The Joy of Gifting Local

by Grow Nebraska | Jan 27, 2022 | GROW Blog, Uncategorized

The Joy of Gifting Local

Between reports of shipping delays, supply chain issues, and travel restrictions this year, it was clear that many people were worried about holiday shopping… but here at GROW Nebraska, we know that gifting local is the only option you never have to worry about!

This year, GROW Nebraska started our holiday Gift Box program, which allowed companies to give back to their employees and clients through thoughtfully-curated gift boxes, packed full of incredible goodies and products exclusively from our GROW Nebraska members!

One of the companies that took the most advantage of this program was E&A Consulting, an engineering company specializing in civil engineering and land development. E&A purchased 325 gift boxes for their clients, and ended up supporting 14 different Nebraska-based businesses in the process. We had the opportunity to chat with Chelsea Benck with E&A, who said, “We wanted to find someone who was local, versus supporting a big box company. We help create communities, so we found that it was important to find a company with local roots in these communities. We wanted to let our clients see how important they are to us.”

Chelsea told us that E&A was happy to be part of this partnership, and to be able to give back to their clients in a way that supports other Nebraska business owners. When asked about their experience, she said, “We really liked the option to have things customized. We were able to show who we are, using our brand colors in things like tissue paper. We’re really happy with the overall product, and definitely found value in it.”

We’re so grateful to E&A Consulting for choosing our Gift Box program, as well as all of the other participants! Here’s what they had to say about their experience with the program:

“We chose to partner with GROW Nebraska this holiday season to give our employees something different for Christmas. GROW Nebraska is excellent to work with. The gift boxes arrived at our employee’s doorsteps, and we have heard numerous positive comments on the box presentation and the gifts inside.”

— Haley Ehrke, Ag Valley Co-op

“Adams Insurance Advisors chose to send 175 customer appreciation gifts with GROW Nebraska on the recommendation of one of our employees, and we wanted to support businesses in the state where AIA calls home. As an added bonus, we could customize our box to highlight products from our direct service areas in Nebraska! I would recommend using GROW Nebraska, as they quickly responded to inquiries, provided frequent updates on our order, and were an overall pleasure to partner with for our customer appreciation gifts. In addition, they drop-shipped the gift boxes to our customers, which was helpful since many of our customers are out of state, and as a safety precaution for the ongoing pandemic.”

— Kate Wright, Adams Insurance Advisors

We want to thank everyone who participated in our Gift Box program this holiday season — it was the perfect year to gift local!

About the GROW Nebraska® Foundation

The GROW Nebraska® Foundation helps entrepreneurs get the resources they need to live in Anywhere, NE and make a sustainable living. Since the inception of GROW Nebraska® in 1998 our vision and mission has never wavered: to create viable economic development through business training, technical assistance, promotion, and access to markets. We create impactful opportunities for small business owners and entrepreneurs to live in “Anywhere”, Nebraska and make a sustainable living.

Back to Blogs

GROW Nebraska Foundation launches Google Training Series in English and Spanish

by Grow Nebraska | Jan 18, 2022 | GROW Blog, Uncategorized

GROW Nebraska Foundation launches Google Training Series in English and Spanish

Kearney, NE – The GROW Nebraska Foundation along with the Nebraska Enterprise Fund is thrilled to announce starting Wednesday, February 2, 2022, a monthly Google training series will be offered in English and Spanish. The trainings will be presented by certified Google Grow Your Business trainers Dave Meyer and Sixica Devine. The trainings will also be training on demand so even if you are unable to make the actual training time the recording will be sent out to all registered participants.

“Our board continues to push the GROW Nebraska team to offer training opportunities that will make a difference for our Nebraska businesses. If we can help businesses become more indexed in Google, it is a win for everyone” – Janell Anderson Ehrke GROW Nebraska CEO. To help make these trainings possible we have partnered with the Nebraska Enterprise fund. “Partnering with Nebraska Enterprise Fund makes this opportunity even stronger. The trainings are open to the public; anyone who wants to learn more about Google should sign up. “The GROW Nebraska Foundation Board of Directors could not be happier with our newest training series”

– Kent Grisham, GROW Nebraska Foundation board member.

The Google training in English will be offered from noon to 1:00 pm CST

Topic Name: Get Your Local Business On Google Search & Maps

The Google training in Spanish will be offered 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. CST

Topic Name: Ponga Su Negocio En Google Search Y Maps

Sixcia Devine and Dave Meyer are the Google experts who will be presenting our training series. They are exhilarated to work with GROW Nebraska and had this to say about our upcoming training series.

“Digital education for learners and small business owners is essential for professional and personal growth. The key to implementing those tools is simplicity and that is what I hope to share with the attendees who join my workshops.”

“La educación digital para estudiantes y propietarios de pequeñas empresas es esencial para el crecimiento profesional y personal. La clave para implementar esas herramientas es la simplicidad y eso es lo que espero compartir en los talleres de Google.”

