves as the company’s president. “We stand behind the work we do, and we try hard to make sure the customer is happy with the service they receive.” But there is an additional motivator for the company to go above and beyond with their customers. “We want to be more than an electrical contractor — we want to be a resource for our customers,” says Michele. That philosophy of taking care of customers drives much of the behind-the-scenes work that the couple does. And not only do they make their customers a priority, but they also place a lot of their focus on their employees and their employees’ families. “Family is extremely important because they’re the ones that support you the most and constantly encourage you to be the best you can be,” says Michele. “We are very fortunate to have amazingly loyal customers and dedicated employees. We realize we couldn’t do what we do without our employees and our customers.” Their employees and customers determine how successful Brandon and Michele feel their business is. If their employees and customers stay with the company for long periods of time, the couple sees that as a success indicator for their business. Michele says, “having employees that stay with you for a length of time and customers that continue to call anytime they need something is a great feeling.” Coming up on their 17th year of business and 21st year of marriage, the Sprys have found success in working together as well. “The most rewarding aspect of running a small business with Brandon is the ability to work alongside my husband and business partner,” Michele says. “It’s a challenge that not many couples can take on, but we actually enjoy it. I like to think we’re a great team, and my weakness is his strength and vice versa.” It may not be for every couple, but Brandon and Michele Spry have made a successful business and life from it. 76 SEPTEMBER 2018

Photography provided by Spry family

Kinser Adam Kinser’s name may be the only one listed on the business license for ServiceMaster, but he’s quick to give his wife, Aniceta, credit for running the heart of their business. “She helps make sure that we not only have our customers taken care of, but that we also have enough money to take care of our customers,” he says. “She also helps me with my stress levels by just taking on things that I don’t want to take on or can’t take on at the time and reprimands me appropriately when needed,” he adds while chuckling. Together they’ve run ServiceMaster, a company that specializes in removal of water, odors, soot, mold, and sewage, since 2002, when they bought the franchise from another couple. “I had been working for another com-

Photography provided by Kinser family

SERVICEMASTER

pany doing the same thing and was doing [the work] all myself, so I decided to do it on my own,” Adam explains. He credits the success of his business to hiring good people who perform services in a timely and professional manner and to taking care of his customers by providing them with a concierge-type service. Similar to how a concierge team works at a hotel or resort, Adam wants to ensure that his clients understand what’s going on right now with the service being provided and that they know what they should do for future reference to prevent other disasters. “If they understand more about what we do and what they’re going through, then they’ll better combat that or deal with that in the future,” he says.

Clients aren’t his only concern, though. Adam and Aniceta also want to care for their employees. “We have our family here that we take care of,” he says. “These people that work for us are our family. We do everything we can to try and help each and every one of them out, and not only them, but their families and, in turn, the community we serve.” Adam and his wife recognize that they have advantages over larger companies who could pose as competition for them. They’re local, so they’re familiar with the community, common problems their clients have, and how to best address those problems. They’re running a family business not only because Adam and Aniceta work together, but because they’re serving the community, their extended family. CBT COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 77

Hard at Work Greg DeLine cracks the code on building businesses. BY BRA N DON HOOP S | P HOTOG R A P HY BY K E I TH B O R G ME Y E R 78 SEPTEMBER 2018

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 79

It’s the quiet that entices Greg DeLine out of bed at 2 a.m. As the ever-demanded owner of DeLine Holdings, his days are spent managing a steady stream of communication, working through daily challenges, and wringing out the best of his collection of more than 10 businesses. The possibilities for distraction don’t exist when the midnight oil burns bright. He can slow down his active mind, practice daily meditation, give attention to overlooked emails. The reprieve prepares and energizes him for the day ahead. “Because I have a lot going on, I’ve got to have some quiet time to organize my thoughts,” says DeLine, whose group of companies in Columbia and across the country include four mobile home dealerships, A&G Commercial Trucking, Service Pro Inc., and Total Lending Concepts, among others. His chief operations officer, Randy Minchew, got a quick insight into DeLine’s early morning activity. “When I first went to work for him, I didn’t realize he gets up at two in the morning,” Minchew says. “Now we’ve got an agreement: Don’t text me in the morning until I tell you good morning. So about five or six, I tell him good morning. Then, not long after that, I get a text chain or call.” It’s all about passion for DeLine, and not the kind of idle dreaming or vague ambition that stunts many talented and smart entrepreneurs from building something substantial. He pounces on his business pursuits with relentless energy. “I’ve always worked harder than everybody else,” says DeLine, 62, who grew up in Macon. “I was coming from left field. I didn’t have a college degree, so I had to make my way.” 80 SEPTEMBER 2018

