Thinking Bigger Business—May 2018

VOL. 27 // ISSUE 5 // MAY 2018

GROWING

BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS

Trying new things led Leap Hospitality to profitable verticals.

NORTH KANSAS CITY Unique Small Businesses Create a Destination

LETTING GO » iThinkBigger.com

Founders Discuss Handing Off the Mantle of CEO

NOW BIGGER AND BETTER!

Amazing projects deserve amazing partnerships.

Building a diverse team of suppliers from local businesses creates success. By coming together, your company, your projects and our shared community will benefit. Learn more about our mission of inclusion by visiting burnsmcd.com/SucceedTogether.

Offices Worldwide

CONTENTS

MAY 2018 VOL. 27 // ISSUE 5

IN FOCUS

44 North Kansas City A variety of unique small businesses has created a destination.

D E PA R T M E N T S

07 The Bigger Picture 08 Legislative Briefs 09 Biz Bits 11 BIG | deals 14 25 Under 25 ® Updates 50 BIG | shots

F E AT U R E

32 Passing the Baton

Local CEOs share how they knew it was time to let someone else take the reins at the companies they founded.

S M A R T S T R AT E G I E S

36 BIGGER | strategy Perks Empower Workers

38 BIGGER | hr ‘Ban the Box’ Expands in KCMO

20 | KC ENTREPRENEURS HE ON T R E V CO

40 BIGGER | law Will Your Business Live On After You?

41 BIGGER | tech

LEAP OF FAITH Entrepreneur Pat Phelan weathered the recession and

G Suite Tools Improve Communication

built Leap Hospitality into a $6 million company— and he sees room for more growth.

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THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

B IG I N F LU E NC E

| 16

B IG S TA R T S

| 16

MADE TO LAST

Senior director of recruiting Chris Wunder, sets up the bar area for a special function.

17

C O M PA N Y T O WAT C H

18

KC M A D E I T

19

ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY

Lending Standard

Walter Carmichael & Co.

Winco Fireworks

Technology streamlines complex loans.

Furniture maker takes inspiration from KC neighborhoods.

The family business has seen explosive growth.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

5

CONTENTS

MAY 2018

ON THE WEB // iTHINKBIGGER.COM Web Columnists PRODUCED BY

Visit www.iThinkBigger.com for articles full of insights and strategies from our exclusive Web columnists.

Thinking Bigger Business Media Inc. ADMINISTRATIVE

Katie Bean President and Editor

smart strateties from the bbb Technology Service Providers Can Cancel Out Cancellations

Megan Scanlon Operations and Events Manager SALES + MARKETING

Kelly Scanlon Business Development PRODUCTION & GRAPHICS

Carolyn Addington Production and Traffic Manager Kevin Fullerton Design Consultant

aspire for more

whitespace revenue zone

Shawn Kinkade

Elizabeth Usovicz

Your Business is Like a Cow

Vision or Nightmare: Three Ways to Execute Your Strategic Plan

Business Calendar

Find out about hundreds of business events, networking opportunities, classes and workshops.

Article Archives

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25 Under 25 � Awards

Learn more about the 25 Under 25® Awards Program for businesses with fewer than 25 employees. www.25Under25.com Quarterly Big Breakfast

Thursday, June 21 | Kauffman Foundation Conference Center 7:30-9:00 am | More details and tickets available at: www.ithinkbigger.com/events/big-breakfast-series

Dan Videtich Photographer CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Ruth Baum Bigus, Dawn Bormann, Tim Denker, Pete Dulin, James Hart, Julius Karash, Kate Leibsle, David Mitchell, Christy Rogers, Tom Salisbury, Hank Zerbe P.O. Box 754, Shawnee Mission, Kansas 66201-0754 (913) 432-6690 (888) 432-6444 FAX (913) 432-6676 editor@ithinkbigger.com sales@ithinkbigger.com iThinkBigger.com See our SRDS listing at www.SRDS.com FOR ARTICLE REPRINTS

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The information gathered and opinions expressed by the authors are intended to communicate information and are not necessarily the views of this publication. The intent of this publication is to provide business professionals with informative and interesting articles and news. These articles, and any opinions

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which are contingent upon the location in which the publication is sold. Standard Mail Postage Paid at Shawnee Mission, KS.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Small Business Spotlight Shines All Year Here

T

he first week of May is National

Kansas City has a thriving business

Small Business Week. The U.S.

community, and I love to discover cool

Small Business Administration

companies that are thinking bigger. An

has used this opportunity each year since

example is Winco Fireworks. The company,

1963 to shine a light on what these businesses

founded in 1979, just opened a new warehouse

do for the economy.

in Grandview; its new product, FireFly, rockets the

Here at Thinking Bigger Business, we’re not limited

industry forward into the 21st century with its combina-

showcasing small businesses for one week out of 52

tion of innovation and safety features. Read more about

each year. We do it every day.

Winco’s Entrepreneurial Journey on page 19.

Each month, we introduce you to new companies with

There are so many great small business stories to tell

the intent that you’d find at the very least an inspiring

that we may not even be able to get to them all in 52

story, if not a new business partner. There’s even

weeks—but it’s our goal to cover as many of them as

more small business news on our website and in our

we can. I invite you to reach out and tell me how your

weekly email newsletter. (Sign up on the home page at

company is thinking bigger.

iThinkBigger.com to reduce fear of missing out!)

Katie Be an

// President and Edito r // kbean@iThinkBigger.com

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

7

L E G I S L AT I V E B R I E F S

bushel immediately following the proposal.

That works out to a loss of roughly $20 per acre for U.S. soybean farmers.

Soybeans are Missouri’s top cash crop, contributing $7.7 billion in total output.

MISSOURI

LOCAL Results Mixed on Area Sales Tax Votes Several area cities had sales tax increases on the April ballot.

Voters approved the following taxes: » Kansas City, Mo.: 1 percent sales tax renewal for capital improvements » Claycomo: 1 percent sales tax for general fund purposes Several cities voted on a local use tax, or sales tax paid to the city for online purchases.

Belton, Blue Springs and Independence voted against local use taxes. Liberty and Lake Waukomis voters approved the local use tax.

PRINT

•

General Assembly Unlikely to Support Tax Reform Missouri’s General Assembly considered two bills proposing tax reform, one in the House and one in the Senate. The versions differ in rates of tax cuts and funding proposals for infrastructure. However, neither appeared to have enough support to pass before the end of the session.

Attorney Appointed to Board of Election Commissioners

Soybean Prices Affected

by Proposed Tariff Missouri soybean farmers took a hit in April after a Chinese Commerce Department proposal to nearly triple tariffs on the food product. Futures were down 40 cents per

MARKETING

•

A local attorney was named to the Jackson County Board of Election Commissioners.

Gov. Eric Greitens appointed Michael Whitehead of Lee’s Summit to the post. Whitehead practices at Whitehead Law Firm.

DESIGN

•

AlphaGraphics 1717 Oak St | Kansas City, MO 64108 | 816.842.4200 alphagraphicskc.com | us190@alphagraphics.com | /alphagraphicskc

8

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

SIGNS

BIZ BITS

LaunchKC Grant Competition Application Period Opens LaunchKC’s 2018 Global Grants Competition is open to applicants.

The competition, which began in 2015, is for entrepreneurs seeking grant funding to propel their startup. The application period will close July 11. The competition is not exclusive to Kansas Citybased entrepreneurs.

Offering a $100,000 grand prize grant and eight $50,000 grants, LaunchKC is looking to invest in scalable vertical sectors: » advanced manufacturing » animal health » cloud services » data analytics » EdTech » FinTech » health tech

» mobile » real estate technology

Applications will be narrowed to 20 finalists over the summer following an extensive review by a panel of experts. Finalists will advance to the 2018 TechWeek Kansas City conference, where the nine recipients will be named.

Located in Kansas City, Mo., LaunchKC is an economic support engine for startup businesses assisting in job creation, recruiting talent and helping companies illustrate value to potential investors.

New SBA Loan Option Offers Longer Repayment Period The U.S. Small Business Association announced a 504 loan with a 25-year debenture. This is in addition to the existing 504 loans with 10- and 20-year debentures.

The new loan maturity date is extended T:7.5” by 60 months, allowing eligible small

businesses greater management of operating costs due to lower monthly loan payments.

The 25-year debenture for a 504 loan comes after requests by small businesses, the Certified Development Company Industry (CDCs) and third-party lenders for loan terms that resemble other long-term mortgages, terms such as fixed-rates and common term-to-maturity timing.

“This increased flexibility in their loan terms will put them in a better position to manage their capital and face challenges like rising operating expenses,” said Linda McMahon, SBA administrator.

A 504 loan is offered to small businesses looking to purchase or improve land, buildings and major equipment, to facilitate the creation or retention of jobs and to support local economic development. Applicants put down at least 10 percent; the SBA provides 40 percent of the loan, while the final 50 percent is funded by private sector lenders in accordance with CDCs. continued

T:4.625”

Helping with challenges you didn’t even know you had.

When you’re busy conducting business, it’s easy to get hung up on hidden obstacles that delay your growth.

That’s why we offer solutions to help keep you successful, from streamlining your cash flow to financing options and beyond. We’re committed to handling every challenge that faces your business, and we’ll keep innovating so you can keep an eye on the big picture.

816-234-1985 commercebank.com © 2018 Commerce Bancshares, Inc.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

9

BIZ BITS

educating metro-based companies seeking greater research for their products and technology.

Digital Sandbox KC Funds 4 Missouri Companies

Business Invited to K-State Research Showcase Members of the public sector and private industry are invited to attend the Kansas State University 2018 Research Showcase at K-State’s Olathe campus from 4-6:30 p.m.

May 16.

The Research Showcase brings together K-State researchers to exhibit their broad experience and findings, technologies and facilities, emphasizing the availability of their work to potential industry partners in the metro area.

Among the 19 research topics showcased, some areas featured include bio 3D printing, environmental monitoring, neuroscience and unmanned aerial systems and vehicles.

Industry leaders in attendance will directly network with researchers, learning more about the research proficiencies at K-State’s Manhattan, Olathe and Polytechnic campuses. The event encourages the development of partnerships to advance academics and research funding, while also

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THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

Four Missouri startups are the most recent recipients of support from Digital Sandbox KC. Associated with either the Ennovation Center in Independence or the Innovation Stockyard in St. Joseph, all four companies join the ranks of entrepreneurs who can benefit from Digital Sandbox KC’s funding.

Digital Sandbox KC, a subdivision of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Innovation Center, offers startup companies funding for early-stage commercialization, resources in technology and access to business and marketing experts.

Go Natural English and K12 Perform both received business services through the nonprofit Ennovation Center in Independence prior to the funding from Digital Sandbox KC. DocuLock and WHETStone Devices got started at the St. Joseph Innovation Stockyard business incubator, located on the campus of Missouri Western State University.

Report Measures Impact of KC’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem KCSourceLink’s fifth annual state of entrepreneurship report, called We Create KC, was released in April.

“We believe that what gets measured gets prioritized,” said Maria Meyers, founder of KCSourceLink and executive director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Innovation Center.

Some of the measured outcomes include: » $540 million in startup investment in 2017 » 290 percent increase in access to capital over the past five years » an average of 16,376 jobs created annually

by Kansas City first-time employers » 9,425 connections made through KCSourceLink via hotline and email

1MC Organizer Attends International Conference Kyle Smith, a current organizer of 1 Million Cups Kansas City and communications coordinator at KCSourceLink, attended the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Istanbul in April.

As an attendee, Smith’s role was to be mentor of Startup Huddle, a new program developed by the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) that supports entrepreneurs around the world through education, engagement and networking. Smith compared it to a global version of 1 Million Cups.

The GEC is an annual gathering of startup professionals and international leaders who together, drive innovative ideas, support economic growth and improve human welfare.

