February 2010 Update

CCEA February 2010 Update

GOOD THINGS HAPPENING IN CLINTON COUNTY  
           
Clinton County Youth Business Venture Competition

Last month we mentioned that  the Clinton County Economic Alliance had initiated the Clinton County Business Venture Competition for high school and middle school students.  This month we are delighted to list the winners of the competition.  Nine high school students and two middle school students submitted applications explaining their new business ventures.  Five business plans dealt with a new product and four involved providing a new or existing service.  One middle school student submitted an application to provide a service and the other a product. 
The following young men and women submitted applications:

The winners are:

High School                Product category
1st  Place                      Sillow Outerwear                    James Jackson             DeWitt High School
2nd  Place                      Baskets by Brianne                 Brianne Feldpausch   Fowler High School
3rd  Place                      Road Kill, Inc.                        Ashlynn  Weller          Ovid-Elsie High
                                                                              
Service Category
1st  Place                      Down River Fishing Guide     Casey Harless              DeWitt High School
2nd  Place                     Exquisite Events                     Megan Verchereau      DeWitt High School
3rd Place                       Superior Aerospace                 Nicholas McCoy         DeWitt High School.

Middle School            Product Category
1st Place                       Tyler’s Snow Plow Guards      Tyler Ott             Ovid-Elsie Middle School

 
It is hoped that the Youth Business Venture Competition can become an annual event in the county.  We hope more and more young folks begin to think about a new product or service that they can turn into a new business venture and those new businesses grow and prosper in Clinton County. If we can excite our young folks to think about new business ventures, hopefully some of those will bear fruit and prosper here in Clinton County.  Let me add that all the students did an outstanding job in their presentation to the 3 judge panel.  If these students are any example America will continue to be a very competitive nation. 

We are looking for sponsors of this event for this coming fall.  If you are  interested in being a sponsor  please give the CCEA a call at 517 669-1345. 

BUSINESS REMINDER

Article contributed by Tom Donaldson, Regional Director, of the Small Business Technical Development Center. 

Well, it's January and we've officially moved on to 2010.  While you may still have a few things from 2009 to wrap up, like taxes, last year is now history and January is the perfect time to set some business goals for the 2010. 

Financial Goals:  Set challenging but realistic targets for Total Sales, for Gross Margin percentage, and for Net Profit.  Set budgets for expenses like Payroll and Marketing & Advertising. 

Marketing Goals:  How many new customers would you like to add in 2010?  Is there a promising new market you could expand into?  Perhaps you sell primarily into the automotive market, but would like to diversify into medical: how many new customers in the medical industry will you aim for?  What is a realistic marketing budget to help you reach these goals?

Quality and Operations Goals:  Could you improve your product or service by surveying customers after the sale?  Could you shorten your response time on service calls from 6 hours to 4 hours?  Answer incoming phone calls within 2 rings?  Reduce product defect rate by 10%? 

To be effective, goals should be realistic, achievable, and  measurable.  If you have employees, be sure to communicate the company goals to all members of your team.  Better yet, get them involved in setting the goals, so there is buy-in company wide.

Setting goals is just the first step.  Next, you must develop a plan to achieve the goals.  And finally, you should report on your progress toward each goal on a monthly basis and adjust your plans as needed to make continual progress toward each goal. 

Successful companies consistently set goals and measure progress.  The time you spend on goal setting today can pay off big dividends by year end.  I invite you to contact our SBTDC office and work with a consultant on your own business goals for 2010. 
                                                                  
EDUCATION CORNER

CLINTON COUNTY RESA
CAREER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

            The Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency (CCRESA) Career Education Department provides career focused education programs for the six in-county and neighboring school districts.  Kindergarten thru 12th grade (K-12) activities includes programs such as Career Days, On Location Program, Reality Store, Mock Interview Days, College Night, and Career Connections.
Career Connections is CCRESA’s county-wide career education program available to area juniors and seniors.  Career connections programs run for the entire school year providing students high school credit toward graduation as well as the opportunity to earn Lansing Community College (LCC) credit.  The following grid highlights 2009-10 courses and LCC credit available.  Specific programs will be highlighted in upcoming newsletters.

