Billings Business April 2016

5 MINUTES WITH

MARLO SPRENG WALKERS GRILL

SPECIAL REPORT ENTREPRENEURS

APRIL 2016

HOME IMPROVEMENT SHOW

THE PERFECT FIT JAYSUN AND MISTIE MIMS PROVIDE CUSTOMIZED APPROACH TO CORPORATE FITNESS

Billings Business 401 N. Broadway Billings, MT 59101-1242

CONTENTS April 2016

An indispensable business resource

On the Cover

FEATURES

Jaysun and Mistie Mims, owners of MimsFit, can provide a customized approach to corporate fitness.

The perfect fit................................................................................................................................................................................. 6

Photo by LARRY MAYER/Gazette Staff

Jaysun and Mistie Mims can tailor a corporate wellness program to fit their clients’ needs

Special report: Entrepreneurs............................................................................................................................. 16 Entrepreneurs flock to the Spring Home Improvement Show COLUMNS

Economic Development................................................................................................................................................ 10 Brittney Souza - BillingsWorks helping employers fill vacancies

Glenn Clark is manager of the new Tacoma Screw Inc.store in Billings, Page 14

Sales Moves.................................................................................................................................................................................. 13 Jeffery Gitomer - The love of money isn’t the best reason to be in sales

Strategies For Success................................................................................................................................................. 40 Joe Michels - Documenting your processes can save you dollars

Better Business........................................................................................................................................................................41 Erin T. Dodge - These 10 industries generate the most consumer complaints

BILLINGS BUSINESS EVERY MONTH

From the Editor..............................................................................................................................................................................4 By the numbers.............................................................................................................................................................................5 The local economy at a glance

Chamber News......................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Alex Tyson - Mobile billboards will help promote Montana tourism

Five Minutes with................................................................................................................................................................. 12 Marlo Spreng - Walkers American Grill and Tapas Bar

Business Briefs........................................................................................................................................................................42

24 Hour Emergency Flood & Fire Restoration Services Commercial & Residential

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Success Stories...................................................................................................................................................................... 43 The Listings.................................................................................................................................................................................. 44

Billings Business is mailed each month to area business owners, managers and decision makers for $19.95 per year.

Marlo Spreng, head chef at Walkers American Grill and Tapas Bar, was named Chef of the Year by the Chefs and Cooks of Montana, Page 12

2

April 2016

To subscribe, please send payment, name, business name, mailing address and phone number to:

Billings Business 401 North Broadway Billings, MT 59101

April 2016 3

the editor

APRIL 2016 • VOLUME 22 • NUMBER 6

mike gulledge tom howard COPY EDITOR chris jorgensen GENERAL MANAGER dave worstell PUBLISHER

EDITOR

B ETTER B USINESS B UREAU EXPANSION IS GOOD NEWS FOR M ONTANA CONSUMERS Here’s the best thing one can say about scammers, identity thieves, crooked businessmen and other criminals who prey on consumers: They never stop dreaming up new ways to separate people from their money.

Soon after the Boston Marathon bombing of April 15, 2013, scammers began setting up phony charities and soliciting donations.

Unfortunately, many Americans fell for this scam.

Whenever a tornado touches down, flood waters surge or a hurricane strikes, crooks posing as Red Cross volunteers crank up their boiler rooms and start contacting unsuspecting consumers. And since this is April, it’s the season for scammers to steal people’s money and personal information by posing as IRS agents.

Fortunately for Montanans, the Spokane-based Better Business Bureau of Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Montana will soon expand its presence in the Big Sky State. It recently merged with BBB offices in Seattle and Boise, creating a new entity known as BBB Northwest. The new bureau will serve 14 million consumers in Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and western Wyoming.

One upshot of the merger is that the BBB will station a pair of development managers in Billings and Missoula within a few months. Plans call for hiring a third Montana representative by next year, said Chelsea Maguire, development director for Better Business Bureau Northwest.

“They will act as a resource to inform and educate people,” Maguire said. “Outreach is a huge piece of what we do, and it will enable us to get alerts out

4

April 2016

quicker and inform people ahead of time.”

Plans call for the BBB’s Montana development managers to visit many communities from “mobile offices.” That means they’ll take in quite a bit of windshield time, making presentations and providing other services in outlying communities.

“In Montana, where so many communities are spread apart, we want to be on the road to provide better service,” said Maguire, who is based in Spokane.

The BBB is a nonprofit organization supported by businesses that comply with the agency’s standards of trust and pay dues.

“This is a game changer for both businesses, buyers and the BBB,” said Tyler Andrew, chief executive and president of BBB Northwest. “By combining forces and leveraging new technologies, BBB is in a greater position to better serve a larger region with stronger services and value-added programs.”

Each month, the BBB has contributed a consumer-oriented column to Billings Business. That relationship will continue.

BBB’s expansion into Montana is especially welcome news on a personal level. Consumers who are looking for the Better Business Bureau frequently end up calling Billings Business, because the names are somewhat similar. In the past, I have referred their calls to the BBB’s Spokane office.

After the BBB’s welcome expansion, I’ll be able to refer callers to the BBB’s Montana representatives.

With luck, they’ll put those scammers on the run.

SALES

ryan brosseau shelli scott ADVERTISING SALES karen anderson, milt lang, arcadea scott ADVERTISING COORDINATOR spencyr schmaltz ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER

SUBSCRIPTIONS Billings Business is mailed each month to area business owners, managers and decision makers.

To subscribe for $19.95 per year, please send payment, name, business name, mailing address and phone number to: Billings Business 401 North Broadway Billings, MT 59101 ADVERTISING For retail advertising call Karen Anderson, 657-1492; Milt Lang, 657-1275; or Arcadea Scott, 657-1244. For classified advertising, call 657-1212.

Advertising deadline for the May 2016 issue is 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 12. You may send material to ads@billingsbusiness.com or Fax to 657-1538.

NEWS If you would like to submit a news tip, story idea, announcement about your business or press release, please e-mail it to: editor@billingsbusiness.com website: www.billingsbusiness.com Information published herein does not reflect the opinion of Billings Business. Contents are the property of Billings Business.

Personal

By the Numbers

Business

LocaL and regionaL economic trends

real estate Member FDIC

agriculture Shiloh & Grand 655-3900

CONSTRUCTION REBOUND Montana added 900 construction jobs, a 3.3 percent increase, between January 2015 and January 2016. The Big Sky State was one of 44 states and the District of Columbia to see growth in construction employment.

Source: Associated General Contractors of America

Downtown 655-2400

14th & Grand 371-8100

National park visitors

Worden 967-3612

Airport boardings

9

7 8

6 7

In ten thousands

Hilltop & Main 896-4800

In hundred thousands

King Ave 655-2700

www.stockmanbank.com

6

5

5

4

3

4

2 3

1

Billings housing starts

2

0

New single-family home building permits 50

60 40

30

30

20

20

10

10

November

December

October 2014 to February 2015

January

Nov.

Dec.

Jan.

Bozeman

Aug. 2014 to Jan. 2015 Aug. 2015 to Jan. 2016

2015

October 2015 to February 2016

Ag prices

Dec.

Jan.

Aug. 2014 to Jan. 2015 Aug. 2015 to Jan. 2016 Aug. 2014 to Jan. 2015 Aug. 2015 to Jan. 2016

Aug. 2015 to Jan. 2016

Source: Montana Department of Transportation

Unemployment

Montana Beef Cattle

(per bushel)

Nov.

Aug. 2014 to Jan. 2015 Aug. 2015 to Jan. 2016

Aug. 2014 to Jan. 2015

National Park Service Source: National Park Service

Montana winter wheat

Oct.

Missoula

Glacier National Park

2016

Source: City of Billings

$8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Aug. Sept. Oct.

Yellowstone National Park

YTD Through Feb. 29

February

Sept.

Billings 0

0 October

Aug.

1

45

40

50

0

49

(per cwt.)

6%

200

5

150

4 3

100

2 50

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Jan.

August 2014 to January 2015 Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

0

1 August Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

August 2015 to January 2016

Dec.

Jan.

0

August

September

Montana

November

October

Yellowstone County

December

January

U.S.

Source: Montana Department of Labor and Industry

April 2016

5

CASEY PAGE/Gazette Staff

Using elastic exercise bands, Jaysun Mims leads a workout for employees at Streeter Brothers Mortgage.

THE

MimsFit can tailor a corporate wellness program to meet clients’ needs

RIGHT FIT

By Tom Howard

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April 2016

On a spring-like day, six women gathered at a parking lot north of Streeter Brothers Mortgage after completing a moderately paced walk that circled the campus of Billings Clinic.

Fitness instructor Jaysun Mims backed his black SUV into a parking lot, left the tailgate open and cranked up the tunes on the stereo. As Mims handed out resistance bands, the women went to work on toning their arms. First came the biceps curls.

Then, as Mims provided pointers on posture and the proper grip, each woman anchored the elastic band with a foot and started counting out triceps presses.

“Keep that core nice and tight,” Mims said, his voice booming across the parking

lot. “Good job! Breathe in. Exhale. Now squeeze. Squeeze. Squeeze!” he said.

“When I count it down, we’re going to take this a little faster,” Mims continued.

“Hit those triceps. Keep those elbows in and press it up. We’re gonna push! Push! Push!”

“He always loses count,” Paula Vigus deadpanned as Mims seemed to be repeating a few numbers on the way to the last repetition.

Class participants say the exercise has paid off.

“I feel better,” said Grace DeLong, a regular in the exercise group. “I’ve noticed that I can do things I couldn’t do before.

Jaysun always challenges us, and I always look forward to Tuesday.”

Mims, who owns MimsFit with his wife, Mistie, has carved out a unique niche in the growing world of corporate wellness.

Working together and often in consort with other fitness professionals, they can tailor a wellness program that both fits their clients’ priorities and their budgets.

MimsFit takes a mix-and-match approach to its services, whether it’s starting a Weight Watchers program, scheduling yoga classes, setting up health screenings or participating in community events such as Relay for Life or the Heart and Sole Run. A twice monthly newsletter is designed to provide motivating tips and to keep participants moving.

“Some people don’t like to see that number on a scale,” Mistie said, mentioning Weight Watchers. “It’s about how you’re feeling mentally, whether employees are feeling stressed, trying to lower their cholesterol or trying to stop smoking. We can design a wellness program that’s based on what the business’s needs are.”

One of Jaysun’s specialties is demonstrating how common office fixtures — tables, chairs, desks, stairs and walls — can be used for health-enhancing exercise.

During a recent visit to Avitus Group, the trainers led a group of employees on a brisk walk up and down the stairwell in the Wells Fargo building. Then they gathered in a conference room for pushups and other exercises.

Jaysun’s push-up challenge has received an enthusiastic following. Zoe Elyada, a corporate accountant at Avitus Group, said she has worked her way up to 90 pushups.

“There are all sorts of exercises that you can do at your desk or in your cubicle to get in shape,” Jaysun said. “You don’t have to have a lot of expensive equipment.”

