With this issue, Connect Business Magazine marks 20 years in business. In the inaugural March 1994 issue, Publisher Jeff Irish said, “If we do our job well, the information contained within the pages of this magazine will strengthen your own local business connections and provide tangible benefits to your organization.”
Pinske owns Mankato-based AmeriCare Mobility Van, and has been president of the Minnesota R-80 Medical Transportation Coalition and the R-80 representative on the governor-sponsored Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Advisory Council. His employees transport people to and from medical-related appointments in 14 southern Minnesota counties.
Our January 2014 issue means another Business Person of the Year award winner. The professors at the Minnesota State College of Business have done yeoman’s work the last ten years objectively judging our awards from nominees sent in by readers in September.
Our November/December issue showcases independent, locally owned business owners successfully battling large chains and franchises. All of them have their winsome ways.
I paid $99 and sent spit to genetic testing service 23andme.com to learn about potential health problems that could harm and hurt over the next decade. Besides discovering a few genetic anomalies, such as a strong predisposition toward celiac disease, I also found out about being an African American.
Some business owners, their business issues, and their personal lives don’t fit easily into stereotypes. They are square pegs forced into round holes, the perpetual outliers, and virtually indescribable—even after an extended, attempted description.
It’s September again? It seems like yesterday when last September arrived, just days after family vacation and the usual lazy summer.
Historically, summer has been a slow season for Mankato retailers. Thousands of college students have gone home and many permanent residents are out vacationing. The rest of our reading area doesn’t see such a decline.
This offbeat issue features four ridiculously successful businesspeople doing a great deal of business outside our nine-county Connect Business Magazine reading area, even nationally and internationally. Yet they all chose our area for their home—or business home.