Smith will share his GEC experience with 1 Million Cups Kansas City in November as part of Global Entrepreneur Week.

BIG | deals

AWARDS & RECOGNITION Lenexa Firm Named as No. 1 Wind Developer in U.S. Tradewind Energy Inc., a Lenexa-based wind farm developer, recently was named as the 2017 No. 1 utility-scale wind developer by the American Wind Energy Association.

The company’s output was 1,247 megawatts out of more than 7,000 MW developed by all utility-scale wind projects in the U.S. That accounts for nearly 18 percent of all wind-generated power in 2017.

In 2018, Tradewind will begin construction on 1,130 MW of wind and 150 MW of solar projects. Currently, the company has more than 10,000 MW of wind projects in development and more than 5,200 MW of solar projects in development. The projects span 26 states.

WBE Company Earns ‘Most Valuable’ Award from Royals Access Records Management was honored by the Kansas City Royals with the 2018 Jackie Robinson Most Valuable Diverse Business Partner Award.

The award is given annually by each Major League Baseball club to a minority- or womanowned organization whose work reflects Robinson’s legacy.

The company, a WBE, is led by CEO Stacie Smith.

Overland Park CPA Receives EW Honor Jené Hong was selected as a 2018 Enterprising Woman of the Year Champion Award.

Hong is owner of Health Wealth Inc. and a principal and CPA with O’Keeffe & O’Malley Inc., both in Overland Park.

The Champion category of the EW Award comprises businesses of all revenue levels.

KC Chamber Announces 2018 Top 10 Small Busineses Ten area small businesses have been selected from a pool of 75 applicants as the cream of the crop in Kansas City.

The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce announced its 2018 Top 10

Small Businesses on April 11. The 10 finalists will participate in a panel discussion and are in the running for some of the chamber’s top awards: Small Business of the Year, known as the Mr. K Award; Diverse Small Business Award; Legacy of KC Award; Entrepreneur Award; and International Small Business Award.

These are the 2018 Top 10 Small Businesses: » » » » » »

Blue Nile Contractors Charlie Hustle International Express Trucking Lead Bank Orbis Biosciences Pro Athlete

EXPANSION Architecture Firm Designs New Hybrid OR Shawnee Mission Medical Center already is seeing the efficiency of its new hybrid operating room, a multidisciplinary space that allows for specialty physicians and nurses to treat patients in one location.

Working with local health care architecture firm Pulse Design, SMMC renovated a 3,550-square-foot clinical area into this state-of-the-art operating room.

Lenexa-based Pulse Design has designed many hybrid operating room projects, but SMMC was a defining project for Principal

» Royal Services » SwimZip » Veracity » Wellington

Two upcoming events will allow the community to get to know the Top 10 Small Businesses.

The Top 10 Small Businesses will participate in a panel discussion, Top 10 Think Tank: Small Business Best Practices Breakfast, from 7:30-9 a.m. May 3 at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center.

The Small Business Celebration Awards, where the Mr. K Award will be presented, will be from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. May 24 at the Kansas City Downtown Marriott.

The group includes 25 Under 25 Award alumni: International Express Trucking (Class of 2017), Orbis Biosciences (Class of 2012), Veracity (Class of 2011) and Wellington (Class of 2011).

Rick Embers and his team.

“This was definitely the largest and most complex (project) and provides the most flexibility for the client of any of the hybrid ORs that we’ve done,” Embers said.

Pulse Design deployed its virtual reality technology in the planning phase. The VR allowed physicians and staff who would be working in operating rooms on different continued SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

11

BIG | deals

procedures to set up each of those procedures under the virtual reality to make sure everything was moving as it should.

Pulse Design worked with another local firm, United Excel, for general contracting.

Hearing Care Provider Expands in Midwest As of April 1, American Hearing & Audiology has taken over operation of five Connect Hearing locations across Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. The acquisition positions American Hearing & Audiology as the largest provider of hearing aid and hearing care services in the Kansas City metro area.

A total of 24 locations, with 35 employees, are now operational under American Hearing & Audiology in the Midwest markets.

Blade & Timber Expands, Launches Zero-Waste Initiative Blade & Timber, a West Bottoms ax-throwing venue, plans to open two additional locations in May. A Johnson County spot is expected to

debut May 1 at Town Center Plaza in Leawood. The other new venue will be in Wichita’s Delano neighborhood.

Blade & Timber first opened in November but has grown in popularity quickly. It offers two league play nights in the West Bottoms and hopes to add leagues in Leawood.

The company also launched a zero-waste initiative on Earth Day called Axe of Love.

Rather than throwing away splintered wood targets, the wood will be mulched. The mulch will be sold, with proceeds donated to One Tree Planted, a nonprofit dedicated to reforestation.

Edison Spaces to Open Second Location Edison Spaces, which offers office space to startups and entrepreneurs, will launch a second location in June, just down the street from its original spot.

Edison Spaces 2 will be at 7900 College Blvd., Overland Park. It offers a flat rate, three-month minimum, private WiFi and other tech amenities.

The concept was launched in 2017 by two Freightquote veterans: Tim Barton, founder and former CEO, and Matt Druten, former CFO. “We developed Edison Spaces out of love for Kansas City and Kansas City small business,” Druten said. “Edison Spaces fills a need in the marketplace for small to midsize businesses who want privacy, security and aren’t interested in co-working.”

NEW BUSINESS

New Consulting Firm Targets Health Care Industry Three veterans of the strategy consulting and advertising spaces have joined forces to launch BrandWell, a new business and brand

Reducing Your Employer Health Insurance Cost in 2018

an Interactive Class for Businesses with fewer than 20 Employees

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THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

Commercial . Industrial Data/Comm Design Build Utility . Prime MO: 909 Troost, KCMO 64106 KS: 3236 N. 7th St, KCKS 66115

816-842-7023 www.markone.com

consultancy that will aid clients in improving the human condition.

“Our mission is to help improve brands and help improve the human condition because that’s what all three of us are passionate about,” said Brad Lang, principal.

“That human condition is broadly defined but largely in the health care space.”

Lang, with experience in health care delivery companies, is joined by Jan Creidenberg, who brings experience in medical technology and pharmaceuticals, and Matt Anthony, who is versed in marketing and advertising as well as philanthropy—creating a deeply experienced leadership team.

CitySmart App Sparks Community Engagement Donald Hawkins, a Leawood entrepreneur, combines his experience of working with small businesses with a frustration to find local resources in new markets to develop his latest startup, CitySmart.

“People will typically have more love for their hyperlocal market, the city they live in, more than everything else. And I learned that from working with businesses, they like that connection—it’s kind of what started everything,” said Hawkins.

The application’s primary purpose is to provide local consumers with a direct link to businesses in their community. The secondary purpose is to provide umbrella business organizations, such as a chamber of commerce or municipality, a resource for engaging local businesses with an opportunity to better reach their customers.

“The goal is to help build a more vibrant community,” said Hawkins.

CitySmart is licensed to a specific city through a chamber of commerce or other business association for an average one-time cost of $2,500.

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2 5 U N D E R 2 5 ® U P DAT E S

Hilary’s Eat Well to Expand Product Line Hilary’s Eat Well (Class of 2014) announced plans to grow and diversify its food offerings.

Putting to use $4 million in funding it secured in August, the Lawrence company secured off-site storage, allowing it to bring in new food manufacturing equipment. It also plans to hire 10 to 15 more employees to support the company’s growth.

Jowler Creek Debuts Chardonel Jowler Creek Winery (Class of 2016) introduced a new wine to its product line.

It released the 2017 Chardonel, a dry white wine, in April.

Co-Founder Earns a Top Honor Cory Berkland, co-founder of Orbis Biosciences (Class of 2012), was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors in April.

The recognition is one of the highest honors an academic inventor can achieve, the company said.

“We are happy to be able to hand the company over to someone that we feel will continue the strong family-oriented culture and hand-crafted quality standards,” Christine Polo said.

Original Juan Acquired Kansas City, Kan., food manufacturing company Original Juan Specialty Foods (Class of 2003) recently announced its acquisition

by Spicin Foods Inc. Original Juan was founded in 1998 by Joe Polo. Polo capitalized on manufacturing specialty foods for 13 different brands, creating 150 products that include specialty sauces, snacks, salsas and dips. Recognizable labels in the Kansas City Market include Pain is Good salsas and Cowtown barbecue sauces, among others.

The company was fortunate to receive multiple offers and settled with Spicin Foods.

Schloegel Co-Owner to Lead KC NARI Chapter Chris Peterson of Schloegel Design Remodel (Class of 2004) was named as president of the Kansas City chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) in January.

“I’m honored by it,” Peterson said of the appointment. “I feel privileged to help lead the organization. We’ve got a great group of people and a lot of folks trying to do the right thing in our industry, and it’s refreshing since our industry has a bad reputation.”

Earlier this year, Peterson’s became a majority owner of SDR alongside Charlie Schloegel.

Shatto Milk Co. Partners With Soccer Club Shatto Milk Co. (Class of 2006) has partnered with HappyFeet and the KC Legends Soccer Club. Shatto becomes a sponsor of the youth soccer organization and will become the club’s dairy and home delivery partner.

“This is an incredible opportunity to partner an organization focused not only on teaching soccer to our youth but doing so in a way that teaches them life skills that can be used from the classroom to the boardroom,” CEO Matt Shatto said.

HappyFeet is a preschool soccer program and introduction to the Legends club.

SquareOne Interiors Will Move Downtown SquareOne Interiors (Class of 2015) announced that it would be moving this summer from Overland Park to a new office in downtown Kansas City. It expects to be moved in by July.

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THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

AT A G L A N C E K C

E N T R E P R E N E U R S

BIG INFLUENCE | JUNGLE LAW GROUP

New Law Firm Swings Into Action on Animal Rights A new Kansas City law firm is marking its territory in a crowded field with a unique approach: In addition to handling typical cases such as personal injury and moving violations, Jungle Law Group is making a name for itself with animal rights activism.

Engaged partners Tristen Woods and Lauren Kruskall started the firm in January. It’s a family business, according to Donna Woods, “momager” and marketing specialist—she works with not only her son but also her mother, office manager Karen Woods.

“The law has traditionally regarded animals as property, but most owners know that their pets feel more like family,” Kruskall said. “We are working with the Missouri legislature to recognize the importance of animals in the law. This includes increased criminal penalties for abuse against both domestic and exotic animals.”

Animal rights law is an emerging legal field. Jungle Law Group

has shone a big spotlight on that area since its founding. Tristen Woods, a KC native, appears on billboards as “Tarzan the Lawman,” and the partners make regular television appearances to promote animal rights.

“In just a short amount of time, we have been able to increase awareness about animal rights law in Missouri. Whether it’s a monkey, a beagle, a toucan or a pot-bellied pig, Jungle Law Group is working towards giving every animal a better life,” Donna Woods said.

Jungle Law Group aims to be a role model in supporting important community causes.

“Businesses have a voice that echoes in a community; when they give back, it inspires individuals to do the same,” the attorneys said. “At Jungle Law Group, we give back because without our community, we would not have a business. We are fortunate to work with local animal rescue groups to educate and inspire the community about animal rights.”

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

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AT A G L A N C E K C

E N T R E P R E N E U R S

BIG STARTS | DO GOOD COMPANY

Items Find Second Life, Benefit Nonprofits at Unique Retailer COMPANY // Do Good Co. ENTREPRENEURS // Janet Curran, Jean LaJoie, Starr Wagstaff,

Joelle Fritz, Bruce Campbell and John Moncke.

WHAT THEY DO // Do Good Co. operates a nonprofit store that

receives clothing, furniture and home accessories with “higher-end aesthetics” from corporate and private donors. Do Good “curates” and sells the merchandise.

Proceeds benefit local nonprofits KidsTLC and KC Pet Project.