Mistie and Jaysun were both long-time instructors of group classes at the Billings YMCA. About two years ago, Jaysun decided to strike out on his own and began offering personal training and corporate wellness programs. As his client list grew, Mistie decided to leave her position as the Y’s development director and join MimsFit. Skyrocketing health care costs and the rise of health problems related to smoking

and obesity have prompted businesses to invest in corporate wellness programs.

About half of U.S. businesses with 50 or more employees, a group that represents three-quarters of the U.S. workforce, offer wellness programs to their employees, according to a study by the Rand Corp.

Rand’s research indicates that wellness programs can reduce risk factors such as smoking, while increasing exercise and other healthy behaviors.

“We find that these effects are sustainable over time and clinically meaningful,” the Rand study’s authors wrote. “This result is of critical importance, as it confirms that workplace wellness programs can help contain the current epidemic of lifestyle-related diseases, the main driver of premature morbidity and mortality as well as health care cost in the United States.”

Many companies pursue wellness LARRY MAYER/Gazette Staff

Please see Fit, 8 Jaysun and Mistie Mims show Avitus Group employees how office furniture can be used for exercise.

LARRY MAYER/Gazette Staff

Zoe Elyada, left, and Lisette Camacho of Avitus Group climb stairs at the Wells Fargo building as part of a fitness class taught by Jaysun Mims.

April 2016

7

Jaysun Mims leads a workout for employees at Streeter Brothers Mortgage.

CASEY PAGE/Gazette Staff

Fit

ees participate in numerous events.

As part of its program, Avitus Group reimburses employees for a portion of the Continued from 8 cost of joining a gym.

MimsFit also provides one-on-one programs with the idea that a healthier work coaching, in which employees can set up a force will help keep health insurance costs six-month wellness goal. Smoking cessation, stress reduction, weight loss and in check. getting started in exercise are among the But that wasn’t the primary motivation wellness goals. behind Avitus Group’s workplace wellness program, said, Don Reile, president of Each employee who has completed a sixAvitus Group. month goal will receive an extra day of paid “We looked at it more as a morale leave, Reile said. booster,” he said. “If people feel better about The great sense of accomplishment that themselves, they will be able to offer better employees receive from participating in the customer service to our clients.” wellness program is well worth its cost for Of Avitus Group’s 268 internal employAvitus Group, Reile said. ees across the U.S., 211 are participating in Research shows that a healthy employee the company’s wellness program. Since the is usually a happy employee. “If you invest program began last April, 402 fitness-relat- in your employees, your employees will ed events have taken place. Many employinvest in you,” Mistie said.

8

April 2016

Jaysun Mims assists Val Cole during a workout at Streeter Brothers Mortgage.

CASEY PAGE Gazette Staff

Making dreams come true with the help of science!

Reproductive Medicine & Fertility Care Both women and men can receive treatment for infertility while staying close to home.

Colleen Milroy, MD

Reproductive Endocrinologist

1045 North 30th Street Billings

We offer the only program for reproductive medicine and fertility care with in-vitro fertilization in Montana and Wyoming.

Now offering donor egg bank options.

Females: To see a Reproductive Endocrinologist who specializes in infertility, call (406) 238-2904 or 1-800-332-7156, ext 2904. billingsclinic.com/fertility Males: To see an Urologist who specializes in infertility, call (406) 238-2501 or 1-800-332-7156. billingsclinic.com/urology

Stacy Shomento, MD, FACOG

Reproductive Endocrinologist

Bozeman OB/GYN, 925 Highland Blvd, Suite 1210/1220, Bozeman

April 2016 9

SPONSORED BY THE BIG SKY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

BILLINGSWORKS CONTINUES TO TACKLE THE ISSUE OF FINDING QUALIFIED WORKERS ...a comprehensive snapshot of the opportunities and challenges that Billings and the surrounding areas are facing regarding work force.

Brittney Souza is director of BillingsWorks at Big Sky Economic Development. Contact her at brittney@bigskyeda. org or at 406-869-8416.

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April 2016

BillingsWorks Workforce Council started meeting a little more than three years ago. Last year we produced our first State of the Workforce report.

This report showed a comprehensive snapshot of the opportunities and challenges that Billings and the surrounding areas are facing regarding work force.

We are excited to announce that we will be producing the second annual State of the Workforce report in April, complete with all of the same data as last year, but now with trending analysis and tangible benchmarks to see how we are doing as a community tackling work force development.

The information gathered from the 2016 Employer Survey and industry focus groups will be compiled to further inform and guide our efforts in the next year. The information in this report is unlike any other, as it is focused on local employer information.

Last year’s report has been used not only by our organization, but also the state of Montana, City College, MSUB, School District 2 and others to help inform and guide their efforts

to align with workforce needs.

The State of the Workforce is a community event open to the public at no charge. We will present this year’s report and data and have a community dialogue about next steps for BillingsWorks. The event this year will be held at the Crowne Plaza.

We encourage you to register early at www. stateoftheworkforce.com to reserve your seat.

Also, this year we have a dynamic keynote speaker during lunch, Jacqueline Bang of Fortune Magazine/Great Place to Work Institute.

Fortune magazine publishes a yearly “top 100 best places to work” as well as “top 50 places to work” for medium and small businesses. Through this award process, Fortune gathers information on nationwide best practices of medium to small businesses for attracting workforce talent. This is an exciting opportunity for our local businesses to learn about innovative solutions in talent attraction.

In other BillingsWorks news, we were asked to present at the 2016 National Association

for Workforce Boards in Washington, D.C. Our presentation, in tandem with Thomas P. Miller and Associates, was to showcase the successful efforts and accomplishments our local workforce organization BillingsWorks. This

was a tremendous honor for BillingsWorks to be included in this event and really talk to a national audience about the cutting edge collaboration we have here in Billings.

In the short timeframe of three years, this work-

force development effort that began as a group of concerned employers has grown to a fully formed program, BillingsWorks, with a defined strategy and organized effort that is receiving national recognition.

Changing lives in our community every day...

EVErY DOLLar, EVErY CONSuLTaTION, EVErY Tax aBaTEMENT, EVErY LOaN, EVErY CONTraCT, EVErY SMaLL BuSINESS, EVErY jOB, EVErY EVENT, EVErY OuTrEaCh, big SkY ecoNomic DeveloPmeNt cHaNgeS & imPRoveS PeoPleS liveS iN YelloWStoNe couNtY;

YelloWStoNe co. buSiNeSS taleNt / WoRkFoRce

now thats

buSiNeSS GROWTH SeRviceS commuNitY DeveloPmeNt

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™

buSiNeSS RecRuitmeNt + outReacH commuNitY FuNDS membeR iNveStoRS

See ouR SeRviceS & ouR StoRieS at bigskyeconomicdevelopment.org 406. 256.6871

BIG SKY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Upcoming Chamber/ CVB Functions More details and RSVP: www. billingschamber.com or call 245-4111

SPONSORED BY THE BILLINGS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

V ISIT B ILLINGS IS HITTING

Alex Tyson is executive director of Visit Billings.

Contact her at Alex@visitbillings.com, or 406-869-3726

Visit Billings is hitting the road.

We are proud to announce a major partnership with Diversified Transfer & Storage for a two-year mobile marketing campaign complete with super-graphics that help lift the Billings brand and get people excited about visiting Montana’s Trailhead.

Impactful and fun? At least. The initial test response has been very positive with this campaign. Visit Billings worked with DTS, TransMar, and AD Creative Group to customize creative artwork boasting Billings on both sides of five tractor-trailers.

Semi-trucks will haul the trailers along the same five weekly routes until early 2018 allowing Visit Billings to take its leisure show on the road.

Where are we heading?

Two trucks will travel east toward Chicago every week.

Chicago is a major feeder market for regional leisure tourism with an established seasonal flight to and from as well as previous investments made by Montana’s tourism office, Southeast Montana and Visit Billings in campaigns advertising throughout the Chicago transit system. We look forward to giving Midwesterners a peek at what they’re missing and motivating them to make a stop in Billings as part of their Montana bucket-list itineraries.

Three other trucks, housed out of Denver, will make separate weekly routes.

One truck will loop into the Southwest, one will head westward and a third into the Northwest.

Why semi-trucks?

Typically, Visit Billings buys print and digital placements for national campaigns. You may have seen Visit Billings’ national advertisements in BetterHomes and Gardens, Sunset Magazine, Outside, USA Today Travel, AAA, the Wall Street Journal’s Horizon Travel Guides, Yellowstone National Park guides, or on your favorite websites.

But this type of mobile marketing is an exciting and fresh way to build brand loyalty and make someone smile along the way.

Part of the campaign includes a call to action to #DriveToBillings, but all in all we look forward to getting people to think Billings. The lure of our Rimrocks, vistas, culture, events and connectivity to Yellowstone National Park, the top-rated Beartooth Highway, Pompeys Pillar and the Little Big Horn Battlefield, are sure to get people excited about a trip to Big Sky Country.

Visit Billings and the Billings Chamber of Commerce would like to thank DTS for their partnership and generosity in helping this campaign come to fruition. Also, special thanks to TransMar — Transitional Marketing, AD Creative and The Komposition.

June Business After Hours

Wednesday, April 13 Affinity at Billings, 4215 Montana Sapphire Drive.

5-7 pm. Cost is $8.

Wednesday, June 8 Keller Williams, 745 Henesta Drive 5-7 pm. Cost is $8.

May Business After Hours Wednesday, May 11 Pierce RV, 3800 Pierce Parkway 5-7 pm. Cost is $8.

THE ROAD TO BOOST TOURISM Chicago is a major feeder market for regional leisure tourism.

April Business After Hours

One of five semi-trucks that will cover most of the country over the next two years inviting people to visit Billings.

Presented by:

Take me to Tuscany!

Join the Chamber this fall in Tuscany, November 1-9, 2016.

Just $3,299 for 9 days, 7 nights, including hotels, meals, day trips, airfare from Billings and more!

Book Today! Early Bird rate expires April 29.

BillingsChamber.com

April 2016

11

Marlo Spreng

Chef’s KINGDOM

Walkers Grill’s Spreng named chef of the year

By Tom Howard

When the Chefs and Cooks of Montana met in Billings March 7, they voted Marlo Spreng, chef of Walkers American Grill and Tapas Bar, as chef of the year.

Spreng said the process didn’t involve any drama-filled cooking competitions that are the main ingredients of TV cooking shows such as the Food Network’s “Iron Chef” and “The Taste,” which formerly aired on ABC. In fact, you don’t have to be a chef to belong to Chefs and Cooks of Montana. Members of the nonprofit pitch in for a variety of community events such as the Strawberry Festival and the Thanksgiving meal served at the Montana Rescue Mission. The group also raises scholarship money for young people interested in pursuing careers in the culinary arts.

Spreng sat down with Billings Business to discuss the evolving food scene in Billings.

Many believe Walkers Grill set the stage for a more creative food scene when it opened in 1993. What’s happening now?

