Upsize Minnesota March/April 2024

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— Tanner Montague, Green Room

Marketing music

Arenas, clubs, other hotspots jockey for consumer ears, dollars

KNO LEDGE

At Crown Bank we are a team of knowledge seekers. Gaining deep knowledge into our clients’ businesses, plans, needs, and opportunities is what brings us to work every day. Because the more we know about our clients the more we can help them succeed. It’s how we make the possible, possible.

What can we make possible for your business?

CONTENTS

March • April 2024 • Vol. 23 No. 2 • www.upsizemag.com

PAGE 16

Cover story

From Target Center, U.S. Bank Stadium and Xcel Energy Center to First Avenue, The Dakota and Green Room in Uptown, the Twin Cities music space is crowded and competitive. A few of the venues shared their strategies for getting ears on them and standing out in a crowd

BY ANDREW TELLIJOHN

Cover photograph by Tom Dunn

PAGE 4

Founder’s Forum:

CKC Good Food Founder and CEO Nancy Close talks about the importance of listening and then promptly acting with Upsize Founding Editor Beth Ewen

PAGE 4

Staff list: Who’s who at Upsize magazine and how to reach us.

Upsize Minnesota (USPS 024-029) is published bi-monthly by Broad Axe Media, 2908 W 71 1/2 St., Richfield, MN 55423. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN and additional mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Upsize Minnesota, PO Box 23238, Richfield, MN 55423-0238

BUSINESS BUILDERS

PAGE 6

CULTURE

Use your culture to improve employee engagement and business success by Ayme Zemke, Beehive Strategic Communications

PAGE 8

EXIT PLANNING

More than half of Minnesota’s business owners lack an exit plan. Here’s how to fix that by Lisa Meyer, Sunbelt Business Advisors

PAGE 10

LAW

Everything you need to know about the Corporate Transparency Act by Jeffrey O’ Brien, Chestnut Cambronne

PAGE 12

SALES

How to create a successful, repeatable sales process by Mike Huey, Scalable Sales Solutions

PAGE 14

STAFFING

Make your company the cool place for accounting and finance talent by Gwen Martin, Scouts Talent

COLUMNS

PAGE 22

CATCHING UP

A few years post Boomchickapop, Angie Bastian reflects on what worked, shares what she and husband Dan would do differently if they started another company and informs on what she’s doing now, helping build sustainable futures for Nicaraguans living in poverty

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EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

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Listen then act is winning recipe for CKC’s founder

Ifyou’ve ever packed lunches for your picky kids—no crusts for this one, hair-trigger gag reflex for that—imagine trying to please 45,000 mostly school-aged customers a day. That’s the challenge for Nancy Close, founder and CEO of CKC Good Food.

At age 24 she bought her parents’ restaurant and soon started a catering business, preparing food for a relative’s day care business. “I had an extreme interest. I had a little nephew there. It was so important every day to do the best I could,” she recalls.

Today she’s 63 and a new inductee into the NAWBO Minnesota Women Business Owners Hall of Fame, with a killer growth story.

©

we discuss every comment.”

Every year, CKC invites a group of people to its commissary for hands-on feedback. “We go over their three favorites and three least favorites, and then we get down to the tasting. We listen carefully and document everything they say.” One result is more than 200 different menus served daily.

CKC Good Food has 220 employees. “I started with my dishwasher and myself,” she says. “We’re serving 45,000 meals a day. It’s staggering.”

A separate business, Menu Freedom, is a web-based platform to help schools plan menus that meet complicated U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines and gain “really good, from-scratch recipes” to service their students. “My team built a rocket ship to the moon for foodservice. It’s another way to grow.”

Her core values? “You have to listen to what people want, and then you have to explain it to people working with you, so they understand what the goals are,” Close says.

For her, listening is a constant process with multiple groups of people, followed quickly with actions.

The kids are first, of course. “We have so many different cultures of students that we serve. If you think about serving a Latino group of kids with a Somali group of kids,” she says, “even the hot sauces taste different and they may not like that. Every day we get a recap, and every week

The idea extends beyond customers. Around 2012, she was told she needed to hire an HR director. “I said, ‘I need what?’ You need a professional. That was one big learning curve. For about a year, I kind of scowled when I walked by, because I’m not supposed to be interviewing any more, and it was about setting up systems and processes. That can be so hard to go from when you’ve been running things on your own, but it’s the best thing you can do,” she says. “You don’t lose the beautiful way you want to be with your employees. All you do is strengthen that, and I didn’t know that.”

CKC went through a branding process last year and the firm that did the work interviewed employees. “One of the questions they asked was: What is your greatest concern with CKC? The answers were: when Nancy retires,” she says.

“First of all, it was the greatest compliment. But second it told me to focus on helping my leadership develop the same relationships, the same type of closeness” that she has with employees.

Listening is just step one for Close; what comes next is key. “It’s leading with listening, and then doing something about it.”

—Beth Ewen founding editor bewen@upsizemag.com

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banking

culture

BUSINESS BUILDERS

BUSINESS BUILDERS

Manage your cash flow in a few simple steps

by Craig Veurink

Cultivating a culture for growing your business and your people

by Ayme Zemke

TIPS

1. Set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future

The unique dynamics of a small business make workplace culture crucial to its success. Unlike large enterprises, small organizations depend on tight-knit teams to play pivotal roles in everyday operations. Research reinforces the link between a positive workplace culture, employee engagement and business success, elevating an organization’s opportunity for long-term growth and sustainability.

But what defines a strong workplace culture? While many factors contribute, a strong workplace culture is built on respect, a shared purpose, open communication and a sense of belonging. It’s an environment where everyone feels safe to share ideas and collaborate — and where accomplishments are recognized. These factors directly impact employee engagement, which is why culture is such a powerful tool for attracting top talent, boosting productivity, continuous innovation and business growth.

Building your ideal workplace culture

Small businesses are usually founded by entrepreneurs who have a unique vision and a passion that drives them to work late hours, take chances and believe in what they’re doing. But, just as Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, successfully running a small business requires rolling up your sleeves and putting in significant time on more mundane, day-today matters.

values, growth plans and opportunities, and how individuals contribute to a greater, shared mission.

Employees become highly engaged when they feel involved, trusted and recognized. Seek ongoing feedback from your team — not just through annual surveys, but by creating safe spaces for honest dialogue and informal conversations.

Actively listening and responding to your employees signals their well-being and input are central to your culture. Unlike large corporations that may take months to approve changes, small businesses can pivot quickly according to input. Let your team propose a cultural initiative and, if it aligns with your values, try it!

“When do I start to turn a profit?”

Rather than wonder, set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future.

2. Put cash-flow management before profits

Celebrate progress as a team and recognize individual achievements — even minor improvements can have a big impact on small teams. Whether through values-based awards, small bonuses or even handwritten notes, expressing gratitude creates a sense of shared success and motivation. Celebrate risk-taking and learn together from missteps. This fosters an environment conducive to experimentation and creative thinking.

TIPS

2. Put cash flow before profits. It might seem counterintuitive, but if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix

1. Developing an exceptional workplace culture begins with defining your core values.

3. Secure credit ahead of time. Most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected

2. Ensure you can easily articulate your values so they’re clear to both current and potential employees.

3. Employees become highly engaged when they feel involved, trusted and recognized.

4. Consider using a payroll service. Having the professionals take care of collecting payroll taxes saves them an enormous amount of time, helps streamline their cash flow

4. Celebrate progress as a team and recognize individual achievements.

5. It starts at the top. Leaders play a pivotal role in setting the tone of a workplace culture through both words and actions.

