Fargo INC! February 2018 by Spotlight Media

Why Your Office Needs Art WORKS

What Not to Do When You Inherit Money

The 10 Most Common Wage-and-Hour Issues

february 2018

APPAREO

CEO Conversations

The Next Generation

Barry Batcheller

David Batcheller

// FEBRUARY 2018

COVER STORY

Appareo: The Next Generation When David Batcheller took over for his father, Barry, as Appareo's president and CEO last fall, it represented a changing of the guard at the electronics-and-software company not just in name but in philosophy. In this installation of "CEO Conversations," we sat down with the Batchellers to talk about the company's new business model, recruiting and economic development, and what it's been like for father and son to work alongside one another for the past 15 years.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES 6 Editor's Note 7 Letters to the Editor

32 Trust = $ To build trust, you need to be honest, digestible, responsible, and transparent, says Better Business Bureau's Heather Aal.

9 Editorial Board Meet the local business leaders who comprise Fargo INC!'s six-member editorial board.

18 I Recommend ... Local professionals suggest books, podcasts, apps and more

71 Microsoft TechSpark Taya Spelhaug is helping bring tech to rural North Dakota

76 It's Kinetic 36 What's That Logo? Put your knowledge of local brands to the test.

50 The 10 Most Common Wage-and-Hour Issues, Pt. 1/2 Fredrikson & Byron attorneys Kristy Albrecht and Beth Alvine

Fargo-based Kinetic Leasing continues to grow as a top general-equipment financing company in the country.

80 The Importance of Buyer Personas Audience should always be top-of-mind, says Heidi Moore

20 The 7 Rules of Marketing Digital marketing agency Abovo shares their pocket marketing handbook

55 Why You Should Try Art WORKS in Your Office

85 I Want to Thank ... Thank you notes from local professionals

TAP's Dayna Del Val on a unique program

22 What Not to Do When You Inherit Money United Capital of Fargo's Paul Jarvis on what you should know if an inheritance is headed your way

25 Faces of Fargo Business Kristina Hein - United Way of Cass-Clay Steve Smith - YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties Paul Wilson - Noridian Healthcare Solutions

88 Tech Tips: Moving to the Cloud 60 Two Network Marketers Want to Set the Record Straight Rodan + Fields' Michaela Schell and Beachbody's Joelle Suess are direct-sales veterans who say the misconceptions about their industry are rampant.

66 Workforce King Again FMWF Chamber of Commerce President Craig Whitney discusses some interesting live-polling results from this year's State of the Cities event.

Giga-Green Technologies' William Galvin on which IT workloads should remain onpremises and which should be shifted to the cloud

90 February Business Events Calendar NDSU Career Expo, TV Timeout, Economic Outlook Forum, the ADDY Awards and many more.

68 1 Million Cups Recap: January We look back at 2018's first 1MCFargo speakers.

Visit FargoInc.com for extended content covering Fargo-Moorhead's business community and articles from past issues of Fargo INC!

FEBRUARY 2018

editor's note

Photography by J. Alan Paul

Things I'm Looking Forward to In Year 3 As Fargo INC! moves into its third year, it's a time to reflect on the magazine's first two volumes, but more importantly, it's a chance to look ahead. We have big plans for year three, and I wanted to share a few of them with readers.

1. A New Monthly Event

This is something we've had in the works for some time at Spotlight Media, and this month, it's coming to fruition. On Thursday, February 15, we'll be launching a new monthly celebration of our four core publications: Fargo Monthly, Fargo INC!, Design & Living, and Bison Illustrated. The event, which will take place the third Thursday of each month from 5 - 7:30 p.m., will be held at Abovo Events (formerly Ecce Gallery) in Downtown Fargo and will be an opportunity for us to further celebrate all the amazing people featured in the previous month's issues. Keep an eye out for more details.

2. New Content Channels

While we're still partial to the way a good old-fashioned magazine looks and feels, we also understand that there are other ways for our readers to interact with the content we produce each month. In year one, that meant establishing a solid social media following. Last year, that meant getting the Fargo INC! website up and running as we continue to make our digital presence a priority. This year, we'll be looking at ways to further supplement our existing content, whether that's providing a 360-degree-tour of a unique office space, including bonus audio from an interview with a local business leader, or moving some of our storytelling into the video space.

3. Diversifying and Expanding Our Network

Since Fargo INC! launched, the most consistent piece of feedback we've gotten is that the publication often lacks racial diversity. Almost always, these comments acknowledge the fact that we live in a racially homogenous metro area, but they also always encourage us to do better, which we will. If you know of an immigrant and/or person of color who you think should be featured in the magazine, please don't hesitate to reach out and help get them on our radar. The more we can expand and diversify our network, the more likely we are to produce a magazine that's representative and inclusive of the entire Fargo business community.

As always, thank you for reading!

Nate Mickelberg Editor Fargo INC!

Nate@SpotlightMediaFargo.com 6

FEBRUARY 2018

NateMickelberg

LinkedIn.com/In/NateMickelberg

Letters to the Editor NOTE: The following messages have been edited only for length.

Jan. 2018 Issue

Dec. 2017 Issue

First, I just want to say how much I enjoy reading Spotlight Media’s publications every month. Your staff at Fargo INC does a great job reporting unique and informed stories for the FM Area.

Thank you all so much for the exceptional work you do every month. I am so proud to be a part of the Fargo business community and a huge part of that is everything you do at Fargo INC! You've made our business community cool :) Thank you Sara Hanstad

Although I appreciate the current issue’s intent on recapping 2017 business leaders, I have to say it was a bit disappointing to see the lack of diversity of those being interviewed and considered a business leader. It was hard to ignore that there were as many Scheels employees included in the issue as there were people of color. Just one business realm that comes to mind immediately are the owners of the international markets and ethnic restaurants in the area that may not have CEO in their job title but definitely lead our community in providing food access and cultural experiences. I understand that we live in a place of predominantly white folk, but I think that means we just need to go the extra mile to seek out and acknowledge diversity. One of my New Years resolutions is to connect and befriend more diverse crowds, and this will mean stepping out of my comfort zone and seeking out activities and places that attract people of all backgrounds. Maybe that could be one of Fargo INC’s as well. Thanks for listening and keep up the good work. Sincerely, Murphy Anderson

Dec. 2017 Issue

I'm sitting at my favorite car repair shop, Certified Auto, and I came across this phenomenal magazine! I absolutely LOVE this Faces Of Fargo Business magazine and I have 2 friends I really want to share this with. Thank you so much for celebrating the beautiful, hard working Fargo Business men and women - and for doing it with excellence. Merry Christmas, Greta Bundy

Join the conversation! Leave a comment or direct message on Fargo INC!'s Facebook page or email Fargo INC! Editor Nate Mickelberg at Nate@SpotlightMediaFargo.com Facebook.com/FargoBusiness

FargoInc.com

EDITORIAL BOARD We at Fargo INC! want to make sure our content is unbiased, accurate and reflects the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo business community. That's why we meet regularly with our six-member editorial board to discuss area business issues and trends and ensure we are living up to our core values.

CRAIG WHITNEY

PAT TRAYNOR

Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo Chamber of Commerce

Dakota Medical Foundation

TIM BEATON

KRISTI HUBER

Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation

United Way of Cass-Clay

JOHN MACHACEK

CINDY GRAFFEO

President & CEO

Executive Director

SVP of Finance & Entrepreneurial Development

Greater Fargo-Moorhead Economic Development Corporation

Executive Director

President

Executive Director

Moorhead Economic Development Authority

February 2018 Volume 3 Issue 2

Fargo INC! is published 12 times a year and is available at area businesses and online at FargoInc.com.

Publisher Mike Dragosavich drago@spotlightmediafargo.com

CREATIVE

Editorial Director Andrew Jason Andrew@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Editor Nate Mickelberg Nate@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Designers Sarah Geiger, Matt Anderson Photographers Hillary Ehlen, J. Alan Paul, Paul Flessland Contributors Paul Jarvis, Heather Aal, Kristy Albrecht and

Beth Alvine, Dayna Del Val, Craig Whitney, Ethan Mickelson, William Galvin, Heidi Moore

Content Strategist Sam Herder Social Media Nate Mickelberg Web Team Samantha Stark, Huong Tran

ADVERTISING

Sales Manager Layne Hanson Layne@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Senior Sales Executive Ryan Courneya Ryan@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Sales Executives Paul Hoefer Paul@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Scott Rorvig ScottRorvig@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Dan Helm Dan@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Chris Cates Christopher@SpotlightMediaFargo.com

Client Relations Manager Jenny Johnson Office Assistant Pam Mjoness Business Operations Assistant Larissa Kunde

DISTRIBUTION

Distribution & Circulation Manager Nick Hackl Delivery Tom Wegner

Fargo INC! is published by Spotlight Media LLC, Copyright 2018 Fargo INC! & FargoInc.com. All rights reserved. No parts of this periodical may be reproduced or distributed without written permission of Fargo INC!, and Spotlight Media LLC, is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to or reliance on such information. Spotlight Media LLC, accepts no liability for the accuracy of statements made by the advertisers.

Spotlightmedia

Spotlight Media, LLC 15 Broadway N, Suite 500 Fargo, ND 58102 Info@SpotlightMediaFargo.com ADVERTISING: 701-478-SPOT (7768)

Meet the Team MIKE

JOE

LAYNE

ANDREW

BECCA

ETHAN

KARA

LARISSA

CHRIS

SCOTT

PAUL

RYAN

JESSE

NICK

HUONG

SAMANTHA

HILLARY

DAN

MATT

JENNY

PAM

NATE

SARAH

TAKE A LOOK AT SPOTLIGHT MEDIA'S OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Minimalism Less is more. Without a doubt, you've probably heard this statement at some point in your life. However, minimalism is not about getting rid of the things you love; it's about loving the things you own. This month, we met with Fargo minimalists to see how they have made the most of living with less. Now, let us take you on a tour of their intentionally uncluttered spaces with immense style.

Championship Issue The Bison football dynasty continues! The Commemorative Championship Edition of Bison Illustrated will have everything Bison fans need to relive a magical 2017 season of NDSU football. Chris Klieman and company climbed to the top of the FCS mountain again, and now it's your turn to complete your championship collection with the sixth championship installment of the magazine.

Is This the Future of Downtown Fargo? Block 9 has been discussed for years. Once complete with 18 stories, it will be Fargo's tallest building. From a surface parking lot to multipurpose use, it'll include office space, retail, residential condos, an attached parking garage and a hotel, in addition to a new public plaza. Learn more about this project, set to break ground later this year.

Learn more about us at

SpotlightMediaFargo.com

I RECOMMEND... 5 Local Professionals Tell You What They're Reading, Watching, Listening To and Using

REBEKAH SCOTT - Rebekah Scott Designs

PODCAST

"Startup Camp" By Dale Partridge Dale Partridge is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of StartupCamp.com and Sevenly.org. Described as a mind who understands the art of starting, each week, Partridge interviews a new high-performance starter, teaching startups, entrepreneurs and everyday dreamers how to form strong ideas, launch lucrative ventures, position their brand, love their people and develop business models that offer freedom to their founders.

FEBRUARY 2018

KARLA SOLUM - Elevate Human Potential

BOOK

"The Only Way to Win" By James E. Loehr From the bestselling author of "On Form" comes a compelling, practical and hopeful read. "The Only Way to Win" will serve as a powerful wake-up call for business leaders, employees, teachers and coaches. It will also provide inspiration for readers looking to perform better, achieve more, and change their own lives and the people they influence.

CHARLEY JOHNSON - Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau

BOOK ALICIA UNDERLEE NELSON - Prairie Style File

APP

"Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America" By Matt Taibbi

Duolingo Duolingo is a freemium languagelearning platform that includes a language-learning website and app, as well as a digital language-proficiency assessment exam.

The financial crisis that exploded in 2008 isn’t past but prologue. The grifter class — made up of the largest players in the financial industry and the politicians who do their bidding — has been growing in power, and the crisis was only one terrifying manifestation of how they’ve hijacked America’s political and economic life. Matt Taibbi combines deep sources, trailblazing reportage and provocative analysis to create the most lucid, emotionally galvanizing account yet written of this ongoing American crisis.

DANAE MORAN - 20 Below Coffee Co.

PODCAST

"The Slow Home" By Brooke McAlary We live life in the fast lane. We race to keep up with The Joneses. We are overworked, overcommitted, and overstressed, and we compete to see how busy, important and sleep-deprived we are. But we don't need to. There is an ever-growing group of people who are saying no to living life at 110 percent. They are opting to slow down, simplify, say no and focus on the things that are truly important. Learn what makes people change and how life is different once you adopt a slower way of life.