CLINTON COUNTY RESA - CAREER CONNECTIONS COURSES – 2009-10

For additional information, please contact program director, Pat Jackson at 989-224-6831 or pjackson@ccresa.org

GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR MICHIGAN FOOD INDUSTRY
In partnership with the Michigan Department of Agriculture, Van Andel Global Trade Center presents...

Global Opportunities for Michigan Food Industry on February 18, 2010 from 8:00-11:30 a.m. at Grand Valley State University
Sponsored by: Varnum LLP, HUB International and CHASE
Media sponsors: MiBiz, WCMU and WGVU

Please join us in learning how these companies have tapped into foreign markets. Topics will include:  Benefiting from Free Trade Agreements, transporting your products internationally, financing you export, and learning what local resources and assistance is available to you.

Speakers and panelists include representatives from the following:

Varnum LLP
CHASE
International Freight Services
Michigan Department of Agriculture
Nature's Select
Koeze Company
Zeeland Farm Services

Registration is open online at www.vagtc.org/trainings or call 616-331-6811!

UPCOMING WORKSHOP

SEARCHING FOR CLINTON COUNTY

Our new Web site www.clintoncountyeconomicalliance.org has given us a global presence on the Internet.  About half of the visits we receive each week come from referring sites.  To help us drive more traffic to the site, please add a CCEA link to your own Web site.  The more the CCEA Web Site is linked to, the higher it will appear on search engines such as Google.  This helps raise awareness about our county throughout the world.

CLINTON COUNTY BY THE NUMBERS

Clinton County Unemployment Rate Continues To Be Among Lowest In State

Unfortunately our unemployment rate rose 1% from October to November, reaching 10.1%.  With the exception of Livingston & Washtenaw counties, local jobless rates rose slightly in November as area labor force levels bumped upward with unemployed job seekers in search of holiday related seasonal employment.  Clinton County was tied with Leelanau County, having the third lowest unemployment rate in the state.

BUY MICHIGAN

Attached is a recent radio spot produced by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation promoting Buy Michigan.  They are tying into the successful Pure Michigan brand.  As we have discussed in the past buying local is very important to maintaining a vibrant local economy.  Buying local food is important in that it improves ones health, supports family farms, and supports rural communities.  For further information on buying local go to www.buymichigannow.com or www.capitalarealocalfirst.com.  

(REMIND AMELIA TO ATTACH RADIO SPOT TO ARTICLE)

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

ANDY T’s FARM MARKET
ANDY T’s FARMS
3131 S. U.S. 27                                                                      
St. Johns

25 years at this location.

Receiving a letter from the Michigan State Police explaining that Andy T’s Pumpkins roadside market was a traffic hazard made Andy Todosciok jump in his 1979 cutlass and go look for property.  The year 1984 December, the state was in a recession, interests rates were 14-16%.  Andy found for sale two properties – one located across from Highland Hills Golf Course on U.S. 27, the other just ¼ mile south of where his pumpkin roadside market was located.

 In February of 1985 he chose to buy the south 20 acres for $16,000 and put another $16,000 of improvements to make a parking lot, driveway entrance, and tile 12 acres of the land.  That fall Andy T’s Pumpkins was open for business!!  At 23 years of age Andy had no idea what would become of his recent purchase.

In 1988 the country had a terrible drought.  Andy could not harvest enough sweet corn for Goff food stores so he sold all of it at his market along with other vegetables he grew.  That fall there weren’t enough pumpkins so he bought some from another farmer.  Little did he know his roadside stand was being monitored by Clinton County Zoning.  An article printed earlier in March of 1988 in the Michigan Farmer set him up for potential zoning violations.  The article was well written explaining how a young guy was starting a small business and what his future goals were.  That winter he hired a lawyer and found out what he was doing wrong and what he had to do to keep moving forward.  The result was to rezone six acres to commercial property and to also build a 40x80 building with a separate building for bathrooms.