5. Schedule your payments. Don’t go delinquent but do divide your payments into categories such as “must pay,” “important to pay” and “flexible payment terms.” This can help keep sufficient cash on hand.

Developing an exceptional workplace culture begins with defining your core values — the guiding principles that drive your decision-making and interactions. Ask yourself: what beliefs make your business unique and how should they be reflected in your practices, policies and operations every day? Ensure you can easily articulate those values so they’re clear to both current and potential employees.

You can be driven, impassioned and have a great idea to fill a niche or serve customers in new ways, but if you don’t attend to the details of the business, you can create for yourself a heap of problems.

Here, we’ll look at one of the most important of these business details: managing cash flow. Especially for early startups, knowing how much cash is coming in and going out, and accurately forecasting sales and expenses, is key to maintaining your company’s health.

No matter where you are in your business, keep these things top of mind:

Organizational communication is essential for a strong workplace culture that resonates with today’s evolving workforce. Employees are seeking (and increasingly expecting) professional development opportunities, collaboration, authenticity and purpose. Clear, consistent communication creates a meaningful connection that can effectively bridge what employees desire and what a company offers.

1. Know when you will break even

This might seem counterintuitive, since profits are how you survive. However, if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix. Keep things organized and well managed so you can be ready for whatever success comes your way.

3. Secure credit ahead of time

Finally, extend your efforts to support your employees outside of traditional work hours. Deloitte reported that 60 percent of employees, 64 percent of managers and 75 percent of the C-suite are seriously considering quitting for a job that would better support their well-being. Embrace the agility of a small enterprise.

Experiment with different meeting styles and flexible work arrangements or invest in well-being initiatives like inoffice stretching sessions or subsidized healthy snacks. Don’t be afraid to act quickly and adjust based on what works best to demonstrate a genuine commitment to the overall well-being of your employees.

Every small business owner keeps at the front of their mind the question:

Leaders have an opportunity to openly address these expectations, providing transparent messaging about company

Nurturing, sustaining a thriving culture

Too often, small business owners wait until they need it to secure credit. This can cause a lot of unnecessary stress, or worse. Talk to experienced business owners in your area and industry ahead of time to know how much revenue you’ll need up front. Take a realistic look at the situation and plan. You might have sufficient cash reserves or a rich uncle who is only a call away, but most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected.

Leaders play a pivotal role in setting

the tone of a workplace culture through both words and actions. For example, they send a powerful message when they consistently demonstrate core values and related behaviors. Those who exemplify open and transparent communication create an atmosphere of trust. This encourages employees to feel comfortable sharing ideas, addressing concerns and actively participating in building a positive, collaborative and growth-minded environment.

Even company cultures built on solid foundations benefit from regular assessment and adjustment. The best way to achieve this is through honest feedback, metrics of success and clear alignment on shared goals. Candid communication about cultural challenges or feedback empowers teams to identify improvement opportunities and develop actionable solutions together. Consider scheduling one-on-one “stay interviews” with employees to better understand the culture elements that matter most to support retention and growth.

Fostering connection among employees supports the long-term success of a culture. When team members feel seen and supported, motivation and loyalty naturally follow. Providing social connection opportunities beyond daily work creates space for innovation, problem-solving and cohesion. This can include volunteering opportunities, walking meetings, coffee talks or team lunches. These efforts directly correlate to building a culture that attracts top talent, increases retention and supports growth.

Don’t hesitate to turn your culture into a compelling narrative by spotlighting successful initiatives, recognizing employees who exemplify company values and featuring external award wins.

These stories become powerful tools. Internally, they reinforce identity and inspire employees to live the company’s values. Externally, they demonstrate a differentiated culture, attracting like-

minded talent and customers who resonate with the company’s mission. Ultimately, sharing your culture strengthens your employee value proposition and solidifies your brand.

Making an impact

Highly engaged teams outperform the rest in business outcomes critical to the success of your organization, according to Gallup. This is especially true for small businesses, where a tight-knit team can make a massive difference. When employees feel heard, empowered and appreciated, they’re more creative and more innovative problemsolvers, helping your organization gain an edge in your market.

A vibrant workplace culture also benefits a company’s bottom line and its ability to scale long-term. With satisfied employees likely to stay with the company, retention rates soar. This minimizes hiring expenses and reduces the constant state of onboarding that can impact performance. When potential investors assess a small business, a strong workplace culture signals resilience, a commitment to employee well-being and the potential for a thriving future.

Creating and sustaining a positive company culture can feel daunting, but it’s a journey with long-term benefits. Begin by reflecting on your existing company culture with a critical eye. Take an inventory of your current practices and assess if they’re helping or hurting your values. Then, commit to cultivating an environment where employee voices are heard and innovation is championed.

The commitment to ongoing progress will undoubtedly bring your organization success with stronger employee morale, greater customer loyalty and an overall business climate ripe for longterm growth.

Contact: Ayme Zemke leads client experience at Beehive Strategic Communications: 651.789.2235; azemke@beehivepr.biz; www.beehivepr.biz; in/aymezemke

“Let your team propose a cultural initiative and if it aligns with your values, try it!”

Ayme Zemke Beehive Strategic Communications

exit planning

BUSINESS BUILDERS

Manage your cash flow in a few simple steps

by Craig Veurink

Exit planning gap: More than half of MN businesses unprepared

by Lisa Meyer

The 2023 Minnesota State of Owner Readiness survey reveals a growing trend among business owners to prioritize exit planning yet highlights a significant gap: more than half have not yet formulated a formal transition strategy.

TIPS

TIPS

1. Set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future

1. The Minnesota State of Readiness survey indicates that half of businesses have not started an exit plan, a 20-percentage-point improvement from 2017.

2. Put cash flow before profits. It might seem counterintuitive, but if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix

2. Business owners commonly transfer their businesses to a family member, an employee or an external party with relevant experience.

3. Secure credit ahead of time. Most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected

3. Integrate exit planning into day-to-day activities several years before you intend to sell to ensure you are ready when the time comes.

4. Consider using a payroll service. Having the professionals take care of collecting payroll taxes saves them an enormous amount of time, helps streamline their cash flow

4. One step owners can take to test their readiness to sell is seeing if the business can function with them away. If it can’t, take steps toward allowing it to do so.

5. Consider what you will do after selling your business. It will help you feel more comfortable moving forward after a sale.

5. Schedule your payments. Don’t go delinquent but do divide your payments into categories such as “must pay,” “important to pay” and “flexible payment terms.” This can help keep sufficient cash on hand.

This underscores the crucial need for education to equip business owners for a successful business transition upon exit.

What is an exit plan and why do you need it?

Small businesses are usually founded by entrepreneurs who have a unique vision and a passion that drives them to work late hours, take chances and believe in what they’re doing. But, just as Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, successfully running a small business requires rolling up your sleeves and putting in significant time on more mundane, day-today matters.

You can be driven, impassioned and have a great idea to fill a niche or serve customers in new ways, but if you don’t attend to the details of the business, you can create for yourself a heap of problems.

A business exit plan prepares an owner or owners by serving as a roadmap for the eventual departure from their company. It typically involves several advisers, such as a certified exit consultant, an attorney, a CPA, a financial adviser and a business broker/adviser. The goal is to help business owners successfully transition the business when they are ready.

