You may not realize it but Bozeman has been dubbed as the most livable place by the Montana Office of Tourism. The rock climbing, skiing, mountainous views make it a dreamland for nature enthusiasts! But even if you’re not too keen on things involving nature, Bozeman still has something for the city slickers as well. From symphonies and art galleries to farmers’ markets and street festivals, Bozeman has brought so many people to this thriving city for numerous reasons.

Because Bozeman practically has something for everyone, it’s no wonder why it’s been dubbed as the most livable city! There’s just one more reason as to why it’s earned that title that the Montana Office of Tourism failed to mention… What lots of people don’t realize is that Montana is actually a prime location for aspiring entrepreneurs to start their businesses.

To be fair, the fact that Bozeman is an entrepreneur’s dream isn’t necessarily a Montana “attraction” that brings people to the city for the Montana Office of Tourism to report. BUT... with it being an “attraction” to aspiring entrepreneurs, Montana’s Office of Tourism should make it an exception in tourism!

Just kidding, but if you’re currently living in Bozeman or are thinking of relocating to Bozeman and are wanting to start your own business here, there are a few things you need to do. Follow this checklist on how to get your business up and running in the most livable place called Bozeman.

Create a Detailed Business Plan
In short, your business plan is going to be the blueprint for the future of your business. You might have it in your head that you’re going to do this and that but it means nothing unless you have laid everything out in full detail.

To create a detailed business plan, you’re going to outline how you plan on achieving success for the next three to five years. It needs to explain your business goals and how you plan to achieve them. It also needs to list the risks your business could potentially face as well as how you plan on overcoming those risks (i.e. type of coverage your business needs).

One of the more important aspects of your business plan is going to be how you plan on funding your business. Lenders and financial institutions are going to want to see this portion of your business plan in great detail. You’ll also need this detailed business plan if it comes down to needing or wanting to sell your business too, according to Entrepreneur.

Determine the Best Legal Entity for Your Business
Whether you choose a sole proprietorship or an LLC, you are going to need to determine which one is best for the type of business you plan on starting. Each entity has its own set of pros and cons but again, based on the type of business you’re starting, you’re ultimately going to be the one to determine which one is a better fit.

Get Your Employer Identification Number (EIN)
An easy way to think of an EIN is by looking at it as a social security number but for businesses. Your EIN is the unique identifier that classifies your business as a legal business. In all honesty, the only reason you even need an EIN is solely for tax purposes. If you want to open a business in Bozeman, you’re definitely going to need to obtain this… Your EIN is going to be the very factor that’s going to allow you to hire employees and open a business bank account, etc.

Get Your Business Registered in the State of Montana For Tax ID and State Taxes
Each state has its own state tax ID So with you wanting to start a business in Bozeman, you’re going to need to get yours registered in Montana. Now, the requirements and obligations vary from state to state so you’re going to need to look up Montana’s requirements so you can go on and get the process rolling.

Obtain the Proper Licenses and Permits Needed For Your Business
Depending on the type of business you’re starting, there are certain licenses and permits that might be required of you by the state of Montana. For example, if your business will be selling alcohol in any way, you’re more than likely going to have to present your EIN and then apply for the licenses and permits you need… they won’t just hand them to you.

Open a Bank Account Specifically For Business Transactions
One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is keeping their personal and business transactions in the same account… this is the quickest way to lose your personal assets and to simply mess up the accounting for your business.

To prevent any confusion and loss of monies, keep a business account and your personal account. Also, to save yourself any confusion, you should just hire an accountant to help you in that area. There are plenty of experienced accountants in Bozeman that would be more than happy to assist you with your accounting needs.

Hire! Hire! Hire!
Yes, the products or services you’re selling are going to be an important part of growing your business but what business owners fail to realize is that the employees are the ones who keep the business afloat. From their knowledge of the products or service you’re selling to their overall attitude and customer service they provide, they’re the face of your business, ultimately.

The great news about hiring employees is that Montana’s minimum wage is increasing in 2020! That should help you get people in the door ready to work!

When you hire your first employee, you can consider that as a major milestone on the journey of your business. But before you start hiring people, make sure you have insurance that will cover them for any type of accidents (it’s illegal not to) and just make sure you’ve checked off everything on this list.

Traeger Grills & Kenyon Noble are teaming up again, this time its about giving back.

Traeger & Kenyon Noble have partnered on many great events in the past years from BBQ classes to sponsoring the Montana Pitmaster Classic each year. On Wednesday, December 18th they will be working together again on something special & close-to-the-heart, they will be gifting new Traeger grills to local city first responder units. Day in & day out these brave women & men put their lives on the line to help protect us, help us & sometimes burning the candle at both ends trying to keep our
neighborhoods & businesses safe. Voluntarily sacrificing time away from their families is an everyday occurrence. With this gift we hope to bring a little joy, amazing food & a sense of appreciation.