 In 1989 the buildings were built and  pumpkins, and other vegetables were sold.  Christmas trees were sold in 1990 along with fall mums.  Selling a lot of mums, the grower suggested that he should sell flowers.  Andy took his suggestion and built a greenhouse in 1991.  He had no idea what a begonia or impatient was!!!  In 1992 he put a double wide house on the property for his future bride (Sunday) and kids.  That year was terrible for growing and selling produce as it was the coldest summer on record.  Sales were down and the farm lost a huge amount of money.  With his new wife they had to restructure debt or possibly lose everything.  They restructured.

They added a bakery in 1993 and started selling trees and shrubs.  Andrew Jr. was born in 1994 and they added another greenhouse with an additional greenhouse in 1996.  They had been selling mulch from some of the buildings being ground up for the construction of the new by-pass (U.S.-127).  A guy from New Zeeland asked Andy if he would sell his produce (mulch) so they ordered a whole semi load of red mulch.  Andy thought he’d be happy if it would sell by summers end.  The load was gone in 10 days so mulch was added to the product line.

The decision to sell only Michigan grown products began in 1998.  With a lot of building going on in the area Andy started to fill in the property south of the market and started selling the topsoil from the area.  The by-pass opened in 1999 and helped ease congestion to their road and sales took off.  In 2003 dirt was hauled from the Wal-Mart project to finish the landscape yard and a huge pile of topsoil was erected.

 On June 6, 2008 Andy saw a huge storm coming from the west and never had he seen clouds like that.  He ran to the market for shelter and heard what sounded like a train coming towards the building – it lasted 30 seconds.  He walked out and saw nothing but destruction from what he believed was a tornado.  It was just in March when they had met with their insurance agent and Sunday insisted on raising coverage amounts.  With the economy in turmoil 2008 was not a good year for Andy T’s.  That did not prevent them from rebuilding their nursery structures that fall, and sales bounced back in 2009. 

Andy and Sunday are committed to offer local products at a fair price.  Quality and Service is at the top of their agenda.  Andy T’s Farm Market is open April to December 24 – 7 days a week.

2010 CCEA Calendar

• Feb. 12, 9:00-11:00 a.m. – Contracting with the State of Michigan Workshop

• If you are a Michigan Business, the State of Michigan wants to do business with you.  Come and learn how to increase your business activity by providing your product or service to the state.  Learn how to register with the state as a vendor, and bid on more than 1,100 contract opportunities worth billions of dollars.  Held at Clinton County RESA Office, 1013 S. U.S. 27, St. Johns.  Call 517-483-1921 or email sbtdc@lcc.edu to register.

• March 11, 10:30 a.m.-Noon – Energy Efficiency Grant Workshop

• Held at the Clinton County Commissioner’s Board Room, 100 E. State Street, St. Johns.  Call 517-669-1345 or email lehmank@cceami.org to register.

• March 24, 10:30 a.m.-Noon – Farmer Value Added Workshop

• Held at Clinton County RESA Office, 1013 S. U.S. 27, St. Johns.  Call 517-669-1345 or email lehmank@cceami.org to register.

• March 31, 6:30-8:30 p.m. – Entrepreneurial Networking Session (Clinton, Ionia, Shiawassee Counties)

• Held at Clinton County RESA Office, 1013 S. U.S. 27, St. Johns.  Call 517-669-1345 or email lehmank@cceami.org to register.

• April 13, 7:30-9:00 a.m. – CCEA General Membership Meeting

• Held at the Clinton County Commissioners’ Board Room, 100 E. State Street, St. Johns.

• July 13, 7:30-9:00 a.m. – CCEA General Membership Meeting

• Held at Clinton County RESA, 1013 S. U.S. 27, St. Johns.

• October 12, 7:30-9:00 a.m. – CCEA General Membership Meeting

• Held at Clinton County RESA, 1013 S. U.S. 27, St. Johns.