Common ways to transfer a business

Here, we’ll look at one of the most important of these business details: managing cash flow. Especially for early startups, knowing how much cash is coming in and going out, and accurately forecasting sales and expenses, is key to maintaining your company’s health.

No matter where you are in your business, keep these things top of mind:

Business owners commonly transfer their businesses to a family member, an employee or an external party with relevant experience, such as a strategic buyer or private equity firm.

1. Know when you will break even

The goal is to maximize the sale proceeds to ensure a successful transition that meets the owner’s

Every small business owner keeps at the front of their mind the question:

“When do I start to turn a profit?”

personal, professional and financial goals while providing continuity for their employees, customers, suppliers and the community.

Rather than wonder, set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future.

The previous Minnesota State of Owner Readiness conducted in 2017 included 43 percent of responses from baby boomers, while the 2023 survey had 27 percent of baby boomers, with most respondents representing either Gen X or Millennials.

2.

Put cash-flow management before profits

This might seem counterintuitive, since profits are how you survive. However, if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix. Keep things organized and well managed so you can be ready for whatever success comes your way.

The 2023 Survey indicated that respondents prioritize exit planning more now than in the past. Those who have started planning indicated their top priorities were written goals and objectives, a personal readiness to transition assessment, a documented personal financial plan and written and updated will and estate plans.

3. Secure credit ahead of time

The 2023 survey indicated that 50 percent had not formed an exit planning advisory team. Although that may seem low, it was a 20 percentage point improvement from the 2017 survey. Efforts by the Minnesota Chapter of the Exit Planning Institute and other advisers are making strides in raising awareness of the benefits of exit planning.

The survey indicates that business owners’ most trusted advisers were financial advisers, attorneys and accountants. Retirement planning was a top priority for many, which was apparent with a high percentage

Too often, small business owners wait until they need it to secure credit. This can cause a lot of unnecessary stress, or worse. Talk to experienced business owners in your area and industry ahead of time to know how much revenue you’ll need up front. Take a realistic look at the situation and plan. You might have sufficient cash reserves or a rich uncle who is only a call away, but most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected.

of respondents seeking advice from financial advisers. A common question business brokers and financial planners hear is, “How do I ensure I have enough money in retirement once I sell my business?”

When asked what best describes how business owners plan to transition their businesses, the top answers included internal transfer to a family member; a transfer to an external party, such as an individual, strategic acquirer or private equity firm; or an internal employee stock ownership plan. Some indicated they were unsure.

Steps for preparing to sell

Business owners will benefit from integrating value enhancements and exit planning into daily operations, including continuing to learn about the process. Some suggestions include:

1. Learning what is important to buyers and how to enhance their business value long before they are ready to exit.

2. Cross-training and providing employees with additional responsibility.

3. Increasing profits by adding new sources of revenue.

4. Cleaning up financials by working closely with their accountants.

5. Enhancing operational procedures.

6. Diversifying client and supplier list.

7. Making sure the company can run even if the owner is on vacation for a few weeks.

Working in conjunction with your exit planning consultant, accountant, attorney, financial advisers, a

business broker or adviser should be able to help you answer the following essential questions:

1. How much is your company worth?

2. What will my net proceeds be after the deal closes?

3. How long will it take to sell my business?

4. Is now a good time for me to sell, and if not, what steps should I take to be prepared when I am ready?

It is essential to keep in mind that 50 percent of all exits are forced from death, disability, divorce, distress or disagreements.

Even if the exit is planned for several years from now, preparing will provide benefits for years to come. In addition, according to The Family Firm Institute, only 30 percent of companies successfully transition to a second-generation family member and only 12 percent to a third-generation member.

Business owners must be familiar with all the potential transition options and be flexible to adjust the plan if needed.

One more thing …

One of the most important questions a business owner should consider is what they will do after they exit their business. Understanding their purpose outside of their business will allow them to feel more comfortable moving forward with an exit when they are ready.

Advisers can help with that too. So, in summary, establishing a team of advisers early will help business owners ensure a successful transition on their terms.

Contact: Lisa Meyer is a business broker with Sunbelt Business Advisors: 612.361.4918; lmeyer@sunbeltmidwest.com; www.sunbeltmidwest.com; in/lisa-meyer-4388610b

“Business owners must be familiar with all the potential transition options and be flexible to adjust the plan if needed.”

Lisa Meyer Sunbelt Business Advisors

banking

BUSINESS BUILDERS

Manage your cash flow in a few simple steps

Ten things to know about the Corporate Transparency Act

by Craig Veurink

by Jeffrey O’Brien

TIPS

TIPS

1. Set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future

1. The Corporate Transparency Act requires small businesses to file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report with the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and then update it for changes to the ownership or control of the business.

2. Put cash flow before profits. It might seem counterintuitive, but if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix

1. What is the Corporate Transparency Act?

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is a federal law passed in 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act that took effect on January 1, 2024. The CTA requires small or midsize businesses to file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report with the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and subsequently update that information for changes to the ownership or control of the business.

2. What is the purpose of the Corporate Transparency Act?

CTA’s stated purpose is to prevent and fight tax fraud, money laundering, financing of terrorism and corruption.

3. What does the CTA require?

under the new law.

If your business is registered with a state, has fewer than 20 employees or less than $5 million in annual gross receipts, then you may be required to both file a report with the FinCEN and subsequently update that information for changes to the ownership or control of the business.

Companies that are required to file a report under the CTA are referred to as “reporting companies.” The list of exempt companies that are not required to report includes mainly financial businesses and mid-to-large size businesses. The following are the exempt business types:

• Large operating company

2. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions in order to combat domestic and international crimes.

3. Secure credit ahead of time. Most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected

3. The Beneficial Ownership Information Report can be completed online at FinCEN’s website or by a law firm on your behalf.

Consider using a payroll service. Having the professionals take care of collecting payroll taxes saves them an enormous amount of time, helps streamline their cash flow

4. Reporting firms formed before January 1, 2024 have until the end of 2024 to comply. New businesses formed after January 1, 2024, have 90 days to file. Those formed after January 1, 2025 will have 30 days.

5. Schedule your payments. Don’t go delinquent but do divide your payments into categories such as “must pay,” “important to pay” and “flexible payment terms.” This can help keep sufficient cash on hand.

CTA requires small and midsize businesses that qualify to report specific information about their business’s ownership interests and persons in control of the business, as well as updates whenever that information changes.

4. Who is FinCEN?

Small businesses are usually founded by entrepreneurs who have a unique vision and a passion that drives them to work late hours, take chances and believe in what they’re doing. But, just as Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, successfully running a small business requires rolling up your sleeves and putting in significant time on more mundane, day-today matters.

You can be driven, impassioned and have a great idea to fill a niche or serve customers in new ways, but if you don’t attend to the details of the business, you can create for yourself a heap of problems.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury that collects and analyzes information about financial transactions in order to combat domestic and international money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes.

5. Is my business subject to the Corporate Transparency Act?

Here, we’ll look at one of the most important of these business details: managing cash flow. Especially for early startups, knowing how much cash is coming in and going out, and accurately forecasting sales and expenses, is key to maintaining your company’s health.

No matter where you are in your business, keep these things top of mind:

1. Know when you will break even

Every small business owner keeps at the front of their mind the question:

Millions of businesses are impacted by the CTA. Any domestic business that is registered with a state and is not deemed exempt must file a report with FinCEN. Foreign business entities registered in any state are also required to file a report with FinCEN. Effectively, this means that any business type — including but not limited to LLCs, corporations or any other entity type that requires a state filing to organize — may be required to file a report

“When do I start to turn a profit?”