Walkers Grill brought big city food to Billings, and slowly, we’ve kept up with the times. Now,

luckily, we have a lot of other restaurants that are doing a good job as well. There are a lot of good places to go, and it’s a constant evolution. Having other good restaurants in town with good chefs keeps me on my toes.

Do you remember when you first became interested in cooking?

I grew up loving to cook. I remember standing on a chair so I could reach the top of the gas stove, so it was from the get go.

I just loved food and would eat anything. One of my favorite things is cooking for holidays. We would have traditional Thanksgiving turkey, yams and cranberry sauce. I remember one year my mom bought shrimp. It seemed extravagant, but I got to peel and cook them.

People’s food tastes have become more diverse. To what extent does that come into play when you think about changing your menu?

We try to let our menu evolve. We usually take off things that don’t sell well, or have ingredients that are out of season. When you take something off the menu, sometimes a few people get upset.

But we’re also cultivating diners who are looking for something new.

Are people asking for different types of food?

We get more requests for gluten free than anything else. The other night, a customer came in with his two young daughters who are vegan.

I made them some vegetables with peanut sauce over rice noodles, and they loved it.

Everybody knows that kids can often be picky. How is your son (Greyden, age 7) as an eater?

He’s a great eater. Kids will eat more if you offer them different textures and flavors early, and if kids don’t like something, it’s no big deal. He’ll say that he doesn’t like mushrooms, but he’ll still try them, and he’ll say, “I still don’t like mushrooms, but I tried them.” That makes me very happy. He eats at Walkers Grill a lot. He loves clams and bacon macaroni and cheese.

Do you have a favorite cooking show on TV? I’m old school. Julia Child is my home girl. But I’m one of the few people in my profession who doesn’t watch a lot of cooking shows, and that sometimes drives my cooks crazy. I’m at work around 12 hours a day, so I don’t usually want to watch a cooking show.

But I get a lot of inspiration looking online.

LARRY MAYER/Gazette Staff

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April 2016

SALESmoves

T he love of money isn ’ t the best reason to be in sales You must believe the customer is better off having purchased from you.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling. Reach him at 704333-1112 or email salesman@ gitomer.com

Do you love sales?

Do you love what you do?

Do you love your product?

Do you love your company?

Do you love your customers?

These are not questions I pulled out of the air. These are questions that directly affect your productivity, your attitude, your income, your success and your fulfillment. Not to mention your longevity at your present job.

Many salespeople are reluctant to come to grips with “why” they are in sales and “why” they’re in their present job. Some salespeople will respond, “I’m in it for the money,” others will respond, “I need the money,” others will respond, “I have bills to pay and debt to overcome,” and even more will say, “I have a family.” Not many will say, “I haven’t got enough saved up to go do what I really want to do” and even fewer are willing to take the risk.

If you don’t love what you do, you’re doing no one a favor by staying in your present position. Your attitude and morale will be negative, you’ll be complaining about everything, and you’ll be blaming everyone else and their dog for your unhappiness and inadequacy.

And there’s a bonus: Your boss will be all over you to increase your numbers, your customers will be upset for lack of attention and in general, you will rise to a level of mediocrity.

What are you thinking?

Some salespeople hate their job, but stay because they “make a lot of money.”

CLUE: The worst reason to keep a job is because you’re making a lot of money. When money is your motive, then it’s all about making the sale without regard to building the relationship. A formula for long-term disaster.

Oh, you may have some short-term success, but when you go home at night, you’ll be drowning your misery in television, beer, and in general anything but preparation for the next day.

You can even get away with it for awhile, but in the end you’ll be looking in the paper every Sunday, or posting your resume online hoping for a better opportunity.

It’s most interesting to me that the salespeople looking for a “better opportunity” are the very ones not looking in their own backyard (see Russell Conwell’s Acres of Diamonds for the full lesson). Most salespeople fail to realize that by building themselves into the best person they can be, that they will attract the right offers rather than seek them.

Let me flip back to the positive side. The purpose of this article is to give you a formula that you can to use to figure out if you are in the right place, or how to find the right place.

Here’s the formula: If you’re in sales and you love sales, first ask yourself, “If I could sell anything, what

Jochen Sand

In sales, it’s not just about the money.

would I sell?” If the answer to that question is not what you’re currently selling, therein lies part of the problem. However, this formula is not about switching jobs immediately, this formula is about becoming the best salesperson that you can in each job you commit to. If you’re going to leave a job for another job, why don’t you set the company record for most sales before you walk out the door?

Selling is a lot like running a road race, you don’t have to win the race, but you do have to achieve your personal best each time you run one.

If your numbers are low or mediocre at one place, what makes you think they will be better someplace else? You see, part of the formula is not

just love what you do, it’s also possessing the skills (or dedicating yourself to getting them).

So far we’re at: What would you love to do and dedicating yourself to getting the skills to master what you love.

The third part is believing. Belief in company, belief in product, belief in service and belief in self. If you believe deeply that everything is “best,” then your message will be so enthusiastically delivered that others will catch your passion. A deep self-belief will create enthusiasm and a deep self-belief will create passion.

LOVE TEST: You must believe the customer is better off having purchased from you. And you can’t just

believe it in your head — you must believe it in your heart.

The final part is internalizing your attitude. Attitude starts from within. It’s the mood you’re in when you wake up in the morning, the mood you stay in all day long and the mood you’re in when you go to bed.

But attitude is not a feeling. Attitude is a life long dedication to the study of positive thought and the character/charisma/happiness that you display as you interact with others. If it’s not internal, it can never be external.

So there’s the formula, No, I’m not going to summarize it. If you want it bad enough, you’ll reread it. Love moves mountains — and students.

April 2016

13

Tacoma Screw Products Inc. opens Billings store

By Tom Howard The new Tacoma Screw Products Inc. store in Billings carries more than 45,000 products, including a vast assortment of fasteners in all shapes and sizes.

To illustrate the range of products in inventory, store manager Glenn Clark reached onto a shelf and pulled down a hex nut the size of a softball and heavy enough to prop open a barn door.

There’s a good reason for carrying fasteners that big, said John Wolfe, executive adviser for Tacoma Screw Products Inc. “Let’s say you have a large crane that’s down and it’s costing you $1,500 per hour not to have it operating,” Wolfe said. “If you come in our store and say you need six bolts that are 2½ inches wide by 8 inches long, there’s a good chance we have it,” he said in a telephone interview from the company’s headquarters in Tacoma, Wash.

“That may be the only six bolts in that size that we sell in a year,” Wolfe said.

“But we know that customer will come back. Our philosophy is to carry a full inventory.”

The Billings store is located at 4540 S. Frontage Road, across the interstate from Cabela’s. Dick Anderson Construction was the general contractor.

Tacoma Screw Products Inc. started in 1946. The majority of its sales are in the business-to-business sector. The company serves more than 45,000 business accounts.

The company also sells products on its website, tacomascrew.com, and its out-

14

April 2016

“That may be the only six bolts in that size that we sell in a year. But we know that customer will come back. Our philosophy is to carry a full inventory.”

— John Wolfe, executive adviser for Tacoma Screw Products Inc.

side sales staff serves clients throughout the Northwest.

But store managers like Clark also take pride in having just the right fastener for homeowners and hobbyists as well. They won’t bat an eye over selling a single bolt or screw, Wolfe said.

The Billings outlet is the company’s 18th location and the first in Montana.

“We usually add about one store per year, sometimes more,” Wolfe said.

He said each store’s inventory is customized to reflect the needs of the local economy. For example, the company’s store in Twin Falls, Idaho, does a lot of business with mining companies in Nevada. Stores in eastern Washington cater to farmers and ranchers.

All employees receive extensive training and are knowledgeable about the products they sell. Clark has worked for the company for 25 years, and many other employees have similar experience, TOM HOWARD/Gazette Staff Glenn Clark, manager of the new Tacoma Screw Products Inc store in Billings, holds a large nut Wolfe said. that’s part of the store’s vast inventory.

Mutual fund costs at lowest point in decades Associated Press NEW YORK — It hasn’t been this cheap to invest in mutual funds for decades, possibly ever.

Expenses dropped again last year for both stock and bond funds, and they’re at their lowest levels since at least 1996, as a percentage of their total assets, according to the Investment Company Institute.

That’s how far back the trade group’s records go, and funds have been getting steadily cheaper to own since then.

“It’s a bit like Olympic records,” says Sean Collins, senior director of industry and financial analysis at the group.

“Every four years, for whatever reason, records seem to fall. And you think: At some point, this has got to stop, right?

And so far, we haven’t seen it.”

It’s heartening because low expenses mean investors are keeping more of their savings. And researchers have found that, in investing, unlike elsewhere in life, you get what you don’t pay for. Lower-cost funds tend to perform better than higher-

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cost rivals. That’s because higher-cost funds have to perform that much better to deliver the same after-cost returns, which is what investors care about and see in their quarterly statements.

Even though minimizing costs is such a key part of investing, investors don’t always notice them. No bill comes due each year. Instead, fund companies directly take out how much they need for managers’ salaries, record-keeping costs and other operating expenses from the fund’s assets.

To see how much a fund is taking out, check what the industry calls its expense ratio. This figure calculates what percentage of the fund’s assets is going to cover annual costs, and funds regularly give updates on theirs on their websites. Stock funds had an average expense ratio of 0.68 percent last year, down from 0.70 percent a year before and 1.04 percent in 1996.

That means a person with $1,000 invested had $6.80 taken out to cover fees last year, versus $7 in 2014 and $10.40 two decades ago.

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That may not sound like much, but the savings get proportionally bigger as nest eggs grow. For workers with an averagesized 401(k), which Fidelity Investments recently pegged at $87,900, they could be paying $316 less in expenses each year than they would have in 1996. Plus, longterm investors will see the value of those savings grow through compound interest.

A fund’s expense ratio doesn’t include the cover charge that some funds require to enter, something the industry calls a “load” payment. The ICI’s numbers also don’t include expenses for exchangetraded funds, which are becoming ever more popular in part because their fees are often lower than those of traditional mutual funds.

The ICI’s numbers give greater weight to the largest funds, so a big reason for the drop in expenses has been the extraordinary growth for index funds in recent years. Money has been pouring into these funds, which are some of the cheapest to own because they don’t hire teams of an-

alysts to pick stocks. Instead of trying to beat the Standard & Poor’s 500 or another index, these funds automatically buy stocks in the index in an effort to match it.

Stock index funds had an average expense ratio of 0.11 percent last year, versus 0.84 percent for their actively managed rivals. Investors plugged nearly $413 billion into index mutual funds and ETFs last year, according to Morningstar. They pulled nearly $207 billion out of actively managed funds over the same time.

Even when investors are opting for funds run by stock pickers, they’re overwhelmingly focusing on the lowest-cost ones. Last year, 57 percent of all the money invested in actively managed stock funds was held in the cheapest 10 percent of them.

Keeping expenses low is even more important with bond funds than stock funds, because returns are lower and expenses can quickly erode them. Bondfund expense ratios fell to an average of 0.54 percent last year from 0.57 percent a year before and 0.84 percent in 1996.