NOTE: Summaries adapted from iTunes, Google Books and Wikipedia

FARGOINC.COM

The 7 Rules of

Marketing BY Abovo Team | PHOTOGRAPHY BY Hillary Ehlen

At Abovo, we get it: Marketing is expensive, and it takes time. As new technology and platforms emerge daily, it can be difficult to keep up. Because we believe in sharing and spreading the knowledge, tips and tricks we've picked up over the years, our team wants to share with Fargo INC! readers this concise guide to the rules and guidelines that we ourselves abide by.

Rule 1

Get (intentionally) social. Whether you're a small or big business, social media platforms are a major resource for promoting your brand. Most platforms are easy to use and offer paid advertising options to help gain momentum and create brand exposure. We tell clients that just because social media platforms are out there (and mostly free), it doesn't mean you have to be on all of them. To use social media's power properly, you need to know the platforms your potential consumers are using and the ones that work best for your business. Then, curate the type of content your customers want to consume. Our rule: Quality is always greater than quantity. In fact, this rule applies to every piece of marketing and advertising.

Rule 3 Rule 2

Do not click "boost post." If you're a business owner, you probably re-read this one to make sure you read it correctly. As of 2016, Facebook reported nearly 1.8 billion active users. Unless you're boosting a post and targeting ages and locations, your post is being sent to everyone, no matter their age, shopping behaviors or even location. You would never make a decision to place an ad in a newspaper across the world or in magazines that

aren't read by your type of customer, so don't boost a post. Even if you are boosting a post and setting criteria such as age and location, there is more you are missing out on. Through Facebook's Advertising Manager, which is free, you are able to create these same posts while also targeting shopping behaviors, locations, income level, and many more behaviors and demographics. The special targeting is unavailable to those clicking "boost post." Tip: Work with a marketing company to help purchase your ads and create campaigns for successful and layered advertising.

Some Social Media #s 20

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Facebook More than 2 billion monthly active users

Create accurate content. Improving your company's position in search results such as Google does not come from creating content. It comes from creating accurate content. Do not spend time creating content simply to get things on your website. Make sure you are spending time writing or creating media assets (e.g., photos, videos, blogs) that people are likely to search for and want to consume. Tip: Spend time finding keywords people are searching for in your business's industry. And then create content around those ideas and phrases.

Twitter More than 325 million monthly active users

LinkedIn More than 400 million registered users

Rule 5

Rule 4

Layer your marketing.

Make (small) changes to your website often.

There are hundreds of media products used by consumers every day. It's not possible to create marketing or buy advertising to be on each one, but slowly work to have great content on as many as you can (as long as they are intentional and follow rule No. 1).

Rules number three and four complement each other and must be deployed in tandem. When you have spent time creating great and accurate content, don't forget about it. Google and other search engines are designed to check websites often for new content and to ensure your "old" content is updated and accurate. It takes only minutes to update your site and will make an incredible difference to guarantee you're frontof-line in your potential customer's search results.

Some are free, some cost money, and many are able to use the same media or advertising assets you already own. Spend time researching which mediums and platforms are being used by your potential consumers to see the effort it would take to be present on them.

Tip: Use your favorite to-do list or calendar app to set calendar notifications to schedule making routine changes. Set multiple throughout a week or month. A few minutes a day, multiple times a month goes a long way.

Rule 6

Involve and engage your consumers (the "Millennials-andGen. Z-are-takingover" rule). In an age where Millennials and the generation younger than them, Gen. Z, are becoming the USA's most powerful and influential consumers, it's never been a more important time to involve and engage your consumers. According to Forbes, there are 80 million Millennials in the US, which represents more than 25 percent of the population. A 2015 consumer study released by Elite Daily helped brands across the country highlight the shopping and buying behaviors of this powerful generation.

Pinterest 200 million registered users

Tip: Work with a marketing company to identify which social media platforms consumers are using in your area, how they're using them and what types of content they're looking for.

The more you know: According to the study, more than 60 percent of Millennials say that if a brand engaged with them on social media, they are more likely to become a loyal consumer. This is a very important statistic to marketing companies and brands as the study also found that 60 percent of Millennials said they are often or always loyal to brands they currently purchase. The oldest members of this group are only in their 30s and establishing a relationship with them now results in a relationship that will last their buying lifetime. The sooner you build a relationship and connection with this generation, the better.

Instagram 700 million registered users

YouTube More than 1.5 billion visitors per month

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Abovo Abovo.com 218 Broadway North Suite A, Fargo, ND 701-532-0576

Rule 7

Marketing makes a difference. If there is one rule we hope resonates, it's the idea that marketing makes a difference. The heart of your business' success lies in marketing. Every business needs consumers. They not only drive sales; they promote your products and services to their friends and family. The more you know: Marketing is the introduction of your service and product. It's the introduction to showing your community and the world why your company does what it does. Your business might have the best products, services, and people, but without marketing, no one will know.

WhatsApp 1.3 billion registered users

Snapchat More than 250 million registered users FARGOINC.COM

What Not to Do When You

$ INHERIT MONEY 5 Mistakes to Avoid

reated wisely, inheritances can help people meet their long-term goals, from rescuing their retirements to paying off credit card debt to financing family education. But windfalls can turn into mixed blessings when people rush into decisions. Research finds that one-third of Americans can expect to receive a significant inheritance, but many end up spending or giving too much when, in fact, developing a careful plan to spend, save and invest would help them meet their most important financial goals.

Oftentimes, when we are introduced to individuals with inheritances or future inheritances, they fall into two camps: 1) Having the money already spent in their minds 2) Wishing to ignore the inheritance altogether

Here are five mistakes to avoid when receiving an inheritance:

No.1

Spending Mindlessly Some people begin mindless spending on â&#x20AC;&#x153;just a small indulgence.â&#x20AC;? A series of those kinds of purchases can morph into a spending splurge that might rob people of their ability to reach their overall goals for the inheritance.

When we can develop a plan of action specific to their life, goals and financial circumstances, the best outcomes arise. BY Paul Jarvis PHOTOGRAPHY BY Paul Flessland

By The NUMBERS TAKE

Paul Jarvis

Managing Director United Capital of Fargo 22

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United Capital of Fargo UnitedCp.com/ND1 701-293-2076 109 Roberts St. N, Fargo, ND

Over the next several decades, it's estimated that Baby Boomers will transfer roughly $30 trillion in assets to their Gen. X and Millennial children.

No.2

Going It Alone Even Americans who manage their 401(k)s or their taxes on their own can benefit from help. That’s because a windfall, whether it’s an inheritance or lottery proceeds, is different. Those who receive an inheritance should consider assembling a team, including an estate attorney, an accountant and a certified financial planner.

From the late 1980s to the late 2000s, about 1/5 of American households at a given point in time reported a wealth transfer, which accounted for about 1/4 of their net worth.

No.3

No.4

No.5

Be careful not to make any big life decisions — such as selling a house or quitting a job — too early in the process. An inheritance often coincides with loss, and many people aren’t thinking clearly when their emotions run high. Not too long ago, we saw a large inflow of mineral royalties and individuals wanting to quit their jobs immediately with the prospect that the oil would never stop pumping. By advising those individuals to take a pause and evaluate what would happen if oil prices dropped, we better equipped them to handle oil price fluctuations and depletion rates.

Sometimes people who receive a lump sum become so worried about “investing at the top” that they do nothing. They can consider dollar cost averaging (DCA), the investment strategy that divides available money into equal parts and then periodically puts the money to work in a diversified portfolio over time.

People love their kids, friends and charitable organizations — so much so that they sometimes neglect to take care of themselves. Take a step back by pushing the pause button. There is plenty of time to provide generous support after a plan is established.

Over a lifetime, about 30% of American households can expect to receive a wealth transfer, which will account for about 40% of their net worth near time of death.

From the late 1980s to late 2000s, the average value of inheritances received among all households increased by 10 percent.

Making Decisions Too Quickly

Becoming Paralyzed in the Investment Process

Providing for Everyone Except Themselves

Receiving an inheritance is a great reason to consult a certified financial professional who can help you tailor a plan that achieves your long-term financial goals.

Over this same period, wealth transfers as a proportion of current net worth fell sharply from nearly 30% to approximately 20%.

FARGOINC.COM

Faces of

FARGO BUSINESS We like to think of the Fargo business community as a giant puzzle and the people who comprise it as the different but equally essential pieces. Take one person, one company, or one industry away, and the picture becomes incomplete. "Faces of Fargo Business" is our chance to piece that puzzle together each month and celebrate the countless people who make this such a great place to work.

FARGOINC.COM

KRISTINA HEIN Marketing & Brand Management Director

United Way of Cass-Clay

FEBRUARY 2018

Faces of

Fargo Business

hen Kristina Hein was 23, she hit a career crossroads fresh out of Concordia College.

"At the time, I was working for the Moorhead Healthy Community Initiative and loving my role coordinating a mentor program for middle school students," says Hein, a native of Litchfield, Minnesota, who's now called FargoMoorhead home for more than a decade. "I was given an opportunity to join the team at United Way but was told, 'Don't leave a job you love.' Had I listened to the advice, I never would have had the incredible experience to grow and work for the United Way for the past 10 years." First joining the United Way team as a community impact associate, the high-energy, high-impact Hein now leads the myriad communications and PR initiatives for the nonprofit. Fellow United Wayers often say that if you see, hear or experience something involving United Way, she likely played some role in its branding or design. "I work with our team to lift up the stories, people and information that reveal why

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giving back and philanthropy matter," says Hein, who also serves on the FMWF Chamber of Commerce's Women Connect Committee. "When we take the time to tell the story of a woman who was impacted by our school supply drive when she was 8 years old, there's a chain reaction of empathy, understanding, motivation and action." Whether it's the LIVE UNITED Awards, 35 Under 35 Women's Leadership Program or UNITED Acts of Kindness Day, Hein says she spends much of her time thinking about how she and her team can best utilize and maximize every ounce of energy, potential and good will in the FMWF community. "It isn’t uncommon for me to wake up in the middle of the night with some random — sometimes crazy — idea about how we could involve our volunteers to help kids become better readers or how we could organize a flash mob of people in LIVE UNITED t-shirts," Hein says. "The ultimate motivation for me is to work toward creating an infectious enthusiasm for doing good. We do what we do because we want to create an understanding and

awareness of how we can work together as a community to make a measurable and lasting impact on issues that we all want to solve: hunger, homelessness, mental health, poverty." She adds that no one organization on its own can solve these kinds of complex community problems. The only way to create lasting, measurable change is by innovating the way people, organizations and systems work together. "I've learned that we all must care and consider how our work and actions impact others," she says. "If we don't, we won't hear the perspectives of others so that we can work together to improve our community in the best way possible." Hein ends with a call — really, a challenge — to action: "What if each of us encouraged and inspired just one other person to give and get involved in the community? The return on our investment would impact all of us. I challenge you to make it happen this week."

United Way of Cass-Clay UnitedWayCassClay.org

FARGOINC.COM

Faces of

Fargo Business

STEVE SMITH President

YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties

ow many people can say they learned to swim at the place they now work? Steve Smith makes at least one.

Smith is a YMCA lifer, first as a member growing up in Seattle and then as an employee for the next 20plus years with numerous Y branches in Washington state and Wisconsin. Among other roles, he's served as an aquatics coordinator, program operations director and now as a president, a position he assumed at the YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties last summer. Smith, who oversees a total staff of 850 that is spread throughout the two Fargo metro YMCAs, Camp Cormorant, five Early Learning Centers, and various beforeand after-school programs in the three area school districts, says his time with the Y has always felt more spiritual than professional. "I am here to serve," says Smith, who is also active with Rotary and will soon be joining the board of the

FEBRUARY 2018

Northern Lights Council. "I feel like I have been called to my positions much like a pastor is to a church. In many ways, the YMCA is closer to a church then we are to a fitness center. "It shows up in seniors drinking coffee together. It shows in the care we give to children while their parents are working and putting food on the table. It shows when we compliment a child for reaching a goal in our swimming or sports programs because that might be the only time they hear they are great. I love working for this organization and all the things it does for the community." And for Smith, that means creating an environment that both YMCA staff and members will love, too. "I think it is important to remember that, as senior leaders, someone is watching you all the time," he says. "how you enter the building, how you conduct yourself through your day, how you treat all levels of your team. I've had supervisors or senior leaders in other organizations who would show up to work grumpy. If you eat the staff, they tend to eat the members."

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The YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties is currently in its final fundraising push for a new camp welcome center at Camp Cormorant. They've raised $1.3 million to date and currently have $160,000 to go. If you're interested in helping out, please contact Financial Development Coordinator Karen Engelter at Karen.Engelter@ YMCACassClay.org or 701-364-4120.

YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties YMCACassClay.org

FEBRUARY 2018

Faces of

Fargo Business

PAUL WILSON President & CEO

Noridian Healthcare Solutions

hen Paul Wilson's children were younger, they would ask him about his job. After explaining it to them, they would respond with, “So you just sit in meetings all day long.” At the time, they probably weren't too far off, Wilson admits. But administration and leadership roles have changed quite a bit over time. Wilson has more than 30 years of experience in TAKE

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healthcare leadership and is currently the President and CEO of Noridian Healthcare Solutions in Fargo. He's held that position since November 2017, after serving as interim president and CEO after Tom McGraw’s departure in June of last year. NHS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Noridian Mutual Insurance Company and delivers business solutions for government agencies to reduce cost and enhance value in the healthcare industry. The company employs 1,500 staff members and a majority of the 1,000 North Dakota employees are based here in town. While Wilson describes his day as "ensuring the strategic initiatives they have put in place to excel as a company operationally and grow strategically are being carried out," he isn't always behind closed doors in meetings. "In today’s business environment, leading through collaboration with a high degree of relationshipmanagement skills is a minimum necessary for survival," Wilson says. "It can be very time-consuming to stay connected in a business that employs more than 1,500 people, but it’s worth it." In his years serving in a leadership role, whether as President of Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls,

Minnesota, or CEO at DMS Health Technologies in Fargo, he's realized why it's said that 80 percent of executives lose their jobs not because of what they did but rather because of how they did it. "The "how" is about knowing one’s self — how we receive information, how we are perceived by others," Wilson says. "I think understanding the 'how' is an important component of successful collaboration in the workplace that is often overlooked." He also goes back to a piece of advice he received in 1984. Wilson was working at Lutheran Health Systems in Fargo when he was offered an opportunity to take a leadership role at a hospital in central Kansas and turn the operations around. The day before Wilson left for his new job, Mike Bice, who was the CEO of Lutheran Health, called him into his office and told Wilson that his job was to go to Kansas and try to make a difference. “I don’t care if you actually do, as long as you try,” Bice said to Wilson. "What he was really saying is that a leader can’t be afraid to make hard decisions," Wilson says. "Just use good judgment and make the decisions you think will make a difference. I have never forgotten this in my career and am thankful to him for the lasting advice."

Noridian Healthcare Solutions NoridianSolutions.com

FARGOINC.COM

Trust =$ Here Are 4 Ways to Build It

ver the past few years working for the Better Business Bureau, I've had the pleasure of interacting with business owners from many sectors of the marketplace. Across the board, the most frequent question I get is, “How do I improve my business?” A quick Google search shows that the advice, tactics and suggestions are almost endless, and while you could spend hours upon hours reading, listening and considering, the answer is simple: Start by building trust.

Sounds easy enough, right? But how do you go about actually doing it? Is it as simple as having great marketing or solid contract verbiage? How about a dedicated staff or a huge database of clients? While those obviously matter, it's about much more than each item individually; it's a feeling that you evoke in both your customers and employees. It's a strategically created plan building a solid foundation of honesty, integrity and transparency for your company.

FEBRUARY 2018

Warren Buffet has warned that it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. While this still holds true, nowadays, in today’s social media-saturated culture, five minutes is probably more like five seconds. At the end of the day, trust is more than just a nice thing to have in your back pocket; it has become a critical strategic asset to every organization in today’s marketplace.

BY Heather Aal PHOTOGRAPHY BY J. Alan Paul

Heather Aal is the North Dakota business outreach coordinator with the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota. She's based in Fargo.

Honesty In 2017, Better Business Bureau surveyed consumers and businesses across the United States and Canada. While the results weren’t overly surprising, they did prove what we already knew: Being honest is perhaps the most fundamental component of trust. In fact, it's consistently cited as being the most important attribute of any organization, according to its customers. If you don't appear and, more importantly, don't prove to be honest, it's difficult under any circumstances to build relationships.

MOST PEOPLE FEEL UNEASY WHEN THEY BELIEVE THAT A BUSINESS IS NOT BEING HONEST WITH THEM, EVEN IF THEY CANNOT PINPOINT A DIRECT CAUSE.

Importantly, the term “honesty” can be a proxy of sorts for other behaviors such as proactivity, humility, equitability and transparency. How a consumer interprets your business's actions may be different than how you see it. And in today’s world, perception trumps reality; even a little white lie can damage relationships. Always strive to see a situation from both inside and outside your walls before putting your company’s name behind it. There are, of course, shades of truth — statements that are technically truthful but not honest — and most people feel uneasy when they believe that a business is not being honest with them, even if they cannot pinpoint a direct cause. They, in turn, take their business elsewhere. Being honest means so much more than just telling the truth. It means conveying information that is relevant, useful, instructive and respectful of those engaged at that moment.

Digestibility Your advertising materials, contracts and employee manuals should all be clear and comprehensive to the average reader. While using three-syllable words, acronyms and technical language may look impressive, it could be confusing to those receiving your messaging. It's important to consider your audience and customize your communications to meet them where they are. Unambiguous, understandable language is the first line of defense for your organization when disputes arise, and it can also protect you from anyone trying to take advantage of your company. Marketing and advertising are essential to attracting new customers and getting your company’s name out there, but in a marketplace where everyone is looking for that edge against the competition, it's easy to fall back on misleading or exaggerated claims. Avoid any spinning of the truth, even when your competitors are doing just that. At the end of the day, you will come out ahead and earn the trust of the marketplace. A good place to start might be BBB’s Code of Advertising (BBB.org/Codeof-Advertising).

A Few Trust-Building Ideas

In print: Chose fonts that are easy to read and colors that stand out on your background, and avoid mouse-sized print. If it's hard for you to read and comprehend with your background knowledge of the product, a consumer could find it especially deceptive or unnerving.

On video: While airtime can be expensive, it's imperative that you allow a reader enough time to notice, read and understand the message.

Transparency

On air: Read at a cadence that is easy to listen to and grasp by your target audience. Speaking too fast is just like mouse print. Consumers will wonder what you are trying to hide, so remember to keep your word choices simple and comprehensible.

The Fargo metro job market is becoming more and more competitive. Transparency can go a long way toward attracting and sustaining great employees. The creation of a company-wide employee manual should be one of the first tasks of any business just starting out. The language should be straightforward and overarching, with clear policies in place.

Responsibility Taking responsibility when a mistake is brought to your attention and then working to remedy it is often a make-or-break moment. While the old adage that the customer is always right may not fit all situations, admitting when you’re wrong goes a long way toward building trust. Remember, however, that it's very easy to get caught up in the emotions of the moment. Taking a step back to gather all of the information and then responding in a respectful and fully informed manner usually results in a more amicable outcome. Keep excuses to a minimum, and focus on win-win resolutions. More often than not, a customer who levied a complaint will come back to an organization if they know it’s a company that stands behind their products or service.

Just having a handbook isn’t enough, though. You also need to adhere to and enforce the policies from the top-down: • Having a whistleblower policy that

gives your employees the ability to be heard leads to long-term employee satisfaction. • Make sure you work to resolve situations inside your office before they leak outside. A social-media protocol must be included in your handbook. • If expectations are not laid out, potential issues could be damaging to your business.

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Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota BBB.org 51 Broadway N #604, Fargo, ND 701-738-0628

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t a h T s ' What

Logo?

Think you know the logos of local organizations? What if you could only see a sliver of them? Here you can test your knowledge of some of the most recognizable brands in the Fargo metro ...

8. Gravity Gaming

9. SCORE

10. Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!)

FEBRUARY 2018

7. Impact Foundation

3 6

6. Razor Tracking

5. Integreon

4. Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau

3. Front Street Taproom

Answers

1. Plains Art Museum

2. Bobcat

CEO Conversations

APPAREO

BY Nate Mickelberg 38

FEBRUARY 2018

The Next Generation When David Batcheller took over for his father, Barry, as Appareo's president and CEO last fall, it represented a changing of the guard at the Fargo-based electronics-andsoftware company not just in name but in philosophy.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Hillary Ehlen and J. Alan Paul

In this installation of "CEO Conversations," Fargo INC! sat down with the Batchellers to talk about the company's new business model, recruiting and economic development, and what it's been like for father and son to work alongside one another for the past 15 years. FARGOINC.COM

a technical company making technical products

appareo: the old model 40

FEBRUARY 2018

David Batcheller: In a very simple sense, it would look like we have an aviation business that makes radios and flight-data recorders and an agricultural business that makes controls and monitoring systems. That would be the most simplistic way to describe the business. I think it would also miss the magic and the things that make it possible to become a household name both regionally and globally. The surfacelevel, market-facing product side tells a sliver of the story.

Barry Batcheller: The businesses I have built over my 40-year career all have their genesis in providing advanced technologies to (companies) that incorporate those technologies into whole goods, and that model served us well. For example, at Phoenix International, we designed products for agricultural use. What we did was provide the technology and the commercialization of that technology to large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Like the computers in your car today, we did those for the big diesel engines that John Deere built. That model served us well for 40 years, where people would come to us with a need, and we would embody it into a technology product. They handled the sales, service, and marketing of the product, and we handled the technology and technology improvement. That model has changed under Dave’s leadership. As Dave has taken over

A look inside Appareo’s manufacturing facilities, located in the North Dakota State University Research and Technology Park in North Fargo.

Appareo: How It All Began Appareo was founded in Fargo in 2003 by Barry Batcheller. Batcheller’s innovation, enthusiasm and deep understanding of emerging technologies allowed the company to help its customers become game -changers in their industries. the company, where it (previously) was a company focused on the creation of the products, Dave has changed the model into a business of businesses. Dave’s model today is using the foundations of technology that we have put together — a pretty substantial engineering team, very substantial sales and marketing capabilities, a really good manufacturing group — and leveraging those assets into the creation of new businesses.

Appareo has grown to employ nearly 250 people across three locations, with an in-house manufacturing facility that is fully-equipped for prototyping and production. Appareo has become the U.S. industry leader in general aviation weatherand-traffic radio receivers and supplies avionics and flight-safety devices to many of the world’s largest original equipment manufacturers and operators. In addition, they design and manufacture electronics —controls, sensors and display systems — for agricultural and construction OEMs.

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We were curtailing the business’s potential. Taking our AI capabilities, which are already fairly substantial and have a lot of potential, and applying them only to one market is an underachievement. We can do better for our business and better for Fargo, so we would like to multithread these things if we can.

FEBRUARY 2018

the new model

Appareo has an engineering capability in electronics design, mechanical design, and software design; we have a real broad spectrum of technical capabilities; we have a research organization and research capabilities; we have manufacturing capabilities. And a lot of these capabilities can be (leveraged) for great opportunity and value in a number of different places. So rather than focus on being just an aviation business or just an agricultural business, we would like to leverage what are some really unique and special technical capabilities in more than one place in parallel.

a business of businesses

David: Here's a good way to think about our business: So you dig into some of these (companies) like Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, and there’s this element of food science or chemistry or medical science that is embodied in everything (they make), from ACE bandages to BAND-AIDS to Neosporin. And these things are all sort of individual business lines or elements of a common capability or core. (General Electric) does it, too, but with a more strong and centralized brand presence; from washer/dryers to jet engines to light bulbs, they are in a broad cross-section of different markets and spaces, leveraging engineering and manufacturing expertise that’s shared.

David Batcheller President & CEO

Barry: In the future, each of these businesses stands alone. So the department that handles sales and marketing, for example, now has to look at a more efficient, productive and generalized capability. The same situation is true of engineering; they become an engineering-services group. So we have to up the game all across the business in order to be relevant to these companies that we’re charging with the responsibility to grow. And they’re taking that responsibility seriously. It’s a pretty major overhaul. Even though the people and the areas of expertise remain the same, their charge has changed under this direction, and that’s a pretty major overhaul in the organization.

Since joining Appareo in 2005, David Batcheller has served as program manager; director of quality, process and program management; and COO. Now as president and CEO, David is responsible for the remote operations (Tempe, Arizona and Paris, France), engineering, manufacturing, finance and administrative components of Appareo's business. David holds a degree from the University of Minnesota. Honors • Top COOs in the Country (ExecRank, 2012) • Speaker (TEDx) • 40 Under 40 (Prairie Business) • Guest speaker (Numerous conferences)

"The success of people and the success of businesses is, in a lot of ways, directly proportional to the number of uncomfortable situations they're in."