The store opened in June 2017; after six months, Do Good donated $18,000 to its nonprofit partners.

Donated merchandise “gives the community an opportunity to be involved,” said store manager Krystal Piña. “Unused items go to nonprofits, such as KC for Refugees, that give specifically to people in need. The store also hosts weekly community events.”

THE INSPIRATION // Janet Curran, who works closely with

KidsTLC and KC Pet Project, conceived of Do Good’s model, which acknowledges the sentimental or monetary value of items that donors want put to good use.

“People want to give items no longer being used a new life and story,” Piña said.

WHAT’S NEXT // Do Good has been approached about franchising

its store concept in other parts of the U.S. HOW TO CONTACT // Do Good Company // 1320 W. 39th St.,

Kansas City, MO 64111 // (816) 216.1526 // www.dogoodkc.org

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THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

MADE TO LAST | TAYLOR FORGE ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

Paola Manufacturer Keeps Steady Work in the Pipeline Imagine the vast pipeline system that forms a maze at natural gas and oil plants or offshore platforms. Taylor Forge Engineering Systems specializes in making extruded outlet headers, the round pipeline outlets that allow petroleum, gas and liquids to flow through such systems.

From his office window, president Mike Kilkenny observes when shipments leave the Paola, Kan., plant bound for sites across the U.S. and more than 40 countries. Taylor Forge’s expertise in extruded headers and other products, known as slug catchers and pig traps, enabled the company to develop a commanding lead in a niche market within the energy industry.

“We found and understood our niche by recognizing what we’re good at,” Kilkenny said. “We are highly efficient in our production process, installation costs, and use of space on-site.”

To survive the highly cyclical energy market, Kilkenny said, “we developed market share and avoided heavy debt to be ready for market highs and lows. We also invested in the company’s productivity. There’s not a trained labor pool readily available in the area, so we’ve refined and improved our processes.”

Kilkenny advises entrepreneurs: “If you have the vision, take the risk. Men and women that see it and go for it have made this country great.”

COMPANY INFORMATION // Taylor Forge Engineered Systems //

208 N. Iron Street, Paola, KS 66071 // (913) 294-5331 // www.tfes.com TYPE OF BUSINESS // Engineers, designs and fabricates pressure-

retaining products for the energy and industrial markets.

YEAR FOUNDED // 1900

C O M PA N Y T O WAT C H K C

L E N D I N G S TA N D A R D

E N T R E P R E N E U R S

Simplified Lending

(Photo courtesy of Austin Walsh Studios)

SOFTWARE PLATFORM STREAMLINES COMMERCIAL LOAN PROCESS. ENTREPRENEUR

Andrew Kallenbach, CEO C O M PA N Y I N F O R M AT I O N

LendingStandard 1901 Olathe Blvd.

Kansas City, KS 66103 (866) 981.5883 LendingStandard.com TYPE OF BUSINESS

Provides an online loan origination platform for multifamily financing.

YEAR FOUNDED

2014 E M P L OY E E S

14

T

he process for originating multifamily loans was long overdue for an overhaul. Loans for multifamily properties, such as an apartment building, involve hundreds of documents that require input from numerous parties in government and banking.

LendingStandard CEO Andrew Kallenbach envisioned a more efficient, automated, and standardized path out of the documentation mire.

Twenty years ago, Kallenbach experienced similar obstacles when he was hired by a firm that conducted underwriting and property inspection for commercial insurance companies. That industry’s process was bogged down by byzantine Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets.

“The process was incredibly manual,” Kallenbach said. “It was easy to make mistakes.”

Loan documents were laborious to create, update without error and coordinate among all parties.

Kallenbach, then 17 years old, wrote software to automate and streamline the document process.

Subsequently, Kallenbach developed FormZapper, a startup predecessor to LendingStandard, that tackled similar documentation issues with multifamily loans in commercial real estate.

Kallenbach’s innovative software attracted the interest of an attorney at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), who worked within the problem-laden process.

“With multifamily loans, the documents often don’t match. Lenders didn’t follow checklists,” Kallenbach said.

Before he could fully address the problem, Kallenbach needed to understand multifamily loans, so he worked for a St. Louis firm.

“I had to learn the industry and whole process to help automate it,” Kallenbach said.

LendingStandard, a software-as-a-service platform, is a standardized, automated and seamless process that “uses best practices” for multifamily property loans.

“HUD and Fannie Mae use boilerplate documents.

When rules change for those documents, it affects all loans in process that have to get updated in Excel and Word documents,” Kallenbach said. “It’s hard to do manually with many loans in progress.

It gets expensive. It’s also difficult to keep all parties on the same page when loans update.”

LendingStandard’s platform saves time, minimizes mistakes, reduces bottlenecks, tracks compliance and facilitates the flow of communication.

Berkadia, a leading multifamily lending company, signed as a client in early 2017.

“It was a huge deal for us. It gives us credibility and proved our value proposition,” Kallenbach said. “We’ve built a lot of things for them to prove our platform. We specialized in niche multifamily loans, and we’re good at it.”

Looking ahead, Kallenbach said, “We want a robust list of really good lenders seriously interested in better financing. We’ll also further automate our system and add services and products.”

Pete Dulin is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

17

KC MADE IT K C

W A LT E R C A R M I C H A E L & C O .

E N T R E P R E N E U R S

(Photos courtesy of 8183 Studio)

A Natural Fit WALTER CARMICHAEL & CO. BUILDS FURNITURE BUSINESS or many of us, when we hear Brookside, Waldo or Crossroads, we think of those iconic Kansas City-area neighborhoods.

For Mike Crist, those names represent much more—they are lines in his home furnishings business, Walter Carmichael & Co. Since 2014, Crist and his small team of two employees have created home accessories as well as furniture for both residential and commercial customers. Walter Carmichael’s lines include chairs and tables as well as trays, wine holders and other décor.

F

‘IT HAS JUST SNOWBALLED’

Walter Carmichael—composed from the maiden names of Crist’s mother and motherin-law—is the third company for the local entrepreneur. There’s Stonebridge Outdoor, a landscape and outdoor living company, as well as Stonebridge Collective, a retail brickand-mortar store. Stonebridge Collective opened last September in Grandview, selling items from both Stonebridge Outdoor and Walter Carmichael.

Crist said Walter Carmichael was a natural expansion of the work he was doing with Stonebridge Outdoor.

“The idea came from the need our clients in the outdoor space expressed,” Crist said.

“We would do small specialty items … and from that point, we started developing and fabricating lines of furniture that were attractive and unique.

18

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

“It has just snowballed. I love being creative, and this allowed us to do more.”

CREATING HEIRLOOMS

Jonathan Willard and Mike Wood are Walter Carmichael’s two designers; Crist focuses on the sales and marketing.

Woodworking is done at the company’s Pleasant Hill, Mo., facility. Willard and Wood fabricate the pieces at facilities in Grandview, Mo. “The predominant material (we use) is red oak, but we can change that up,” Crist said. “Each piece is made through a hands-on process—we are not an assembly line. The pieces have up-to-date styling and durable joint work that is unique.”

In addition to Brookside, Crossroads and Waldo, Walter Carmichael has three additional lines: Prairie, Westport and Westwood. Crist said naming the lines for area neighborhoods was a bit happenstance.

“I can’t say that any of us are architects or interior designers and weighed this out,” he said. “We work in a lot of neighborhoods, and ultimately we took names that embodied those pieces and lines.”

There are standard pieces in each line, such as end and dining tables, with variances in style.

“Styling is really important to us, as well as quality,” Crist said. “We wanted to create things that could be an heirloom and passed down.”

The Crossroads line, replete with wood and metal, is very popular these days, Crist said.

RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS

Walter Carmichael also does custom work for both residential and commercial clients. Its work is evenly split between the two sectors.

“If it is not in our line and they can describe it to us, we can create it,” Crist said. “Some folks we did a project for asked for a custom arbor, so we built this really attractive arbor that’s in the entry into their outdoor living space.”

Recently, Walter Carmichael designed and built products for the new C-level offices at the Cerner Innovations Campus.

“Their design aesthetic was focused on natural wood accents and using local makers throughout the facility, which was a perfect fit for our brand look and feel,” Crist said.

A focus on details is one of the things Crist said sets Walter Carmichael apart from other furnishings companies.

“We believe paying attention to the smallest details throughout the fabrication process is what attracts the discerning client to our products,” he said. “We also love the fact that our staff is talented enough to design and create anything you can imagine.”

The Made in Kansas City movement has provided a great atmosphere for Walter Carmichael to thrive, as well as two internal factors.

“I think it’s our passion for giving our clients what they want, and Jonathan and Mike’s creativity,” Crist said. “We frequently put items in front of them that probably should be shot down, but they have an impressive ability to look at them and make it happen.”

Ruth Baum Bigus is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY K C

( by Katie Bean )

E N T R E P R E N E U R S

“The only thing that hurts fireworks business is drought—if it’s dry, you can’t shoot fireworks,” Collar said.

In 2012, drought affected about 65 percent of Winco’s territory, he said. Some of its customers couldn’t pay because they couldn’t sell the products. That prompted Winco to become more proactive.

Now, the company works with Weather 2020—founded by meteorologists Gary Lezak and Jeff Penner—to get extended forecasts nationwide. Winco can use the weather data to counsel customers in drought-prone areas to adjust orders.

A Fireworks Family Prairie Village company advances industry innovation.

A

ccording to Mike Collar, the fireworks business “gets in your blood.”

Mike’s brothers John and David got into the industry as teenagers, working at a stand in Pittsburg. In 1979, they incorporated as Winco Fireworks.

Today, the company, with headquarters in Prairie Village, is a multimillion dollar business that sells its products in more than 40 states.

Winco has 300 full-time employees and adds 2,000 seasonal workers in summertime.

A Family Business Mike Collar, who runs Winco’s day-to-day operations as president and COO, said he grew up in the business that his older brothers started. He worked at the stands part-time in summers and on breaks for years.

The brothers work well together because they all respect each other’s roles, Collar said. And that’s not his only family he sees at work—his sister, sister-in-law, nieces and nephews work at Winco. So does his wife, Theresa Collar, who is director of imports.

“We work together and commute together, and we’re still married,” Mike Collar joked.

Even the fireworks industry is like a family, Collar said. There’s a small core of distributors like Winco, so everyone in the business knows each other, he said, and many customers are mom-and-pop shops.

A Unique Business What’s challenging about the fireworks business, Collar said, is its short season.

For most of the country, prime time for fireworks is May through July; in southern states, there’s also a winter season around the holidays.

Being ready for a short season means planning ahead is crucial, Collar said. And, unlike distributors in other industries, Winco stockpiles supplies.

“There’s no way you can do just-in-time,” he said. “You’ve got issues with production, issues with transportation—you could have a strike on the coast, and we’ve all seen that happen. So, consequently, we have to bring product in as early as we possibly can.”

But even when the products arrive in time, there’s another factor that can upend Winco’s careful planning: the weather.

An Innovative Business Even though Winco’s success relies on nearly ancient technology—fireworks have been around for thousands of years—it’s not resting there.

Winco has partnered with Kevin Wu to provide a new product that fuses fireworks— many of which are still made by hand, Collar pointed out—and mobile technology.

Wu, who is from Hong Kong, said his family’s history in the industry goes back to the 1800s. But the millennial inventor (who said he was not a fan of fireworks, despite growing up with them), saw an opportunity to innovate.

FireFly allows the home enthusiast to create a fireworks show that can even be set to music through a mobile app. The device is a square box with the ability to plug in wires that remotely light the fuses of various fireworks.

In addition to bringing an age-old product into the 21st century, Collar sees incredible value in the FireFly from a safety perspective.

He’s involved in industry associations that are “working to make things safer and better,” and FireFly fits that to a tee, Collar said.