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SPECIAL REPORT: ENTREPRENEURS TRENDS, FORECASTS & PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCENES

Home Improvement Show

matches entrepreneurs, customers

By Tom Howard As the owner of a small business, Clint Birkeland wears many hats.

Customers file in to the 33rd annual Home Improvement Show at the MetraPark.

16

April 2016

LARRY MAYER/Gazette Staff

Not only did he develop an innovative folding table that makes a safe, sturdy work platform, he also oversees the manufacturing operation at a factory in Dupree, S.D. And, Birkeland logs thousands of miles each year, selling the Lee Unlimited Power Bench at trade shows.

As a steady stream of shoppers filed by Birkeland’s booth at the Home Improvement Show at MetraPark, he demonstrated the bench by adjusting the table’s height, folding out extension wings and mounting a miter saw.

He then folded the whole thing up into a compact unit that can be wheeled around like a dolly and takes up about the same amount of space as a stepladder.

“This is sturdy enough to handle drill pipe,” Birkeland said, adding that many of his Power Bench stands are used in the oilfield.

“A lot of contractors and homeowners use them, but farmers are some of my best customers,” Birkeland said.

One buyer who saw his product demonstration at the MATE show made the purchase a couple weeks later when the Home Improvement Show came around, Birkeland said.

“It really sells itself once people see how it works,” he said. “It’s the only table with six different height settings.”

The table’s height can be adjusted from 30 inches to 41 inches by pulling a couple of spring-loaded pins. “Contractors like that because it saves wear and

LARRY MAYER/Gazette Staff

Clint Birkeland demonstrates the Lee Unlimited Power Bench at the 33rd annual Home Improvement Show at the MetraPark.

tear on their back and knees,” Birkeland said.

The Home Improvement Show, now in its 33rd year, is a magnet for entrepreneurs who like to sell their products through oneon-one interaction with customers.

The spring Home Improvement Show featured 650 exhibitors, said Mark Hedin, who operates the show with his wife, Rhonda, and sons, Beau and Devon.

“The key is, when people are doing home improvement projects they want to be able

to meet the person face to face to see if it’s somebody they can work with,” Hedin said.

Dale Dauenhauer, owner of American Granite and Tile, said the granite and quartz countertops that he specializes in are more popular than ever. Granite is a preferred building material because it comes in a wide variety of colors and it’s almost indestructible.

“You could even put a red-hot frying pan down on granite counter top and it wouldn’t hurt it,” he said.

About 90 percent of the granite that’s fabricated into countertops is quarried in Brazil, mainly because labor costs are much less, Dauenhauer said.

Dauenhauer worked for a number of years installing tile and countertops in multimillion dollar houses in Florida. But he hasn’t been disappointed since returning to Billings.

“Business has been phenomenal here,” he said, leafing through a notebook filled with photos of some of his projects. “I love

working this show.”

Will Schiffner of Big Sky Backyards said an outdoor booth location made it much easier to demonstrate his custom steel fire pits. “You don’t get the same feeling if your booth is inside,” Shiffner said, as people gathered around a fire crackling in the fixture.

Schiffner’s globe-shaped burners are adorned with shapes of trees, mountains and animals. He uses a plasma torch to cut the intricate designs.

April 2016 17

LEGALbriefing

Montana Supreme Court remains wary of arbitration Many businesses use arbitration provisions in their contracts because they believe that arbitration saves time and money in resolving disputes.

Eric Nord is an attorney with Crist, Krogh & Nord, LLC. Contact him at (406) 255-0400.

18

April 2016

Many businesses use arbitration provisions in their contracts because they believe that arbitration saves time and money in resolving disputes. While the United States Supreme Court has been favorably inclined toward arbitration provisions, the Montana Supreme Court has historically opposed arbitration because it infringes on a person’s right to trial by jury.

A recent decision exemplifies the Montana Supreme Court’s opposition to arbitration, and highlights the importance of having arbitration provisions that are well-drafted as well as fair and reasonable in order to avoid being struck down.

In the recent case of Global Klein Solution v.

Ossello, 2016 MT 50, the Montana Supreme Court looked at an arbitration provision that appeared innocuous because it required both parties to arbitrate “any controversy, claim or dispute ... arising out of or relating to” the agreement at issue.

It also provided “that the arbitration would take place either in Oklahoma under the laws of that state, or in the state in which the consumer resides under the laws of that state.” It further provided that the proceeding would be “administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) pursuant to its

rules and procedures,” and “before an arbitrator selected by the AAA.” Costs of the arbitration would be shared, but the customer’s share would be limited to $2,000. Finally, the document explained “that binding arbitration means that both parties give up the right to trial by jury, the right to appeal from the ruling in most instances, and the right to conduct extensive discovery.”

If the agreement had only contained these provisions, it is likely the Court would have enforced it. The problem was that Global reserved to itself (and only itself) the right to pursue “collection actions” in the courts and require the customer “to pay all costs and attorney fees related thereto.” Based upon this latter clause that gave the business the option of going to trial, the district court judge struck down the arbitration provision as unconscionable since it did not put the parties on equal footing.

The Montana Supreme Court agreed with the district court and declared the arbitration provision unconscionable and unenforceable. The rationale was that, since the provision allowing one side to sue in court and recover damages plus attorneys’ fees, court costs, and collection fees was not mutual,

The Montana Supreme Court remains wary of arbitration.

the agreement unreasonably favored the business, Global.

This case exemplifies a growing trend in other parts of the country whereby some businesses are trying to “push the envelope” with respect to arbitration provi-

sions and require consumers to accept or use special procedures that benefit the businesses. At least in Montana, the courts have not been willing to go so far as to allow these special arbitration provisions if they are too one-sided and,

Hemera Technologies

therefore, unconscionable.

The important lesson to be learned from this case is that businesses, and those individuals who draft their contracts, must make certain that arbitration provisions are fair to both parties.

Time to clean that hard drive: Digital hoarding can sap productivity

By Pittsburgh Post

ton, a Philadelphia-based small business productivity consultant.

Digital hoarding may not be PITTSBURGH — You may not as visually obvious as stacks of think you’re a hoarder, but your paper spilling off a desk, she said, hard drive knows better. but those undeleted emails, iconThose emails, photos and atcovered home pages and layers tachments that sit there in your of tabs can clutter your mind as computer or smartphone for well as your hard drive. weeks, even months, eat away at That makes for a less productive workday that can snowball drive space and slow every logon and complicate every keyword into less productive work weeks and work months. search.

Digital hoarding feels difYou already know that, sure, ferent than physical hoarding, but when was the last time you which requires some active did something about it? collecting. Emails fill the inbox “Even the most organized person can have issues with their whether we ask for them or not, so digital hoarding can simply email,” says Jen Cohen Cromp-

be the result of benign neglect or excessive multi-tasking. In those instances, the problem usually lasts only until you have a few minutes to organize.

But too often, the digital hoarder shares one key characteristic with the physical hoarder: An abiding fear they may one day need that file they’re about to delete. Crompton’s response: “If you haven’t touched that document in the last 12 months, you’re not going to need it.”

For the hesitant, she suggests adopting a mindset that, “Nothing terrible is going to happen if I get rid of this.” If it’s sensitive, or has long-term importance, put it

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on a flash drive, she says.

And for the already-buried, she recommends cleaning and organizing small chunks at a time, starting with those stored photos and gigabyte gobbling attachments.

There is a counterargument, and chronic hoarders have an esteemed ally in Albert Einstein, who is credited for saying, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”

A 2013 study by three University of Minnesota researchers found that cluttered space is more conducive to creative thinking, where an orderly desk

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The W.T. Waggoner Estate Ranch in Texas is said to be the largest ranch under one contiguous fence.

Sale of historic Texas ranch has

Montana connections

By Tom Howard

When billionaire businessman Stan Kroenke became interested in buying historic W.T. Waggoner Estate Ranch in Texas, he turned to Joel Leadbetter of Bozeman, managing director of Hall and Hall, to broker the deal.

20

April 2016

Leadbetter said he has represented Kroenke in a number of real estate acquisitions over the years, and their relationship stretches back to 1993. “He is a long-term client of Hall and Hall,” he said.

Kroenke is perhaps best known as owner of the Los Angeles Rams professional football team and a trio of Colorado-based sports teams: the Denver Nuggets of the NBA, the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, and the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. He also owns two-thirds of the English Premier League’s Arsenal soccer club. Kroenke ranks No. 63 on the Forbes 400 list for 2015, with a net worth estimated at $7.8 billion.

“This is an incredible opportunity and an even greater responsibility,” Kroenke said in a statement following the purchase. “We are honored to assume ownership of the Waggoner — a true Texas and American landmark.”

Hall and Hall is a 70-year-old real estate firm that has offices in Billings, Bozeman and Missoula, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho and Nebraska. Over the years Hall and Hall has carved out a unique niche in real estate by specializing in high-end ranch properties. In Montana, Hall and Hall’s clients include celebrities such as Ted Turner, David Letterman and Tom Brokaw. Hall and Hall also provides mortgage banking services, appraisals

and management services.

The W.T. Waggoner Estate Ranch stretches over 520,000-acres, or 800 square miles. It is said to be the largest U.S. ranch under one contiguous fence.

The legendary King Ranch in Texas is larger, but it consists of several noncontiguous parcels, Leadbetter said.

Leadbetter and Sam Connolly, general manager of Kroenke Ranches, represented Kroenke, while Bernard Uechtritz, adviser to Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty in Dallas, led the marketing of the property.

Marketing the 150-year-old ranch property presented a unique challenge, according to Leadbetter. The ranch supports thousands of cattle and horses, 30,000 acres of farm land, and more than 1,000 oil wells.

“Stan has an affinity for land, obviously, and agriculture,” Leadbetter said.

“It’s a very large part of his makeup.

With all of his ranches, he likes a balance of sustainable agriculture, profitable operations and conservation.”

Kroenke’s portfolio of high-end real estate includes three Montana ranches: the Broken O Ranch near Augusta, the Cedar Creek ranch near Ennis and the PV ranch near Hysham, Leadbetter said. Kroenke also owns the 540,000acre Q Creek Land and Livestock Co. in Wyoming, and the Douglas Lake Ranch in Canada.

The terms of the Texas ranch’s sale

haven’t been released, although it had a $725 million listing price.

Kroenke’s purchase of the Waggoner Estate Ranch settles a 20-year legal dispute involving opposing factions of the Waggoner family, which has owned the property for more than 150 years.

The sellers released the following statement regarding the purchase.

“I am so pleased that the legacy of the Estate is passing to the right man, who has shown a commitment to conservation and the Waggoner way of life,” said Electra Biggs Moulder, speaking on behalf of the sellers.

Leadbetter said the market for highend ranch properties remains robust.

Those who are able to invest in these types of properties typically put down close to half of the purchase price. By comparison, in a typical home purchase, a buyer may borrow up to 95 percent of the price of the house. In commercial real estate, the loan-to-value rate is typically around 80 percent, he said.