-Sixcia

“I’m excited to kick off our Grow with Google training series with our first event: Get Your Local Business on Google Search and Maps,” said Dave Meyer, speaker/trainer for Grow with Google. Showing up when customers are searching online is more important than ever. Ensure customers can find accurate, updated information about your local business on Google Search and Google Maps, no matter which device they use.”

-Dave

About the GROW Nebraska® Foundation

The GROW Nebraska® Foundation helps entrepreneurs get the resources they need to live in Anywhere, NE and make a sustainable living. Since the inception of GROW Nebraska® in 1998 our vision and mission has never wavered: to create viable economic development through business training, technical assistance, promotion, and access to markets. We create impactful opportunities for small business owners and entrepreneurs to live in “Anywhere”, Nebraska and make a sustainable living.

Back to Blogs

Brownie Bar expanding with new location in West Omaha

by GROW Admin | Oct 8, 2021 | GROW Blog

Brownie Bar expanding with new location in West Omaha

OMAHA – If there’s anything we love more than seeing one of our members gain enough success to expand operations and open a new location, it’s when one of our members gains enough success to expand operations and open a new location because of dessert!

Michael Mitilier, co-owner of The Brownie Bar with Jim Friedman, took some time to tell us about the company’s exciting new developments, as well as provide some insight into their success. After the challenges that small businesses endured due to the pandemic, it’s especially encouraging to see such dynamic growth from one of our members!

After seeing so many cupcake, cookie, and donut shops around Omaha, Michael and Jim realized there was an opportunity in the dessert market for something different, and in 2019, the Brownie Bar was born.

If you haven’t heard of (or visited) the Brownie Bar, here’s a quick rundown of the innovative concept:

Step 1: Choose from 3 types of signature brownies: Traditional, Blonde, and Dark Chocolate

Step 2: Choose 1 of 9 different toppings

Step 3: Enjoy them for yourself, ship them to a loved one, or make a large order for an upcoming event!

This simply delicious business model not only helped the Brownie Bar get on its feet, but kept it upright throughout the pandemic. In addition to producing a high-quality product that people love, their active presence on social media has been extremely useful in not only getting the word out, but actually expanding to a new location.

“We were getting so many people who were coming down to our location in the old market,” said Michael. “I think a lot of those people were traveling from West Omaha, and would say things like, ‘We would have gotten down here sooner but we just don’t get downtown as often,’ or ‘We’ve been following you for about a year and finally got down here.”

So when it was time to expand, how did Michael and Jim decide where the next location would be? They took it to Facebook and let the people decide. They offered three zip codes and, after around 300 people voted, it was clear that West Omaha was the right choice.

Michael had plenty to say about the benefits of social media. “Social media is probably one of the biggest factors of our success. It gets the word out there quickly, and we can adjust it and play with it to see what’s working and what’s not working. Email marketing has been pretty good for us, too, allowing us to constantly remind clients and potential clients of our presence. That helps a lot.”

The ability to ship their brownies was a big help during the pandemic. “We do a lot of shipping. That saved us through COVID for sure, especially for the holidays and Valentine’s Day. We also have a food truck/van for private things and corporate events, which helped a lot, too.”

The fact of the matter, though, is that The Brownie Bar provides a unique, delicious dessert option that is consistent in quality and hard to forget.

“Everything is made from scratch.” Michael laughed, “Some days I’d love to find out how many pounds of butter we go through a month! The packaging has a lot to do with it, too: cute little boxes with our logos on them. And if they order a 6 pack or 12 pack, there’s crinkly paper and an instruction sheet on how to heat your brownies. It’s the little things that make it just a little more memorable.”

Michael also believes in the power of simplicity, when it comes to success. “Keep yourself lean; don’t offer 5000 products. You need space, and you need the people to do all that work, and you need to be able to do everything well.”

GROW Nebraska would like to wish a hearty “Congratulations!” to Michael and the whole Brownie Bar team. Your hard work, ingenuity, and talent has certainly paid off!

Shop Brownie Bar

Story by Lauren Bonk, owner of the Curtain and Pen Copywriting Services, a GROW Nebraska member. Lauren hails from Kearney, NE, where she works as a freelance copywriter for small businesses, startups, and even larger corporate entities in need of professionally-written marketing content for their businesses and organizations.

Back to Blogs

The Best Secrets and Science Behind Growing Your Business | GROW Nebraska’s FREE Online Training

by GROW Admin | Sep 23, 2021 | Training

GROW Nebraska’s® FREE Online Training

The Best Secrets and Science Behind Growing Your Business

How to Livestream Your Business to New Customers

What would happen if you could gather the most effective intelligence behind growing a wildly successful business alongside the strategies to put them into place and how to maintain them?