Founder & Chairman of the Board Barry Batcheller came to North Dakota from New York to study aerospace engineering and electrical engineering at North Dakota State University. He has more than 40 years of business experience and has been involved in the startup of six successful companies: IDA Corporation, Integrated Technical Systems Corporation, Phoenix International, Intelligent Agricultural Solutions, AFS and Appareo. He has also served as director of technology growth at John Deere. Honors • ChamberChoice Entrepreneur of the Year Award (FMWF Chamber of Commerce, 2012) • Honorary Doctorate in Engineering (North Dakota State University, 2010) • North Dakota Entrepreneur of the Year (2006) • North Dakota Marketplace Entrepreneur of the Year (2006) • Small Business Person of the Year (Fargo Chamber of Commerce, 1995) • North Dakota Business Innovator of the Year (1994)

David: Change is difficult. I think that in any organization that’s undergoing change, there’s a certain innate resistance and aversion to change in people. But I think if you find yourself in a position where you don’t change for a long time, that’s an indication of stagnation. Change is good. Change means growth, and growth is uncomfortable. But it’s absolutely necessary. The success of people and the success of businesses is, in a lot of ways, directly proportional to the number of uncomfortable situations they’re in. People who are put in a lot of challenging situations grow personally and professionally. Businesses that (do) growthchallenging technology development and product development and have deployment challenges, they grow a lot.

why change is essential

and failure is tolerated

Barry Batcheller

Barry: And they make mistakes. I had a friend who had a plaque on the wall that said: Anyone who hasn’t had a failure is an amateur. There will be a number of failures in this exercise, and failing forward is perfectly okay. And we need to make sure that’s an attitude. FARGOINC.COM

fargo's not an outlier

the recruiting misconception David: Recruiting is always a challenge … for everybody. It’s difficult to recruit great people. By definition, they’re a small portion of the available talent pool. We’re a small metropolitan area, so it's a challenge to find talent. But I think identifying Fargo in that respect is super unfair to Fargo. I think it creates an environment and belief that we have a singular and unique challenge as a metropolitan area to find talent. We have an office in Phoenix, Arizona, and it's the same problem. We have an office in Paris, France — same problem. I think Fargo has a lot of businesses that are successful, and those businesses are competing for resources. And they’re competing for some of the same resources. So how does a business find great people? I think it’s less about finding and more about attracting. I don’t think you necessarily go find great people always by going out there and sifting through the résumés to discover greatness.

You do great things. You do really interesting stuff, stuff that has a strong resonance with the kind of people you’re trying to attract. And it brings them. It creates a draw. And I think if you find spectacular people in one place, a lot of times, you can create a pull on their network. If you’re a talented person, you probably have talented friends. Then, your friends become interested in where you are and that creates a gravitational pull to your business that makes recruiting a different dynamic.

Barry: The other question you have to ask is: Who are you recruiting? There’s a lot of competition for the people with five to 10 years of experience. We have a large number of employees who are homegrown; we hire them green out of college. The product produced by (North Dakota State University) is a really good product; it's a highly recruited product. There’s the old question: Would you rather give birth or raise the dead? We give birth a lot.

Fargo-based Appareo has become the industry leader in the U.S. in general aviation weather-andtraffic radio receivers. They also design and manufacture controls, sensors, and display systems for agricultural and construction original equipment manufacturers.

Sometimes, you bring people in from organizations that are large corporate structures, and you end up raising the dead. Now, there are people who really do add spark to your company, but if you’re set up to be able to assimilate a larger number of new entries, you can really help grow these people into the type of people who fit your culture.

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ecosystems are magnets

rethinking economic development

"It's an unrealistic objective for this metropolitan area to try and recruit coastal bodies to the northern reaches of the Midwest."

FEBRUARY 2018

David: We bleed talent. We’ve gotten better at it, but I think it's an unrealistic objective for this metropolitan area to try and recruit coastal bodies to the northern reaches of the Midwest. I think if you have people who are from here and maybe didn’t move far, trying to bring them back to our community — based on a lot of the strengths of our community — is a more realistic endeavor than trying to draw a bunch of non-native people here. The best thing would be to have them not leave, but I think there’s an opportunity to recruit people who are ready to come back to the community after a period abroad. A lot of times, I think a young person does their undergraduate here, and they leave for the bright lights of the city. A good thing would be to keep people here by having the kind of employment opportunities that outshine whatever the allure of the social opportunities would be in some of those other places — the kinds of professional opportunities and intellectual opportunities that make the city lights dim by comparison. I think that if we want to be really successful long-term, we and others should endeavor to shine that bright.

Barry: If you go back to the early ‘80s in Fargo, there was zero to speak of in terms of electronics design and manufacturing. Today, there are thousands of employees who are derivative of Phoenix International and Appareo and John Deere’s work. We have created, over the past 30 years, an ecosystem, and it takes an ecosystem to create the type of magnet Dave is talking about. If you have one small company that’s (producing) a unique technology, it’s difficult to attract a lot of people because they're kind of married to that company. If you look at India, for example, people circulate between 50 companies, and they have no problem bringing people into that area because they feel free to move — that’s also what’s happening in Silicon Valley and New England. When you get to Fargo, now that we’re creating this ecosystem where there’s a larger number of technology companies, people feel like they’re not stuck if something doesn’t work out. If they move to Fargo, they feel they can move around a little bit, and that’s helpful. What’s being built here is this technology-and-software infrastructure and ecosystem, which is a recruiting tool.

find people who have been there before

inflection points In addition to its Fargo facilities, Appareo has offices in Tempe, Arizona, and Paris, France.

David: I’ve always seen our challenges as more internal than external. I don’t want to trivialize selling and accessing market and producing business opportunity, but I think a lot of businesses that are really successful — CoSchedule, Myriad Mobile, there’s a bunch of others in town making a lot of success for themselves — I think the grander challenges are not: How do you find success? Rather, it's: When you do, how do you really capitalize on it? How do you execute on realizing the potential of each opportunity? If you’re trying to learn stuff all by yourself, it's a tall order, and you end up making a lot of mistakes that many have made before and that you’d find to be very avoidable with the right help. With scaling, in general, find a great opportunity and once you begin to experience success, get a network of good help, be it an advisory board, a board of directors, people who can and are willing to donate a significant amount of their time to seeing your success.

Barry: Find some people who have been there before. In my experience, when you get to 20-40 people, it changes from being a really close-knit group of people where everybody kind of knows what’s going on to things moving more quickly and not everybody knowing what’s going on. And some companies never make that transition. It just breaks apart. Similarly, when you get to 100, 150 people — we’re now pushing 250 — there are these stages of growth of revenue, growth of people, growth of markets, where you necessarily have to transform; you have to rethink the way you do business. I would encourage startup businesses to seek an experienced group of people or an advisory board or just some people who have been there and can help you through it.

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FEBRUARY 2018

candor is king

2007 • Product Breakthrough of the Year (Aviation Week & Space Technology) 2008 • M.P. Koch Award (SAFE Association) • Harry T. Jensen Award (American Helicopter Association) 2010 • National Business Incubator Association 2011 • Inc. 500 List (Inc. Magazine) • #159 overall • #1 fastest-growing engineering company in the country 2012 • Editor's Choice Award (Flying magazine) • Sterling Innovation Award (Canada's Farm Progress) 2013 • Editor's Choice Award (Flying magazine) 2014 • AE50 Award (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers) 2015 • AE50 Award (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers) 2017 • AEA Associate Member of the Year (Aircraft Electronics Association) • AE50 Award (American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers)

like father, like son

Appareo's Accolades Barry: Dave and I have had a really good relationship since he was a very young child, and when we transitioned to the business, there wasn’t any pretense about it because we didn’t change the way we interacted with each other. Dave has zero problem coming in and telling me exactly (what he thinks). As a matter of fact, a couple years ago, he came up to me and said, "It's great that I'm chief operating officer, but I’m not doing anything because at every meeting you make all the decisions." And I thought, "Is that true?" I realized it was and made a conscious effort not to do it. Over the years, Dave has had no problem coming and talking to me about stuff that’s working and not working, and I think we have a meaningful dialogue about it. In all the things in my life, this has been by far the most enjoyable thing I have ever done — to work with Dave on a daily basis, to be able to collectively make decisions on growing this great business and the surprise, frankly, of having Dave turn out to be really, really good at it. And that’s the bigger thing. When you have an opportunity to work with someone who’s really good at it — better than I am, in many ways — that is very rewarding.

"I think these folks are building one of America's great businesses. I think there's a Hewlett Packard in the next 20 years here."

David: One of the nuances that people might not totally appreciate in a family business — and as a parent myself, I feel pretty comfortable saying this — is that what I'm doing at work is different enough that you can't know me by only watching my behavior at home. That’s not enough to really know Dave. And the same is true for my father. I don’t think I would really know my father completely as a man if my interactions with him were only bringing the grandkids over for dinner and seeing him at holidays. They say that we can only see so far because we stand on the shoulders of giants. Well, I have an enormous amount of personal and professional respect for my father; he’s a giant. It's a very unusual thing for someone to be as accomplished as he is and as capable as he is. It’s nice to have an opportunity to spend time with family, but also my ability to really understand and respect all the things he’s accomplished and everything he’s capable of and learn from that, I don’t know how I could ever truly put a value on how important it will be to me forever.

Barry: It was a very unique opportunity for Dave and I to work together. I do have a lot of experience, and I think the ability for us to be collaborative as we’ve gone through these inflection points and change — I’ve already been there. And so we can talk about them and adjust to them, and I think that’s really helped the business. If it weren’t for Dave, we’d be in a position right now where the business would be for sale. If I had to go out and try to find a person like Dave to take this business to the next level and beyond — you call them purple squirrels. They're really hard to find. I wish I could be around in 25 years. I believe what was started here is the very beginning of this journey. I think these folks are building one of America’s great businesses. I think there’s a Hewlett Packard in the next 20 years here.

Since is inception in 2003, Appareo’s team has grown to nearly 250.

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Appareo Appareo.com 1810 NDSU Research Circle N, Fargo 701-356-2200

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The 10 Most Costly Wage-andHour Mistakes PT. 1/2

ompliance with federal and state wage-and-hour requirements can be confusing, and getting it wrong often leads to costly mistakes and expensive lawsuits. Indeed, the number of wage and hour lawsuits has skyrocketed over the past decade, and wageand-hour mistakes are the largest uninsured risk facing employers today.

What do we mean when referring to wageand-hour requirements? We are talking about the body of law that establishes and regulates wage standards for employees, including, but not limited to, minimum wage and overtime regulations.

personnel matters and wage-and-hour compliance. Over time, we have seen that even the best-intentioned employers can make critical errors on employee pay, and those errors may have an expensive price tag.

The federal and state laws governing wageand-hour issues, including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), are complex, highly regulated and sometimes counterintuitive. Moreover, one disgruntled employee and one small, technical mistake can result in a class-action wage-and-hour lawsuit against an employer. In our practice, we work with employers on a daily basis on

This article is the first in a two-part series addressing the 10 most common wageand-hour mistakes we see in our practice and offers advice on how to avoid these costly errors. In the next installment, we will discuss rest breaks and meal periods, travel time, on-call pay, tracking hours worked and internships.

BY Kristy Albrecht and Beth Alvine PHOTOS COURTESY OF Fredrikson & Byron Law Firm

FEBRUARY 2018

1. MISCLASSIFYING EMPLOYEES AS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS

About the Authors Kristy Albrecht

is a shareholder and member of the employment and labor, litigation, transportation and appellate groups with Fredrikson & Byron Law Firm in Fargo. She advises employers on a variety of employment law issues, including hiring, firing, discipline, employee leave and accommodation laws, employee handbooks, drug and alcohol policies, and separation agreements.

The FLSA applies to “employees.” It may seem intuitively obvious which workers are “employees” and which are not. However, "employee" is a term that has been a subject of significant legal debate. Some businesses have tried to reduce costs and risks by hiring independent contractors instead of employees. True independent contractors are not subject to the FLSA and are not subject to various withholding requirements such as state and federal income taxes and unemployment and workers' compensation withholding. The business and the contractor will usually have a written independent contractor agreement in place, and some businesses erroneously believe that the written agreement offers complete liability protection.

In reality, the agreement itself is not a bulletproof shield, and it does not make the worker an independent contractor. The specific standards for the independent-contractor classification vary slightly under the different areas of employment law. As a general matter, however, what matters is how much control the employer has over the worker’s activities, how the relationship is structured and how dependent the worker is on the employer. A written agreement is helpful proof as to the relationship, but it is not determinative. The bottom line is that an independentcontractor classification error is costly, and businesses should seek legal counsel when considering this classification.

Beth Alvine

is an associate with Fredrikson & Byron and a member of the employment and labor and business-advisoryservices groups. She advises and represents employers on employment and labor issues, including terminations, wage-and-hour compliance, drug-and-alcohol testing and policies, employee leave and accommodation strategies, and employer programs and policies.

It may seem intuitively obvious which workers are “employees” and which are not. However, "employee" is a term that has been a subject of significant legal debate.

2. MISCLASSIFYING NON-EXEMPT EMPLOYEES AS EXEMPT Another common employee classification error is improperly classifying a non-exempt employee as exempt. The FLSA makes a distinction between employees who are “exempt” from the overtime pay requirements and those who are not. Employees are legally presumed to be “non-exempt." That is, they are entitled to overtime pay for time worked more than 40 hours in a week. To be exempt from overtime, an employee must fit within one of the specific exemptions set forth under the FLSA.

While the white-collar exemptions include a requirement that the employee be paid on a salary basis, each of those exemptions has very specific duties tests. Importantly, the application of the duties tests to a particular job frequently requires some research into the regulations and interpretive case-law to find out how the Department of Labor and the courts have viewed similar positions. A salaried employee whose position does not satisfy the applicable duties test is not exempt from overtime.