Kroenke’s purchase of the W.T. Waggoner Estate Ranch has drawn extensive media attention and was described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not to mention a boost to the bottom line for Hall and Hall. In its 2015 message to clients, the firm announced that it had completed more than $1 billion in sales over the past three years. And with Kroenke’s purchase of the historic Texas ranch, 2016 is off to a strong start.

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Former Montana Revenue Department director says coal leasing program needs changes

By TOM HOWARD The Obama Administration, widely criticized by western lawmakers for placing a temporary moratorium on new federal coal leases, has at least one ally in the controversy: former Montana Department of Revenue director Dan Bucks.

The Obama Administration announced the halt on new coal leases last January, citing concerns about whether taxpayers are getting a fair return for federal coal.

Critics say the decision amounts to another example of the administration’s war on coal.

Roughly 40 percent of the coal produced in the United States comes from federal lands, most of it in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

“We believe this review process is not warranted and is aimed at delaying leases to ensure the coal is never mined, denying its economic benefits to the nation,” Colin Marshall, chief executive of Cloud Peak Energy said after the moratorium was announced.

Speaking in Billings in early March, Bucks said critics are overstating the moratorium’s threat to the coal industry. In general, coal producers that are mining federal coal have about a 20-year supply at the current rate of mining, he said.

Bucks ran the Montana Department of Revenue during the administration of former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a pro-coal Democrat, from 2005 to 2013.

After the moratorium was announced, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell also assured a congressional hearing that steps were being taken to assure that coal industry jobs wouldn’t suffer.

“We believe we’ve made accommodations so that there will be no impact on coal jobs,” Jewell said, noting that several pending coal leases had been grandfathered to make sure that mining could continue.

Concluding that the federal coal leasing program is broken, Bucks said its problems date to the

22

April 2016

A mechanized shovel loads coal onto a haul truck at the Cloud Peak Energy’s Spring Creek mine near Decker in 2013.

1970s, when federal government policy ensured that coal would be the fuel of choice for electrical generation.

“It wasn’t the marketplace that brought coal power, it was the federal government,” Bucks said, referring to the North Central Power Study of the early 1970s. The study predicted the need for 42 coal-fired power plants — 21 in Montana — to meet the nation’s future electricity needs. Eventually, four coal-fired units were built at Colstrip.

During that same time, the federal government virtually banned the use of natural gas for electrical generation, Bucks said. The deregulation of natural gas prices hadn’t yet occurred.

Since then, natural gas prices have been deregulated and vast quantities of gas produced from unconventional sources have come on line, causing prices to plummet. The Energy Information Administration projects that more electricity will be generated using natural gas than coal in 2016.

An energy policy that relied heavily on coal-fired electrical power created the coal boom in the Powder River Basin. In the ensuing decades, the federal coal lease program provided “hidden subsidies” for the coal industry, Bucks said.

In 2013 an Interior Department inspector general report found that taxpayers weren’t being adequately compensated in the federal

coal leasing program. In 2014 the Government Accountability Office also identified problems with the federal coal leasing program, Bucks said “It’s hard for the public to understand, but the Interior Department didn’t have a choice but to respond,” Bucks said. “The way they are responding is appropriate.

In a technical public administration sense, they are doing the right things because you cannot ignore those reports.”

Bucks also took issue with predictions that the state would suffer dire economic consequences with the closure of power plants at Colstrip. The moratorium on federal coal leasing won’t put a halt to

MATTHEW BROWN/Associated Press

mining, he said.

Bucks also said that Montana’s coal industry accounts for a little more than 1 percent of state’s revenues, much less than what coal advocates have claimed.

Bucks also disagreed with the notion that the closure of Colstrip would result in a mass exodus from Montana. The worst case would be slower economic growth for the state, he said.

He suggested that Montana should map out a better energy future by placing a priority on assisting coal-dependent communities in case the coal industry dwindles.

The state should also aggressively pursue renewable energy sources, he said.

Two Billings businesses included in 2016 Montana SBA awards

By Billings Business Two Billings business owners, including a luggage manufacturer that has received national recognition, were among the award winners celebrated as the Small Business Administration announced its annual awards for each of the 50 states.

Greg Thayer, chief executive of Great Falls-based Montana Milling Inc., a family-run business that deals in organic and conventional grains, was named Montana Small Business Person of the Year. Thayer is now in the running for the 2016 National Small Business Person of the Year.

Red Oxx Manufacturing, which designs and manufactures rugged and popular soft luggage, was named as Montana Veteran-owned Business of the Year. The owners are Jim Markel and Perry Jones. Red Oxx has received nationwide recognition, including a national award for luggage. Red Oxx’s Safari Beano bag was Outside Magazine’s 2004 Bag of the Year.

Lena Wharton of Wharton Asphalt LLC of Billings received the Montana Woman-owned Business of the Year award. Wharton Asphalt is an asphalt

“Montana has a long and rich history of entrepreneurship and innovation and we are proud to honor these small businesses with these awards.”

— Wayne Gardella, SBA’s Montana District director

construction and maintenance company, specializing in asphalt construction and maintenance services such as patching potholes, sealing driveways, crack sealing and paving. Wharton Asphalt does work in Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho and Utah.

John and Courtney McKee of Headframe Spirits of Butte received the Montana Small Business Champion of the Year award. Headframe Spirits operates three separate business units.

They produce distilled spirits made from Montana-sourced grains. They

operate a tasting room, which is one of Butte’s top-ranked tourist attractions.

Headframe also manufactures distillation equipment for the distilled spirits industry, with all fabrication work taking place in Butte.

“I congratulate Greg Thayer, and the other awardees for being named Montana’s Small Business Week winners,” said Wayne Gardella, SBA’s Montana District director. “Montana has a long and rich history of entrepreneurship and innovation and we are proud to honor these small businesses with these awards. All of the award winners will receive their awards during a luncheon celebration in Missoula on May 2. On that date, communities statewide will celebrate the spirit of small business and the positive impact they have on creating new jobs and opportunities.”

Administrator Maria ContrerasSweet, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, announced this year’s Small Business Person of the Year winners from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The winners from each state are now in the running for the 2016 National Small Business Person of the Year.

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Cellular tower business provides second chance for former inmates

By Chicago Tribune CHICAGO — After four years in prison, Antonio Crum tried to start his life anew. He married, focused on fatherhood and got a degree in electrical engineering at a local trade school.

Friends helped get him jobs here and there — most recently as a part-time driver for an outpatient surgical center — but his own efforts to find stable work went nowhere, he said.

“People were telling me it doesn’t matter how many years ago (my crime) was; they couldn’t trust me,” said Crum, 35, who was released from the Illinois Department of Corrections in 2008 after serving time on a burglary conviction.

“It almost makes you want to go back to what you used to do.”

But instead of falling backward, Crum seized a chance to climb — sometimes to stomachflipping 100-foot heights.

Crum is part of the inaugural class of the Wireless Field Engineer Training Program, a collaboration between the nonprofit Safer Foundation and a local cell tower site development contractor who hopes to marry his industry’s need for skilled workers with the ex-offender population’s need for jobs that pay well.

“It’s not a noble venture on my part,” said Duane Gilmore, chief operating officer at TowerMTM, the employer partner in the program. “It is just a smart business move for me to find smart, good people and put them through their paces.”

The class of eight, which graduated from the 12-week program late last month in a quiet ceremony downtown, offers a glimpse of the potential for what Gilmore calls an “upside so high that it is scary.”

As wireless technologies

24

April 2016

advance, data usage skyrockets and the 70 percent of Americans who own smartphones expect connectivity wherever they are, demand is strong for trained workers who can scramble up cell towers to upgrade and maintain equipment.

Supply is weaker, Gilmore said. A contractor for wireless carriers, Gilmore said he has flown in trained workers he knew from Latin America to take jobs because there weren’t enough people domestically with the proper skill sets.

While the unemployment rate of those with criminal records is not tracked, they face welldocumented employment challenges that can have dangerous and expensive consequences.

By partnering with Chicagobased Safer Foundation — a nonprofit that helps people with criminal records prepare for employment — Gilmore hopes to give those with records a leg up while saving companies the time and cost of training workers themselves. He plans to offer apprenticeships to each of the graduates through his own contracts and is in talks to get fellow tower builders on board as well.

“We need to find ways to not screen people out, but to include them,” said Gilmore, who is also recruiting military veterans to the program.

Apprentices will start at $15 an hour, move to $19 after six months and to $23 after a year.

Within two to three years, the hourly wage could reach $35, which is more than $70,000 an-

Chicago Tribune

Antonio Crum climbs a cell phone tower while practicing maintenance work Feb. 29 in the 1400 block of South Ashland Avenue in Chicago. The men are in the inaugural class of the Safer Foundation’s Wireless Technicians program, which trains and places ex-offenders into cell tower maintenance jobs.

nually for full-time work.

Trainees received 15 federal or industry certifications that are both portable and stackable, Gilmore said, allowing them to work a variety of jobs almost anywhere.

“It’s an opportunity for our clients, many of whom are coming out of poverty, to go into a growing field, with a good middle-class wage, with further advancement opportunities,” said Victor Dickson, president and CEO of the Safer Foundation, which paid the bulk of the cost of the training program while Gilmore paid the rest.

Quentin Jackson called the program “a godsend.”

Jackson, 42, avoided much of the gang trouble that snagged his friends while growing up in public housing developments on

the West Side and several South Side neighborhoods. “Always a schoolboy,” thanks to the influence of his mom and good teachers, Jackson went to college in North Carolina with a partial scholarship to play the trumpet.

When school got too expensive, Jackson left and eventually started a landscaping business, got married and had a daughter.

But his life fell apart when, he said, he was betrayed by a business partner who bought equipment with a stolen credit card and ensured that he took the fall.

Jackson was convicted of felony obtaining property under false pretenses and was ordered to pay $29,000 in restitution and spend five years on probation.

As his marriage fell apart, Jackson returned to Chicago to live with his mother and struggled to

find a job. He applied for openings in office mailrooms and hospital maintenance but never got calls back. He went to temp agencies and got put on “some of the worst assignments” at warehouses or slaughterhouses.

When Safer told him he was eligible for the tower technician program, Jackson was game to try but didn’t think it would be a career for him. The syllabus was unfamiliar and overwhelming: construction drawing, introduction to power tools, construction math, rigging, material handling, fiber optics. Five days a week, he left home before dawn to pile into a van with his classmates, traveling long distances for instruction.

Jackson ended up being a top student and the class’s unofficial morale booster.

“It is one thing to preach hard work and dedication,” Jackson said. “But for (my daughter) to actually see me going through it on my own, it makes things worthwhile.”

The tower technician program is part of the Safer Demand Skills Collaborative, an employer-driven initiative that reflects a broader push in the workforce development field to better match training to market needs.

The collaborative trains clients in middle-skill jobs, which are those that require education beyond high school, but not a college degree, in high-growth industries including technology, manufacturing, hospitality, transportation and health care.