Lindsay Thomsen plans to share the most valuable, proven and relevant business insights that can directly impact your business, team and you as a leader. She will share examples of how these insights relate to her as an entrepreneur, her businesses and more than 20 years’ worth of clients.

During this webinar, Lindsay will cover the three things she sees that the best business insights are related to:

-How you perceive and operate your business,

-How you perceive and develop your team,

-How you perceive and conduct yourself as a leader.

WATCH NOW

This webinar is presented by Lindsay Thomsen. A Business Psychologist, her passion in life is inspiring, supporting and teaching others. She shared with GROW Nebraska:

“I love watching people grow; it encourages me to learn from every opportunity as well. This has led to a purpose-filled career journey as a therapist, psychologist, business coach, professor, and entrepreneur. I was inspired by my grandfathers who each pursued entrepreneurial opportunities, encountered and overcame multiple speed bumps, and left legacies that have outlived them both. I credit them for inspiring each of my entrepreneurial journeys and persevering through the challenges along the way. I am proud to have built businesses from the ground-up, resurrected a business in need, contribute to our multi-generational family business, support my husband as an owner and help business owners along the way. Since I love learning and helping others, earning a Master’s degree in Counseling and a PhD in Business Psychology provided additional education to enable the best knowledge I can share.

This training is brought to you in part by the Center for Rural Affairs. Its mission is to “Establish strong rural communities, social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and genuine opportunity for all while engaging people in decisions that affect the quality of their lives and the future of their communities.”

All Big Businesses Start Small: JayHawk Boxes

by GROW Admin | Mar 16, 2021 | GROW Blog

All Big Businesses Start Small: JayHawk Boxes

Microsoft and Apple started in garages, and Facebook started in a dorm room.

Meanwhile, Dorothy Lynch started selling her famous salad dressing at a Legion Hall in St. Paul, Nebraska. Todd Booth began his successful automotive business by working in the wash bay at a local car dealership after he graduated from high school.

While GROW Nebraska businesses haven’t reached the magnitude of Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, many have grown from small businesses to successful enterprises that are continually increasing sales, creating jobs and bringing Nebraska to the world.

GROW Nebraska members Dorothy Lynch, Jayhawk Boxes, Baker’s Candies, Platte Valley Auto and Fat Boy BBQ are all successful businesses that started small and have grown tremendously in the past few decades.

Success didn’t happen overnight for these small-town Nebraska businesses. From creating quality products to treating customers well and keeping up with technology, each business has created its own unique path to prosperity. And, for many, GROW Nebraska has played a part in their success.

JayHawk Boxes

-Fremont, NE

Jayhawk Boxes originally set up shop in Fremont in 1957 to make boxes for Hormel Foods. Today, the company makes boxes, displays and other products for businesses mainly in the Midwest but also across the United States.

Jayhawk recently completed a $17 million expansion project that included adding 65,000 square feet of space, upgrading machinery and adding employees to boost its staff size to 69 people.

The company can design and create a box for any product in almost any shape, size or color. They also design and create floor and counter displays, yard signs and more and can personalize boxes with photos or names.

Sales Representative Scott Reeson, who has been employed with Jayhawk Boxes for 32 years, works with each business owner to design custom boxes to best fit the product.

Reeson said the company has grown tremendously during his tenure: “Since I’ve been here, we’ve expanded four times, built onto the building, and we probably had about 40 employees when I started.”

He said part of the reason for the company’s success is the focus on keeping up with technology and treating employees and customers well.

“The owner of our company believes in keeping up the times,” Reeson said. “We have to continually look for new machines, faster machines and machines that will help the workforce and cut down on workforce injuries, and he’s willing to spend the money on our plant. We can produce a box faster now than we ever have.”

Reeson added that Jayhawk doesn’t experience much employee turnover, and “it’s a great place to work.”

Being a member of GROW Nebraska has allowed Reeson to connect with business owners who need his company’s product. For example, GROW members can set up a booth in the networking plaza of the annual MarkeTech conference. This year’s conference will be held July 15. Click here for more information about the conference.

“It’s allowed me to meet some very interesting people throughout the years and it’s allowed me to help a lot of people where they wouldn’t know where to go to get a box to package their product,” he said. “We can modify the box and make it the exact size for your product. That means less damage when GROW members are shipping their product.”

He also can refer his clients to other GROW Nebraska members who can help them with anything from labels and bags to where to buy locally-raised beef.

“I think GROW and everything they are doing is fantastic,” he said. “I’ve never met anyone with GROW who hasn’t been helpful and courteous, and I’m proud to be a member.”

For more information on JayHawk Boxes, click here.

Story by Kristine Jacobson, GROW Nebraska member and owner of KRJ Public Relations, a business that helps non-profits and businesses tell their stories and gain momentum through blogs, newsletters, annual reports, social media and other publications.

Back to Blogs