• Inactive entity

• Tax-exempt entity

• Investment company or investment adviser

Rather than wonder, set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future.

• Venture capital fund adviser

• Securities reporting issuer

• Governmental authority

• Bank

• Credit union

2. Put cash-flow management before profits

• Depository institution holding company

This might seem counterintuitive, since profits are how you survive. However, if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix. Keep things organized and well managed so you can be ready for whatever success comes your way.

• Money services business

• Broker or dealer in securities

• Securities exchange or clearing agency

• Other Exchange Act registered entity

• Insurance company

• State-licensed insurance producer

3. Secure credit ahead of time

• Commodity Exchange Act registered entity

• Accounting firm

• Public utility

• Financial market utility

• Pooled investment vehicle

• Entity assisting a tax-exempt entity

• Subsidiary of certain exempt entities

The first exemption type for “large operating company” requires a business to maintain 20 or more full time

Too often, small business owners wait until they need it to secure credit. This can cause a lot of unnecessary stress, or worse. Talk to experienced business owners in your area and industry ahead of time to know how much revenue you’ll need up front. Take a realistic look at the situation and plan. You might have sufficient cash reserves or a rich uncle who is only a call away, but most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected.

employees and annual gross receipts of $5 million or more. Given these narrow exemptions, millions of small businesses are now required to file a report with FinCEN and keep that information current.

6. What is a Beneficial Ownership Information Report?

A Beneficial Ownership Information Report, called a BOI, contains the information required by the CTA about the ownership interests of a business. The report can be completed online at FinCEN’s website or by a law firm on your behalf. The BOI report includes the names of individuals that exercise substantial control over a separate business entity or individuals who own 25 percent or more of a business entity. Owners may opt to obtain an individual identification number that can be submitted instead of their names and other identifying information.

7. Is there a deadline for a business to file its Beneficial Ownership Information Report with FinCEN?

Businesses that were formed before January 1, 2024, and that are required to comply with the law, have until the end of 2024 to comply and file their report. New businesses that were formed after January 1, 2024, have 90 days to file their report. Businesses that are formed after January 1, 2025, have only 30 days to file their report.

Following the initial report, should there be any changes to the ownership structure — be it a change in ownership, gifts of equity to children, transfers to trusts, or owner address changes — you are required to report these changes to FinCEN. Any such changes must be reported within 30 days of the effective date of the change(s).

8. What changes does my business have to make because of the Corporate Transparency Act?

It is unlikely the CTA will require any immediate changes to your business. The information collected is not publicly searchable. It is only available to federal agencies and state and local law enforcement.

9. What are the penalties for not complying with the Corporate Transparency Act?

Qualifying businesses that fail to report within the initial reporting period of January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2025, or within 90 days after registering their business for new businesses that start in 2024, can face financial penalties of up to $500 per day. Officers and owners of the company may also be held criminally liable and could face up to a 2-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.

10. Does the Corporate Transparency Act require any state filings?

The CTA requires you to file reports with FinCEN. At this time, the State of Minnesota does not require any similar report to be filed. However, states are not precluded from adopting similar laws. One state — New York — has already enacted its own separate state statute modeled after the CTA.

Bonus: What do you make of legal challenges to the CTA?

There are challenges to the CTA’s constitutionality, but they are not expected to be successful. Be prepared to proceed with filing as outlined above.

Contact: : Jeffrey O’Brian is a partner with Minneapolis-based Chestnut Cambronne PA.: 612.336.1298; jobrien@chestnutcambronne.com; www.chestnutcambronne.com; in/jeffreycobrien

“Millions of businesses are impacted by the CTA. Any domestic business that is registered with a state and is not deemed exempt must file a report with FinCEN.”

Jeffrey O’Brien

Chestnut Cambronne

banking

BUSINESS BUILDERS

Five steps in scaling your sales systems

by Mike Huey

Manage your cash flow in a few simple steps

by Craig Veurink

TIPS

TIPS

1. Get everyone’s input on creating the sales process. Not only will you get multiple ideas, but salespeople will self-select areas to refine, and you will develop buy-in to the process you document.

1. Set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future

2. Get a CRM that can scale with you. Pick software that is affordable to you now and can grow with you as your sales grow.

2. Put cash flow before profits. It might seem counterintuitive, but if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix

3. Keep salespeople accountable. Meet with them weekly to ensure they are performing the number of activities that lead to sales and are putting their information in the CRM.

3. Secure credit ahead of time. Most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected

Business owners and top executives usually fall in one of two buckets. The first is the owner who really knows how to produce the product or service the company makes. They systemized their operations using principles like LEAN management.

Small businesses are usually founded by entrepreneurs who have a unique vision and a passion that drives them to work late hours, take chances and believe in what they’re doing. But, just as Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, successfully running a small business requires rolling up your sleeves and putting in significant time on more mundane, day-today matters.

The second group is the owners who are excellent salespeople. They close deals. They either make most of the company’s sales or oversee the sales department themselves. They hope they can get salespeople who can sell like them, as well as them and as fast as them. They later get frustrated because no one sells like they do.

get one. Use an A/B test to track two systems and see which produces more leads per dollar spent.

“When do I start to turn a profit?”

Continue the flow chart as the prospects work with sales. Ask these questions:

Rather than wonder, set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future.

• What does sales do with the lead?

• How do they qualify the lead?

• How do they discover the needs or wants of the lead?

2. Put cash-flow management before profits

• How do they present solutions and negotiate contracts?

4. Hire from outside of your industry. Find a sales star who is at the top of their field making 80 percent of what they will earn with you. They will stay longer because they see you as a career move, not a job change.

4. Consider using a payroll service. Having the professionals take care of collecting payroll taxes saves them an enormous amount of time, helps streamline their cash flow

5. Create an onboarding program that has input from other departments. Ask your leaders to list everything you think a new salesperson needs to know. This becomes your curriculum.

5. Schedule your payments. Don’t go delinquent but do divide your payments into categories such as “must pay,” “important to pay” and “flexible payment terms.” This can help keep sufficient cash on hand.

Sales really is as repeatable as your operations. Here are the benchmarks you need to accomplish to get your sales systems repeatable and growing.

You can be driven, impassioned and have a great idea to fill a niche or serve customers in new ways, but if you don’t attend to the details of the business, you can create for yourself a heap of problems.

Document the sales process

Here, we’ll look at one of the most important of these business details: managing cash flow. Especially for early startups, knowing how much cash is coming in and going out, and accurately forecasting sales and expenses, is key to maintaining your company’s health.

The days of solely trusting sales to come in from the salesperson bringing donuts to an account is over. To have repeatable sales, you need a repeatable sales process. To have a repeatable sales process, you need to document your sales process.

No matter where you are in your business, keep these things top of mind:

1. Know when you will break even

• How do they hand off the completed contract to your operations team?

This might seem counterintuitive, since profits are how you survive. However, if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix. Keep things organized and well managed so you can be ready for whatever success comes your way.

3. Secure credit ahead of time

When the flow chart is complete, you are ready to produce a sales playbook. This playbook goes into greater detail for each step of the process. It is a document with links to the quote forms, videos, testimonials, contracts and any other tools you use in the sales process. This is a detailed document you give future sales employees to run your sales process.