“We consider our company very innovative … so this is right up our alley. But the biggest thing was we thought this is going to revolutionize the industry,” he said. “It’s not going to happen overnight. There’s that legacy to overcome, and it will take some years to get that happening, but the buzz on this product is big time, and it’s just going to make a safer firework.

“I think this really promotes safety, and that’s what excites us about it.”

Katie Bean is the president and editor at Thinking Bigger Business Media.

(913) 432-6690 // kbean@ithinkbigger.com SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

19

Pat Phelan, seated at left, was eager to buy a business. He did— just before the recession hit the restaurant industry hard. But Leap Hospitality has soared as it has found its groove.

20 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

KC ENTREPRENEURS

Leap of Faith Leap Hospitality had its best year so far in 2017—but only because owner Pat Phelan persisted during tough times.

ENTREPRENEUR

Pat Phelan C O M PA N Y I N F O R M AT I O N

Leap Hospitality 28B Westwoods Drive Liberty, MO 64068 (816) 368-2857 info@leaphospitality.com LeapHospitality.com TYPE OF BUSINESS

Restaurant and hospitality consultants YEAR FOUNDED

2006 E M P L OY E E S

7 KEYS TO SUCCESS

Some of the best busines advice Pat Phelan ever received was from his in-laws: Don’t give up too soon.

left // Leap Hospitality’s

management team includes, from left, back row, business development manager Jon Bremer, senior director of recruiting Chris Wunder, CEO Pat Phelan (front left) and co-founder and Michael Werner. inset // Custom table assembly at Elite Booth. (Photo courtesy of Pat Phelan)

W

hen it comes to the restaurant business, Pat Phelan and Leap Hospitality do pretty much everything except cook the food.

The Liberty company offers a full suite of services to hospitality businesses that are opening or expanding. Leap will help develop a restaurant’s concept, recruit the staff to run it and even track down the perfect tables and booths.

Those are all essential elements to a restaurant’s success—or failure, if they aren’t executed correctly.

“We’re really working with them to problem-solve before the problem happens in the restaurant,” Phelan said.

As the U.S. economy has picked up, so has Leap Hospitality’s revenues. In 2017, Phelan saw his company’s best year in business, with Leap earning more than $6 million, up from $3 million just a few years ago.

CUSTOMERS MAKE THE LEAP

The Cordish Cos., the developer of Kansas City’s Power & Light District, has tapped the company for a range of high-profile entertainment projects, not just in Kansas City, but across the country. First Watch has relied on Leap Hospitality as part of its national expansion, too.

Locally, Q39, KC Hopps and Jax Fish House are all Leap customers.

Wonder why so many restaurateurs seek out Leap Hospitality? You don’t have to look any farther than the stack of binders and folders on Phelan’s desk.

They’re filled with floor plans for clients’ upcoming restaurants. It’s Phelan’s job to put each one under the microscope, develop a budget and—most importantly—prevent potential headaches.

Which size and style of table or booth is right for that space? Are there any columns or other potential obstructions in the floor plan or restaurant layout? Will staff be able to clean the space easily? Will any of the pieces need to be custommade? (About a quarter of the furnishings that Leap sources are produced at Elite Booth, a Raytown manufacturer and longtime Leap partner.)

The typical clients are up-andcoming restaurant chains. They’re big enough to need Leap Hospitality’s services, but not so big that they already have enough staff in-house who know to ask those important questions.

Leap Hospitality’s experience was acquired over a dozen years and too many projects to count. And it didn’t come easy. To reach $6 million, Phelan had to survive a series of setbacks.

“I’ve really had to transition two or three times in the 12 years I’ve been involved in doing this,” he said. “Something inside of me said keep going.”

A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BUSINESS

When Phelan bought the company in 2006, it wasn’t even called Leap at the time. Fast Food Equipment Systems Inc. only distributed ice makers, margarita machines and other restaurant equipment.

Applebee’s was a big client. In fact, Applebee’s was almost too big of a client. The distributor

by James Hart // photography by Dan Videtich SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

21

“I’ve really had to transition two or three times in the 12 years I’ve been involved in doing this. Something inside of me said keep going.”

Pat Phelan // Founder and CEO

depended on that one client, and it stuck out as a red flag to Phelan when he made the purchase.

But he had wanted to strike out on his own for a long time.

Phelan—a former Sprint financial analyst who became an executive for a Grandview manufacturer— was in constant contact with local business brokers as he searched for a company to buy.

So he did—and quickly ran into a brick wall.

Applebee’s growth slowed, so it stopped ordering equipment.

Then the entire restaurant industry slowed down. Within a year of the purchase, the company went from $1.5 million in annual revenue to around $600,000.

‘I’VE GOT TO BE ABLE TO DO SOMETHING’

To bring in business, Phelan started branching out. Whatever clients needed, he would deliver.

“You know, I went to business school, got my MBA,” he said.

“I’ve known that you can’t be all things to everybody.”

Sometimes that “anything you need” approach really was a recipe for disaster, like the time Phelan rebranded Leap as a restaurant operations company.

Investors put up the funding for a restaurant project. Then Phelan and his team provided sweat equity in the form of day-to-day management. It ran him ragged, and the projects weren’t as successful as he would’ve liked. (One exception: The Jacobson, which he still has an interest in.)

But trying new things led Phelan to get into recruitment, which is now one of Leap Hospitality’s fastest-growing 22

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

services. The company performs searches for every position from CEOs to pastry chefs. Leap placed more than $3 million in salaries in just a few short years for brands such as Wendy’s, Qdoba, GiGi’s Cupcakes and Slim Chickens.

Being willing to do anything also helped him land one of his biggest clients.

“They’re building this big entertainment district downtown called Power & Light,” he recalled.

“Literally, I’m just calling people that are in the restaurant business.

I saw there were going to be a lot of restaurants there. I’ve got to be able to do something.”

He eventually connected with someone at the Baltimore offices of Cordish, the developer behind Power & Light. Cordish asked if he could source restaurant furniture.

Of course! he said.

Great, the Cordish rep replied, two of our guys are going to be in Kansas City tomorrow. Let’s get something scheduled.

“I didn’t have anything to give them,” Phelan said. “So literally that night I’m making up brochures in (Microsoft) Publisher and going to Kinko’s.”

He aced the presentation and, two days later, heard back. They had to pass—he was too professional and thus, they assumed, too expensive. They wanted a small, local guy for the job.

After assuring Cordish that he was small, local and affordable, Phelan was able to win a furnishings contract on McFadden’s Sports Saloon in Power & Light.

“Lost my butt on it,” he said, but Leap performed so well that

above // Custom booths are created by

Elite Booth, a longtime Leap Hospitality partner. (Photos courtesy of Pat Phelan) right // Busiess development manager Brandon Green, left, and executive recruiter Brian Wunder discuss a new restaurant concept.

more work followed on Mosaic, PBR Big Sky, Angels Rock Bar, the Midland and others. He learned to make money on those projects.

“And then they came back to me and said, ‘Pat, you really did a great job, you’re a good project manager, let’s change the business model.’” Cordish needed a go-to partner for a wave of projects on the horizon, so they signed Leap to a cost-plus contract.

That growth has occurred across the country. On the horizon is Cordish’s newest venue, Texas Live!, a 200,000-square-foot

establishment opening this summer in Arlington, where Leap will furnish nine establishments. More than half of that furniture will be made here in Kansas City.

‘IT CHANGED THE COMPANY’

Every year at Leap Hospitality, Phelan asks each team member to come up with one word that will guide them for the next 12 months, almost like a mantra.

It’s an idea that he got from the book “One Word That Will Change Your Life” by Jon Gordon, Jimmy Page and Dan Britton.

The word for 2018 is “push,” as Leap Hospitality intends to keep pushing forward and achieving new growth.

A few years ago, when he was feeling burned out, Phelan read “One Word” and chose “commitment” as his guiding word for that year. It gave him the spark to make significant changes.

“I finally said, ‘You know what, either I’m going to make this work and actually start making real money doing this, or I’m done,’” he said.

Step One was branding. Phelan

hired Whiskey Design, and owner Matt Wegerer distilled all of Leap’s many service offerings into an easily communicated message, backed up by a new website and other creative.

“It changed the company,” Phelan said. “Finally, I had some confidence of this is what we are.

When we go in and talk to somebody, we’re either doing furnishings, we’re doing executive search, or we’re working on development projects. It’s one of the three.”

He also started hiring team members who could help develop

the different lines of business and execute at different levels. He’s extremely proud of his team’s ability to bring in new clients.

“I knew I can’t do it all, especially if the company’s going to grow,” he said.

Those changes set the stage for Leap’s record-setting 2017. Still, he admits to being blown away when the company generated $6 million in revenue.

“I just woke up one day in November, and I went, ‘Holy cow, we did pretty well this year,’” he said.

Phelan believes the company is capable of even more. He wants to hit annual revenues of $10 million to $15 million in three years.

Leap is starting to target the hotel and casino industry. And Phelan has an idea for another entirely new service.

“There’s so much opportunity out there, and we are half a percent of everything that’s going on,” Phelan said. “So there’s still a lot of room to grow.”

James Hart is a freelance writer based in the Kansas City area.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

23

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Kauffman Foundation Conference Center 4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, Mo.

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NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK

2018

SBA

National Small Business Week APRIL 29-MAY 5

NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK

( by Tom Salisbury )

2018

National Small Business Week Highlights Resources, Connections e are very fortunate in the Kansas Thinking Bigger, the U.S. Small Business City metro area to have so many Administration would be less known. small business resources and publiAt whatever stage of small cations dedicated to educating, business ownership you find celebrating and informing us yourself, there are excellent about our small businesses. partners, not only with the We are thankful to this SBA, but connected to our publication and former bi-state governments, local CEO Kelly Scanlon, who for and county governments, 25 years built Thinking Bigger libraries, nonprofit agencies To ry mS alisbu Business magazine from the and media from which to fledgling Kansas City Small Business find help.

Monthly to its now-stable print publicaWhile the SBA will advocate for tion as well as its online presence. We are you, work with you and empower you to additionally encouraged as the publication confidently start, grow and strengthen your transitions to a capable next-generation business and help position you to succeed editor and president, Katie Bean. Without with access to capital, valuable resources,

W

26 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

business know-how and the right expertise for each state of your business lifecycle, we rely on publications like this one to let you know we are here.

We invite you to learn about all of the area’s great small businesses and resources available to you in Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem as we celebrate our small businesses during National Small Business Week 2018, April 29-May 5.

All of these connections, and this publication, give Kansas City area entrepreneurs a true edge—the relationships we need to help our businesses, our communities and each other succeed.

Tom Salisbury // SBA Region 7 Administrator

NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK

( by Katie Bean )

2018

MCMAHON HIGHLIGHTS ‘VITAL ROLE’ OF SBA IN LOCAL VISIT

8(a) Program Opens Doors S. Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon recently visited Kansas City on her Ignite Listening Tour.

McMahon is visiting SBA districts across the country to check in with small businesses and gather information about how the SBA can help them succeed.

“What I’ve learned at each area of the country that I go to is this passion that entrepreneurs have for what they do,” McMahon said. “They are the backbone of the community. Small businesses are the glue in communities, and it’s an incredibly rewarding job for me to be able to do that.”

In March, she visited Lenexa’s Firelake Construction, an MBE and WBE company that specializes in providing building auto-

U.

mation systems, security solutions and general construction. The company has 72 employees and a satellite office in Huntsville, Ala. CEO Jackie Foley started the business with her brother, Bill Slavin, in 2011 after a career in banking. The siblings combined Slavin’s expertise in security systems with Foley’s understanding of business finance; the company’s name reflects their Potawatomie heritage.

In 2015, Foley was referred to the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program.