Maybe its burgers & steak after a long shift, or a brisket on a summer weekend or just the smiles it will bring to their faces sitting around the table talking about great memories together. On behalf of all of us at Kenyon Noble, Traeger Grills and our families... Thank You and Merry Christmas!

Montana State University and its partners at the Montana Office of Public Instruction and the University of Montana have received a $2.3 million grant for a program that is designed to train high-quality school and mental health counselors to work in rural areas of Montana. The grant, from the U.S. Department of Education, will be used for a five-year project, "Rural Mental Health Preparation/Practice Pathway.” Montana was one of only three states to receive this grant.

“We have a real need to recruit, prepare and retain counselors to work in Montana’s rural schools,” said Anna Elliott, the grant’s principal investigator and an assistant counseling professor in the MSU Department of Health and Human Development in the College of Education, Health and Human Development. “This grant aims to help K-12 students in these rural schools, as well as to provide excellent training to help our graduates be successful in these settings.”

MSU’s partners on the grant include the University of Montana’s Department of Counseling and the Montana Office of Public Instruction. Additional state partners include the Montana Rural Education Association, the Montana Small Schools Alliance and the Montana School Counselor Association. Co-principal investigators on the grant are Jayne Downey, associate professor in the MSU Department of Education; Rebecca Koltz, head of the MSU Department of Health and Human Development; and Kirsten Murray, professor in the Department of Counseling at UM.

“In Montana, we know that our students need additional access to mental health supports,” said Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen. “I am proud to partner with Montana’s universities to increase the talent pipeline of counselors to our rural schools and communities. Student mental health continues to be a top priority at the Office of Public Instruction under the agency’s Montana Hope initiative.”

Elliott said the majority of the grant funds will support graduate students in their preparation and their post-graduation placement, including their lodging, travel and living expenses during a 10-month internship they must complete before graduation.

“There’s a real value to having our students and graduates intentionally integrated in the community where they’re serving,” Downey said. “We want to help make it possible for these students to integrate into their communities so that they can make real connections.”

As part of the grant, MSU and UM will provide financial support for approximately 10 students each year who are enrolled in their university’s graduate counseling and counselor education programs. Over the lifetime of the grant, approximately 50 students will be supported who will provide counseling at high-needs rural schools over the course of the five-year grant. Additional support will be available for one year for program graduates who choose to continue to work after graduation in a rural setting.

“Building five cohorts of counselors-in-training prepared to address rural counseling needs specific to Montana is an amazing opportunity,” Murray said. “The students from the two institutions will participate in training and preparation together, building lasting professional networks across the state that will not only serve them now but in their future careers.”

MSU and UM are each adding a class to their respective counseling curriculum that is focused on special issues related to working in rural populations, and Elliott anticipates that parts of several other courses will be adapted to more prominently highlight issues in rural counseling.

Program participants will also have a number of opportunities to gain experience in rural settings, Downey noted. The degree program takes two years to complete; in their first semester, students participate in a short rural life orientation, and in the second semester they participate in a rural practicum. In their second year, students in the program will complete a 10-month internship in a rural community, with each student providing at least 600 hours of service.

Finally, Elliott said, to make MSU’s and UM’s programs more accessible to counseling students serving rural communities across the state, those programs are growing more agile in their delivery systems and schedules, aiming for students to be physically on campus just one day per week during their internship year.

Holly Mook, Coordinated School Health Unit director within the Health Enhancement and Safety Division at the OPI and the grant’s project director, said the grant will address a critical need in Montana’s rural schools.

“Many of our rural schools do not have access to school mental health supports, let alone community mental health supports, due to various things like geography or lack of trained professionals,” she said. The grant’s partnerships strengthen it, she added.

“The partnerships within the grant are critical in training and preparing graduate students in rural life and cultural responsiveness, as well as promoting graduate programs to existing school staff in rural areas in order to meet these needs,” Mook said.

The program is roughly modeled after another five-year grant project based in MSU’s College of Education, Health and Human Development that aims to address a shortage of teachers in rural schools across the state. Announced in October, that program is called “Addressing Rural Recruitment and Retention in Montana" and is supported by a $6.2 million grant. 

“We realized that this teacher preparation model had real potential to support the preparation, recruitment and retention of rural school counselors and mental health professionals,” Downey said. “So, we’ve adapted the teacher preparation model to fit for rural school counselor preparation.”

Elliott added that many parallel challenges exist between the two.