This activity has opened doors and fueled the success of his diverse pursuits over the past 35 years. The businesses associated with DeLine Holdings span 40 states, employing 30 people locally and close to 500 people nationally. But it hasn’t been all sweat equity. DeLine is also quick to highlight another foundational value: empathy. He wants to bring the best out of the people who work with him and cares deeply about the community he calls home. “My roots are in relationships,” DeLine says. “And I love empowering other people.”

Cracking the Code DeLine’s business acumen isn’t something he downloaded in the classroom. His education is wrapped in a body of knowledge that he has lived. After dropping out of college, DeLine spent six years working up the ranks at Boone County National Bank. He left at 27 years old intent on going into business for himself. He got his start selling mobile homes out of Ashland. The momentum he built there led him to diversify and seek out other opportunities, especially ones that complement each other. When considering new endeavors, DeLine relies on good instincts. He is able to integrate past experiences with time-tested principles to inform his judgments. “I’ve cracked the code,” DeLine says. “Once you figure out what works, you do it over and over again.” DeLine also sees potential in business, and in people, where others may not. For five years, DeLine went to the same spot for his haircut. One visit, he mentioned how much he hated shaving. His stylist responded by sharing her desire to open a straight razor barber shop with a friend. He affirmed the dream and provided some direction for getting a small business loan. When their pursuit of financing fell through, DeLine loaned them the startup capital in exchange for a 30 percent stake in the company. Clean Cut Barbershop opened on Green Meadows Road in 2015, and in the fall of 2017, a second location opened in Jefferson City. “I think diversification is just smart,” says DeLine, who entertains about two to three business proposals a month. “I’m a business builder. I’m up for anything that makes sense.” DeLine will admit there has been an occasional bump in the road, including a lawsuit against Amega Mobile Home Sales that was settled in 2003. It wasn’t a problem he caused,

but there was a lack of institutional control, and as the leader, he felt responsible to step into the fray. Although he still faces some headwind from that period, he presses on. “What you do, when you got a shadow like that behind you, is you bring it out and put it right in front of you,” DeLine says. “And it’s never going to change. It’s history. It happened. Trying to hide from it is false. That’s dishonest. You just bring it out in front of you and deal with it. And that’s what I’ve done. I’m hurt. I’m wounded. But I’ve learned from it.”

Making a Difference As much as DeLine takes pride in what he has built as a businessman, he has put a lot of his heart and soul into another role. He is one of the leading advocates in the local community for men and women dealing with poverty and substance abuse. He is the president of the boards of Phoenix Health Programs and Love INC. He first got connected with Phoenix Health Programs in the 1990s, while his ties with Love INC go back to 2010. These nonprofits are especially meaningful to DeLine because both address issues that hit close to home. DeLine’s faith also informs his philanthropic work. “I have this drive to help other people,” DeLine says. “I want to leave the world a better place than I found it.” Minchew met DeLine while serving on the board of Love INC. “Where his heart is shown is that nobody knows this is going on other than the people closest to him,” Minchew says. DeLine has never been comfortable with the spotlight. He tends to serve from the background, working one-on-one with individuals or providing strategic direction. But Minchew believes connecting the local community with DeLine’s compassionate spirit more often can only help to further the long-term mission of these organizations. “I tease Randy that he’s getting me out from underneath the covers, even though I’m kicking and screaming all the way,” DeLine says. To navigate this journey of serving the community, as well as his continued efforts to grow businesses, DeLine keeps one thing front of mind. He says, “One of my prayers every morning is to be right-sized in whatever I’m doing in the world or in the business dealings I’ve got going.” CBT