Use and leverage a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program

Every small business owner keeps at the front of their mind the question:

Just like your operations have a flow chart, create a flow chart showing the journey your prospects and customers go through with your sales and marketing departments. Start by documenting your proven lead generation system. If you don’t have one,

Too often, small business owners wait until they need it to secure credit. This can cause a lot of unnecessary stress, or worse. Talk to experienced business owners in your area and industry ahead of time to know how much revenue you’ll need up front. Take a realistic look at the situation and plan. You might have sufficient cash reserves or a rich uncle who is only a call away, but most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected.

I had one client who told me he kept track of everyone in their sales pipeline on a whiteboard! Could you

imagine what would happen if the cleaning staff accidentally cleaned the board one night?

Have a CRM that is easy for the sales team to use and easy for you to see a dashboard. You need to quickly see the data you require to manage the team. This data should show not only the sales but the indicators and activity levels of your sales team leading up to the sale.

Consider a salesperson named Peter. Peter was second out of six on one company’s sales team. However, the CRM dashboard showed his meeting counts were low and therefore, the number of quotes was low. Since their sales cycle was three months, the company and its partners warned him he’d better bring his activities up or he would have a famine in his future. He didn’t believe it. Since he didn’t work on the leading indicators shown in the CRM, three months later he became the lowest salesperson by a long shot.

Improve the process and create accountability

The same way you can take a process in operations and begin improving it, you can do that with the sales process. Just as you would hold your operations people to the process of production, you must hold salespeople accountable to the sales streamlined processes.

Streamlining can be done in sales meetings and one-on-one sessions, but the best place for accountability is out in the field. Watch salespeople live. Discuss how to improve after each meeting. Do not use these meetings for you to close the sale. Use these meetings to observe.

Recruit superstar salespeople

Most owners settle for “B” or “C” salespeople and don’t know how

to find “A” players. Look for great salespeople outside of your industry. That’s right. Outside. If they are inside your industry, superstars don’t want to leave their companies for yours because they have a great thing going. The people who leave another company for another in the same industry are average employees who see problems on their horizon.

Ask yourself these two key questions?

1. How many people at your company could teach someone in your industry how to be an incredible salesperson?

2. How many people at your company could teach an awesome salesperson the industry?

Create a 90-day launch plan for the new salesperson

Develop a plan that tells a new employee what they should do, learn and experience for the first 90 days. Ensure they take responsibility for completing the plan, not you. Now your onboarding is scalable.

Make sure at least once a week they are scheduled to demonstrate, report or prove they learned what was required.

Great salespeople are drawn to your company because you have a proven process, a CRM to keep track of everything and a launch plan when they come. “A” players love accountability because it gives them a chance to show off. Great salespeople are what you are looking for to scale sales and they will dramatically increase the quality of your culture.

When business owners implement these five steps, not only do you get a scalable sales system, but you increase revenue and valuation.

Contact: Mike Huey is president of Scalable Sales Solutions: 763.299.4429; mike@ScalableSalesSolutions.com; www.ScalableSalesSolutions.com; in/ mikehueysales

“Great salespeople are what you are looking for to scale sales and they will dramatically increase the quality of your culture.”

Mike Huey Scalable Sales Solutions

banking

BUSINESS BUILDERS

Make accountants the new “cool kids”

by Gwen Martin

Manage your cash flow in a few simple steps

by Craig Veurink

TIPS

TIPS

1. More CEOs start their careers in accounting and finance than any other part of a business. Finances are your business.

1. Set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future

2. Accountants are also the storytellers of your business. They are the holders of knowledge.

2. Put cash flow before profits. It might seem counterintuitive, but if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix

3. Invest in the career paths of your accounting and finance people. Many companies are aligning employees with coaches to assist in their career development. It works for new hires and current employees.

3. Secure credit ahead of time. Most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected

4. Consider investing in creative approaches to keeping stress levels down, such as providing day care and elder care resources, meal delivery services or even dog walking services.

4. Consider using a payroll service. Having the professionals take care of collecting payroll taxes saves them an enormous amount of time, helps streamline their cash flow

The shortage of accountants is old news by now. Every day I talk to clients and fellow business owners about how this challenge is impacting their business. The Wall Street Journal says accountants are leaving the industry “in droves.” The CPA Journal calls it a “severe crisis.” And recruiters are having to go further upstream to secure future hires.

With fewer graduates choosing careers in accounting, and more baby boomers retiring, businesses are struggling to fill their accounting roles and keep their accountants long term.

are perceived in your organization. No one wants to join a team where they’re viewed as a nerdy, headsdown task worker with no personality. Especially when their skills are so central to your success.

It’s not a stretch to say accountants are the plumbing and wiring of your business.

“When do I start to turn a profit?”

5. Show your excitement and understanding about the importance of your financial team during job interviews to let candidates know they would be valued while working in your organization.

5. Schedule your payments. Don’t go delinquent but do divide your payments into categories such as “must pay,” “important to pay” and “flexible payment terms.” This can help keep sufficient cash on hand.

This talent shortage isn’t going away. And, at this point, most of the quick fixes have become nonnegotiable table stakes. It’s no longer enough to simply offer higher salaries or signing bonuses — those things are now expected as the baseline.

Small businesses are usually founded by entrepreneurs who have a unique vision and a passion that drives them to work late hours, take chances and believe in what they’re doing. But, just as Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, successfully running a small business requires rolling up your sleeves and putting in significant time on more mundane, day-today matters.

What’s the solution?

You can be driven, impassioned and have a great idea to fill a niche or serve customers in new ways, but if you don’t attend to the details of the business, you can create for yourself a heap of problems.

Start by asking these questions: What can you do beyond superficial fixes? How can you attract accounting talent to your firm and make them want to stay? What strategies can position your company as an attractive choice to job seekers? And how can you inspire the limited number of available candidates to join your team?

Here, we’ll look at one of the most important of these business details: managing cash flow. Especially for early startups, knowing how much cash is coming in and going out, and accurately forecasting sales and expenses, is key to maintaining your company’s health.

Here are a few pieces of advice. The first one offers the biggest impact— not only for your new hires but also for your current accounting and finance teams. (Best of all, it’s free.)

No matter where you are in your business, keep these things top of mind:

1. Reframe the old beancounter stereotype: Smart people are cool!

1. Know when you will break even

The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to rethink the way accountants

Every small business owner keeps at the front of their mind the question:

Rather than wonder, set a realistic goal for when you want to break even. This will help you to focus your efforts and provide a numerical benchmark for projecting your cash flow in the near future.

Think about it. More CEOs start their careers in accounting and finance than any other part of a business. Why? Because your finances are your business. The information needed to support strategic decisions comes from your accountants. They see your numbers and trends clearly and they feel valued and respected when they’re tapped to share their insights.

2. Put cash-flow management before profits

In that way, accountants are also the storytellers of your business. They are the holders of knowledge.

This might seem counterintuitive, since profits are how you survive. However, if you aren’t organizing your cash flow, you’ll run into problems that a profitable quarter might not be able to fix. Keep things organized and well managed so you can be ready for whatever success comes your way.

Accounting and finance are the language of business and they drive strategic decisions. People who can intelligently discuss how your company makes money, and which drivers and levers move the top and bottom lines, can truly contribute to decisions for its growth.

Of course, not every accountant will become a CFO or a CEO, but every accountant will directly support those roles. And without young pros coming into this field, we’ll have fewer C-suite leaders who see things through the accounting/finance lens and who are equipped to make solid decisions.

