Mentors play a key role in helping teach entrepreneurs about themselves and their businesses. Having a mentor will help business owners avoid common startup mistakes, run a lean operation, set goals, and master the art of running a company. More…
You’ve seen the ads on television. Fuzzy-headed Alpacas and happy people talking about how Alpacas changed their lives. You might have wondered what the fuss is about. Debbie Jesse can tell you. She and her husband Steve breed and sell Alpacas…
Countless volumes have been written over the years about the causes of failure. I thought I would explore the other side of this issue and speculate on the causes of success. Why are Border’s Books, Linens and Things, and Circuit City out of…
If necessity is the mother of invention, inspiration is certainly the father. Lloyd Lautzenhiser, one of the inventors of the Walk’n’Chairâ„¢, was originally inspired by the needs of his grandfather, a farmer, who needed a…
When he began, Dave Lockie needed a pug mill but he couldn’t afford the price tag, so he build one himself, using photos as a guide. Thirty years later, it’s still going strong, processing clay for the pottery studio.
The clay, used in…
Alexa Calio, owner of Refuge Building, knows consumers are concerned with saving money. While people are convinced of the health benefits of using green products, they hesitate because they’re afraid it’s unaffordable. She wants to…
You’d be surprised where some of the largest companies in the world started their businesses. Companies including Microsoft and Hewlett Packard bootstrapped and started out of their homes. So have many of the successful companies based in Bozeman…
An old, rural airport near Emigrant may not be the first place you think of to call home or headquarters for your handmade journal business, but that’s exactly what Katie Clemons, 29, is doing. Part of the airport’s hangar is being adapted to…
There’s a new trend cropping up in cutting edge studios around the country. A new sexy kind of portrait is quietly becoming what one photographer called “the biggest hidden market in the world.” It’s hidden because theses are private…
The distinctive style of Q. Miller Jewelry makes it unique and identifiable no matter where you see it. And you can see it coast-to-coast, since Marcia Miller and her daughter and co-owner, Callie, travel to about 30 retail and wholesale shows during…