Steve Wilder, president and COO of the Communication Industry Training and Certification Academy, which provided the trainers for the cell tower program, said he was thrilled to be involved in giving trainees a second chance.

Wilder doesn’t anticipate resistance from employers to hiring ex-offenders.

He recalls that one tower erector at a recent wireless industry conference told him his workforce is one-third ex-offenders and they are his best employees.

“If there was one common message at the conference it was: We need good people; we need qualified people,” said Wilder, whose company is based in Bourbonnais, Ill. Climbing towers “is a young kids’ game,” hard on the legs and joints, so there will be continued demand for new workers, he added.

It is also dangerous. In response to 13 fatal falls in 2013 and 12 in 2014, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration partnered with the Federal Communications Commission to improve safety. Last year, there were three tower-related deaths, according to OSHA, which estimates the tower industry has 10,000 to 20,000 workers.

With projections for data demand “astronomical” and each generation of technology requiring new equipment, the need for workers and diverse skill sets should grow, said Todd Schlekeway, executive director of the National Association of Tower Erectors.

In addition, in an effort to free up airwaves for wireless broadband use, the FCC this month is scheduled to hold an unprecedented “incentive auction,” in which it will bid on airwaves from broadcasters and simultaneously sell them forward to wireless phone carriers, potentially creating another market for the wireless workforce if it has to retrofit taller broadcast towers, he said.

The career is not for everyone, least of all those with a fear of heights. Trainees in Safer’s tower technician program climbed 40- to 100-foot cell towers and eventually will encounter up to 250-foottall towers, Gilmore said.

He called his graduates “a phenomenal group of guys who worked their tails off” during the rigorous program, which entailed 440 classroom hours. Crum, Gilmore recalls, struggled with math, and would come in early and stay late on math days for extra study.

Gilmore also remembers Crum telling him during his interview, when asked why he wanted to participate in the program, that it was not for him, but for his family.

“He said, ‘I want them to see me get up and go to work,’” Gilmore said.

The program paid a stipend of $200 a week and required a full-time commitment, Gilmore said.

Some participants even left good jobs for the chance to earn more in the growing field.

Prentice Mason, 38, was working as a restaurant manager, and getting raises, but quit to join the program. He said he had always been interested in telecommunications and hopes to become a trainer himself.

His wife, Alisa, who attended the graduation with their 10-year-old son, Christian, said she was excited by the potential, but nervous.

“Right now it’s one income,” said Alisa Mason, who is an office manager at a construction company. “I’m having faith that the other income is going to be there.”

Chicago Tribune

Michael Shankman climbs a cell phone tower while practicing maintenance work Feb. 29.

Patrick Johnson, left, helps Deautry Thompson suit up in his climbing gear as they practiced maintenance work on a cell phone tower.

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Divide Bar & Grill: Filling a growing west end niche

By Brenda Maas Photos By Bob Zellar

Divide Bar & Grill carries 16 beers on tap with all local, Montana-crafted except two.

Lotteries are funny things.

Sometimes you win one.That’s what happened to Darrin Williams, owner of the newly-opened Divide Bar & Grill.

Divide Bar & Grill opened at 4020 Montana Sapphire Dr. at the southwest corner of Shiloh Rd. and King Ave. W. on Feb. 16, 2016.

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April 2016

special advertising section He applied for a liquor license in 2014 via the Montana Department of Revenue’s Liquor Control’s “Liquor Lottery.”

According to Williams, his awarded license originated as a “floater” from Silver Bow County. In Montana, liquor licenses are tightly controlled, based on census numbers and extremely valuable – often approaching a million dollars.

Williams could have turned down his win. But he didn’t. Instead, he scrambled, made plans, organized, submitted his plan to the State and dug in for the long haul.

“Most know what they will do when they apply; I didn’t,” said Williams. “But I saw it as an opportunity. I’m always ready to dive into something head-first.”

Learning-on-the-go

When it came to owning and operating a bar and grill, Williams had rudimentary experience. But he was willing The 1,500-square-foot patio of Divide Bar & Grill sits on the south side of the building, offering patrons on unobstructed view of the Beartooth Mountain range. The spacious outdoor area to learn. A 2005 graduate of Billings Skyview, he had worked in the food service includes two gas fire pits.

Fisher Construction, Inc. is proud to be the General Contractor on this unique project.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE DIvIDE BAR & GRILL

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April 2016 29

special advertising section

Congratulations

Owner Darrin Williams and designer Kristi Miller of KMD Design gave the business a contemporary-yet-Montana-rustic atmosphere with weathered barn woods, industrial metal and a chic color palette.

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April 2016

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special advertising section

• Opened February 2016 • Full-service bar with grill • 16 beers on tap; 14 local brews • Bistro menu of 10 appetizers, soups, salads and sandwiches, plus 8 burgers, 6 flatbreads, pasta, seafood and kids’ options • Patio with view of Beartooth Mountains and 2 fire pits open seasonally

The kitchen of Divide Bar & Grill’s is open at shoulder-height, giving a trendy look to the bar plus enabling serving staff to pick up orders without entering the busy kitchen – a way to streamline the process.

industry during college at Montana State University.

A mutual business acquaintance connected Williams with Mike Callaghan, local food and restaurant consultant with more than 30 years of experience. The two started working together planning everything from the menu and prices to kitchen layout.

“Darrin had not been an owner before but he had been a server, and he has a strong work ethic,” said Callaghan. “He’s willing to ask questions, to ask for help. Divide is in an ideal locale for a restaurant.”

Located southwest of the King Ave. W. and Shiloh Rd. intersection in Montana Sapphire subdivision, Divide Bar & Grill is poised on the city’s western edge. Divide’s lot, at 4020 Montana Sapphire Dr., gives patrons a stunning view of the Beartooth Mountain Range. That view will remain unobstructed because the lot borders the new Shiloh Conservation Area.

No one can build back there, Williams said of the public land. He considers that un-blocked vista an elemental piece of the new business.

Divide’s logo depicts a swath of water

dividing two mountains– symbolic of where the mountains meet the plains.

He continues that local focus within the bar with 14 local beers on tap; Divide also carries liquor from Trailhead Spirits and is investigating products from other Montana distilleries.

“We, as Montanans, appreciate the local,” he noted.

Keeping it local

When it came to finding a general contractor, Williams interviewed four companies.

“They all would have done a good job,” he said, “but it came down to personal contacts and Fisher Construction seemed to give us extra attention.”

After finalizing plans with Atwood Architecture, Williams and Fisher Construction broke ground in September of 2015, roughly a year after being awarded the lottery license. Fisher Construction completed the project in less than five months with essentially few issues along the way.

Divide Bar & Grill opened for business on February 16, 2016.

April 2016 31

Divide Bar & Grill owner Darrin Williams won a Montana liquor license in a lottery prior to opening the business. The newly-developed location, which features a West End bar with grill, has proved incredibly popular.

Setting the vibe

Williams connected with Kristi Miller of KMD Design to focus on the bar and grill’s layout and design. Miller, who has more than 20 years of experience, helped Williams dial in on his desired atmosphere.

“Emphasize the view – that was in the back of my mind throughout this process,”

Williams said. “Plus, I knew I wanted a local flavor.”

Miller melded Williams’ abstract ideas into a flowing design rooted in the worn wood and rustic metal of Montana. It features open trusses and ductwork, painted dark so it fades away; commercial-grade luxury vinyl plank flooring that mimic barn wood at a portion of the cost and double

Congratulations The DiviDe Bar & Grill on your new facility!

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April 2016

the durability; stainless steel wainscoting topped with wood trim; and backlit freeform panels in the upper bar above a black cast-iron rail at the patron’s feet.

“It’s juxtapositions that work,” said Miller of the interior. “Darrin wanted a contemporary-yet-rustic-Montana feel but he didn’t want something that has already been done.”

The balance of materials is also demonstrated outside with the tower-like entrance and cantilever metal accents.

It was important to give a nod to the historic buildings of downtown Billings.

“This is Darrin’s way of bringing that warehouse feeling to the West End,” added Miller.

Bar with a grill

Williams readily admits that he envisioned a bar with a grill. Based on the first two months of business, Divide is more of a grill with a bar.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean it will stay that way.

The massive U-shaped bar centers the space, naturally becoming the focal point. However, the real focus, noted Williams is the view. Patrons enter from the north side of the building and are immediately transfixed by the panoramic vista immediately across the 4,000 squarefoot space. The bar seats 27 for a total of maximum of 177.

Additionally, Williams included a 1,500-square-foot patio with two gas fire pits on the south side of the building because he knows how Montanans love to eat, drink and socialize outdoors – the mild, long summer evenings often beg for patrons to linger and enjoy. Although “patio season” is just starting, the space is sure to be a hit, based on the inquiries that Williams fielded during March’s warm spells.

An undisputed key to the business’ potential success remains the lottery liquor license – a gamble that became Divide Bar & Grill.

special advertising section

Transitioning to a New Home: Family Promise oF yellowstone Valley’s Fortin Foundation day-Center

By Tara Cady Photos By Larry Mayer

The new Day-Center at 10 So. 26th St. gives Family Promise much-needed room to grow as an organization.

Cars aren’t built to be offices.

For over a decade, though, staff at Family Promise of Yellowstone Valley (FPYV) used their personal vehicles for private case management meetings.

Donors are recognized near the main entrance, highlighting how much of a community effort the project really was.

April 2016 33

special advertising section

Lisa Donnot, executive director of Family Promise of Yellowstone Valley, stands in front of the building during renovations in October 2015.

CoNgrAtulAtioNs to Family Promise of Yellowstone Valley We are proud to have offered support for over 8 years.

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April 2016

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special advertising section FPYV has been operating out of the basement of Bethlehem Lutheran Church since its origin 11 years ago. The basement fit the needs of the organization at the time, but eventually FPYV’s emergency shelter and case management program outgrew the modest space the church provided.

It’s difficult to imagine that the 750-square-foot basement housed two offices, two bathrooms, a small kitchen area and four families during the day.

Lisa Donnot, executive director of FPYV, explained that the previous space impeded program expansion and was a barrier to what social services could be provided.

“People would leave the program because there was no access to transportation and no space for privacy,” said Donnot.

FPYV, formerly known as the Interfaith Hospitality Network, is a non-profit organization and community of 26 Billings faithbased congregations. A network of over 1,400 volunteers work together to provide emergency shelter, transitional housing, case management, family reunification visits, aftercare for program graduates, classes and School District 2 (SD2) tutoring to local families. Before the expansion,

these services had to compete for space with children home sick from school and parents who worked the night-shift and were trying to sleep.

“Residents of Billings only see seven-percent of the homeless population since many are couch surfing or living in their cars.

School District 2 has identified 630 homeless children this school year,” noted Donnot.