3. Secure credit ahead of time

Too often, small business owners wait until they need it to secure credit. This can cause a lot of unnecessary stress, or worse. Talk to experienced business owners in your area and industry ahead of time to know how much revenue you’ll need up front. Take a realistic look at the situation and plan. You might have sufficient cash reserves or a rich uncle who is only a call away, but most small business owners should secure as much credit as possible. This is the best way to be prepared for the unexpected.

When accounting candidates see that your business values them as strategic thinkers and potential future business leaders, it will be far more compelling to forgo other opportunities, join your company and stay.

2. Level up the table stakes

If you aren’t already offering competitive pay, compelling bonuses, remote work and flexible schedules, you’re probably being overlooked by great, qualified candidates.

Benefits like these are now expected and, without them, you’ll be getting the leftovers from firms who are. (Which, by the way, is pretty much all of them.)

3. Invest in their career paths

Recognition, advancement and growth opportunities have bigger impacts on recruitment and retention than simply awarding an occasional bonus. One strategy I’m seeing from more and more companies is to align employees with a coach as an investment in their personal and professional development. It’s a strategy that’s equally effective with new hires as with current employees.

The key is to work with a professional coach from outside your company, a neutral party, who will work one-on-one with your employee over a period of time. For example, you might provide a coach to work with a new hire over the course of their first year, to help them set and achieve their own goals, problem-solve any challenges, elevate their communication skills and accelerate growth in their new career.

People see coaching as an investment in their personal growth and it’s a compelling way to drive excitement and passion for their work. Any size company can benefit from investing in this kind of professional coaching for their employees.

4. Prevent burnout

Accounting careers — especially in public accounting firms — have always had an especially bad reputation for burnout. Long hours during the busy season and blocked-out

vacation days during month-end and quarter-end are just a couple things that add to that reputation. And, with the ongoing talent shortage, studies show that more than 90 percent of accountants report suffering from burnout — that’s on par with frontline healthcare workers!

Addressing this challenge requires some delicate balancing, but it’s essential that you do. Gone are the days when long hours were a badge of honor. Today’s employees care more than ever about mental health and having a well-rounded life. It’s critical that you find ways to provide work-life balance.

This might mean offering a wide range of benefits that help optimize work hours. Some businesses are taking creative approaches to keep stress levels down, including providing day care and elder care resources, meal delivery services or even dog walking services.

Bottom line: You’ve got the power to change things.

The Wall Street Journal cites “low salaries, mundane tasks, burnout and the threat of new technology like generative AI” as reasons many accountants are leaving the field — and new ones are avoiding it.

Fortunately, you have control over most of those things.

Your financials are the hub of your business, the source from which business decisions are made — and your accountants are the people who make that possible. When you approach your job candidates with that mindset, you can speak with passion and excitement about their essential role on the team in a way that will keep them excited about being a part of it and contributing to the ongoing success of your business!

Contact: Gwen Martin is a partner with Scouts Talent: 612.308.1100; gwen@scoutstalent.com; www.scoutstalent.com; in/gwenmartin

“No one wants to join a team where they’re viewed as a nerdy, headsdown task worker with no personality. Especially when their skills are so central to your success.”

Gwen Martin Scouts Talent

Sweet marketing music

Competitive local entertainment scene requires nimble, bang-for-buck promotional efforts

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before.

He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.

But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.

“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”

Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the

attention of the local concertgoer?

Social media marketing

Sometimes the best marketing efforts are the grassroots kind.

As an active musician, Montague knows people who know people. So, he’s using his existing network and building on that, as well.

“I’m making new friends,” he says, “I’m going out to shows. I’m playing my own shows at other venues. All these musicians know me and they have seen this space grow over the last year just knowing me directly.”

Montague thinks he’s also benefiting from some nostalgia, the idea that people would like to come back to Uptown. Once they’ve tried his venue, they usually do return, he adds.

But he’s also tapping into the low budget, high return social media market. Instagram is his platform of choice for getting the word out.

“I am of the generation that is growing up with Instagram,” he says. “I understand it and I don’t hate it as

by Andrew Tellijohn

photographs by Tom Dunn

Tanner Montague, owner of the Green Room in Uptown, has mastered Instagram and in-person networking to build business at his Uptown music and dining venue.

COVER STORY

The Minnesota Orchestra has used social media, ticket giveaways and other put significant resources in recent years into marketing its employment opportunities, musician openings and new shows aimed at introducing orchestral music to new audiences.

much as other people. I run the Instagram. It’s my own personal account.

“I’m posting every day. I know how to get in touch with the people I want to get here,” Montague says. “That’s been our biggest way to get the word out.”

With respect to other strategies, Montague adds, if it’s not something that is a passion to you or if it’s out of your wheelhouse, it might make sense to find someone else to do it. He hired someone to help him monitor younger bands from the local University of Minnesota music scene.

“Focus on what you do, what you do enjoy,” he says. “Get people in your circle to do the stuff that you don’t like. That’s what I try to focus on.”

Courting new audiences

Montague is not alone in focusing on social media marketing. The Minnesota Orchestra is a much larger organization, but it’s also using social media and other traditional marketing efforts to get the word out on some of the new initiatives and programs it has put in place to get orchestral music in front of a new audience. The organization took significant steps internally, however, to figure out what those new programs would be and how they would move them forward.

The Orchestra has been working diligently for more than a half-dozen years to expand the audience for its performances and to appeal to previously underserved groups.

President and CEO Michelle Miller Burns, who arrived in September 2018, says the organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts predate her when it comes to balancing staffing, board and performer roles.

Those efforts are starting to show up on its calendars now, as the organization has added Juneteenth and Lunar New Year celebration concerts to its performance schedule in recent years.

“Those are now part of our regular season offerings,” she says. “We also have taught very expansively about musical choices and compositions by composers of African, Middle Eastern, Latin, Indigenous and Asian

COVER STORY

descent.”

The Orchestra is offering young people’s concerts to introduce children to music from different cultures. Many of these options are being driven by the hiring and auditioning of a more diverse workforce and collection of musicians.

“Fundamentally as an organization we believe that music is for everyone and we want that objective to be realized in all that we do,” Burns says. “Just listening first and then taking action that is responsive to what we are hearing in our community is really important.”

Those efforts have impacted programming and marketing choices made across the organization. One program has allowed 9,000 children between six and 18 to attend classical concerts for free this season. Another, a “Choose Your Price” series allowing folks with limited incomes to pay what they can, starting at $5. More than 2,500 tickets have been sold that way.

The Orchestra also has retooled its schedule to include shows starting at five different times to make them more accessible for folks who wouldn’t typically be available when concerts typically had started. Saturday matinees starting at 2 p.m. and Saturday evening shows starting at 7 p.m. “have sold well beyond our expectations,” she says. “We are seeing really positive results.”

New programs promoted in traditional ways

The Orchestra has been using traditional marketing tools, at least in today’s day and age, to market these programs and she’s hearing from peers around the country interested in emulating them.

“We have a really robust social media program that is highly respected by orchestras around the country,” she says. “We also promote concerts through email. A lot of things now are electronic communications as opposed to print materials because that’s really responsive to meeting consumers where they are and where they get their news and how they plan their entertainment.”

Target Center officials engage heavily in the business networking scene and often partner with venues like First Avenue to market acts that have previously played at each other’s venues.