The most commonly used exemptions are the “white collar” exemptions, which involve both salary and duties standards. Many employers wrongly assume that if an employee is paid on a salary basis, he or she is exempt from the overtime requirements. That can be a costly mistake. All of the requirements for an exemption must be satisfied.

Like the independent contractor classification error, an exempt classification error can be costly and requires careful analysis to prevent misclassification mistakes.

FINAL PAY ERRORS

When an employee is terminated or resigns, an employer may want to make deductions for unreturned company property and/or damage to company property. If these deductions are not authorized in writing by the employee at the time of the deduction, the deductions are improper under North Dakota law.

FEBRUARY 2018

FAILING TO PAY OVERTIME ON A NONDISCRETIONARY BONUS Most employers know that non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay at 1.5 times their regular rate of pay. Many employers forget, however, that a non-discretionary bonus must be included in the regular rate of pay to calculate any overtime owed. Non-discretionary bonuses are typically bonuses that an employer offers and that the employee has come to recognize and expects to receive. Nondiscretionary bonuses are often tied to production or other benchmarks, and the bonus is promised if the employee meets certain work standards. These bonuses must be included as part of the base rate of pay in calculating an employee’s overtime.

4. One of the most common wage-andhour mistakes is making improper deductions and failing to pay an employee all compensation owed in the employee’s final paycheck. An improper deduction or final-pay error can result in significant penalties.

Another mistake on final pay is not paying out earned and unused vacation or paid time off (PTO). North Dakota law requires all earned vacation and PTO to be paid to an employee upon separation unless a set of specific conditions are met. Specifically, the employer must have provided written notice of the vacation and PTO withholding policy to the employee at the time of hiring, the employee must have been employed for less than one year, and the employee must have given the employer less than five days written notice of the employee’s resignation.

For example, if an employee is paid a base rate of $10 per hour, the overtime rate would be $15 per hour. If, however, the employer has an incentive-bonus program in place and the employee receives another $6 per hour in incentive pay, the employee must be paid overtime at the rate 1.5 times the total hourly rate ($10 + $6), which would be an overtime rate of $24 per hour. Only true discretionary bonuses — where the employer retains full discretion on whether to award the bonus and, if so, how much to award — may be excluded from the regular rate of pay.

5. FAILING TO COMPENSATE EMPLOYEES FOR TIME SPENT IN TRAINING As a general rule, employees must be compensated for the time they spend attending training or meetings. Training time must be paid unless all the following conditions are met: 1) Attendance is outside the employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regular working hours 2) Attendance is voluntary 3) The meeting or training is not jobrelated

4) The employee does not perform any productive work during the training. Remember, especially with wage-andhour compliance matters, working with your legal counsel and getting the details correct on the front end will often prevent expensive litigation and penalties.

Watch for the second installment of this article in the April issue of Fargo INC!, where we will round out our top 10 wage-and-hour mistakes and discuss rest breaks and meal periods, travel time, on-call pay, tracking hours worked and internships. TAKE

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Fredrikson & Byron Law Firm will be offering a half-day wage-andhour seminar at the Holiday Inn Fargo on Thursday, April 19. Visit FredLaw.com/WageAndHour for details.

Fredrikson & Byron FredLaw.com 701-237-8200 51 Broadway N, Fargo

BUSINESS

WISDOM

"Farming is the art of losing money while working 400 hours a month feeding people who think you're trying to kill them." LYNN PAULSON SVP & Director of Agribusiness Development, Bell Bank FARGOINC.COM

Building an Engaged Team

Through the Arts The Arts Partnership's Art WORKS Program

here’s no question that, in today’s business climate, the environment you create for employees has real value. It’s no longer enough to have a good benefits package; you also have to think about creating engaging, team-building activities and having a design aesthetic. If you don’t, the myriad young employees entering the workforce will go elsewhere, and you’ll be left without the kind of bright, youthful minds you need to grow your business. Talk to any HR director, and they’ll tell you they're spending a significant amount of money per employee to create experiences that excite their team, help build camaraderie and build a stronger corporate culture. Let me introduce you to one program that accomplishes all of that and actually helps build another layer of intelligence in your employees. The Art WORKS program, offered through The Arts Partnership, is a flexible program meant to engage employees at all levels of your business in shifting their work lens by applying artistic thinking and processes to their more traditional jobs — accounting, project management, development, leadership and more.

By DAYNA DEL VAL Photography by HILLARY EHLEN AND J. ALAN PAUL

I spoke with Myriad Mobile Vice President of Sales & Marketing Camille Grade and former TMI Hospitality Director of Operational Performance Standards Deena Sutton about how the program has been a net-positive for both of their companies. FARGOINC.COM

Pieces from an Art WORKS artist hang in Myriad Mobile's Downtown Fargo offices.

Myriad Mobile What was your initial interest in the Art WORKS program? Camille Grade: Myriad Mobile has always had a strong focus on design; it's one of our differentiators in the market. Creating software is a multi-disciplinary process, and it makes sense that the fundamentals of the arts are part of the process. What value did you find for your team in participating in the program? Grade: The supplemental activities were great. It allowed our team to flex their creative muscles and participate in a group activity outside of the normal day-to-day responsibilities we all have â&#x20AC;&#x201D; team bonding! Participating in the program also helped our

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team think about what they wanted our office to look like. Some of our team members brought in their own original artwork to display in our office, too. Did you ever talk about the art or the program with any clients or potential clients who came to the building? If so, what was their reaction? Grade: When giving clients tours of our office, we would often talk about (the Art WORKS program). Not only was it a great conversation piece; it was a great way to talk about the broader community and what makes us unique. You're a tech firm staffed by mostly younger employees. What value did you see for them as individual, STEMbased team members? Grade: Beautiful, functional design is and always has

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I think it's also important to talk about process. Artists have a process for creating art; our team has a process for creating software. Both processes have technical and artistic elements. What were the unexpected benefits of participating in the program? Grade: It gave employees ownership of their workspace. It was fun to hear team members talk about what they liked about the art, how it was displayed on various walls, where we could put more art, etc. It was really important to us to have art in all spaces of our office so that all members could be a part of the experience.

Camille Grade is the vice president of sales and marketing at Fargo-based mobiledevelopment company Myriad Mobile.

"My experience is that there's no better time than now. You don't need the perfect situation to get started." BILL ERICKSON Owner, Total Imaging

been a crucial piece of our development process. We don't create software in a technical vacuum.

The Arts Partnership's Art WORKS Program What It Is Hanging local art in your office is a great first step, but canvases on the wall can become invisible after a while. What makes The Arts Partnership's Art WORKS program so valuable is the active learning and team-building that comes with it. After having some deep conversations with key stakeholders in your business, TAP selects three artists for your season. Once or twice during that time, depending on the package you select, an artist comes to do an artist-employee engagement activity. TAP provides wine and cheese and works with each artist to create a program meant to challenge the thinking of your employees. Each presentation/activity takes about an hour. With a number of the pacakages, an artist's work is hung throughout your offices for a period of time — typically four months. The art is intended to activate your space and also keeps empoyees engaged since it changes out throughout the year.

How It Works: An Example • A photographer talks about their process for selecting what • • • •

to specifically frame in their camera when they're looking at a wide landscape where many features have value. We hand out small frames and sends employees out to shoot images in the office with their phones. We upload them, talk together about the various perspectives of similar images, and analyze what they choose to focus on and why. We talk about how, when you start a new project, you have numerous areas to focus on and how it can be overwhelming. Taking the emphasis off of a “work” assignment and engaging in a no-pressure art activity helps employees think differently about their choices. It also helps them reach out to collaborate, ask questions and share their ideas with colleagues they may not know well.

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Deena Sutton is the former director of operational performance standards at TMI Hospitality.

TMI Hospitality For Former TMI Hospitality Dirctor of Operational Performance Standards Deena Sutton, the program allowed for some fabulous discoveries: “Art WORKS was a huge asset to the culture within the office. It gave the opportunity for members of different departments to spend time together, and it was a chance for employees to get away from their normal routine and stress levels and tap into their creative side. Some employees didn't even know they had a creative side, but with the right atmosphere, they found that they, too, could be creative. "I loved attending the program so that I could step away from my phone and emails and get the creative side of my brain refreshed and awakened. I could also spend time with employees

in different departments and make a connection with them. This made it easier and more comfortable when we had projects to work on together down the road. "I also learned that when you have a challenge at work, sometimes the best solution is to look at the challenge from a different (point of) view.”

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For more information about Art WORKS, head to: TheArtsPartnership.net/ Programs/ArtWorks

"Beware the endless opportunities. It's true with development and product, and it's more generally true in every part of your company." JUSTIN WALSH Cofounder & CEO, CoSchedule FARGOINC.COM

TWO NETWORK MARKETERS Want to Set the Record Straight About Network Marketing By Nate Mickelberg Photography by J. Alan Paul

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f you've spent any amount of time on social media, you've probably gotten an event invitation like this:

"Stop by Susan's LulaRoe party!" "Come learn more about Mary Kay!" "See why Tastefully Simple could be for you!" They're called multi-level marketing companies â&#x20AC;&#x201D; also sometimes referred to as direct-sales or network-marketing companies â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and millions of Americans are now involved with them. While the products and specifics of the businesses vary, they all operate under a similar commissionbased selling structure. They've also, over the years, developed a bad rap for their sometimes false promises and predatory practices, though MLM's proponents say the industry has changed for the better. We spoke to two of those proponents this month, a pair of local network marketers who assured us they were coming as "advocates for the business model" and not advertisers for their respective companies. They viewed it as a chance to set the record straight about what they feel are some of the misconceptions about the direct-sales industry.

Meet the Network Marketers Michaela Schell Previously a marketing associate with the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corporation, Michaela Schell first dipped her toes into the waters of network marketing a little more than five years ago. "As anyone with kids knows, you can't even go to the bathroom by yourself, much less sit down and develop marketing plans and write creative content," says Schell, who, after having her first child, tried working part-time from home. "I was finding it really difficult. We had lost a full-time salary for our family, I was working horrible hours and I was finding it really hard to find childcare to even go to a meeting." When a friend and mentor recommended she give direct sales a shot, she was skeptical but kept an open mind. "Coming from the traditional, corporate business world, it was totally not what I pictured myself doing," says Schell, who's now going on six years in the direct-sales world with skincare company Rodan + Fields. "In my mind, it was home parties where you felt obligated to buy, and it just seemed icky to me. But I did my own research and said, 'You know, this is my opportunity to try something different.'"

Joelle Suess Joelle Suess' direct-sales story began seven years ago as a student at North Dakota State University. When a few years of living the college life left her wanting to get back into shape, she came across a company called Beachbody, which can probably best be described as a Netflix for fitness. She met a fellow Beachbody enthusiast online who was using the program as a way to make a living, so Suess, who was looking for a way to make some side money herself as she finished her degree, decided to give network marketing a go. A few years ago, she quit her position in member relations at a local wellness center to make Beachbody her full-time gig and stay home with her son.

No. 1

Most people think ... Only the people at the top make money.

The truth is ... Michaela Schell: The people at the top are obviously making money, but what people don’t realize is how they got to the top. People think they can jump in, sign up as a rep or a consultant for anything, make a post on Facebook and they're instantly making thousands of dollars. What they don’t see is that the reps or consultants who are really successful are working really hard at this business. We always say, "If you treat it like a hobby, it's going to pay you like a hobby. If you run it like a business, it will pay you like a business." Joelle Suess: In this industry, nobody who's earning an income is sitting on the sidelines. We are the players in the field, and there are actually FTC laws around making sure that our compensation plans — as MLMs — are abiding by that. Schell: If you want to continue to stay at the top, you have to continue to do the work. What's really important to mention, too, is that everybody, when they start, is

Michaela Schell turned to network marketing as a way to better balance a career and taking care of her three kids.

No. 2

on an equal playing field. Nobody is ahead of anybody else. For the most part, you all enroll at a spot with zero customers, zero business partners and the same amount of knowledge. Suess: And each goal is individualized. I've seen some people who surpass the person who brought them into the business. Schell: You’re not held at a certain level because the leader above you is at a certain level. You can grow bigger than them and make more than them. In a traditional business model, you usually can't overstep someone. You have to work your way up the ranks, but that usually means the manager above you is going to get promoted first. So it's actually a better model when it comes to that. Suess: The beauty of network marketing is that everybody wants everybody to succeed. I can hit a certain goal and level while encouraging somebody else to hit that same goal. There's room for everyone.

The truth is ... Suess: ... Can I say that I think it’s a good thing? If a network marketing company is representing something that's positive, why not be a part of that?

Most people think ... Network marketing has cult-like tendencies.