DeLine’s Group of Companies Alpha Real Estate Columbia

Amega Mobile Home Sales Inc. Ashland

Chateau Homes Ashland

Clean Cut Barbershop Columbia and Jefferson City

Columbia Discount Homes Columbia

DeLine Holdings Inc. Ashland

D Line Sports Center Columbia

GKD Management LP, doing business as A&G Commercial Trucking

Ashland

Mark Twain Mobile Homes Farber, Missouri

Service Pro Inc. Ashland

Total Lending Concepts Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 81

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IN FOCUS

CAN I HELP YOU?

Small business resources available at little to no cost. BY JOHN A. READ

IN FOCUS

olumbia is among the healthiest cities to own a business due to a varied network of resources — many available at no cost — offered to business owners. Some of the resources, like the Columbia Chamber of Commerce and REDI, are already familiar to most small business owners. Others, like the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers, are not as well known. Given how well-known and well-connected city chambers tend to be in the community, it isn’t surprising that small business owners quickly seek out the Columbia Chamber of Commerce after opening up shop. “We’re always a first stop for businesses,” says chamber president Matt McCormick. Columbia’s chamber is a voice for business. They follow all state and federal legislation that will affect business owners in order to help the owners stay informed. Chamber membership opens a wide variety of assistance to business owners, including a robust Women’s Network. They also offer business expos where businesses can rent a booth, display their wares, and attend a CEO roundtable for more focused discussion, and members can sign up for classes covering marketing, QuickBooks, and social media.

MISSOURI SMALL BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CENTERS The SBTDC is a unique collaboration of U.S. Small Business Administration federal funds, state and local government funds, and private sector resources. The centers seek to support business growth, sustainability, and creation of new business entities. They also support economic development through job creation and retention. As a result of the extensive, one-to-one, longterm business advising, low-cost training, and other specialized services offered by the centers, the program remains one of the nation’s largest small business assistance programs in the federal government. Missouri’s SBTDC consists of more than 100 business development specialists, instructors, and staff located statewide. They help businesses in every stage of development from startup to maturity. Our local center is a part of the MU Extension Business Development Program.

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86 SEPTEMBER 2018

S m a l l B u s i n e ss R e s o u rce s One easy way to explore their services is to schedule a free business counseling session.

TAILORED SMALL BUSINESS RESOURCES If your small business is looking to work directly with the government to provide products or services, the Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Center is an agency that helps businesses sell to the government. Regulations and red tape often keep highly qualified suppliers from doing business with the government, so MO PTAC helps make the process smoother. While they work with all business owners, they specialize in helping small, disadvantaged, and women-owned businesses obtain local, state, and federal contracts. If you’re curious about what working with the government would look like for your business, you can reach out to Jana Weitkemper, the interim program director, and she can direct you to the right person on staff. They have counselors who will walk you through each process and even help you register for the System for Award Management, a prerequisite for working with the government. Another organization that specializes in working with women-owned businesses is the Missouri Women’s Business Center. The agency, which is a part of Central Missouri Community Action, offers low-cost classes and networking opportunities for women. Sherry Major, who is the business coach and training coordinator of the MOWBC, staffs a satellite counseling office inside the REDI office downtown. She explains that women who start businesses doing something that they love often suddenly realize that there’s more to running a business than they’d originally thought. “When [your business] becomes successful, you’re going to become a business owner and manager,” she says. That’s when investing in other resources available becomes most useful. The Missouri Training Institute also offers fee-based training and consulting services. Their training focuses on improving business performance and organizational effectiveness for public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Rae Lynn, assistant

“We’re always a first stop for businesses.” – Matt McCormick, Columbia Chamber of Commerce President

director of the training institute, says that the training needs for businesses both large and small are often the same, but “it might differ in discriminating methods.”