“Focus on what you do, what you enjoy. Get people in your circle to do the stuff that you don’t like.

That’s what I try to focus on.”

— Tanner Montague, owner, Green Room

Word of mouth

Brian Liebeck, co-owner of Icehouse Minneapolis, says he’s tried it all, especially in light of COVID, from which he acknowledges his venue and the industry have not yet fully recovered.

Standard ad buys have been an option in the past, but they’ve never worked that well in recent years, he says, adding that head counts don’t indicate tremendous return on investment.

A dinner jazz series co-sponsored with Jazz88 FM worked better — it really helped generate an audience for a summer series of music last year.

“We do a dinner-jazz series and we do a lot of jazz,” he says. “That actually has been a real big help.”

At day’s end, Liebeck will try anything once when it

CONTACT:

MICHELLE MEYER BURNS is president and CEO of the Minnesota Orchestra: 612.371.5656; www.minnesotaorchestra.org; in/michelle-miller-burns-4aa576b/

BRIAN LIEBECK is co-owner of Icehouse Minneapolis: www.icehousempls.com; in/bliebeck

TANNER MONTAGUE is co-owner, general manager and talent buyer at the Green Room: 206.919.1769; tanner@greenroommn.com; www.greenroommn.com; in/tanner-montague-9503666b

AMY RAHJA is assistant general manager at the Target Center: 612.673.1300; www.targetcenter.com; in/amyrahjamn

comes to breaking through the noise and keeping the lights on.

“We just try to keep every faucet trickling open and when one seems like it’s working, then we open it more,” he says. “For us, that’s staying true to our bookings and making sure we’re booking better shows.”

But there are a lot of clubs saturating the market and only so many musical artists. First Ave., Turf Club and the Dakota have their national reach. Icehouse, prior to COVID, focused solely on the local music scene.

Icehouse, especially following a post-pandemic makeover, is primarily focused on local bookings. The restaurant/club has a new booking person with pedigree in both local and national acts. But the focus, he says, is probably on the local counterculture movement.

“And some of those have actually worked really well,” he says, adding that once someone comes to your venue — whether for a show or a burger — it’s important to keep them coming back because, in the end, word-ofmouth — in his eyes — is the best marketing.

“Just trying to stay within the community and staying true,” he says. “That’s I guess what we’ve been doing.”

Working with the competition

Target Center might be a large venue, but its corporate staff count is still below 50 and, while it’s primarily competing with U.S. Bank Stadium and the Xcel Energy Center for national and international acts rather than First Avenue and other smaller local venues, it’s still fighting for eyes amid a market with many options and limited disposable income for entertainment.

“Our full-time staff is lean and mean,” she says. “We work really hard, but there’s not a lot of extra folks.”

So, while it might have the advantage of being able to advertise upcoming musical concerts on the Jumbotron during Timberwolves or Lynx basketball games or other events, there are also ways in which arena staff are just as scrappy as smaller competitors.

Staff is heavily into networking within the commu -

nity and making sure “we have our finger on the pulse of what ‘s going on in the community and what are the musical tastes or entertainment tastes and needs of the people here,” says Amy Rahja, assistant general manager. “It’s important for us to have really good partners, media partners, local businesses and [partners at] other institutions.”

That might mean attending meetings and getting to know folks from Meet Minneapolis, the Downtown Council, local chambers of commerce and other such organizations.

But those partnerships also extend to places like First Avenue, the Armory and other similarly sized venues, where they might help each other out in staying on top of who should be playing where.

“It’s unique here in the sense that we’re all very different sizes in what we host,” she says. “So, from my perspective at least, it’s the clubs and theaters and the venues feeding that next wave of entertainer, if they’re successful and doing well, that bodes well for the arena business and for us. We’ve always found that playing nice together is the right thing to do.”

And that can actually lead to collaboration, at least

from a marketing perspective. If Target Center is hosting a concert with someone that once played First Avenue the club might send out an email blast or provide a special offer to its followers announcing the performance and vice versa, Rahja says, adding that the adage of a rising tide lifting all shifts “is definitely our philosophy at Target Center.”

We’re still here

As far as Montague and the Green Room are concerned, there’s progress to be made but satisfaction in having gotten where it has in its first year.

“I’ve never done this before,” he says. “I don’t know where I should be, where I could be, whether we’re in a good spot, if we’re in a bad spot, but we’re still here. And we’re booking a bunch of shows and we’ve got a calendar full going into the summer and the following fall and winter.”

And it seems to only be getting better. “Definitely, this year, more and more national acts are hitting me up, have been contacting me, which means they are finding out about me some way or another,” he adds. “It’s been great.”

by Andrew Tellijohn

Still popping

Boomchickapop co-founder now helping poor Nicaraguan families till better futures

Angie and Dan Bastian started Angie’s Kettle Corn in 2001 out of the garage of their Mankato, Minnesota house with little more than a desire to work together and build up college funds for their three children.

By the time they sold what became Boomchickapop in 2017, they had filled the funds of not jusmat their own kids, but those of many other families who invested along the way.

“We didn’t have any money, but what we did have was a zero percent-interest credit card solicitation for $10,000,” Angie Bastian said at a 2015 WomenVenture event attended by Upsize Founding Editor Beth Ewen.

They used that credit to purchase equipment allowing them to pop and sell the healthier snack option, first at fairs, amateur sporting events and farmers’ markets and then at Vikings games

Angie and Dan Bastian started what became Boomchickapop in their garage, growing steadily until selling to Conagra Foods in 2017.

The Bastians created Boomchickapop as a way to work together and build their children’s college funds. The company ended up helping many families in Mankato do so.

and, ultimately, grocery stores and other outlets around the world.

Angie, a nurse by trade, and Dan, a teacher, eventually had to ramp up to a more legitimate production facility when a buyer from Lunds and Byerly’s liked the product. Then, when Martha Stewart called, “Things got crazy and it started taking over our life,” Bastian told Ewen

Prospera Foods

Description: Benefit corporation serving as sales, marketing and distribution arm for nonprofit producer of cassava shipped to U.S.

Headquarters: Nicaragua

Founded: 2021

Board chair: Angie Bastian

Employees: About 300

Website: www.opportunitynicaragua.org/

Took a break, but not for long

The sale to Conagra allowed the Bastians to savor their unlikely success story and take a break. But it was a short one.

“We were tired,” she says. “But I went with a group of women on an Insight Trip with an organization called Opportunity International.”

Opportunity International is a nonprofit microfinance organization that offers financial solutions to help families that are living in poverty build sustainable livelihoods and access quality education for children.

“Their target audience, they work with people that make less or live off of less than $2 a day,” Bastian says. “This is significant poverty around the world. They support entrepreneurs, they do farm-agricultural loans, they help people build schools, that kind of thing.”

The mission spoke to her. She went to Uganda and Rwanda in 2016 getting to know the organization and in 2018 spoke at one of the organization‘s meetings in Nicaragua.

The organization had started working with small shareholder farmers and built a production plant for process yuca into cassava flower. Bastian now chairs the board of Prospera Foods, a benefit corporation that spun off from Opportunity International to provide sales, marketing and distribution of the resulting product

into the U.S.

“We’re shipping quite a bit of cassava into the U.S. market with brands I knew from way back and they are buying our product,” she says.

It’s a day-by-day business in Nicaragua, with the poverty and dictatorial government. You never know what might happen, Bastian says, but the organization pays its taxes, does its work and intends to keep moving forward until told otherwise.

