Waseca city leaders are planning for the future, by studying the past. Waseca, like many rural cities, has had many notable entrepreneurs such as EF Johnson (EF Johnson Company), Bumps Brown (Brown Printing), and George Herter (Herter’s Outdoor Goods). As they grew their companies, they spawned many other ventures in Waseca many of which are still around.
“Failure is not an option.” At the time NASA flight controller Jerry Bostick uttered that phrase, I can see his point. After all, he was on a mission to bring home the damaged Apollo 13. A fitting phrase, given the circumstances. However, it’s a phrase that has been repeated so many times that it seems it is a part of our psyche, and sometimes makes us so focused on just not failing…that we don’t aim for success.
I often consider myself lucky that I have the chance to pursue my passions. The awesomeness of that is not lost on me. As I put together this issue of Connect, it hit me how all of our profiles this issue also have the good fortune of living out their passions every day.
Countless times in a day people will tell me they are terrible writers or they don’t know how to write. Some even describe it as a painful experience. While I can’t relate to the angst that a writing assignment or task may bring people, I can relate to having to do things you don’t want to do for the good of the cause…which in the case of this particular column, is your business.
Over the past few years, community leaders in New Ulm began noticing a troubling trend; like many cities, New Ulm was seeing a steady erosion of affordable housing supply as properties that were originally developed using federal subsidies started being converted to market-rate housing.
Well, if you’ve reached this page in the magazine you’ve no doubt seen that this year’s Business Person of the Year is Dennis Terrell, owner of Re/Max Dynamic Agents. This is only my second year involved with this promotion, but I can tell you entries doubled from last year! All the nominees certainly could have fit the bill. I’m sure glad I didn’t have to choose.
I know it seems there is a month and day for everything….from “National Ice Cream Month” to “Hug A Dog” day. Some months or days, though, may be worth taking a closer look. In my opinion, October is one of those months, National Disability Employment month. Having an inclusive work culture may not be as hard as you think.
As we at Connect Business Magazine continue on our mission to be a resource for YOU, we value your feedback! Our next issue in January will start another year and we welcome your ideas on what you’d like to see in a magazine in 2018!
In this issue, I would like to highlight a trio of collaborations from throughout our region. These three stories highlight the importance of different groups coming together to solve a common problem and along the way enriching our communities.