“I really attribute a lot of our success to the SBA program,” Foley said. “The 8(a) program has been phenomenal for us in continued

Firelake Construction CEO Jackie Foley, left, poses with U.S. Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon next to a representation of the pledge all Firelake employees take: 100 percent accountability, zero excuses. Employees have signed the picture. (Photo courtesy of June Teasley)

Lending More Than an Ear. At Country Club Bank, we support the dreamers, the doers, the leaders, and visionaries, committed to propelling you, your idea and our community toward success. Create, plan, prosper, and join us in shaping Kansas City’s skyline. As a proud Small Business Administration preferred lender, let Robin and our team of professionals assist you on your financial journey.

Robin Wells SVP, Commercial Lending 816-751-9345

Member FDIC

816-931-4060 www.countryclubbank.com SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

27

NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK

2018

opening doors, building relationships and teaching us how to train and develop our company so that we are successful when we grow out of the 8(a) program.”

Foley said Firelake was a second- and third-tier subcontractor before taking part

in the 8(a) program. The program helped to develop the company’s skills but also made it better known among government agencies that needed Firelake’s services. It has landed contracts nationwide, including with NASA and Fort Riley.

SBA Administrator Linda McMahon, left, visits with Firelake Construction CEO Jackie Foley and U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., in a workroom at Firelake’s Lenexa headquarters. McMahon visited Firelake in March as the 38th stop on her Ignite Listening Tour of small businesses across the country. (Photo courtesy of June Teasley)

What is 8(a)? he federal government tries to award at least five percent of all federal contracting dollars to small disadvantaged businesses each year.

The U.S. Small Business Administration 8(a) Business Development Program aims to help small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged people compete for government projects.

Companies must meet the following criteria to be eligible:

T

» A small business » No previous participation in the 8(a) program

» At least 51 percent owned and controlled

by U.S. citizens who are economically and socially disadvantaged » Owned by someone whose average adjusted gross income for three years is $250,000 or less » Owned by someone with $4 million or less in assets » Owner manages day-to-day operations and also makes long-term decisions » All principals demonstrate good character » Shows potential for success and ability to perform successfully on contracts Source: U.S. Small Business Administration

28 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

“The 8(a) program has opened all the doors for us,” Foley said.

Foley advised other small businesses to take advantage of the SBA. “You need to utilize the SBA because they’re out there to help you instead of you trying to recreate the wheel and doing it all on your own,” she said. “You’ve got mentors out there, people who are there for you to help you succeed in running your small business.”

“And at no charge,” McMahon added.

McMahon said an additional purpose of her Ignite Tour is “to achieve one of my goals: to make sure the SBA’s not the best-kept secret in the country.”

It’s so much more than loans, McMahon said.

“SBA really has such a vital role not only in helping access to capital, but also from the entrepreneurial and business development side,” she said. “So few people know about the extent of what SBA does.”

Katie Bean is the president and editor at Thinking Bigger Business Media.

(913) 432-6690 // kbean@ithinkbigger.com

NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK

2018

GENERAL MANAGER GROWS TEHAMA TO $100M+ IN CONTRACTS AWARDED

Brewer Named as 2018 KC District Small Business Person of the Year fter a successful 36-year career as a professional petroleum geologist and engineering business manager, David Brewer took over at Tehama LLC as the general manager in 2013. He successfully guided Tehama to a position of growth and profitability in four short years.

Thanks to that success, Brewer was named as the 2018 Kansas City District Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“David Brewer serves as a great example of the leadership skills necessary to develop the company into a high-functioning federal contractor and to contribute to a local and cultural economy,” SBA Kansas City District Director Malcolm Richards said.

A

Tehama, TEHAMA LLC founded in 2009, 1600 Genessee St. is tribally owned Ste. 754 by the Paskenta Kansas City, MO 64102 Band of Nomlaki (816) 678-7510 Indians. It is one of eight businesses TehamaLLC.com owned by the tribe, operating under the management of Tepa LLC. Tehama provides environmental consulting and engineering services to federal, state and municipal governments.

The tribe receives 100 percent of the net profits from Tehama, which are used in part to support community programs and tribal infrastructure projects.

continued

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(913) 261-2265 arvest.com/business

Member FDIC SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

29

NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK

2018

SBA Honors Region VII Small Business Award Winners ational Small Business Week, celebrated by the U.S. Small Business Administration each year since 1963, features the most highly recognized and prized competitions for small businesses in the United States.

Region VII of the SBA covers Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. Each state recognizes a Small Business Person of the Year. There also is one regional Exporter of the Year. All five of these winners from Region VII will advance to compete for national honors.

Read about Kansas City’s district-level Small Business Person of the Year, David Brewer of Tehama LLC, on page 29.

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REGION VII SMALL BUSINESS PERSONS OF THE YEAR

» Kansas

David Sasson OverstockArt.com Wichita

» Missouri

Melissa Smith Washington Smiles Complete Health Dentistry Washington, Mo.

» Nebraska

Mark Santo Mark VII Enterprises Inc. Omaha

» Iowa

Bob Simpson Big River Packaging Clinton, Iowa REGION VII EXPORTER OF THE YEAR

» International Veterinary Supplies, Inc. Urbandale, Iowa

Tehama entered the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program in 2013, and Brewer worked with the SBA to acquire small business contracts with federal agencies.

In 2014, Tehama entered the 8(a) Mentor-Protégé Program and established its first mentor-protégé joint venture in 2015. From an initial $2,500 contract award to the current $105 million total contract awards (including $82 million in SBA offer letters), Brewer has led Tehama’s growth in both headcount and revenue. The firm has grown from one employee to 58, and from $235,000 in revenue in 2014 to $11 million in 2017.

In 2017, Tehama won the 8(a) Company of the Year award in the KC District, along with two other Tepa companies.

Tehama engages in multiple SBA assistance programs that have boosted its success. The 8(a) Business Development Program has allowed Tehama to offer its clients contracting benefits that accelerate the acquisition process. The mentor-protégé pairing of Tehama

CONTACT INFORMATION AND PROGRAM DETAILS

SBA Programs SBA KANSAS CITY DISTRICT OFFICE

1000 Walnut, Ste. 500 Kansas City, MO 64106 (816) 426-4900 www.sba.gov/offices/district/mo/kansas-city

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS

Kansas Small Business Development Center at JCCC 12345 College Blvd., RC 240 Overland Park, KS (913) 469-3878 www.jccc.edu/ksbdc UMKC Small Business and Technology Development Center 4747 Troost Ave., Ste. 104A Kansas City, MO 64110 (816) 235-6063 Info.umkc.edu/sbtdc

SCORE

4747 Troost Ave., Ste. 128 Kansas City, MO 64110 30 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

and HDR EOC Inc. allows Tehama to build skills, expertise and a client base with the experienced guidance of a larger company.

“The SBA’s 8(a) Business Development Program was well-suited for Tehama because we were a startup business without any clients or proven project performance,” Brewer said. “The 8(a) program helped us compete for our first federal environmental consulting contracts, which we successfully delivered, and allowed us to partner with HDR EOC Inc., one of the best in the business, to mentor us as we further developed our capabilities, expertise and client base.”

The SBA’s Dynamic Small Business Search database opens up additional opportunities for Tehama to be seen by procurement officers in search of approved 8(a) companies.

“We are anticipating continued growth and diversification within our service offerings in the near future, and we are considering the addition of offices across the country,” Brewer said. “We look forward to maintaining our outstanding partnership

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2018

with the SBA and Ken Surmeier, our business specialist.”

Brewer is active in professional and community organizations, including the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), Heartstrings and Sunflower House. He also has taken advantage of government contracting workshops, Small Business Development Center workshops, conferences (such as SAME’s Federal Small Business Engagement conference) and 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance training sessions.

“National Small Business Week is a time to recognize the impact of small businesses in the Kansas City area and beyond by sharing their inspirational stories of success, resilience and determination,” SBA Regional Administrator Tom Salisbury said. “It’s my honor to celebrate the entrepreneurs who use innovation to solve problems, create jobs and make a difference in our local communities.”

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COMMUNITY | PHILANTHROPY | ENTREPRENEURSHIP SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

31

PASSING THE

BATON RECOGNIZING THE TIME FOR COMPANY FOUNDERS TO STEP ASIDE ( BY JULIUS A. KARASH)

S

TARTING A COMPANY THAT SURVIVES BEYOND INFANCY IS A LOT LIKE RAISING A CHILD. JUST AS PARENTS DO, FOUNDERS GIVE IT ALL THEY’VE GOT AND REJOICE WHEN THEIR PROGENY SUCCEEDS.

But, at some point, parents need to step back and stop running their kids’ lives in order for their children to grow up and reach their full potential. It’s much the same with founders and the companies they birth. In order for the company to keep growing and reach its full potential, founders often need to step back and pass the baton to a new CEO. “Only a small percentage of founder-CEOs have the skills and experience needed to ensure company growth and shareholder value beyond a startup’s early stage,” wrote Suren Dutia, a former senior fellow with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in a November 2015 paper entitled “CEO Evolution: Knowing When and How to Transition Founder Leadership to Growth Leadership.”

Dutia said founder-CEOs “commonly have a hard time asking themselves if their talents are best suited to lead their companies forward into the next stage of growth, and an even harder time admitting that it might be time to transition to new leadership. But this introspection and the ability to let go are critical if a maturing company is to continue creating maximum shareholder value.”

Two Kansas City-area founders spoke about their experiences with passing the baton.

Only a small percentage of founder-CEOs have the skills and experience needed to ensure company growth and shareholder value beyond a startup’s early stage.

CHRIS COSTELLO, BLOOOM Costello co-founded Leawood-based Blooom with Kevin Conard and Randy AufDerHeide in 2013.

Blooom helps people manage their 401(k) and 403(b) retirement accounts. The founders were motivated by their perception that most professional investment advice is geared toward the wealthy, thereby ignoring the needs of most Americans who struggle to understand their employer-provided savings plans. ostello took the helm as Blooom’s first CEO. “It was just the three of us for the first year,” he said. “Nobody was drawing salaries. Our first paid employee was hired in May of 2014. We didn’t raise any outside venture capital until the fall of 2015. We bootstrapped the company out of our own pocketbooks. Then we closed a $4 million Series A (venture capital) round in the fall of 2015, and closed a $9 million venture capital round in January of 2017.”

Costello exudes passion for Blooom’s mission and potential.

“The big problem that Blooom is solving is providing investment advice to people who generally would not qualify to have a financial adviser. Today, there are about 90 million Americans who are participating in an employer-sponsored retirement account, predominantly a 401(k). For a lot of average, middle class Americans, it’s their single largest financial asset.”

And out of those 90 million participants, perhaps 5 million to 10 million have big enough portfolios to obtain advice from a qualified financial advisor, Costello said. Maybe another 5 million to 10 million have the ability and desire to manage their own accounts. That leaves roughly 70 million individuals who could benefit from a company such as Blooom, which has no minimum portfolio requirement. looom today has about 30 employees, approximately $2.5 billion in assets under management and nearly 20,000 clients.

“We’ve had strong growth, but we’re not where we can get yet,” Costello said. “Even at 20,000 clients, there are still 70 million people who we think badly need something like this to

C

B

continued

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

33

“I get to do what I do best—evangelizing the Blooom mission—and Blooom gets a better CEO to lead it on a day-to-day basis. In a way, Blooom can kind of get its cake and eat it too. I feel like this is a big positive for the company.”

Chris Costello // Founder

help them have a shot at a dignified retirement someday.”

And while Bloom has raised $13 million in venture capital, Costello noted that some Silicon Valley or New York robo advisers who work outside the 401(k) space have raised hundreds of millions of venture capital dollars.

“We’ve gotten so far on just a small amount of capital,” he said. “There’s so much more potential. I felt like the size and success of the company were getting to a point where we needed to take it to the next level.”

In November 2016, Blooom hired Matt Burgener as chief marketing officer.