“As a state, Montana is large, remote and isolated. We’re aware of the fact that Montana has one of the highest suicide rates in the country every year,” she said. In small, rural schools, there are also often limited resources, she added. Limited resources often translate into limited support for mental health staff.

Koltz said the “gravity” of these needs would be too much to address without the unique collaboration between Montana's two flagship universities and the Office of Public Instruction.

“By working together, the MSU and UM counseling programs hope they will be able to increase the number of counseling professionals prepared and equipped to make a real difference in rural communities across Montana,” Koltz said.

Elliott added that “research that shows that preventative measures are what lead to better mental health in communities. If we can get mental health counselors into schools and help support kids and their wellness as they’re going through the school system, that could potentially have a larger systemic impact.”

Alison Harmon, dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Development, said that the college’s efforts to develop a network of both rural educators and mental health practitioners is a creative approach to improving services.

“The contribution MSU will make to this project is supported by a strong collaboration among faculty in both the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Development,” she said. “Having a grant-funded project that connects programs across this college is both unique and powerful – and certainly a first in my experience as dean.”

HAVE YOU SOMETIMES WISHED YOU COULD SPEND A HOLIDAY SOBER?

Alcoholics Anonymous can help!

Call 833-800-8553 to talk to a member of A.A.

or

download the free Meeting Guide app

from Google Play or the App Store

 or

go to aa-montana.org

for meeting times and locations.

On Friday, Dec. 13, the Montana State University football team will host Austin Peay State University in the quarterfinal round of the 2019 NCAA Division I Football Championship Playoffs at 6 p.m. at Bobcat Stadium.

Accordingly, Kagy Boulevard will be closed between Seventh Avenue and 11th Avenue from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. Kagy Boulevard will detour via South 19th Avenue, Graf Street and South Third Avenue.

MSU 2019 fall commencement will also take place on Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse with the processional beginning at 8:40 a.m.

For members of the public attending the game or commencement, a permit is not required to park in available lots on campus on Dec. 13 and 14, except for 24-hour reserved spaces.

The campus parking map can be found at montana.edu/parking/map.pdf.

Due to the high demand for parking on game day, MSU Parking Services urges attendees to consider walking, biking, carpooling or using the Streamline bus system. To find carpools, visit www.bozemancommute.org.

Important game day information will also be available on 1610 AM radio.

For questions, contact Michael Becker, director of MSU News Service, at michael.becker@montana.edu or 406-994-4565.

The Skyline Sportsmen Association, of Butte, has added $500 to the reward offered for information leading to a conviction in a case where a mature bull moose was killed illegally in the Highland Mountains south of Butte. 

The maximum reward amount informants may be eligible for in the case is now $1,500. 

The moose was shot sometime between Nov. 15 and 22 in Camp Creek, east of Melrose. The moose was found on the north side of Camp Creek Road after it leaves private property but before it comes to Camp Creek Reservoir. 

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is asking anyone with information on the case to call 1-800-TIP-MONT (847-6668). Informants can remain anonymous.

Wardens with Region 3 of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks are seeking information on several big game poaching cases that have happened in less than two weeks. 

On Nov. 23, wardens learned of a spike bull elk that was shot and abandoned on Montana State University’s Red Bluff Ranch, north of State Highway 84 and east of Norris. That area is within Hunting District 311, where spike elk cannot be hunted. The animal was found dead and unfit for human consumption. However, it was found near several cow elk carcasses from which hunters had salvaged all edible meat. 

Every year, several hunters accidentally shoot spike bull elk in restricted units and report themselves to law enforcement for doing so. In these self-report cases, the meat can be salvaged and donated to local food banks. Fines to the hunter are also minimized. Had the hunter who shot this spike elk — mistakenly or otherwise — reported it in a timely manner, the meat could have been salvaged and donated. 

Wardens are also investigating a white-tailed deer buck that was shot and abandoned on private property near Three Forks sometime between Nov. 24 and 27. It is likely this animal was shot from a road, possibly at night. The meat from this deer had spoiled by the time it was found. 

Another white-tailed deer buck was shot and left on private property in the Four Corners area, west of the Gallatin County gravel pit. Wardens determined this deer was shot on the evening of Nov. 30 with a rifle inside Hunting District 309, which is a weapons-restricted area. This possibly happened from a vehicle or a road after legal shooting hours. The meat from this deer was also unfit for human consumption by the time it was discovered. 

Those with information on any of these cases are asked to call 1-800-TIP-MONT (847-6668). Informants can remain anonymous and may be eligible for monetary rewards.