Volunteers recognized the need for expansion several years ago and quickly started the planning process. FPYV purchased the old Galles Filter Building at 10 S. 26th St. in 2012 for $84,000. Formerly used as a garage, the building had been empty for more than 15 years. FPYV began a fundraising campaign for renovations in 2014 with a private ask. It went public in 2015 after raising $300,000, half of the goal. FPYV reached its objective with a donation of $150,000 from the Fortin Foundation and began construction fall of 2015.

Taking a village

The Family Promise Fortin Foundation Day-Center was born thanks to donors, volunteer committees and the expertise of Collaborative Design Architects and Hardy Construction.

“Collaborative Design TopLeft:Prior to the new day-center, FPYV administrative staff used their personal cars to conduct business; they now have office space for privacy.

Top Right: The Day-Center features a reception area and administrative offices for daily operations.

Above Left: Each family in the program is afforded their own bathroom.

Left: Families in the program can do their own laundry at the day-center.

Congratulations Family Promise of Yellowstone Valley

We are proud to be involved with this project.

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April 2016 35

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Architects and Hardy Construction both acted like it was their building, putting ownership and pride into the project,” noted Donnot.

In an abandoned building that previously had no walls, the architects and contractors transformed the 3,000-squarefoot space into a multi-functional day center with areas designated for education, case management, administration, reception, community, play, laundry and personal hygiene. The building even afforded FPYV 1,500-square-feet of basement storage, a drastic change from the former site.

“Seventy-five percent of the space is for families,” Donnot said of the new facility.

Donnot’s favorite room is the kitchen/ community area, where ice-cream socials will be held every Friday for families currently registered in the emergency shelter, transitional and aftercare programs.

“The expansion makes it easier for families to have their basic needs met so they can focus on sustainability,” Donnot explained.

The new location is ideal for family units, with easy access to the MET Transit Center, RiverStone Health and other social service agencies.

Upstairs, each of four separate bathrooms offer closets and shower tubs for

the four families in the emergency shelter program. Families move to participating congregations, which take turns hosting, to spend their evenings and overnight hours.

Volunteers pick up families at 6 a.m. and bring them to the day center to get ready for work and school. Each family has its own pantry in the kitchen/community room, so there is a semblance of structure and individuality.

Jeff Kanning, a Collaborative Design Architects partner, former FPYV board member and current FPYV committee member, agrees with Donnot that the kitchen/community area is a “fun space” that “blends contemporary design with a traditional setting.”

Ageless

One might notice upon entering the facility that the building has its original brick and wood floors that are more than 100-years-old.

Hardy Construction project superintendent, Robb Lowe, considers the renovation as a means to “breathe life into an old place,” citing polyurethane foam thermal insulation as one of the additions to the building.

“There’s a lot of character in the floor, too,” said Lowe of the original wood that

special advertising section

A Billings Senior High art student donated her time to paint a mural for kids to enjoy during playtime.

demonstrates a history of spills, burns and construction projects.

Though there weren’t any “hiccups” per-say, Donnot noted that the outside brick was damaged and soft. Hardy Construction professionals found a special stripper to remove existing paint and used bricks found on-site to make repairs.

“Lisa was ecstatic every week,” Lowe said, referring to the smooth timeline and project’s progress.

And it was no wonder, as Hardy Construction was on-site to fix a broken window within five minutes the day before FPYV’s open house.

“Our guys in the field could see the enthusiasm and energy that Lisa and the board brought to the project,” said Cory Moore, Hardy Construction project manager. “Everyone involved did phenomenal jobs, and we were always ahead of schedule.”

FPYV’s mission to end the cycle of poverty and homelessness resonated with the workers. Collaborative Design Architects’ Jeff Kanning was involved in the

building purchase, and Moore is joining the FPYV’s board of directors after experiencing the organization’s impact first-hand.

“It was truly a community effort,” said Donnot of the renovation project for the community-owned building.

Donations of $1,000 or more are recognized on a “giving wall” outside the kitchen area and main entrance. Donnot worked with Allegra Print & Imaging to create a display for donor recognition.

Donors can still be added to the wall.

The new facility serves 60-percent more families and has a security system in place to keep families and volunteers safe.

“It’s been an amazing transformation from where Family Promise started,” acknowledged Moore.

Donnot sees the project as a long line of domino tiles standing tall, with none having tipped over at the time of its completion.

“Given the level of oversight and involvement, I would definitely call Collaborative Design Architects and Hardy Construction again,” said Donnot.

April 2016 37

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Dislike of competition may help explain gender pay gap Chicago Tribune CHICAGO — Women’s aversion to competition explains about a 10th of the gender pay gap among high-ability professionals, a recent study of young MBAs found, not only because women opt for lessaggressive fields but because men may do better when negotiating bonuses.

While prior studies have shown that women have less of a taste for competition than men, this report — a working paper from researchers at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Columbia Business School — overlaid that data with job choice, earnings and career progression among a high-performing group of men and women with similar smarts.

Closing the pay gap (women’s annual earnings are 79.5 cents per each dollar for men) has been a regular rallying point on the Democratic campaign trail and an initiative among tech companies eager to show they are seri-

The researchers used a wellestablished experiment to measure taste for competition among MBA students at Chicago Booth and then looked at those students’ first jobs and earnings upon graduation, and also where their careers took them seven years down the line.

In the experiment, participants were given the choice of playing a timed solo math game in which they could earn $4 for each correct answer or of competing in a tournament against three other participants and earning $16 per correct answer if they got the highest score.

Men were twice as likely as women to choose the tournament, and after controlling for math ability and beliefs about performance, the researchers concluded that about half of that decision could be attributed to a taste for competition.

On average, those who chose the tournament ended up earning $21,000 more at their first jobs after graduating; controlling for other variables, a taste for competition accounted for earnings of $15,000, or 9 percent, more than

ous about diversity.

Apple last month announced the results of a pay study that found women at the company earned 99.6 cents for each $1 that men did in similar roles and said the company was taking measures to eliminate the difference.

The gender gap is prominent at the top of the U.S. corporate ladder, where women represented 6.5 percent of the best-paid CEOs in 2014 and were paid 10 percent less than their male counterparts.

Another study released last month by Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business spotlighted the meager advancement of women in corporate boardrooms and said an unconscious tendency to gender-match — only appoint a woman to a corporate board when another woman departs — may be thwarting efforts to diversify the boardroom, which can have trickle-down effects on company policies.

The study of competition, gender and pay attempts to further the conversation about what is holding high-ability women back from parity.

less-competitive classmates.

When looking at pay by gender, male MBAs earned $175,000 on average in their first year after graduation, while female MBAs earned $149,000.

Part of that disparity is due to industry selection. Women were far less likely than men to go into finance, which tends to pay most.

Women who do start in finance are significantly more likely than men to move to other industries seven years down the line.

Women are 8 percent more likely than men to work in lowerpaying industries at graduation from business school and 12 percent more likely to do so seven years later.

But even controlling for industry, women’s first job pay on average was 13 percent less than men. co-author Luigi Study Zingales, a professor of entrepreneurship and finance at Booth, believes that’s because first-year pay is based largely on the guaranteed bonuses that new hires negotiate, and men may be more aggressive in negotiating bonuses.

As for why women tend to leave

call the experts call the

The gender gap is prominent at the top of the U.S. corporate ladder, where women represented 6.5 percent of the best-paid CEOs in 2014 and were paid 10 percent less than their male counterparts. finance over the years, Zingales said it could be an aversion to a cutthroat atmosphere or to a sexist environment.

“I think the dropping out of women in finance is because they feel uncomfortable in a very maledominated environment,” he said.

Taste for competition accounts for about 10 percent of the pay gap, the study found. Other studies have identified that career interruptions and differences in weekly hours, often as a result of having children, contribute to women earning less.

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STRATEGIESfor success

Documenting your processes can save your company money Documented, detailed processes that everyone uses and understands are the key to successful operations in any business.

Joe Michels, Ph.D., P.E., C.P.I., is principal of Solomon Bruce Consulting LLC. Contact him at 406-672-6387 or at solomonbruce.com.

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April 2016

Documented, detailed processes that everyone uses and understands are the key to successful operations in any business, from hospitality, marketing, nonprofits and accounting to manufacturing, distribution and transportation.

In a recent visit with the distribution manager at a major plumbing supply company, I learned that he was frustrated at the lack of structured approaches and efficient processes his company had in place. He wanted some ideas on how systems could be improved.

The center is involved in the distribution of a wide variety of plumbing supplies for commercial, residential and wholesale markets. As we talked, I asked about their use of automated application tools to manage inventory.

The manager said that his company, a multi-million dollar enterprise, did not possess any such tools. All inventory control work was done manually. They employed no automated record keeping.

For very small companies, e.g., those with less than $10,000 in annual sales, a manual system may be the simple approach to inventory management. However, with today’s automated tools and widespread use of spreadsheets and databases, a business cannot afford NOT to take advantage of automated tools and information systems.

Developing a simple picture of how tasks are currently undertaken and executed is one way to begin.

This picture is called a process map. The map illus-

Detailed processes can help your business avoid problems and thrive.

Jupiterimages

trates all of the steps that you currently use to accomplish a task.

When the map is drafted, ask “Why are we doing this?” for each aspect. You’ll discover that many tasks are repetitive and non-value added. Those steps can all be eliminated. At the end of the day, you will find having eliminated such steps saves time and money, since they didn’t yield any tangible business results.

Yes, I know. Going through this process can be tedious. But other residual benefits accrue to the task: one might discover that staff may not be fully engaged, or conversely, some are over-engaged. In either case, as the leader, you can

also take informed action either to decrease staff, reallocate workload or add staff depending upon the unique situation.

By defining and documenting processes to identify wasteful steps you create a guide on how tasks are expected to be completed. A written guide provides insight and training for newly hired employees. As employees review and use the guide, new discoveries arise.

For example, many millennial employees today want to become productive team members in the fastest time possible. They also want to be involved in all facets of the business. So put them to work to help refine the process map and add beneficial

questions on WHY. The results: Positive and beneficial outcomes. New individuals bring fresh perspectives and viewpoints which you may not have considered previously. Such insights improve business operations.

Having and using the documented process guide saves time, money and results in increased efficiency and operation. This translates into increased employee engagement and morale because everyone knows what they are to do and why they are doing it. The guide’s integration eventually will lead to greater profits, as well.

One caveat: Creating, adopting and integrat-

ing new processes means change. Change is difficult for many. However, an enterprise will not grow and prosper without change.

The old saying, “We have always done it that way!” often arises. The companion saw, “We are different here!” is something else that might come up. So as you progress through the exercise, take time to explain why you are reviewing each task.

With clearly written, easy to understand and simple to follow, documented processes, your employees will be more satisfied. They will understand, and recognize the “why” of getting things done at your firm. In short: Documentation produces dollars.

BETTERbusiness

These 10 industries generate the most consumer complaints In Montana specifically, Internet service made the top 10 complaint list.

Erin T. Dodge is an editor for the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho and Montana in Spokane. Contact the bureau at spokane.bbb.org.

How do your customers perceive your industry?

Would it benefit your customers and your business to communicate proactively and educate what you are doing to combat industry fraud and identity theft?