Schell: I think it’s more of a team mentality than a cult. Think about it with anything else. What do baseball players do? They hang out together all the time, they help each other, they’re supportive. You’re in the trenches with your teammates, and they know what you’re experiencing and going through. You’re working together to help everybody succeed, and they're going through the same struggles you are because they’re in the same business you are. If it's a good environment — and the majority of network marketing companies are — they're working to help people be better, not worse, people. Cults try to make people do what they say. Our goal is to help people lead the best life they want and what's best for them. FARGOINC.COM

No. 3

Most people think ... Network marketing is filled with people with minimal business experience.

The truth is ... Schell: If you’re successful at network marketing, it’s because you have the ability to learn, and you want to learn. I knew nothing about skincare before I got into this. In my line of work, a lot of people think you have to be an aesthetician or something similar. You don’t. It's the same thing with Beachbody. You can learn a lot of the skills. I also think you can use the skills you already have to be really great in this business. I have friends who are teachers, and they're fantastic at it because they love to teach. I'm really great at marketing, and so I use my marketing skills. It's about running your business with the skills you already know and then filling in the gaps. Suess: Nobody goes to school for network marketing. It’s learned, and the industry itself teaches you a lot.

college and aren’t doing the thing we went to school for? You learn more in the first week than you could’ve ever learned in four years of school. The American Dream used to be: Find a good 9-5, work there for 50 years and retire. And now it's changing. What people coming into the workforce now value most over even pay are flexibility and time freedom. Can I do this job from home? Can I take a vacation when I want? Can I take a day off from work when my kid is sick and not be stressed about it? At a lot of traditional jobs, unfortunately, they can't do that because they need to have their stores open at certain times and have obligations to other things. The reason network marketing is getting so much more popular is because it's not only providing people a way to earn an income; it’s providing the flexibility that traditional jobs just can’t.

Schell: I mean, how many of us went to

No. 4

"Pyramid schemes are technically illegal; there are laws in place."

Most people think ... Pyramid structures are inherently bad. The truth is ... Schell: Most (business structures) are a pyramid, with somebody at the top. When network marketing came out many years ago, there was a different structure than there is now. We're no longer a (pyramid) as much as we are a circle. I'm in the middle of that circle, and my team surrounds me. And they have their own circle, and they can grow that circle as big as they want. With a pyramid, it gives the illusion that somebody can’t make more or can’t outtitle (a person above them). In network

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marketing now, that can happen. Pyramid schemes are technically illegal; there are laws in place. That's what I get asked about the most, but companies can't do that anymore. Suess: In network marketing, nobody benefits from just signing up person after person. Success lies in: Somebody comes into your business, you link arms in the circle and everybody grows in strength. That’s where the unity and the success comes, not from, "Who’s next? Who’s next? Who's next?" It’s when you bring someone in, and they see the definition of the success they want. Then, they feel good, and they help somebody.

"These products were created to be great products on their own, and they could do just as well in a department or (retail) store," says direct-sales proponent Joelle Suess.

No. 5

The truth is ... Suess: I didn't even build my business or team with anybody local. I went through social media, talking with people who were like me and had the same interests.

Most people think ... You need a large network of people to get started.

Schell: I was kind of the opposite. I was a little worried that my network wasn’t huge. I didn’t have the thousands of Facebook friends that other people had, so I did kind of start with my more tightknight group, and I shared stuff with them. It's necessarily what your network is; it’s who you are. If you're a person people trust and you have their best interests at heart and they feel comfortable with you, that will grow your network either through referrals or a new teammate that has a new network. Suess: My advice would be to look at different companies of interest that you might have, use (the product), and if you find yourself liking it and talking about it —

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Rodan + Fields RodanAndFields.com

like you do with your favorite restaurant or you do with a great movie you just saw — that could be your golden-ticket business model because it will come naturally and won't feel like yucky direct sales. For me, it was fitness. At the time, I knew I needed to lose 30 pounds, and it was embarrassing to go to a gym. I started using the product, connected with a mentor, and she said, "Hey, did you know you could make some income with this?" At first, it was a part-time thing, and then I saw that it could potentially grow bigger and bigger. But it started with first using (a product) that I loved. Schell: I was looking for something else because what I was doing in the traditional corporate world wasn’t working for me. And when I was approached about this model, I knew nothing about skincare at all. When I went into it and was doing my research, though, I did it from a standpoint of: Maybe I’m not passionate about skincare, but I am passionate about helping people. Beachbody Beachbody.com

"We can be both happy and satisfied by taking the focus off ourselves and placing it on giving and investing in the lives of others." RACHEL STONE Founder, P's & Q's Etiquette FARGOINC.COM

State of the Cities 2018

Poll Results Show Workforce Front and Center By Craig Whitney | Photography by Hillary Ehlen and courtesy of the FMWF Chamber of Commerce

ast month, the Chamber once again hosted our annual State of the Cities event, which brings together our metro mayors for a discussion on our community’s past, present and future. We had a sellout crowd of 650 in attendance and lively debate hosted by KFGO's Joel Heitkamp and Xcel Energy's Mark Nisbet.

Craig Whitney is the president and CEO of the Fargo-MoorheadWest Fargo Chamber of Commerce.

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event, in my opinion, are the live polls (See Figures 1.A and 1.B)

It’s always a pleasure to host this forum because it gives our members and the community the opportunity to hear directly from their elected officials and voice their own opinions through live polling and Q&A.

We’ve conducted live polls at this event for the past five years, so we are now seeing trends in responses. We've asked that first question (Figure 1.A) every year. Interestingly, in 2014, the majority (nearly 60 percent) said that flood protection was the most important issue, followed by workforce at nearly 20 percent. By the next year, it flip-flopped and the gap closed, and we saw 40 percent say workforce was the top priority, followed by flood protection. Those results held for 2016, too.

One of the most interesting parts of the

By 2017, we once again saw a slight

In January, the FMWF Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual State of the Cities, which brings together the mayors from the Fargo metro for a discussion on our community’s past, present and future.

shift, and nearly 40 percent voted flood protection first, with more than 30 percent weighing in on workforce. Considering this year’s results, it’s hard to pinpoint why our members value workforce

Figure 1.A

Figure 1.B

higher again. It could be because talks about the Diversion have quieted, but woes about our workforce feel front and center. Regardless of how exactly the votes fall, I am pleased to see the top two issues consistently fall in line with our own public policy priorities. Looking at the results of question two (Figure 1.B), I can’t help but note the overwhelming support of our current tax policies that are in effect to attract new businesses to our community. In the case of Downtown Fargo, clearly, the incentives have contributed a great deal. I think it’s safe to say that these are great tools for businesses to use for growth and success. Of course, we were also thrilled to hear updates from each metro mayor regarding the successes, priorities and challenges in their cities. For a full recap, please visit the Chamber's blog (FMWFChamber.com/Blog) for our full notes and links to more photos and video from the event.

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FMWF Chamber of Commerce FMWFChamber.com 202 1st Ave. N, Moorhead, MN 218-233-1100

FARGOINC.COM

1 MILLION CUPS FARGO RECAP

Patrick Dixon @patrick_dixon

JANUARY 2018

January 10 1 Million Cups Fargo Turns 4

If you can't make it to 1 Million Cups Fargo every week, don't fret. We'll be bringing you a monthly recap of the most recent speakers and presentations. We'll also include some of the best photos and socialmedia questions from each event, as well as pertinent speaker and company info for if you're interested in learning more.

1MCFar 1MillionCups.com/Fargo

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Speaker Eric Newell CEO, Stoneridge Software

How do you recruit new hires who may not be familiar with your product, or, how do you get ppl excited about developing bean counting apps?

Overview In 2012, Eric and Becky Newell and Cody Marshall started Microsoft Partner software firm Stoneridge Software in their hometown of Barnesville, Minnesota. In just five years, the small-town startup has gone from $100,000 to more than $16 million in revenue behind steady year-over-year growth. “We’ve been able to achieve this by setting out to make a difference in the market by consistently delivering successful business software implementations," Newell says. "What differentiates us is our process-centric implementation approach and our team’s product knowledge and tenacious nature."

StoneridgeSoftware.com

Who The vibrant entrepreneurial community of FargoMoorheadWest Fargo and Emerging Prairie

What A weekly event filled with guest speakers, tons of coffee, ideas and excellent networking opportunities

When Every Wednesday, 9:15 - 10:15 a.m.

Where The Stage at Island Park (site occasionally rotates)

How Much Free

Eric Olson

Dan Schott

January 24 Cryptocurrency Day

January 17 Speakers Alex and Nathan Guggenberger Cofounders, Jobiki Overview In August 2017, Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based brothers Alex and Nathan Guggenberger launched Jobiki, an innovative online platform for job-seekers and companies. The Jobiki team is trying to reduce the stress of job seekers while offering a glimpse into companies that want to share their benefits, environment and culture with the world. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Just like many fourth graders want to be in a class with a teacher that has a 64-crayon box set, personal whiteboards, balance balls and fun classmates," Alex Guggenberger explains, "many adults want to work at a company that has unlimited vacation, catered lunch, a matching 401(k) plan and that allows them to bike to work. Jobiki helps people find that company."

Speakers Eric Olson FM Open Source Economy Dan Schott ND Blockchain Group Overview Dan Schott is a long-time bitcoin enthusiast. Schott brought the first bitcoin ATMs to Grand Forks, North Dakota, and has been working on bitcoin initiatives for years. He is also the organizer of the North Dakota Blockchain Group meetup. Eric Olson is a member of the FM Open Source Economy meetup.

Meetup.com/FM-Open-Source-Economy

Meetup.com/NDBlockChain

Jobiki.com

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TechSpark, Microsoft's New Civic Program, Kicks off in Fargo By ETHAN MICKELSON Photography by HILLARY EHLEN and courtesy of Dennis Krull

FARGOINC.COM

Looking at Fargo's Future With one of the largest Microsoft campuses in the country and a burgeoning startup community, the Fargo area was named as the first of six regions where the program is set to take root. TechSpark’s official launch took place in October at Downtown Fargo's Sanctuary Events Center, with future regions to include Northeast Wisconsin, Virginia, Texas, Wyoming and Washington State. Lending a bionic hand in the form of resources and technological prowess, TechSpark will be headed up by a manager in each region. Homegrown North Dakotan Taya Spelhaug was named

manager of the North Dakota region based in Fargo. “Having North Dakota as one of the six regions is really fantastic. It is a huge opportunity for our state,” Spelhaug says. “They could have chosen any state, but they really like North Dakota — Fargo in particular — and we’re the only one out of the six that have an official site so far.” Working with a recently assembled team in Fargo, Spelhaug coordinates initiatives in the area and brings them back to the Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, to determine where technology might benefit a business or industry.

Meet Taya Spelhaug Manager of Microsoft’s TechSpark, North Dakota

EDUCATION • M.Ed in Counseling • B.S. in Psychology from NDSU PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE • Resource Development Manager for United Way of Cass-Clay • Training Accounts Executive for trainND • Director of Student Success and Career Services for NDSCS • Retention Coordinator for NDSCS

“I’m a North Dakota farm girl, grew up in Kindred and went to NDSU, did my undergrad in psychology and my Master’s is in mental health counseling so I’m not a techie by any means. After that, I was in higher education for about 10 years, most recently with North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) working with retention and students as well as career services and workforce development.

Taya Spelhaug works with one of more than 400 Kindred Elementary students during their "Hour of Code" event put on by Microsoft's TechSpark. 72

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“That gave me a lot of insight into North Dakota in general and the workforce temperature, and then I also worked with businesses on their training needs, figuring out what’s going to take their employees to the next level. After that, I worked for United Way, so that gave me an understanding of the nonprofit side.”

"What kinds of digital transformation can we spark?"

Proactive Progress TechSpark includes five program areas where Microsoft intends to utilize technology to solve problems. Some of the intended outcomes of the program include: increased computer-science education opportunities in schools, career pathways, support for nonprofits, and providing broadband connections to rural communities. “It’s this weird model because usually if you have a pain-point in your business, you figure out what that point is, and then go out and find resources or people to fix it,” Spelhaug says. “Whereas, we’re coming to you and asking, 'What is your painpoint and how can we fix it?' So they’re having to sit down and think big about what is really going to drive change. And it could be systematic change, too. It doesn’t have to be a single business.”

Connecting Microsoft to Fargo and rural North Dakota, the program looks at how local companies can drive digital transformation across the economy. One such sector that has experienced this transformation is agriculture. While the details of TechSpark's first digital transformation investment are yet to be determined, the foundation of the program is built upon innovations already established by Microsoft in the marketplace. “Microsoft is doing big things with digital transformation," Spelhaug says. "You look at either coast, and that’s where digital transformation is happening. You look at rural America, and it’s not as quick. We’re early-adopters here, but we still kind of have this lag time. So this is Microsoft saying, 'Let’s get rural America up-to-speed, and what types of digital transformation can we spark?'”