REDI REDI is a “nonprofit, public–private partnership created to enhance the vitality of business and increase the number of quality, sustainable jobs in Columbia and Boone County,” says REDI president Stacey Button. Their budget comes from the City of Columbia, Boone County, MU, and more than 100 local businesses and municipalities. REDI’s staff also serves as the economic development department of the City of Columbia. One way in which they “enhance the vitality of business” is through their

Innovation Hub. REDI’s Innovation Hub is a place for entrepreneurs and small business owners to create and connect with a community of peers and resources to grow their business and skills for leadership. “We connect them to other businesses at their level,” says Button. The Innovation Hub is open 24/7 to accommodate everyone’s schedule. They provide access to spaces and rooms designed for solitary work and meetings with teams and clients. When looking for resources for your small business, Columbia has many services, resources, and people available and willing to offer help at little to no cost. Taking advantage of what’s offered in our city can only increase the likelihood of your business succeeding. CBT

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 87

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st 1Mexico, Place:Sedalia Centraland BankColumbia. of Boone County 2nd Place: Landmark Bank

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88 SEPTEMBER 2018

1st Place: Valerie Zumwalt 2nd Place: Kim Becking

TOP BUSINESS COACH 1st Place: Carolyn Paris Consulting Performance Consultant & Coach 573-819-6705, CarolynParis.com

TOP COFFEE MEETING LOCATION 1st Place: The Grind Coffe House 2nd Place: Kaldi’s Coffee

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TOP ARCHITECT

1st Place: Simon Oswald Architecture 2801 Woodward Dr. #103 573-443-1407, SOA-Inc.com

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1st Place: Jesse Walters 2nd Place: Wendy Moore

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1st Place: Connection Exchange 2nd Place: GFI Digital

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Building a f inancial portfolio isn’t the most important thing we do. Building relationships is. 302 Campusview Drive, Suite 212 • Columbia, MO

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Gina Mauller, Financial Advisor

locally made spirits well crafted cocktails

2509 Bernadette Drive | Columbia, MO Gina.Mauller@EdwardJones.com (573) 445-7671  

Member FDIC

columbia’s only craft distillery

What people are saying ... “I have full mobility now. No limitations!” - DAN

“My posture is better, I’m sleeping better, and no allergy meds in 4 months!”

“They can get your life in balance.” - JULIE

- KAREN

Tuesday - Thursday • 4-10pm Friday & Saturday • 4-11pm 210 St. James Street, Suite D Columbia, MO 65201 (573) 777- 6768

Call us to see how we can get YOU on the path to wellness. 573-442-5520 AchieveBalanceChiropractic.com 1000 West Nifong, Building 8 Suite 100, Columbia

90 SEPTEMBER 2018

BUSINESS • P EOPL E • VOIC ES • FY I

N E W BUS I N E SS L I C E N S E S

New Business Licenses AUGUST 2018

T.L. Kleen

The Hair Lounge

5411 Volunteer Dr.

908 Rain Forest Pkwy.

573-673-2040

573-818-6336

Cleaning

Hair salon

is pleased to announce the addition of

Ernie Ueligger as a partner.

Amigos Styles Barber & Beauty

COMO Nails

705 Vandiver Dr.

5614 St. Charles Rd.

573-375-9909

714-306-3334

Beauty and barber

Nails and waxing

The Clark Academy of Irish Dance

Accurate Rx Pharmacy

2300 Bernadette Dr.

103 Corporate Lake Dr.

314-324-6886

573-256-7279

Irish dance instruction

Pharmacy

Anderson Engineering, Inc.