“We just keep our noses down, do the work, do what we can and stay out of politics,” she says, adding that the mission fuels her. “It’s educating the next generation. We can employ these farmers or we can buy the farmers’ goods but then you have to educate the next generation. This school was going before I got involved. We just are now about 100 percent sustainable.”

Lessons learned

The Bastians, Angie says, are too young to retire and are happy to have the opportunity to give back after having achieved so much success themselves.

Their successes continue to be noticed. Last year, in Mankato, the U.S. Small Business Administration recognized them as an example of what the SBA hopes for in assisting businesses. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Gov. Tim Walz, SBA Regional Administrator Geri Aglipay and many other dignitaries attended.

Many Mankato residents spoke highly of the family and they got a chance to thank many who supported them in their early years. She acknowledges it was hard — all consuming — for 17 years and that “if we had to do it over again, we would try and create a little bit more balance in our lives or maybe take some time out for ourselves, just a little bit.”

Angie says now they learned a lot of lessons about perseverance along the

Contact: Angie Bastian co-founded Boomchickapop and now chairs the board of Prospera Foods: www.opportunitynicaragua.com; in/angie-bastian-31085010

The Vikings, Lunds and Byerly’s and Martha Stewart all helped spur growth at Boomchickapop.

way. She also wants entrepreneurs, even as they grow beyond being small businesses, to remember they know their companies better than anyone else — including equity firms that buy in to help them grow.

The Bastians took on private equity twice, first in 2014 and then again in 2017. The second time, when TPG Growth bought in, she remembers being intimidated at first being on the 50th floor of a large office building in San Francisco full of smart board members who had backgrounds in business that she lacked.

“Dan and I were completely intimidated,” she says.

The equity firm’s team knew business in general, she says. But when they talked about shutting an innovation lab as a cost cutting measure, Angie found her voice, spoke up and said doing so would be a mistake because that was how Boomchickapop discovered many

of its new flavors.

“They want to trust you and they want to work with trustworthy people,” Bastian says. “They have a method by which they create value in the business and I think they would have been receptive with us had we been way more assertive.”

And it all worked out even better than they expected. They’re busy, but comfortable — able to afford a few niceties, such as a beach condo, though they rarely use it.

“Dan and I can’t sit still,” she says. “We were too young to retire, so we needed to keep doing stuff. We are still grateful that we got the chance to build the business and get a chance to retire and do some of these other kinds of things that are really meaningful to us.”

“If we had to do it over again, we would try and create a little bit more balance in our lives or maybe take some time out for ourselves, just a little bit.”

Angie Bastian co-founder, Boomchickapop

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Crown Bank

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Sunbelt Business Advisors

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Thinking about buying or selling a business? Sunbelt is the world’s largest seller of private companies. We work with business owners to help them understand the current value of their business and how to maximize their net proceeds at the time of sale. Sunbelt will provide business owners with a completely confidential, no-obligation value range.

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Integrated Consulting

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Aktion Interactive

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EXIT STRATEGIES

Exit Planning Institute

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763-208-9119

exit-planning-institute.org

Jessica Hawthorne, Administrator admin@e-officeconnection.com

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Bassford Remele

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612.333.3000

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Lingate Financial Group

7575 Golden Valley Road, Suite 100 Minneapolis, MN 55427 763-546-8201 www.Lingate.com

Greg Loeschke — Managing Principal

Through the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) credential, the Exit Planning Institute provides professional advisors with the content, tools, and training needed to gain more access to business owners, strengthen relationships, and become the most valued advisor.

EXIT STRATEGIES

Exit Planning Strategies, LLC

p. 651 426 0848 — www.exitplanstrategies.com

Dyanne Ross-Hanson: President e. drh@exitplanstrategies.com

Bassford Remele is in the business of meeting legal challenges. Our trial lawyers solve disputes for corporate clients in Minnesota and across the nation and we have a depth of experience in many industry areas. When businesses seek solutions, from the conference room to the courtroom, they seek Bassford Remele.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Prouty Project

6385 Old Shady Oak Road, Suite 260 Eden Prairie, MN 55344

952.942.2922 | www.proutyproject.com

Kari Baltzer | stretch@proutyproject.com

Exit Planning Strategies, LLC, a firm dedicated to offering business owners objective, fee based, financial consulting in the development of intentional ownership transition plans. We direct an inter-disciplinary process to explore planning options, map realistic exit strategies and to develop an Action Checklist, to accomplish an owner’s unique objectives.

Move your business forward with investment capital generation, deep-level network connections and strategic refinement consultation from Brimacomb and Associates. We partner with emerging companies and professional services firms to offer unparalleled access to professional resources, executive suites and financing sources.

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Founded in 1945, Lingate Financial Group is a leading provider of lower middle market merger & acquisition advisory services, representing privately held businesses of all types with revenues of $5 – 50 million. Lingate helps business owners with marketbased valuations, business sales, mergers, acquisitions, recapitalizations, and internal transitions among family members, partners and management.

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True North M&A

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We help business owners achieve their exit goals. True North Mergers and Acquisitions serves companies with $5 million to $150 million in revenue and their strategic advisors. We specialize in business owner exits, business valuations, and acquisition services in the lower middle market. If you are considering exiting your company, contact our team today.

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The Capital Club

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The Capital Club (CAPS) is a sports-centered, business-networking group designed for established and emerging leaders in the Twin Cities. Members gather monthly over breakfast to hear from notable sports figures and accomplished individuals who share their journeys, stories and strategies for success. For more information, contact Patrick Klinger at patrick@ agilemarketing.com.

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Coalition9

PO Box 834

Lester Prairie, MN 55354-7832 www.coalition9.com

Aaron Eggert | aaron@coalition9.com

Leadership is lonely. We build your tribe. Coalition9 memberships provide peer advisory groups with an emphasis on personal and professional growth. As a member, you will experience interactive learning while connecting to the resources and people that will help you be your best. Our vision: Changing business nine leaders at a time™

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Prouty Project

6385 Old Shady Oak Road, Suite 260 Eden Prairie, MN 55344 952.942.2922 | www.proutyproject.com

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Brimacomb + Associates

TCF Tower, Suite #1600, 121 South Eighth St., Minneapolis, MN 55402 612-803-3169 * www.brimacomb.com

Rick Brimacomb, rick@brimacomb.com

Chief Strategy and Relationship Officer

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KeyeStrategies

Minneapolis, MN

Keyestrategies.com 763-350-5563

Julie Keyes, Founder/CEPA

“KeyeStrategies LLC advises business owners in Transition and Exit Planning. Julie Keyes is both a Certified Exit Planning Adviser (CEPA) and Value Growth Adviser. She is also a faculty member for the Exit Planning Institute’s Global organization and President of its local Chapter.”

Results-oriented advisory firm with unparalleled access to executive suites and financing sources. Emerging companies and established professional services firms rely on our depth of knowledge and deep-network connections to grow client lists, assemble project resources and secure new sources of funding.

WEALTH MANAGEMENT

JNBA Financial Advisors

8500 Normandale Lake Blvd., Suite 450 Minneapolis, MN 55437 952.844.0995 www.jnba.com

Cärin Viertel, Director of Client Services

Being a small business we understand the needs of small business owners. And with 40+ years of experience in providing conflict-free advice, our proactive and integrated approach allows our multi-generational teams to put clients first when delivering customized financial life planning and investment strategies to help maximize their resources.