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Efficiency In Action One such transformation that TechSpark will use as a model for future initiatives is the case of Land O'Lakes, which implemented software to track their product directly from the source and improved efficiency thanks to Microsoft technology. While many revolutions of industry in the past have left people jobless and techniques obsolete — such as the transition from horse-drawn transportation to automobiles — TechSpark attempts to facilitate that change not only by implementing technology but also by preparing people for the jobs of the future. “That’s the best part of this position," Spelhaug says. "It’s not Microsoft coming in and saying, 'What is going to benefit us?' It’s: what is going to benefit this area? It might have residual benefits for Microsoft down the road, but how does it help economic development right now?” One way TechSpark plans to brace for a technologic shift in the economy is by educating the workforce of the future and closing the computer science education gap in rural states like North Dakota. However, finding teachers to instruct these classes is no simple task. Programs such as Microsoft's Technology Education and

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Literacy in Schools (TEALS) attempts to circumvent that problem. “There’s a huge lack of people who can teach these courses," Spelhaug says. "So what TEALS does is helps supplement that lack of educators by pairing a technology person who understands the courses with a teacher at a school, whether it’s a math, history, even an English teacher, someone who volunteers and says they want to teach these classes. They already understand how to teach; they’re just getting that technology piece." Founded in 2009, TEALS is in nearly 350 schools around the country, with nearly 1,100 volunteers from 500 companies teaching more than 12,000 students. Microsoft is also attempting to engage students with technology in local organizations such as 4-H, America’s largest youth development organization, and global movements such as Hour of Code. Packed into the Kindred Elementary gymnasium, over 450 kids from K-12 and their corresponding computers made a mark nationally during their Hour of Code event. Led by Spelhaug and a handful of Microsoft volunteers, each student experimented with coding through a tutorial for

TechSpark's digital skills and computer science education initiative is partnering with 4-H to reach students around the state. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks with the Kindred chapter members during Hour of Code.

designing Minecraft. The Kindred school was the largest of all the Hour of Code events happening at that time in the country. To solidify the priority put on student experiences like this one, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum took the stage to give a little insight into the possibility of careers in technology. A program 10 months in the making, TechSpark is just beginning to pick up speed. With a focus on technology, the comprehensive program has potential to impact how people access, learn about, engage with and attain jobs in the burgeoning field.

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Microsoft TechSpark News.Microsoft.com/TechSpark

"Parents who know their children are well cared for, safe and in a solid learning environment are able to perform better and give their full focus to their job while they're at work." ERIN PROCHNOW Executive Director, YWCA Cass Clay FARGOINC.COM

10 Things You Should Know About

KINETIC LEASING In 2018, Kinetic Leasing will hit $1 billion of new equipment financed in company history. The Fargo-based business, which was founded nearly 20 years ago and does business is 46 states, is a general-equipment financing company that finances everything from farm and construction equipment to golf carts to the electronic scoreboard of the Texas Rangers.

By SAM HERDER Photos by HILLARY EHLEN 76

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The Process

It's a three-way circle between Kinetic Leasing, the vendor/dealer and the customer. The customer selects the equipment they want, and Kinetic works with them and the vendor/dealer to structure a deal and put the transaction together. When the customer is ready, Kinetic buys the equipment from the vendor/dealer and then works solely with the customer on the payment.

Anthony Houkom (left) and Al Hintz are the Senior Vice President and President of Kinetic Leasing in Fargo.

1. Select Your Equipment 2. Complete A Simple Application It’s free, and you are under no obligation. 3. Speak with a Consultant A Kinetic Leasing consultant will contact you to discuss your equipment financing options and will answer any questions you may have. 4. Receive Your Credit Approval 5. Send Kinetic Leasing the Seller’s Invoice 6. Sign the Finance Agreement 7. Receive Your Equipment Upon acceptance of the financing agreement, Kinetic Leasing issues payment to the vendor. They’ll ship the equipment to you or you can pick it up. Once the equipment is in your possession, your contract with Kinetic Leasing begins. 8. Pay Your Invoices 9. Pay Off Your Contract

Type of Equipment Leased Manufacturing 4% Construction 30% Agriculture 7%

Other 14%

Office/Computers 5%

Real Estate 18%

Transportation 22% FARGOINC.COM

$5,000 - $5,000,000

Things to Know About Kinetic Leasing

Houkum: "There are certain leasing companies that don't want to deal with small transactions. We've set up different departments that handle $5,000 transactions and other ones that are bigger. We do a wide range. No request is left unturned."

Fast Approvals Hintz: "It's purely credit-based. If your credit score is 802 and you're in business for three to five years, you're approved. It's that fast."

100% financing

4 A, B and C Credits Accepted

Nationwide

Houkum: "That's a variation of credit quality that is done in the market. Some people are just C lenders. A lot of businesses are A lenders. We set up pricing programs where we do the wide spectrum, mitigating our risk. But we do anything from C to A credit."

Currently do business in 46 states

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Kinetic Leasing KineticLease.com 2575 41st. S #1, Fargo, ND 701-476-0221

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Houkum: "No money down. Traditional bank financing requires 25 percent down. Financing gives the option of keeping that capital for operations or anything else, so you don't need to put that money down."

Traction Implementers

Hintz: "About three years ago, we started using 'Traction.' It really comes back to the right people in the right place doing the right thing. Interestingly, over the last few years, we've focused on that and had our peers evaluate each other. We've had people leave us because they were not the right people in the right place doing the right thing. Today, we have the best environment."

New and Used Equipment of All Types

Hintz: "We're generalists that do all types of equipment. For example, John Deere Credit does John Deere equipment. We don't tie ourselves to any type of equipment. We'll do medical, computers, tractors, combines, ambulances, buses, whatever. We work with any type of customer."

Flexible Payment Structures

Hintz: "Maybe every six months, you have a lot of money, and you want to make a $30,000 payment, and then other months you make a $5,000 payment. A bank would say, 'We don't know how to put that payment schedule in our system.' We are flexible when bigger organizations can't do that."

Application-Only Financing up to $250,000

Houkum: "That's part of the fast approvals part. It's basically: credit score, time and business, and number of employees. It's pretty simple. There's just an application to fill out, and we'll pull the reports. It can be a couple, three hours."

8 Top 100 Equipment Financing Company in the U.S.

B L O G

The Startup Journey By Heidi Moore Photo courtesy of "The Startup Journey" blog

The Importance of Developing Buyer Personas And How to Do It This article is for Susie ...

Heidi Moore is a contributor to "The Startup Journey" blog.

FEBRUARY 2018

... Susie is short for Susie Startup, and we know that although Susie is wise and knowledgeable, Susie is in the early stages of her path as an entrepreneur. She is seeking out basic information, tips and tricks about the essential parts of becoming a successful self-starter.

Susie is curious about starting a blog for her business. She’s looking for helpful advice that is easy to understand and lays out the fundamentals for budding entrepreneurs. Susie has an ample amount of time to read content — as she is still in her researching phase — but is likely to be drawn toward content that is formatted in a way that is

pleasing to the eye and says, “Hey, I’m easy to read and here to help you. Don’t fret.”

and development can take hours, days, sometimes even weeks to complete.

Thankfully, we at "The Startup Journey" know all of Susie’s wants and needs, so writing a blog post like this will be a piece of cake. We have developed a persona for Susie since she is one of our ideal customers. That means that when we sit down to write a piece of content, we can cater our tone, language and subject matter to exactly what Susie will want to read.

The return on investment, however, from this process clearly proves its worth.

Why Susie (and Other Personas) Are So Important

As online content and the ability to access it grows, it becomes increasingly important for companies to target their content toward their specific market. No longer can they write aimlessly and hope it ends up in front of the right people.

Specifying personas for your ideal audience yields invaluable benefits for your company, starting with time and cost savings and ending with increased traffic and sales. The biggest reason companies may choose to forgo the development of buyer personas is the upfront cost. Depending on the size of your business and the demographics of your target market, persona research

Writing a blog and social content to a developed persona cuts down on time and cost, and it allows writers to shorten the editing process because they directed voice, subject matter and other details toward the correct audience the first time around.

If a reader doesn’t feel connected with your content, they’ll have no trouble finding a relatable piece somewhere else. A simple way to intentionally and correctly direct your content? Knowing exactly who you’re writing to.

If a reader doesn’t feel connected with your content, they’ll have no trouble finding a relatable piece somewhere else.

As you move through the writing process, evaluating the appeal and impact of your content will become exponentially easier as you refer to a specified target reader.

So How Do I Create Personas for My Target Audience? The easiest way to create personas for your ideal customers is to begin by broadly describing them and then narrowing down each one as specifically as possible. At "The Startup Journey," our content is mainly meant for entrepreneurs and people in the startup space. Breaking that down further, we want to cater to a few different, more-specific types of people. We have Susie Startup, Wally the Wantrepreneur and several others. Each of the personas we have created represents a different type of customer we want to attract who still falls under that “entrepreneur” umbrella. In order to attract them, we have analyzed details such as: ӽӽ Who they are ӽӽ How they think ӽӽ Where they are ӽӽ What they want from us

Here’s a layout of some of the most important characteristics to identify in each persona you develop: Name Job Title ӽӽ What do they do in their role? Industry ӽӽ What's the mission of the industry? ӽӽ What's the size of their company? Demographics ӽӽ Age? ӽӽ Gender? ӽӽ Geographic location? ӽӽ Household income? ӽӽ Education? Goals and Challenges ӽӽ Main goals? ӽӽ Secondary goals? ӽӽ Main challenges? ӽӽ Secondary challenges? Values ӽӽ Professional values? ӽӽ Personal values? Other information ӽӽ Hobbies? ӽӽ How do they read content? ӽӽ How much time do they spend online? These characteristics are a solid starting point for most personas you may create, although some additional aspects may be important to add depending on what industry you’re in or what goals you have for your content.

FEBRUARY 2018

To gather the information needed to develop these personas, there are a few different sources you can turn to: Source No. 1 Customer interviews and conversations can be extremely helpful. By digging into the goals, values, and pain points of your customers, you’ll be able to easily determine what kind of content they want to read and how to write it to them. Source No. 2 Using tools such as Google Analytics and Facebook Insights can show you who is already surfing your page and provide some information about them. Source No. 3 If you don’t have an established website or Facebook page for your business, analyzing the traffic on your competitor’s pages can be useful. Dig around to see who is interacting with their posts and commenting on their content. Understanding your competitors’ customers can help you gain an understanding of your own. It may even help give you a competitive edge in your writing by knowing the way these people are reacting to content similar to yours.

Now What? You’ve gathered information and developed personas for each of your target audience members. Now what? It’s time to begin writing content. Step into the shoes of one of your created personas to understand what topics and information are relevant and interesting enough to be published on your site. As you move through the writing process, evaluating the appeal and impact of your content will become exponentially easier as you refer to a specified target reader. Don’t be afraid to edit, tweak and add to your personas as you learn more about each of them. Content creation will continue to become easier as you get to know your audience better, and your audience will, in turn, connect with your content and your brand more closely.

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"The Startup Journey": A Blog Codelation.com/Blog

FARGOINC.COM

IThank... WANT TO

Local professionals pen thank you notes to an influential person or organization that's impacted them.

... MARK HEMPEL,

our president. He's taken what (Cofounder) Ryan Raguse and I built from 2011 - 2014 to the next level. Our team is incredible. Our work is some of the best in the industry. And our customers are happy. Jake Joraanstad Cofounder & CEO Myriad Mobile

... DON SHILLING,

my father, for his continued guidance and years of knowledge and experience he continues to pass along to me.

... NORTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE,

for having programs like Innovate ND. And special credit to Paul Teff for always keeping it real. The man influenced me way back in 1992 when he taught at West Fargo High School, and he is a great mentor today in his role as program director for Innovate ND. Tiffanie Honeyman CEO OpGo Marketing

Jon Shilling President & CEO General Equipment & Supplies

FARGOINC.COM

... JIM ROERS

has truly been an inspiration to me and is the epitome of a leader. He challenged me to connect with people and showed me the importance of community involvement and giving back. Brianne Hoffman Communication Specialist Bobcat

... JON BOGENREIF.

The success I've had in my career is due in no small part to his support and encouragement. I appreciate him so much and value everything that I have had the opportunity to learn from him. Elisha Beck Risk Management Advisor Noridian Mutual Insurance

FEBRUARY 2018

... LOUIE JOHNSON,

the one who believed in me, the one who took time out of his busy day just to talk with me, and the one who assured me that starting TrinSPIN was the right thing to do. His last words to me were, "You got this." Louie, your picture â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with those words on it â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sits on my desk as a daily reminder that I do "got this." Trinity Schaff President TrinSPIN

... MARIA BOSAK,

owner of Eco Chic Boutique. I will always refer to her as a mentor and a friend. This woman has met with me numerous times when I wanted to give up. She has encouraged me to grow, never stop working and be passionate about whatever the heck it is I'm doing. She also showed me it's good to be genuine, even when you are notoriously sarcastic and love dry humor, like me. Casey Steele Co-Owner Square One Kitchens

... THE FARGO VA.

This one is a double-edged sword. It isn't a secret I deal with PTSD from my military time, and (they're) the one organization that has helped me the most. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the counseling, care and benefits I receive from them.