Ophelia’s Flowers and Books

4240 Philips Farm Rd.

110 N. Tenth St.

573-397-5476

573-777-8788

Engineering and land surveying

Retail flowers and books

Enjoy The Ride

Sunbelt Business Brokers

610 Vandiver Dr.

3700 Monterey Dr.

573-777-4371

573-349-0099

Used car sales

Business broker

Journeys Christian Counseling

Papa’s Cat Cafe

2011 Corona Rd.

14 S. Second St.

573-355-0263

573-355-6997

Marriage and family counseling

Coffee shop and bakery (with cats) CBT

In addition to the estate and business services we provide, we can now assist clients with: Family law Workers’ compensation Personal injury

303 N. Stadium Blvd. Suite 200 Columbia | 573-874-1122 NathanJonesLaw.com The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 91

SOME REPAIRS YOU SEE. OURS YOU DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T. CENTRAL AUTO BODY CENTRALMISSOURI MISSOURI AUTO BODY Quality collision repair is available for every type of vehicle and while yours is being repaired, we have loaner vehicles so you can go about your day while we do our job. Our techs take pride in their work and everything is done with a written guarantee (573) 875-5877 | 5353 N Highway 763, Columbia

CentralMoAutoBody.com

92 SEPTEMBER 2018

BUSINESS • P EOPL E • VOIC ES • FY I

D E E DS

Deeds of Trust WORTH MORE THAN $1,014,358

MidMoTix.com

$16,200,000

$4,175,158

10th & Locust LLC

2404, 2406, 2408 Whitegate LLC

U.S. Bank

First State Community Bank

LT 94 PT Columbia

Pioneer Subdivision

$16,200,000

Walnut Brook LLC U.S. Bank LT 36 Columbia

$16,200,000

Walnut Brook LLC U.S. Bank LT 31 PT Columbia LT31-32

$4,175,158

202 W. Ash LLC First State Community Bank McDonnell Condos

$4,175,158

407 - 411 S. William LLC First State Community Bank LT A William Street Condos

$4,175,158

1509 University LLC

$2,000,000

First State Community Bank

Broadway Lodging Two LLC

LT 4 BL 1 FF Dorseys Subdivision

BizCapital BIDCO I LLC

Get on the guest list. JOB POINT’S COMPANY FEUD Wednesday, October 3, 2018 Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center

CHARLEY PRIDE

in Concert in partnership with the Tom Henke Charity Golf Classic

Sunday, October 7, 2018 Miller Performing Arts Center, Jefferson City, Mo

COMO 2 TUSCANY presented by St. James Winery and COMO Living Magazine

March 15 - 23, 2019 Tuscany, Italy

LT 3 Ditter Subdivision $4,175,158

Eastgate Apartments LLC First State Community Bank LT 11 PT East Highlands

$4,175,158

210 Hitt LLC First State Community Bank LT 25 PT Columbia

$1,200,000

The Broadway Trio LLC Central Bank of Boone County LT 1 Broadway Trio Subdivision

$1,014,358

Sunshine Boys LLC First Midway Bank of Poplar Bluff

$4,175,158

LT 39 PT Johnson Subdivision

1011 Southpark LLC First State Community Bank

426 deeds of trust were issued between

LT 3 PT Woodside Subdivision

7/2 and 7/20 CBT

midmo TIX FOLLOW US: Interested in learning more? Contact us at info@MidMoTix.com

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 93

We separate the best from the rest through our recruiting, screening, and placement process. We bring top talent to your company – Temporary, Evaluate to Hire and Direct Hire Professionals.

Columbia, Jefferson City, Mexico, Moberly, Sedalia – Springfield coming soon! 573.446.4250 JobFindersusa.com

Winner of two

Top of the Town awards!

Top Staffing Company Top CEO Anne Williams

red we Po

olumbia Region al A by C irp or t

TOP

CBT’s

OF THE

TOWN 2018

94 SEPTEMBER 2018

BUSINESS • P EOPL E • VOIC ES • FY I

Economic Index LABOR

HOUSING

JUNE 2018

UNITED STATES

Total single-family home

Labor force: 163,277,000

sales: 303

Employment: 156,465,000

Existing single-family home

Unemployment: 6,812,000

sales: 275

Rate: 4.2 percent

New construction singlefamily home sales: 28wwv

MISSOURI

Single-family homes average

Labor force: 3,112,524

sold price: $237,122

Employment: 3,003,584

Single-family homes median

Unemployment: 108,940

sold price: $201,000

Rate: 3.5 percent

Single-family homes active

BOONE COUNTY Labor force: 96,066 Employment: 93,611 Unemployment: 2,455 Rate: 2.6 percent COLUMBIA Labor force: 65,640 Employment: 63,967

listings on the market: 755 Single-family homes average days on market: 50 Single-family homes pending listings on the market: 218