“He had a very impressive background as CMO of an extremely large, publicly traded company,” Costello said. “He had been the CEO of a startup company. He had worked at companies like LendingTree, Dell and Bank of America. He has experienced a lot more than I have. When we hired him, I thought, ‘If I get hit by a bus, there is somebody right there in the company who could easily step in.’” s Burgener built his marketing team, Costello pondered going out and raising a third round of venture capital.

“It didn’t feel right to me to go out and talk to investors if I knew in the back my head that I would be transitioning the (CEO) role to Matt at some point,” he said.

The transition occurred in February, when

A

34 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

Burgener was promoted to CEO and Costello became chairman of the board.

Under the new management setup, Burgener runs Blooom’s day-to-day opertions, and Costello is freed up to focus on telling Blooom’s story externally.

“I get to do what I do best—evangelizing the Blooom mission—and Blooom gets a better CEO to lead it on a day-to-day basis,” Costello said. “In a way, Blooom can kind of get its cake and eat it too. I feel like this is a big positive for the company.” ostello said there is no one-size-fits-all formula for when and how a founderCEOs should step back.

“It’s a very personal decision. When you start a company, it becomes almost like a child. It’s a very emotional decision to think about not having the reins to that company.”

Nonetheless, he said founder-CEOs “need to be honest with themselves and do a little bit of self-reflection. In my case, given my level of awareness, I was willing to admit that there are people like Matt who are better and smarter than me at running the business at this critical stage.”

“I still own a decent sized chunk of the company, and obviously I want Blooom to be wildly successful, way beyond where it is today. This is a move towards making that happen.”

C

JEFF BLACKWOOD, PATHFINDER HEALTH INNOVATIONS Blackwood founded Kansas City-based Pathfinder Health Innovations in 2010 to provide software for therapists and educators who work with children and adults on the autism spectrum.

Amid growing demand for autism therapy, the company took off like a rocket.

“We grew on average 270 percent yearover-year (in revenue),” Blackwood said.

T

he company’s first institutional investor was Omaha-based Dundee Venture Capital in late 2012, who closed a $400,000 round. Since then, it has raised about $8 million from other venture firms.

Blackwood said raising money from outside sources sends a company founder down a different path because the investors typically are “not giving you that money to do the same thing over and over again.”

So Blackwood hired more software developers and expanded the company nationwide.

Founded as ABPathfinder, the company acquired Phoenix-based Ensure Billing (EBI) in 2016 and became Pathfinder Health Innovations, which is currently based in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District.

Blackwood took yet another path in February, when Pathfinder hired Tina Youngblood as CEO, and Blackwood became executive vice president for corporate development. hy did Pathfinder realign its executive suite?

“The last couple of years, we had some challenges that required I shift my focus away from being the industry ambassador, meeting people, being creative and creating opportunities for us, to more of an operational role. And that’s not what I really wanted to do,” Blackwood said.

Blackwood explained companies move through different stages, and that “it takes a unique set of people at the startup phase of a company.”

“I have a very creative set of skills. The way I approach problems, the way I use resources to attack those problems, puts me in a position where I could create something for this company and help it grow,” he said.

And for Pathfinder Health Innovations, growth is about more than just bringing in more revenue.

W

M

changed, and really was changed

indy Corporon announced

for me.”

in March that she

A year later, the firm

would hand off the role of

began planning for a transition.

CEO to her co-founder of Boyer & Corporon

With new leaders in place,

Wealth Management,

Corporon said it was the right time for her to shift her

Richard Boyer.

focus to the Faith Always Wins

When they started the firm in 2007, Corporon expected to be in that role

Mi

Foundation, a nonprofit she

ndy

n Corporo

for the rest of her career, she said. But a tragedy in 2014 changed her trajectory: Her father, son and another woman were killed by a gunman at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park.

“When we started the company and before the shooting, we had always expected that I would be there longer than (Boyer) would and that I would carry everything on

“I have a very creative set of skills. The way I approach

through to the next generation,” she said. “But when the shooting happened, my path just

founded in 2015.

But it wasn’t easy.

“It’s like giving my baby up for

adoption—I became really not the right parent for it, and Richard and the other people in leadership are going to be better stewards of it because my attention has become more focused on the foundation,” she said. “So I’m very grateful to them that they allowed me to walk that path and to be able to leave.

It’s been hard on all of us—it’s been a process, for sure. But they are totally committed.”

Corporon remains an “interested shareholder” and ambassador for the firm.

problems, the way I use resources to attack those problems, puts me in a position where I could create something for this company and help it grow,” he said.

Jeff Blackwood // Founder

“We’re getting into research initiatives more heavily now,” Blackwood said. “I think our company could actually be part of the overall solution to breaking down autism to into smaller sub-types that could result in different treatments.”

Genetic differences point to the need for individualized medicines to help treat autism, Blackwood said.

“The more help we can give these kiddos when they’re young, the higher the likelihood that their brain plasticity will allow them to achieve some of the skills and reduce some of the behaviors that have been challenging for them.”

A

s Pathfinder grew and autism therapies advanced, the operational aspects of the CEO position weighed heavier and heavier on Blackwood. In July 2017, he told his board it was time to look at how to move Pathfinder to the next level.

Blackwood told the board he wanted to go out and use his industry contacts to help Pathfinder accomplish great things. “But I can’t do that when I’m in the office all the time, trying to make sure the coffee maker is running and there’s no non-staff cars taking up our parking spaces and stuff like that.

We decided to see what we could get from a CEO search.”

Pathfinder placed a confidential CEO search on LinkedIn and was overwhelmed with the response, Blackwood said. “We got 733 applicants in a four-week period. We immediately cut out about half of those. We got down to 40 people, and we got down to 12. We ended up with the best of the best, and we decided that Tina was the one for us.”

Youngblood most recently had served

as chief executive of reinsurance company Spencer Re for two years.

“In the very early conversations Tina and I had, we said we were not going to be co-CEOs,” Blackwood said. “That was not going to be the best use of her time or mine, and it wasn’t going to allow us to get the most out of the company. But I can focus on innovation and our relationships in the autism industry, and she has the ability to make the company operationally her own and help us move forward, as she has done with previous companies. That’s why we hired her.” ike Costello, Blackwood said emotions come into play when a company founder contemplates letting go of the reins.

“To some degree there is the thought of ‘Oh my God, it’s my baby. What’s going to happen to my baby?’ But if you hire the right people, there’s no concern for what happens to the company at that point. It will only get better and continue to grow.”

L

Julius A. Karash is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

35

BIGGER | strategy S M A R T

( by Kate Liebsle)

S T R AT E G I E S

Perks Empower Workers ProAthlete offers extras so employees can focus on clients.

L

et’s keep it real: Pro Athlete has a LOT of employee perks. And we’re talking about more than the usual—extra days off, afternoon at the K, Friday happy hours—that many businesses offer. At Pro Athlete, they take employee perks seriously.

The perks (all free) are part of the company’s overall business strategy to create a fun, but productive, workplace, said Andrew Dowis, chief operating officer.

‘The Right Way to Do Business’ There’s an on-site chef who prepares breakfast and lunch for employees. There are unlimited PTO days. Food and drinks are always available. Tickets for Royals games and other sports are available, as well. If you need a ride home, just call Uber using the company’s account. And then there is the on-site spa.

There are massages on Mondays, haircuts on Fridays and a rotation of manicures/pedicures and facials on Wednesday.

New parents receive a baby bonus and a generous basket full of diapers, formula, onesies, etc. First-time homebuyers can receive a loan from the company to help with a down payment or other expenses.

None of those perks are Dowis’ favorite, though. He is partial to the one that allows employees to give back.

“My favorite is our charity program,” he said. “Instead of the company writing a check to a charity which may or may not align with who an employee wants to give money to, we give each employee $1,500 a year to give away.”

That is the one perk that has a “fee” associated with it in the form of time. Employees have to donate time to charity in the previous year in order to earn the money.

“Our employees really love how it feels to give back,” Dowis said.

The perks are fairly static, but when employees come up with something new they’d like 36 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

1

2

to have, the management team is willing to listen.

“We believe this is the right way to do business,” Dowis said. “Every decision we have made has been about putting the experience of others before money. That’s how we think we get employees who are the best, who are happy, work hard and take ownership of what they are doing.”

‘An Empowerment Culture’ Pro Athlete operates four e-commerce sites: JustBats.com, JustBallGloves.com, BatWarehouse.com, and BallGloveWarehouse.com.

The company has 54 employees at its Northland facility.

Dowis says he can’t remember the last time an employee left the company because they were unhappy.

“If they leave, it’s because a spouse got another job or another personal reason,” he said.

It might sound like a daunting task for a small business to provide all of these perks, but Dowis said all businesses can manage to do something nice for employees.

“Food is a great way to people’s hearts,” he said. “If you start doing it early, it’s not

5

STRATEGY

3

Take care of employees with a broad range of perks, and healthy attitudes and a strong bottom line will follow.

C O M PA N Y I N F O R M AT I O N

Pro Athlete, Inc. Kansas City, Mo. (816) 587-6050 ProAthleteInc.com 4

TYPE OF BUSINESS

1 Volleyball tournament action at the Pro Athlete office. 2 Employees use their charity allotment for Toys For Tots.

3 All-staff outing at the Urban Youth Acedemy. 4 Employees volunteer with the YMCA Challenger baseball program.

5 The 643 Lounge at Pro Athlete. (Photos courtesy of Pro Athlete)

as expensive as you might think, and it just becomes a part of the budget. It’s our No. 1 perk for keeping people on-site. It just takes that stressor away of ‘What are we going to do for lunch today?’”

More than one person has asked Dowis, “Does anybody actually work around here?”

But the perks aren’t the focus for employees— their work is, Dowis said.

“We really have an empowerment culture,” he said. “Everybody’s a manager. We’ll know if you’re not performing.”

Pro Athlete knows that such a big menu of benefits sounds outrageous to some business people—particularly in our volatile economy.

But Dowis said there has never been a pullback from the company in the perks.

“We are committed to provide a great experience to our employees, our customers, vendors, lenders, to everyone,” he said.

“It works for us here. It’s fun, and we feel like it’s the right thing to do. If we take care of our people, the bottom line will take care of itself. We believe in that.”

Operates baseball-supply e-commerce sites YEAR FOUNDED

1987 E M P L OY E E S

54

Kate Liebsle is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

SMART STRATEGIES Want to do more with your business? Get smart.

Our Smart Strategies articles offer advice from experts and experiences from other companies about what works—and what doesn’t.

Whether it’s a learning opportunity or just a refresher, these guides offer a resource for owners to think bigger and do business better.

Want to share your expertise with our audience? Contact editor@ithinkbigger.com with a topic and description of a proposed article.

Read on for more Smart Strategies SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

37

BIGGER | hr S M A R T

( by Hank Zerbe )

S T R AT E G I E S

‘Ban the Box’ Expands in Kansas City, Mo. New ordinance affects all companies with six or more employees.

B

y now, you’ve probably heard of “ban the box.”

The legislative movement aims to increase the opportunities for gainful employment in candidates with criminal histories by banning the checkbox commonly found on job applications that asks, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?”

This “box” has become the focal point for this initiative as it hopes to reduce recidivism by forcing employers to give all job candidates a fair chance at consideration for employment before their criminal histories are assessed.

This allows candidates an opportunity to showcase their skill sets and aptitude for the role without being immediately disqualified from a position due to their criminal history.

“Ban the box” has been sweeping the nation in recent years and promises to change the way we hire. More than 150 cities, counties and states have passed their own version of this ordinance, and the trend doesn’t appear to be slowing.

Local History of Ban the Box This isn’t the first time “ban the box” has made it to Kansas City. In 2013, the City Council of Kansas City, Mo., passed a similar ordinance that directed its city manager to eliminate the “box” requiring a disclosure of a criminal history from all of the city’s employment applications.

