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leaves your business doing cartwheels because they are so happy. Stay away from cheap rent, cheap ingredients, and cheap team members as these three things will put you out of business the fastest.

Dave: Devotion to the business and lots of hard work. I recommend any type of business, at any age, should get an advisory board of three or four people. Finding the right people, with the right expertise, can make or break a new business starting up. And utilize the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce to network in our community.

Mindy: It's very important to pivot when you have failures, and be very open to change the way you operate when you need to. Staying fluid helps with the anxiety of trying to do it all.

Ness: I would say that you really need to care more about serving the city than making money when you are starting out. We didn’t go into creating a small business to get rich, we went into it to give the city something they needed. And I think the people who live here responded to that.

What’s next for your business?

Karen and Steve: A continued intense focus on high quality products served by caring, engaged team members in a clean, inviting environment.

Expansion of our Main Street location is in the works!

Dave: A transition of leadership to the next generation. My brother and I are retiring and currently working on the succession plan for the next group. Thirteen out of our 102 employees are over 65. Fifteen of our 102 employees have only been here for one year or less. We’re now developing a training program to help lead and take more responsibility.

Nora: We are restarting classes! Beginner classes for knitting and crochet, also project classes to make hats, scarves, etc.

Mindy: Expansion! The Farmer's Collective will be our next big adventure, it will be a cafe and market featuring local producers. Ness: We would like to offer more baked goods and desserts, so we are thinking about expanding our dessert offerings. We already make everything from scratch in the house, those cookies are just an example of our potential! We are also catering a lot of events through our new True West on wheels trailer! So, we are booking those events actively right now! Birthday parties, weddings, showers and big block parties are all great options for True West!