BOZEMAN, MONTANA, Monday, December 2, 2019 - Bridger Bowl is pleased to announce the opening of the 2019-2020 ski season this Friday, December 6th at 9am. Entering our 65th ski season, we appreciate the continued support from our local, and regional SW Montana cliental.  Bridger continues to see record skier visits and pass sales, paralleling the influx of growth in the surrounding areas.  We are working on Long Range planning for our facilities that will help with the growth and continue to provide exceptional guest experiences.


Bridger Bowl Guest Service and Administration Offices will be closed on Wednesday, December 4th to allow for a scheduled power outage by NorthWestern Energy in the upper Bridger Canyon.  Offices will open on Friday, December 6th through the end of the season.     
 
In addition, Bridger Bowl will be closed to all uphill travel starting at midnight on Wednesday, December 4th.  This closure is necessary to allow Ski Patrol a full day to concentrate on preparing the mountain for Opening Day.  Please respect the closure and do not enter Bridger Bowl property or USFS lands within the operating boundary. Safety is a concern and there are no exceptions.
 
Please note throughout the season, uphill travelers cannot enter Bridger Bowl via the adjacent Crosscut Mountain Sports property.  All access into Bridger Bowl must be made via the lifts in the base area for the continued safety of our guests and employees. 
 
Please carpool and ride the buses throughout the season.  On busy days, there is often heavy highway traffic and occasionally parking lots may fill up.  Bridger Bowl contracts with two bus companies, Streamline and First Student, for free bus service to and from the mountain. Pick up and drop off locations in town are at the SUB at MSU and the Gallatin County Fairgrounds at the Park N' Ride lot on Oak Street.
 
Bridger Bowl continues to be family-friendly and we are working to keep our operations costs low while still providing a great product for the community; beginner to expert, child to senior. We are looking forward to another great snow year!

Bridger Bowl
Bob Petitt
General Manager

Deluxe (NYSE:DLX), a Trusted Business Technology™ company, announced today the 10 small towns in the running to win Season 5 of the highly acclaimed Small Business Revolution series. Deluxe executives sifted through thousands of nominations from states across the country to reach the final 10. 

On Oct. 8, Deluxe launched the fourth season of Small Business Revolution, featuring the community of Searcy, Arkansas. Searcy and six of its small businesses won a $500,000 makeover captured in an eight-part series airing on www.smallbusinessrevolution.org, Hulu, Amazon Prime and YouTube. Small Business Revolution highlights marketing and business expertise for small businesses in one small town featuring marketing experts from Deluxe, led by Chief Brand & Content Officer, Amanda Brinkman, and co-host and renovation icon, Ty Pennington, as they provide business advice to selected entrepreneurs in the winning community. 

“This year, we had so many incredible nominations from small towns across the country,” said Brinkman. “We are always amazed how many people reach out to tell us why their town and businesses should win, and it really speaks to the work we’re doing for small businesses at Deluxe.”  

Deluxe team members will travel to each of the 10 communities to meet civic leaders, community members, interview business owners and learn more about how marketing expertise can benefit each community. From there, Deluxe will narrow the list to five towns eligible for a public vote in mid-January to determine the winner. The towns represent a cross-section of American life: 

Benicia, California                    
Brunswick, Georgia                  
Livingston, Montana                
Spearfish, South Dakota           
Waseca, Minnesota
Bisbee, Arizona            
Xenia, Ohio
The Dalles, Oregon
Oregon City, Oregon
Fredonia, New York           

Deluxe, a leading provider business products, services and solutions for companies of all sizes, launched the Small Business Revolution in 2015, highlighting 100 small business stories from across the country. Since 2016, more than 35,000 small towns have been nominated for a chance to win the $500,000 makeover. In 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 four lucky communities – Wabash, Indiana, Bristol Borough, Pennsylvania, Alton, Illinois and Searcy, Arkansas – were featured in the Main Street series on www.smallbusinessrevolution.org, Hulu and Amazon Prime. Catch all 32 episodes from Seasons 1-4 now and to learn more about how Deluxe small business marketing services can help your small business, go to www.deluxe.com.   

### About Deluxe Corporation Deluxe is a Trusted Business Technology™ company for enterprises, small businesses and financial institutions offering a range of solutions to help customers manage and grow their businesses. Approximately 4.8 million small business customers access a wide range of products and services from Deluxe, including incorporation services, logo design, website development and hosting, email marketing, social media, search engine optimization and payroll services, along with customized checks and forms. For our approximately 4,600 financial institution customers, Deluxe offers industry-leading programs in data analytics, customer acquisition and treasury management solutions, fraud prevention and profitability solutions, as well as checks. Deluxe is also a leading provider of checks and accessories sold directly to consumers. For more information, visit us at www.deluxe.com, www.facebook.com/deluxecorp or www.twitter.com/deluxecorp.