“Ban the box” has seen similar traction across the state line in Wyandotte County 38 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

when in 2014 the Unified Government of Kansas City, Kan., and Wyandotte County passed an ordinance that specifically eliminated the “box” on all applications for Unified Government positions. Even the state of Missouri has joined the initiative by becoming the 22nd state to “ban the box” for all government positions.

While the phrase “ban the box” may not be new to the Kansas City area, it’s worth noting that no previous laws come close to the breadth of this 2018 ordinance by Kansas City, Mo. Previously, only government positions were affected; now, all organizations within Kansas City, Mo., with six or more employees fall within the scope of the regulation.

“Ban the box” has been sweeping

New Ordinance So what does “ban the box” mean for Kansas City?

On Feb. 1, the City Council of Kansas City, Mo., passed an ordinance effectively “banning the box” for all private employers that operate within Kansas City, Mo. With this ordinance going into effect on June 9, there isn’t much time to get your hiring practices in order if you’re unfamiliar with the implications of this type of legislation.

Written similarly to recent legislation in other jurisdictions, Kansas City’s “ban the box” ordinance tackles the issue using many approaches that have become standard throughout the “ban the box” initiative.

However, like most other jurisdictions, the Kansas City ordinance comes with its own unique and nuanced requirements.

Here are four key takeaways that all employers throughout Kansas City should note.

the nation in recent years and

1 All private employers employing six or more people in the City of Kansas City, Mo.,

3 Similar to the EEOC’s requirement of “consistency with business necessity,” employers

promises to change the way we hire.

are required to follow the new “ban the box” ordinance.

2 Under this new ordinance, employers must wait until two conditions have been met before they can inquire into an applicant’s criminal history: » It has been determined that the individual is otherwise qualified for the position » The applicant has been interviewed for the position

Once these conditions have been met, applicants are considered “within the final selection pool of candidates,” at which point an inquiry into their criminal histories may be made.

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must do a “totality of the circumstances” review of the candidate’s criminal history as it relates to the duties and function of the particular job role at issue.

4 Employers are still able to conduct a pre-employment background check through their employment screening vendor.

Employers with employees in Kansas City should review their employment applications and relevant employment forms to ensure compliance with federal, state and local law, especially if using standardized forms across multiple jurisdictions. Impacted employers also should ensure that all hiring and recruiting personnel are aware of “ban the box” jurisdictions.

Hank Zerbe is director of communications and digital strategy at Validity Screening Solutions, a premiere provider of employment screening. He shares his expertise on employment, HR technology and company culture.

Building Businesses Making Memories

Join us for round-tables, speakers and networking events to gain powerful insight and support from some of KC’s most accomplished women.

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SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

39

BIGGER | technology S M A R T

( by Christy Rogers )

S T R AT E G I E S

Improve Collaboration With the Right Tools G Suite can help small business teams work more effectively.

I

f you find yourself emailing a document to a colleague for review … and then it gets sent back to you with suggestions … and then you send it back to her for a second review … and then—enough!!

There is a better way. Email pingpong is not the way to do smart business.

G Suite (formerly known as Google Apps) is a toolbox. It includes application tools like Gmail, Drive for storage, Sheets and Docs.

Current pricing ranges from $5 to $25 a month per user. The Basic ($5) or Business ($10) edition are great options for small business.

Below are five tools that may be used in the G Suite to build a more in sync team.

Collaborate in Real Time Once a document is shared with another team member, the ability to collaborate in real time becomes available. As you type in a document, you may see your team member type in that same document. This feature allows for smart brainstorming and saves time in the editing process. No more emails to send back and forth just to get someone’s suggestion.

Team Drive The Business and Enterprise editions include the ability to create a Team Drive. If you are using the Basic version, a folder can be 40 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

created in My Drive and shared with individuals on your team. Think of it as your “team file cabinet.” Please note: Unlike files in My Drive, files in Team Drive belong to the team instead of the individual.

Once a Team Drive is created, it can be shared with team members and given permissions that range from full access to read-only.

Files and folders may be added to Team Drive for others to use, view and collaborate.

Shared Calendars Create a team calendar to track days off and vacation time. You may invite the entire organization to see the calendar, or you can share with specific people.

Imagine if you had to track contractors and the jobs they were assigned. You could create a calendar showing these details and share it with the sales team and project manager, making it easy to keep everyone in the know.

Canned Response Canned response is a Gmail feature that allows you to send pre-designed responses.

Think of it as an email template. For example, you need to send appointment confirmations to clients on a regular basis. You could set up a generic message with time, date and location labels organized in a nice table. When it’s time

to send a confirmation, canned response will pop in your saved message. Your job will be to customize it just a little by filling in the blanks.

Sharing canned response messages with your team allows for consistency and less human error.

Host a Virtual Conference Call Using Hangouts Meet Gather your team for a “face-to-face” virtual call to discuss upcoming deadlines and new ideas. The Basic and Business versions allow you to invite up to 25 people, while the Enterprise version allows up to 50.

You may even invite people that are not in your organization.

There are several ways you can join a video meeting. One, enter the meeting code provided to you by the organizer on the web or mobile app. Two, click on the link provided in the email invitation. Three, go to the event on your calendar to join.

Note: While Hangouts Meet is supported across multiple types of operating systems, you’ll need Google Chrome installed to join the meeting via web. Once in the meeting, you are able to share your screen from your desktop.

Along with these five tools, there are many other add-ins that G Suite supports to allow you to customize it for your business needs.

Christy Rogers is the founder and lead instructor at Training Umbrella, a company that specializes in teaching Microsoft and Google Applications, along with providing computer lab and event space rentals. She has been involved in the planning and training of multiple software migrations in the Kansas City area and across the United States.

(913) 735-6275 // christyrogers@trainingumbrella.com

BIGGER | law S M A R T

( by Tim Denker )

S T R AT E G I E S

How Will Your Business Survive You? Plan early to keep best-case options available.

H

ow will your business survive you? This is not a question anyone likes to think about.

No matter what, it is planning for the end of the run on something you have invested your heart, time and money in.

Sometimes your exit is voluntary. Sometimes it’s not. Here are a few points every privately held business owner should consider: » Your business is the most important, and possibly the largest, asset you own.

It should be treated that way. » It’s your main source of income, your largest investment and provides your best return on investment. » You are probably not the only person that relies on your business. Consider your employees, vendors, customers and any other strategic partnerships you’ve been able to hash out. What happens to them if your business goes under? » You are the most important employee in your business. » Your business should be capable of paying out you or your family and still be able to continue without you.

So what type of planning should you consider? A business will either die with or succeed its owner. Those scenarios can be summed up as either a voluntary transfer or an involuntary transfer.

Voluntary Transfers This is where you get to call your shot. You choose the who, what, when, where, why and how of your businesses succession plan.

There are several ways this can be done, and not just one way of doing it.

Several considerations will need to be taken to figure out the best way to structure this type of transfer, and oftentimes identifying the “who” aspect can be the first step. Some options could be: Keep it in the family? // If this is a consideration,

you will want to consider how your estate plan is (or needs to be) structured. This is also the one example that has planning possibilities as

a voluntary or involuntary transfer (to save on taxes).

Key Employee? // You may have a manager or

other employee you already trust to keep the business going.

Competitor/Strategic Partnership? // You may

be able to identify another business owner who would have an interest in taking over your business, or there may be someone interested in buying you out.

No matter who you choose, it needs to be someone who is financially capable of completing a purchase. Oftentimes the ongoing profits of the business can assist the buyer with making payments on any loans, and more often than not, a portion—if not all of it— will end up with you, providing some ownerfinancing on the sale.

Involuntary Transfers These transfers are caused by events completely out of your control and are usually unpredictable. They include bankruptcy, divorce, disability and death.

Bankruptcy and divorce // These may prove to

be the most disruptive events to the members of a business, as you have to start considering the possibility of a member’s creditors taking over an interest in your LLC—think bankruptcy trustee, an ex-spouse, etc. In addition

to making sure this is addressed in your formation documents, if you have a partner considering marriage, a prenuptial agreement should be strongly considered.

Death and disability planning // This should

be looked into as soon as you think there is value in the company. Planning for death or disability is often done in some form of buysell agreement. This is basically an agreement that predetermines how your company will be purchased in the event you become disabled or die. It could be done with another owner(s) of the company or even with a nonowner. If done early enough, and the owner is healthy enough to keep the premiums reasonable, you can use an investment vehicle like life insurance to fund all or a portion of the purchase price.

One final tip // Plan early, and review often.

Waiting until the last minute may eliminate some very good options—or possibly even cause the death of your company.

Tim Denker is the owning attorney of Denker Law Firm LLC, a business and estate planning law firm. He is also a cofounder of www.LexLaunch.com, a site designed to help small business owners, startups and entrepreneurs quickly form their LLCs online with the affordable advice of a local attorney.

(816) 434-6610 // tdenker@denkerlawfirm.com SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

41

SCALEUP! KC

L A M E G A R A D I O ( by Dawn Bormann )

Changing the Rhythm MENTORING MAKES BIG DIFFERENCE FOR LA MEGA

A

na Hernandez and her husband and co-owner, Yvan Duin, have spent their entire adult lives in the radio station business.

From music and programming director to marketing and operations, the two have held nearly every role that radio can offer. So when they started La Mega Radio Station in July 2015, the couple knew exactly what they were getting into.

“Radio is just something you have in your veins,” Hernandez says.

They didn’t waste time turning La Mega Radio Station—100.5 FM and 1160 AM—into a successful business. Their backgrounds made it easy to build the station up. But like any good entrepreneurs, the couple was 42 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

smart enough to know they needed help before scaling. About that time, Hernandez read about ScaleUP! Kansas City. It was the ideal place to learn the ropes.

ScaleUp! is a free program offered by the UMKC Innovation Center with support from the Kauffman Foundation. The program includes classes, peer mentoring, professional guidance and more. It’s open to small businesses like La Mega that operate in a market capable of supporting more than $1 million in annual sales and that want to rapidly grow their business.

When Hernandez read about ScaleUP!, she immediately knew it would help the radio station. And the feeling paid off.

“Anytime you have an opportunity to learn something new, why not take advantage of it? We’re not perfect. We’re human beings.

We make mistakes,” she says. “If I have the opportunity to learn something and to make things better, why not take advantage of it?”

LEARNING TO LET GO

The entrepreneur had to convince herself that it was OK to step away from the office for a few hours every week to attend ScaleUP! classes. She was uneasy about it at first but quickly realized that stepping away from the business to learn was the best way to grow La Mega.

“You’re never too old to go back to school.

This is the way I look at it. We’re always trying to learn something new to make better decisions,” she says.

ScaleUP! experts immediately reminded Hernandez that she needed to better utilize her employees.

SPONSORED CONTENT

ScaleUP! classes also have improved her leadership skills, he says. Instead of taking on all the roles, she has better organized workloads. It will allow the couple to build a strong foundation to scale the business. That’s crucial, Duin says, because he dreams of creating a network Yvan Duin of four to five radio stations before he retires.

If Hernandez had burned out, it would have devastated the couple’s goals. Owning a radio station has brought so much joy to their lives.

“We love it. We love our business,” he says.

TRAINING FOR SUCCESS

“I wanted to be an octopus. I wanted to be all over the place and be all over everything,” she admits.

Hernandez had put together a strong team of employees but didn’t let them do their jobs.

“Ana thought if she didn’t do it, it wasn’t going to be done right,” Hernandez says in jest about herself.

She can laugh now because she realizes the massive toll it was taking on her physical and mental health. The load she was carrying couldn’t continue.

Duin says ScaleUP! has been life-changing.

For years he tried to get his wife to let their employees pick up more of her workload.

He often joked about it, but he was worried about her burning out.

“The thing is, we were paying them but they couldn’t do anything because Ana was taking over their jobs,” he says. “I told her, ‘OK, let’s fire all of those people and you can save the money.’”