UTILITIES

Unemployment: 1,673

WATER

Rate: 2.5 percent

July 2018: 49,368 June 2018: 48,973 Change #: 395

CONSTRUCTION JULY 2018

Change %: 0.807 Number of customers

Here’s your chance to nominate some of Columbia’s most impactful people and organizations! Winners will be recognized November 28th at a luncheon at Stoney Creek Inn. Go to ImpactCOMO.com and enter your nomination for the most impactful • Volunteer • Executive Director • Board Member • Fundraiser / Event • Philanthropic Company • Staff Member

Hurry, nominations close

September 18th!

receiving service on July 1, Residential building permits: 65

2018: 49,371

PRESENTING SPONSORS

Value of residential permits: $7,498,797

ELECTRIC

Commercial building permits: 5

July 2018: 50,248

Value of commercial building

June 2018: 49,953

permits: $23,132,470

Change #: 331

Commercial additions/

Change %: 0.663

alterations: 17

Number of customers

Value of commercial additions/

receiving service on July 1,

alterations: $2,015,061

2018: 50,296 CBT

SUPPORTING SPONSORS

COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 95 PMS 377

ADVERTISER INDEX 44 STONE....................................................................................................................................53 ACCOUNTING PLUS................................................................................................................99 ACHIEVE BALANCE............................................................................................................... 90 ANGELIQUE PHOTOGRAPHY..............................................................................................66 ANTHONY JINSON PHOTOGRAPHY.................................................................................15 ATKINS, INC............................................................................................................................... 46 BMW OF COLUMBIA................................................................................................................. 4 BOESSEN UNDERGROUND.................................................................................................. 72 BROCKMEIER FINANCIAL....................................................................................................89 BURGERS' SMOKEHOUSE................................................................................................... 20 CENTRAL BANK OF BOONE COUNTY.............................................................................. 5 CENTRAL MISSOURI AUTO BODY....................................................................................92 CENTRAL TRUST COMPANY.............................................................................................. 30 CITIZEN JANE FILM FESTIVAL........................................................................................... 84 CITY OF COLUMBIA WATER & LIGHT................................................................................ 8 CITY WATCH COLUMBIA.......................................................................................................52 COLUMBIA EDP.........................................................................................................................53 COLUMBIA MARKETING GROUP.......................................................................................83 COMMERCE BANK...................................................................................................................43 COMPASS CHIROPRACTIC.................................................................................................. 30 CONVERGE ONE.......................................................................................................................54 D & M SOUND.............................................................................................................................38 DOGMASTER DISTILLERY................................................................................................... 90 EDWARD JONES - GINA MAULLER................................................................................. 90 EDWARD JONES - KATHY LOU NEALE..........................................................................24 EDWARD JONES - MARK RICHARDSON........................................................................38 EMERY SAPP & SONS.............................................................................................................82 ESI COMMUNICATIONS......................................................................................................... 40 EXPRESS EMPLOYMENT PROFESSIONALS................................................................. 48 FIRST MIDWEST BANK.......................................................................................................... 72 FIRST STATE COMMUNITY BANK......................................................................................92 GFI DIGITAL.................................................................................................................................. 3 HAWTHORN BANK................................................................................................................100 HEART OF MISSOURI UNITED WAY.........................................................................12 & 13 IMPACT COMO...........................................................................................................................95