Jani Skala Founder Fargo Fashion Week

FARGOINC.COM

TechT PS

w/ Giga-Green Technologies

WORKLOADS to Move to the Cloud Today

We receive all types questions about which cloud technologies are the most reliable and product-ready. This quickly leads to discussions about which IT workloads should remain on-premises and which should be shifted to the cloud and why. Hopefully, by sharing these trends and common concerns we have seen, we can increase the productivity and reliability of your company's IT environment.

Email By William Galvin Photography by Hillary Ehlen

William Galvin is the owner of GigaGreen Technologies, an independent IT consultancy in Fargo specializing in managed services, enterprise consulting and web development.

FEBRUARY 2018

By far, our most common data migration is email solutions. Whether it be from an on-premises email server or from one hosted email provider to another (e.g., Gmail to Office 365), we spend a lot of time moving electronic mail to the cloud. We've found Exchange Online to be the most reliable of email services, along with the affordability and scalability to handle an office of five users up to an enterprise of 5,000 users. What makes Exchange Online more attractive over its similar competitors such as Gmail, Rackspace, or 1&1? Besides offering built-in spam protection and the most email storage space, Exchange Online supports encryption and countless other features that the other

platforms simply lack. eDiscovery and message-auditing allow you to find emails across your organization with ease instead of having to search everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s individual mailbox for an email that may no longer be there. You can even set up legal retention holds on mailboxes so that no information can ever be truly destroyed or hidden.

ProTIP

You may already be in Office 365/Exchange Online if you are purchasing from certain resellers such as GoDaddy or Rackspace. Note that these are not full-blown Microsoft Office 365 environments and require a migration off of them to utilize the rest of the Office 365 feature set.

Servers

Things stay the same with two major differences:

Do you have a bunch of files that everyone uses on a server that is running low on space? Everyone does. It's only a matter of time before you run out of physical drive space for your userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s files and folders. Even the best data-archiving policies still need a place to store the data.

1. Near-infinite storage limits and access to data without a VPN to the file server You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t truly go infinite with your storage because you will pay for what you consume, but you can take advantage of just paying for what you need with the ability to increase at any given moment.

This is where moving your raw files to the cloud has an advantage. Using SharePoint Online or Azure File Storage allows you to map network drives to your file server just like you have your users doing today.

2. No more purging user profiles or worrying about a drive locking up because someone copied a video library to it

Cloud Backups Even more important than moving your email to the cloud, you want to move your backup data to the cloud. Why? Because the cloud replicates your data over multiple locations, giving you duplicate copies of your information that is readily accessible even in the worst disaster scenarios.

All in all, the cloud has seen tremendous strides in the last few years in reliability, utility and everyday usability. If you've ever found yourself with an on-premises or cloudlimitation roadblock in the past, I urge you to revisit the issue and see if a cloud solution is a better fit for your organization.

If you are still running on backup drives or tapes, your data is greatly at risk. These do not protect you from many common scenarios such as fire or flooding that can cripple an organization. When your data is securely dispersed across multiple geographically located cloud data centers, you have achieved the highest level of data redundancy required by most organizational compliances such as HIPAA and LCCA.

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Giga-Green Technologies Giga-Green.com FARGOINC.COM

FEBRUARY

CALENDAR

BUSINESS EVENTS

2018

FEBRUARY 2018

FEBRUARY 6 The Lowdown on the Diversion FEBRUARY 1 HERE Career Expo 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Mark your calendars! Lee Hecht Harrison is hosting a complimentary career expo for former HERE professionals in job transition, and your company is invited to participate. This event will provide an excellent forum for your company to meet and network with HERE professionals receiving active placement services from Lee Hecht Harrison. For more information, please email Bart.Nichols@LHH.com. EmergingPrairie.com/Events 1715 Gold Drive, Fargo

7:30 - 9 a.m.

You've heard talk of the F-M Diversion on the radio and read about it online; now, hear updates firsthand from the individuals most closely involved in the efforts. This large-scale project has had ups and downs since talks of it first surfaced as a solution to permanent flood protection in the metro. From feasibility studies and funding setbacks to taskforces and permits, where does the project currently stand? At this event, we’ll be joined by Tim Mahoney, mayor of Fargo, and Del Rae Williams, mayor of Moorhead, for an update. Both have will the latest scoop as outgoing and incoming chairs of the Diversion Authority, respectively. A panel of experts will also join us to share their perspectives into the past, present and future of our region's flood protection. Registration (includes breakfast) Chamber Members • $30 in advance • $35 at the door Non-Members • $40 in advance • $45 at the door FMWFChamber.com Courtyard by Marriott Fargo-Moorhead 1080 28th Ave. S, Moorhead

FEBRUARY 7 TV Timeout 6:30 p.m.

It's back! Join the American Advertising Federation of North Dakota for a playby-play critique of the best and worst commercials showcased during football’s biggest game of the year. It's one of the most talked about annual advertising events in the industry, and they're making an evening out of it! Join them as they watch advertising's best 30-second touchdowns and fumbles and ask a team of local experts to discuss, critique and debate. AAF-ND.org/Events Sanctuary Events Center 670 4th Ave. N, Fargo

Tim Mahoney Del Rae Williams

FEBRUARY 7, 14, 21, 28

FEBRUARY 6-7 NDSU Career Expo

Day 1 (February 6): Agriculture, Business, Humanities and Social Sciences 1-4 p.m.

op/internship opportunities. Last year, more than 300 employers and 1,500 students and alumni attended the event.

Day 2 (February 7): Engineering, Design, Science and Technology 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

NDSU alumni and students from area fouryear universities are invited to attend the event. The fair is not open to the general public or third-party recruiters.

The Career Expo provides an excellent opportunity to connect with students to discuss or interview for current and/or future career-related employment and co-

Fargodome.com/Event-Calendar FargoDome 1800 N. University Drive, Fargo

FEBRUARY 8 Business After Hours Business After Hours continues to set records as the region’s largest networking event. Booth space is often sold out, and attendees can connect with their peers and exhibitors ranging from cell phone companies to financial institutions and more. Join for a great time over apps, networking and fun! For additional information, please contact Bobbi Jo Rehder at BRehder@FMWFChamber.com. Cost (includes appetizer and two drink tickets) • $25 if you register prior to midnight the Monday before • $35 all registrations received after that time and at the door FMWFChamber.com Hilton Garden Inn Fargo 4351 17th Ave. S, Fargo

1 Million Cups Fargo 9:15-10:15 a.m.

Every Wednesday, join the vibrant entrepreneurial community of FargoMoorhead-West Fargo and Emerging Prairie by participating in an event filled with guest speakers, tons of coffee, ideas and excellent networking opportunities. Event is free. 1MillionCups.com/Fargo The Stage at Island Park 333 4th St. S, Fargo

FEBRUARY 14 Uncovering Leadership Blind Spots and Discovering the Pathway to Motivating Your Employees 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

We’ve all had great leaders whom we've respected and wanted to do our best work for, and then we’ve had not-sogreat leaders who lacked what it takes to motivate us to do our best. Here, Dale Carnegie's Tamara Anderson will provide a broad perspective on leadership characteristics that motivate people to do their best work and stay with their employer. Backed by groundbreaking research, participants will discover potential blind spots for how employees across cultures prioritize the importance of various leadership characteristics. This training qualifies for 2 CPE credits for the ND CPA Society.

Registration (includes lunch) Chamber Members • $30 in advance • $35 at the door Non-Members • $40 in advance • $45 at the door FMWFChamber.com Courtyard by Marriott 1080 28th Ave. S, Moorhead

Tamara Anderson

FARGOINC.COM

FEBRUARY 20 Economic Outlook Forum Noon - 1:30 p.m.

FEBRUARY 16 Downtown Development Announcement and Social 3-5 p.m.

This year, the Chamber welcomes national economist Stephen Moore for the keynote address. Starion Bank’s Scott Green will also present on the results of an economic survey from Chamber members for a look at our local outlook and trends. The annual Economic Outlook Forum offers a glimpse of the various factors affecting the regional economy: energy exploration, workforce availability, technology, entrepreneurism and health care. Stephen Moore

The Moorhead Downtown Development group will be updating the community on progress that has been made and share exciting news about the future of Downtown Moorhead. MhdMBA.org Rourke Art Gallery 521 Main Ave., Moorhead

FEBRUARY 20 - APRIL 17

Registration (includes lunch) Chamber Members • $35 in advance • $40 at the door Non-Members • $45 in advance • $50 at the door Corporate Table Sponsorship (table of eight) • $650 FMWFChamber.com Delta by Marriott 1635 42nd St. S, Fargo

Scott Green

CO.STARTERS Winter Course 6-9 p.m.

CO.STARTERS is a nine-week businessdevelopment program that helps aspiring entrepreneurs put ideas into action and turn a passion into a sustainable and thriving small business. Participants will be accepted on a rolling application basis for their next cohort, which will start on February 20 and continue weekly for nine weeks.

The total course fee for the CO.STARTERS General Session is $500, which includes: • Course materials • Professional course facilitator with office hours to address your businessdevelopment needs • Access to a list of members of the business community who are ready to meet with students • Small-business resources • Discounted membership at the Prairie Den coworking space during the course. Folkways.co/Costarters Prairie Den 122 1/2 N. Broadway, Fargo

FEBRUARY 2018

FEBRUARY 21 The Role of CEO, aka "The Link" 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

This luncheon is intended for all FargoMoorhead area CEOs, presidents, business owners and executives. The CEO alone experiences the meaningful outside at an enterprise level and is responsible for understanding it, interpreting it, advocating for it, and presenting it so that the company can respond in a way that enables sustainable sales, profit and total growth. It’s a job that only CEOs can do because everybody else in the organization is focused much more narrowly and, for the most part, in one direction. The CEO can see opportunities that others don’t see and, as the one person whose boss isn’t another company employee, make the judgments and the tough calls others are unable to make.

the100 Member Panelists Robin Nelson CEO, Boys and Girls Club of the Red River Valley Rachael Boyer CEO, The Coatings Authority Dave Ekman President, Bridge Hospitality The100.online Avalon Events Center 2525 9th Ave. S, Fargo

Rachael Boyer

David Ekman

Robin Nelson

FEBRUARY 23 ADDY Awards The American Advertising Federation's annual American Advertising Awards (ADDYs) program honors excellence in advertising and cultivates the highest creative standards. It is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry. Each year, AAF members across the country enter more than 40,000 samples of their best work, which makes the ADDYs the world’s largest advertising competition.

AAF-ND Gold winners proceed to the 8th District competition. District gold winners go on to the national finals. AAF-ND.org/Addy-Awards

FEBRUARY 27

DOWN THE ROAD

Finding Your Voice in the World Life comes in cycles with ups and downs, highs and lows. Our life experiences affect how we carry ourselves and interact with others. Really, our life experiences impact everything we do. The response is in your hands. After all, the only thing we can control is ourselves and not the external world. Author Laetitia Mizero Hellerud will share her life journey and how she overcame adversity in many ways. From learning to adapt in new countries multiple times as her family fled her native war-torn country of Burundi to reclaiming herself after a painful divorce, losing her employment, and more, she will candidly talk about finding her voice in the midst of chaos and life’s hardships. Mizero Hellerud hopes to inspire you to find your own voice regardless of your life circumstances. Registration Chamber Members • $25 in advance • $30 at the door

Business After Hours April 19

ChamberChoice Awards Luncheon May 11

Drone Focus May 30-31

MONTHLY BUSINESS MEETUPS* More information for most meetups can be found at Meetup.com.

• Bitcoin Meetup • Cass-Clay Subcontractor Sales

Non-Members • $35 in advance • $40 at the door

& Marketing Meetup

DoubleTree by Hilton & West Fargo Conference Center 825 East Beaton Drive, West Fargo Laetitia Mizero

• Geek Meet FM • Girl Develop It • Fargo 3D Printing Meetup • Fargo Cashflow Game Night • Fargo Entrepreneurship Meetup • Fargo Virtual Reality Meetup • Fargo-Moorhead Content Strategy

FEBRUARY 28 Prairie Capital Summit 1-5 p.m.

This event is designed to connect investors, founders and ecosystem-builders as you learn about building businesses in our region. The day will feature keynote presentations from experienced founders and investors, breakout sessions and rapid pitch sessions for new founders and ecosystem builders to share ideas and resources. Register at EventBrite.com. EmergingPrairie.com/Prairie-CapitalSummit The Stage at Island Park 333 4th St S, Fargo

• The Fargo-Moorhead Real Estate Investing Meetup

• Master Networks – Fargo Business Referral Group

• Mobile Meetup Fargo • Moorhead Entrepreneurship Meetup

• Prairie Dawg Drupal • Red River Valley Big Data –

Midwest Big Data Hub Meetup

• Stampede: A Meetup for the

Young, Determined & Restless

• YMCA Brighter Futures