ScaleUP! has helped Hernandez get past several other seemingly simple challenges.

For years, the entrepreneur called meetings with their entire staff to generate ideas and get buy-in on changes. She generally walked away with dozens of ideas but few action steps. It was impossible to plan events like a carnival with so many ideas but no decisions.

ScaleUP! experts suggested she call in only department managers to get their input first, then delegate work from there.

“Now instead of having communication with 12 different people all at once, now it’s five of us that get together,” she says.

ScaleUP! experts also urged Hernandez to use those meetings to listen. Don’t pretend to know it all, they told her. Listen to your staff and use their valuable ideas. It means allowing the sales director to lead meetings instead of Hernandez, they told her.

Hernandez says she had to take the time to fully train staff so they knew what she needed from them at every turn. ScaleUP! advisors urged her to stop putting it off and take the time. Her business, they said, couldn’t scale properly if she didn’t take the time to properly train employees.

VALUING THE BUSINESS

Another revolutionary change since ScaleUP! has been with finances.

La Mega started in 2015, and since then, it has traded services with many nonprofits.

The charity might display the station’s banner at a festival in exchange for free airtime.

ENTREPRENEURS

Ana Hernandez and Yvan Duin COMPANY

La Mega Radio Station (100.5 FM and 1160 AM) http://lamega1160kc.com/ A family-owned and operated radio station which plays music (70 percent from Mexican artists and 30 percent tropical). Le Mega is the only commercial Spanish radio station on the FM dial in Kansas City.

ARE YOU READY TO SCALE UP?

ScaleUP! Kansas City—a free program for KC small businesses—is looking for companies that want to supercharge their growth.

Learn more at www.scaleupkc.com

The work is important to the communityminded entrepreneurs.

ScaleUP! experts didn’t want the business to end the service altogether, but they did suggest having a set budget for such deals so it wouldn’t bankrupt the business.

Instead of having $3,000 of trade, how about half cash and half trade? ScaleUP! experts advised. They told Hernandez: “You have a good product. It’s something that you need to be proud of. It’s not something that just anybody has.”

Hernandez says she quickly learned most nonprofits were open to negotiating because they realized the airtime’s value. But the lesson went beyond simply trade, she says.

Thanks to ScaleUP! experts, she’s learned to more properly value the radio station. It also means valuing her time, which is something that many entrepreneurs fail to quantify. Not anymore though, she says.

“This is what we’re worth because we work so hard,” she says.

Dawn Bormann is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

43

IN FOCUS

North Kansas City ( by David Mitchell )

2018

RoKC has approximately 20,000 square feet of climbing and tall walls that reach up to 40 feet. (Photo courtesy of Tara Shupe Photography)

SMALL BUSINESSES GIVE NORTH KANSAS CITY UNIQUE FLAIR

‘Northtown is Definitely Becoming a Destination’ orth Kansas City, Mo., covers less than five square miles on the metro map, but roughly 900 businesses operate within its modest boundaries.

More than 25,000 workers—more than five times the number of residents— come here daily, and a growing number of consumers are flocking to the city’s breweries, restaurants, shops and unique entertainment options.

N

44 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

It hasn’t always been that way.

Adam Roberts said there was “literally nothing else in the area” to draw customers when he and partner Brent Miller took over operation of the Screenland Armour about five years ago. With dozens of other theaters in the metro area to choose from, Roberts and Miller needed a hook to make their 90-year-old theater standout, so they planned unique events and offered a vast selection of craft beers. The formula worked, and the partners are planning

an expansion that would add two new screens, a bigger lobby and amenities.

“We knew that if we offered what was missing in the entire city, people would come for it,” Roberts said, “and they did and continue to.”

AREA ‘UNLIKE ANY OTHER’

Other entrepreneurs with something unique to offer also have found their way to North Kansas City for one reason or another, making it a hub for the unusual.

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SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

45

IN FOCUS

North Kansas City ( by David Mitchell )

2018

1

2

“The area is truly unlike any other in the city,” Roberts said. “You can safely ride a bike to multiple breweries, grab a coffee or kombucha, play pickleball and catch a film in the same few-mile radius all while supporting local businesses. You can’t curate these types of businesses in a single-developer property.”

Bob Martin, a partner in iWerx, which offers private offices and co-working spaces for businesses and independent workers in North Kansas City, said RoKC climbing gym and Chicken N Pickle are drawing customers not only from all over the metro but “from all over the upper Midwest to their unique brands of recreation.”

Chicken N Pickle combines a restaurant with indoor and outdoor games, including—you guessed it—pickleball. Vice president of operations Kellen Mumm said locating in North Kansas City was an easy decision because owner David Johnson’s offices at Maxus Properties were already located in the same neighborhood. Mumm also said a smaller city government like North Kansas City’s is nimble and easier to deal with than some of the larger metro municipalities.

Chicken N Pickle opened its pickleball courts in June 2016, and the restaurant followed in January 2017.

“Everyone at the city was happy to meet with me any time and help get us open as fast as humanly possible,” Mumm said.

PARTNERSHIPS FOSTER GROWTH FOR ALL

3

4

1 Chicken N Pickle’s exterior property has a complex of courts and gathering spaces. (Photo courtesy of Chicken N Pickle) 2 & 3 Cinder Block Brewery was one of the first attractions to set up shop in North Kansas City. (Photos courtesy of Cinder Block Brewery) 4 The iWerx cafe is home to weekly networking events and the popular Cocktails & Collaboration monthly. It’s located within the coworking space and business incubator. (Photo courtesy of Paul Andrews) 46 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

While Roberts and Miller invested in an existing North Kansas City business, and Johnson opened his company in an area where he already did business, Andrew Potter ended up in North Kansas City for completely different reasons.

“It was the building,” said Potter, who operates RoKC with his brother Frank. “It didn’t need to be in a high-end area. We were looking for an industrial space. I need 20,000 square feet and a 40-foot ceiling. I can’t afford to be in an expensive retail space next to a Dillard’s.

We were looking in the West Bottoms and North Kansas City locations that had industrial space.”

Potter found it an old building that had been home to a manufacturing plant, batting cages, and a storage facility, among other things.

‘PEOPLE WANT THESE And although he was looking UNIQUE EXPERIENCES’ specifically in industrial areas, If North Kansas City’s Potter—like Roberts—said unique offerings continue that initially there wasn’t to expand elsewhere, will much else to draw North Kansas City lose people to North Kansas its niche?

City or to keep them “I don’t think so,” there once they arrived.

Mumm said. “There is a That changed quickly. community feel in North “We came in after An Kansas City that you cannot drew Potter Cinder Block Brewery,” replicate. If you were somehow said Potter, whose business able to put a Chicken N Pickle, celebrated its second anniversary in RoKC and iWerx within a one-mile radius April. “The next thing we knew, there was Chicken N Pickle and a distillery. There’s more of each other in Overland Park, it would not stuff to do now, and the longer people stay, the have the same feel as it does here.”

There’s plenty of uniqueness to go around. more money they spend.”

Mumm pointed out that Chicken N Pickle’s Potter said many of the city’s businesses neighbors include Restless Spirits, Repeal 18th work together to promote each other.

Bar & Bistro and Paul & Jack’s Tavern.

“There’s a lot of partnerships,” he said.

“If you go to Cinder Block Brewery on a continued Wednesday night, you’re going to see a lot of their customers with our stamps on their hands because they get a discount if they come to our place on Wednesday and then go to Cinder Block.”

A boy reaches for the next hold while bouldering during youth summer camp at RoKC. (Photo courtesy of Tara Shupe Photography)

SUCCESS SPURS EXPANSION

Potter credited Cinder Block with jump starting North Kansas City’s recent growth.

In the five years since it opened, four other breweries and a distillery have followed.

Cinder Block Brewery owner Bryce Schaffter said the city’s water quality—crucial for brewing beer—and available warehouse space helped spur that growth.

“North Kansas City is a great location,” he said. “It’s close to the city but has a big neighborhood vibe. We wanted to put ourselves in a neighborhood that we could help support and that could help support us.”

RoKC, meanwhile, has been so successful that it recently opened a second location in Kansas City, Mo., and Potter said the brothers expect to break ground on a third location by early May in Olathe.

“It’s been an awesome two years,” he said.

“I’m really glad our first facility was in North Kansas City.” iWerx also is expanding, adding a second location in Gladstone, Martin said.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

47

IN FOCUS

North Kansas City ( by David Mitchell )

2018

1

2

3

Restless Spirits, a 2-year-old distillery, doesn’t have an automated production line and has “bottling nights” when the public is allowed to help bottle its products. If you are looking for a different kind of experience involving alcohol, you might prefer the Velo Garage & Tap House, which combines bicycle repair and sales with a bar and taproom. Or if you’d like live entertainment to go with your local beverage, you might try Colony KC and its adjacent music venue, The Rino.

“People want these unique experiences,” Mumm said. “I would rather spend my money to experience rock climbing or pickleball than buying a video game or a material item. I want to try new things, eat a pickled chicken sandwich, try that new funky sour beer Rodney (Beagle) brewed at The Colony and ride my bike to Velo.”

DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES

Richard Groves, executive director of the North Kansas City Business Council, said one reason for North Kansas City’s growth is that lease rates are generally less expensive than some of the metro’s other popular areas, such as The Crossroads Arts District and the Power and Light District. The city also has a lower sales tax rate and no earnings tax, he said.

Regardless of which unique factors led a myriad of new businesses to pick North Kansas City, Schaffter said the city “has changed immensely” in the past five years, and people’s perceptions have changed along with it.

“I think there used to be a big stigma about being north of the river,” he said. “However,

4 1 & 2 RoKC offers more than just climbing. A day pass or membership allows full access to the fitness area which includes cardio equipment, free weights, barbells, squat racks, and yoga classes. (Photos courtesy of Tara Shupe Photography) 3 Meierotto Jewelers’ new 34,000-square-foot, two-story limestone building is the first of several buildings to come to One North, a mixed-use development. (Photo courtesy of Highline Partners) 4 Screenland Armour Theatre lobby. (Photo courtesy of Screenland Theatres) 48 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // May 2018

building, hotels, a conference businesses, in part, because of center and more, Groves said. liNKCity, the high-speed fiber What else? Well, it optic network that is operwouldn’t be North Kansas ated as a city utility.

City without something Martin said the 10-gig unique. Rick Worner, service has helped iWerx managing director of attract more than 70 busiNational Realty Advisors, nesses in less than two said One North likely years. Only three of those rt will have a beach-themed business operated in North in to •E ho restaurant with simulated Kansas City previously. rin Greco P surfing machines. The develop“There are less than 100 ment also will be home to Driv Golf communities in the U.S. that have Lounge + Brewhouse, which combines 10 gigs or higher,” Martin said. “North dining with high-tech, indoor golf.

Kansas City is one of those. From a dark fiber and ISP capacity, NKC may have been one of ‘WORD IS GETTING OUT’ the best kept secrets in all of the metro. That Of course, there’s more to North Kansas word is getting out.”

City than alcohol and entertainment. The city also is drawing more traditional commercial David Mitchell is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

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now that people have realized that it’s only five minutes from downtown, 10 minutes from the Crossroads, etc., they are making the trip up.

When they get here, they see all of these old/ new local establishments that they didn’t know existed, and it’s exciting.

“Northtown is definitely becoming a destination, and we expect more business to keep popping up.”

One source of new business will be One North, the mixed-used development at the intersection of Armour Road and Interstates 29 and 35. The roughly 64-acre project, which is supported by a tax increment financing plan, offers a prime location near Cerner Corp., North Kansas City Hospital and Harrah’s North Kansas City Hotel and Casino.

Meierotto Jewelers’ new location already is open there, and the development is expected to include apartments, a medical office

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SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

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