96 SEPTEMBER 2018

IRON MOUNTAIN........................................................................................................................ 9 JENNINGS PREMIUM MEATS...............................................................................................89 JOBFINDERS............................................................................................................................. 94 JOE MACHENS - VOLKSWAGEN.............................................................................44 & 45 LANDMARK BANK..................................................................................................................... 2 LAZER LANES.............................................................................................................................16 MEDIACOM......................................................................................................................... 6 & 94 MERCEDES OF COLUMBIA....................................................................................................17 MIDMOTIX....................................................................................................................................93 MIDWAY GOLF & GAMES......................................................................................................22 MODERN LITHO/BROWN PRINTING................................................................................56 NATHAN JONES LAW..............................................................................................................91 NAUGHT NAUGHT INSURANCE AGENCY..................................................................... 94 PARISI SPEED SCHOOL OF COMO.................................................................................. 50 PROVIDENCE BANK................................................................................................................65 PWARCHITECTS, INC..............................................................................................................66 REALTY EXECUTIVES - HEATH HIGGINS......................................................................... 7 RESTORATION EYECARE......................................................................................................19 RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES....................................................................65 SEPTAGON CONSTRUCTION................................................................................................19 SILVERBALL.................................................................................................................................14 SOCKET........................................................................................................................................26 SOLSTICE SENIOR LIVING....................................................................................................89 STANGE LAW FIRM..................................................................................................................96 SUN SOLAR.................................................................................................................................43 SUPERIOR GARDEN CENTER/ROST LANDSCAPE....................................................24 THE BROADWAY HOTEL.......................................................................................................22 THE CARING PEOPLE............................................................................................................ 48 TIGERS COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION............................................................................. 20 TROPHY PROPERTIES & AUCTION................................................................................... 10 UNIVERSITY CLUB....................................................................................................................18 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI HEALTH CARE.....................................................................11 WE ALWAYS SWING JAZZ SERIES...................................................................................56 WHITE DOG PROMOTIONS..................................................................................................92 WILSON'S FITNESS................................................................................................................ 50

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • VOIC ES • FY I

BY T H E N U M BER S

4,820

61,000

1,450

Women-owned firms in Boone County in 2012.

Minority-owned businesses in Missouri in 2017.

Minority-owned firms in Boone County in 2012.

Source: Census.gov

Source: U.S. Small Business Association

Source: Census.gov

30.07%

55%

64%

Percentage of American small business owners who don’t take a salary.

Percentage of all jobs that small businesses provide nationally.

Percentage of small business owners who start with $10,000 or less.

Source: Fundra 2017

Source: U.S. Small Business Association

Source: Intuit 2014 COLUMBIABUSINESSTIMES.COM 97

T H I S OR T H AT

B U SINESS • P EOP L E • VOIC ES • FY I

JONATHAN SESSIONS Owner, Gravity

Mac

Big Picture

Cursive

Early Bird Cinema Michael Jackson Firefox 9-5 Learn At Your Desk

Optimistic

7. I don't know what this is, so...whiskey. 8. Instruction manuals. 9. What's the feature? 98 SEPTEMBER 2018

Planner Traditional Certain Country Winter

Car

6. But we landed on the moon.

In a Meeting

Summer

Ocean

5. Both?

Teach

Spend

Passenger

4. Whiskey.

Flexibility

Save Cat

3. Plex.

Chrome

Cake

City

2. I type.

The Beatles

Pie

Skeptical

1. Come on!

Netflix

Beer

Modern

A M E N DME N TS A N D CONDI TI ONS

Night Owl

Wine Improviser

Photography provided by Jonathan Sessions

Details

Business

Dog Driver Plane Mountains Realistic Casual

Solo

Team

For Here

To-go

DISC Books

StrengthsFinder Magazines

Reading

Writing

Creative

Analytical

Introvert

Extrovert

Podcast Cluttered Card Game Concept Fiction Text Soup

Playlist Minimalist Board Game Execute Nonfiction Call Sandwich

Business + Tax Advisor Team: Alicia Hendricks, Samantha Dent, Denise Nelson, Tracy Holmquest, Tina Marso, and Jeff Cirkl

BUSINESS + TAX ADVISORS Get the advice you need to run your business from the professionals you trust.

Leave it all to us! AccountingPlusInc.com/schedule

Schedule your free initial consultation online today.

573.445.3805

1604B Business Loop 70W | Columbia, MO

COLUMBIA BUSINESS TIMES \ 2001 CORPORATE PLACE, STE. 100 \ COLUMBIA, MO 65202