The top 10 nationwide consumer complaints from the Consumer Sentinel Network’s 2015 database signal some unfavorable perceptions of some industries.

At the very top of the list are debt collectors. If your business is debt collection, then you know that fraudulent collectors don’t help your image at all. Following debt collection complaints were identity theft and imposter scams. Con artists pretend to be affiliated with businesses or government departments to fleece the unwitting targets. Could con artists be pretending to work for you?

Rounding out the top 10 list for the nation are the following: Telephone and mobile services Prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries Banks and lenders Shop-at-home and catalog sales Auto-related businesses Television and electronic media Credit bureaus, credit furnishers and credit report users In Montana specifically, Internet service made the top 10 complaint list. Whether your business falls within

these industries, you are associated with these industries or your business is a customer, there are many steps you can take to make sure your business is internally strong and shines in a favorable light.

Train your employees.

Educate your customers.

Train employees to spot scams and cons that can target your business. Also, train your employees to discuss the ways in which you will and won’t do business with your customers. For example, if a customer is trying to access an online account with your company, then your support staff should remind them that you will never ask for their password. By educating your staff and your customers, you equip them with the knowledge to spot scams.

Inspect your invoices.

When scammers target your business, they are counting on busy employees, a lack of attention and muddled lines of communication.

Thwart con artists by paying close attention to invoices and making sure the buyers and the accounting department are talking to each other.

Document and share your policies.

By using simple language and sharing your policies with your customers, you can avoid a lot of confusion. This lets customers know what to expect. And when you do receive a complaint, you can share your policy. Of course this means that you’ll be able

Jupiterimages

Telephone and mobile communications industries are among the leaders when it comes to consumer complaints.

to train your employees on your policies as well.

Investigate unexpected requests or claims.

If someone calls your business claiming to be from a government agency, credit card company, bank or other business, then investigate and call the entity at a number that you know is legitimate.

Con artists can spin a good yarn. They use mail drops and U.S. postal boxes to make it seem like they aren’t actually based in a foreign country. They use toll numbers in Caribbean nations that look similar to U.S. phone numbers.

Don’t take messages at face value and don’t trust callers you don’t know. You can always check a business out at www.bbb.org or by

calling 509-455-4200.

Respond to complaints.

File complaints.

If a complaint is made against your business with Better Business Bureau, be sure to respond but only to the legitimate BBB phone number (beware of BBB impostors.) You shouldn’t ignore complaints, even if they seem trivial to you. By having a robust complaint response system, your business could turn a negative customer experience into a positive one.

When a scammer targets your business, you can report it and help everyone in your region grow more aware. You can report scams to BBB and view reported scams in your area at www.bbb.org/scamtracker.

You can file a complaint

with the Montana Department of Justice Office of Consumer Protection at http://1. usa.gov/1UOZm5m.

When you file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov/complaint, you help to shape their law enforcement actions. If your business has experiences fraud using the U.S. Postal Service, you can report it at http://1.usa.gov/1DN49Mz. If you’re in or associated with any of the industries in the top 10 list, then you may want to jump-start a communication plan, both internally and with your customers. Even if your plan is to just start talking to customers about scams and how you safeguard against them, it could be a great way to build trust.

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Business Briefs Local Commerce at a Glance

Trailhead Spirits wins awards

The American Craft Spirits Association poured on the awards for local distillery Trailhead Spirits at its third annual convention and trade show in Chicago.

The Billings spirit-maker and tasting room nabbed a gold medal for its Healy’s Gin and bronze medals for its Healy’s Reserve Gin and Great North Vodka in the competition, which had 450 entrants.

The biggest honor of the night came when Healy’s Gin won a “best in category” award for the contemporary gin category.

Study: Kamut benefits health

A new study conducted in Italy found evidence that a diet containing Kamut type wheat provides health benefits for people with Type 2 diabetes.

The study was conducted by the University of Florence in collaboration with the Careggi University Hospital of Florence.

Researchers concluded that a diet containing Kamut, a type of ancient Khorasan wheat, improves diabetics’ blood insulin and glucose levels.

Each participant in the study was required to eat both the ancient and the modern wheat, but in two different

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time periods of eight weeks.

Neither the participants nor the doctors knew what kind of wheat was eaten during each time period, and participants were not permitted to eat other wheat products during this time. They were instructed not to alter their dietary or lifestyle habits, nor change any use of medications they were taking. There was a washout period of eight weeks between the two trial periods. Blood analyses were performed at the beginning and at the end of each trial period.

“Medical research is focusing on lifestyle interventions in type-2 diabetes patients to reduce the risk of complications. One such lifestyle intervention relates to the role of diet, in particular the cereal component of the diet. Although initially viewed with concern, the benefits of nutrient dense carbohydrates, such as those found in cereals, is now beginning to be appreciated,” said Bob Quinn, of Big Sandy, an organic farmer and founder of Kamut International. “There are many longterm risks of low carbohydrate diets, which include mineral, vitamin and fiber deficiencies, and increased cardiovascular risk and related mortality.

Although evidence is inconclusive for an ideal amount of carbohydrates in the diet of diabetics, as this study proves, it is certain that the beneficial

effects attributable to carbo- written in the era of the addhydrates are dependent on the ing machine,” Smith said. quality of the source.”

Microsoft believes the issue should be decided in Congress, Smith said, again Microsoft backs siding with Apple.

Apple vs. FBI The Seattle-area company SEATTLE — Microsoft is joins several tech CEOs who “wholeheartedly” siding with have publicly supported ApApple in its battle with the FBI ple, including Jack Dorsey of over unlocking a terrorist’s Twitter and Sundar Pichai of iPhone.

Google. Earlier this week, Mi“We at Microsoft supcrosoft co-founder Bill Gates port Apple and will be filing slightly, though not explicitly, an amicus brief,” Microsoft disagreed with Apple, saying president Brad Smith said. companies should work with Smith’s comments came the federal government on at a congressional hearing particular cases involving on the laws governing data terrorism. transfers across borders, and government requests for that Branded drugs information. double in price Microsoft had previAverage branded preously not weighed in on the high-profile issue surround- scription drug prices have nearly doubled over the last ing an iPhone used by one of five years, according to the the terrorists who killed 14 nation’s largest pharmacy people in San Bernardino. A judge ordered Apple to unlock benefits organization.

In a report that could fuel the phone so the FBI could examine its contents, but Apple the growing political outcry has refused, saying that to do against high drug prices, pharmacy benefits manager so would create a dangerous “backdoor” into the technol- Express Scripts said “opportunistic manufacturers” ogy. and “scheming” pharmacies Smith pulled out a 1911 adding machine while giving helped drive up prices by 98.2 percent since 2011. his answer, using the prop to High prescription drug demonstrate how old the law costs have become an issue in is that’s being quoted in the the presidential primary camApple case. paign, with candidates in both “We do not believe that courts should seek to resolve the Democratic and Republiissues of 21st century techcan races proposing meanology with a law that was sures to control prices. And

“Pharma bro” Martin Shkreli became the face of the issue in September when he jacked up the price of a lifesaving AIDS and cancer drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill.

Express Scripts, which negotiates contracts for drug coverage on behalf of insurers and employers, said in the report that price “increases are occurring with greater magnitude and frequency than in recent years” and that “in 2015, nearly one-third of branded drugs experienced annual price increases of 20 percent.”

It blamed consolidation in the prescription drug market and “price gouging” for “diluting the value of generic medications and lower-cost therapies.”

Branded drug prices increased by 16.2 percent in 2015, Express Scripts said.

But if there was a glimmer of hope, it was that the growth in overall spending on drugs slowed.

By using more generics — which comprise 84 percent of all prescriptions and which fell in price by 19.9 percent in 2015 — the total spent per patient on prescription drugs increased by a more modest 5.2 percent, a smaller rise than the 13.1 percent increase in 2014.

Both increased drug prices and increased demand for drugs drove the higher costs, Express Scripts said.

Farmer unveils driverless tractor

POCATELLO, Idaho — A company started by a Post Falls seed potato farmer said it will put a driverless tractor on an Idaho field within the next two months.

Farb Guidance Systems’ first GPS-guided tractor, which is about half the size of the normal machine and has no steering wheel or seat, will go to a southern Idaho farmer.

“Companies have prototypes out there, but we believe at this point in time we’re the world leader in unmanned agricultural equipment,” company founder David Farb said.

Farb said his company expects to build 60 tractors this year and has received commitments for 100.

“We think that once these get in the dirt that it will be an explosive-type market,” Farb said. “It’s pretty hard to say no to it at the cost and what it does for you.”

Sensors alert farmers of equipment problems on the tractors, which start at $160,000 and have been tested on Farb’s farm. He plans to use the machines in his regular farming operations come spring.

Farb is working with equipment dealers and a large southern Idaho dealership.

Business Briefs Success Stories Recognizing People Local and Commerce Achievements at a Glance

Chamber names 2016 honorees

The Billings Chamber of Commerce has announced its Billings Chamber Business Excellence Awards for 2016. The public nominated outstanding businesses and professionals in a variety of categories, and the winners were selected by an anonymous voting process. The 2016 winners are: Rimrock (formerly Rimrock Foundation) EWALT – Employer of the Year.

Jeff Ewelt, ZooMontana – Business Person of the Year.

Damian FORRESTER Forrester, Keller Williams – Customer Service Excellence.

Jan Peterson, Western Security Bank – Supervisor/ManPETERSON ager of the Year.

The winners were honored during Limitless Leadership: the Billings Chamber Breakfast 2016 on March 31 at the Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark.

Ewalt, known to many as Jeff the Nature Guy, has overseen a significant turnaround at ZooMontana since he was

named director in 2011. Ewalt has worked at many zoos across the country and has shared his knowledge about animals on several national broadcasts, including Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Nat Geo Wild and PBS. Forrester is broker and coowner of Keller Williams Realty Premier Brokers in Billings. He started the Billings Keller Williams office three years ago. The agency now has 50 agents and the office now ranks in the top five in terms of market share.

Rimrock is the largest treatment center in the region and has been in operation for more than 40 years, treating addictive diseases, compulsive behaviors and mental health disorders.

Rimrock’s staff of 150 includes counselors, physicians, nurses and support staff. They make sure the individualized care meets the needs of adults and adolescents that they serve.

Peterson, senior vice president at Western Security Bank, has been described as supportive, patient, inspiring, devoted and reliable. She has held a variety of positions during her 30 years with the bank. As branch administrator, she provides leadership and support for Western’s branches. Her responsibilities include managing Western Security’s downtown branch.

Dermatologist opens business Dr. Cheryl S. Cook, M.D. has

opened Velum Skin & Laser Center at 178 S. 32nd Street West, Suite 3. A Board Certified Medial Internist, Cook practices medical dermatology, aesthetics and skin rejuvenation treatments using Sciton’s new Halo Hybrid Laser technology, the first of its kind in Montana. The COOK Halo helps reduce sun damage and improve skin texture. A practicing physician for 30 years, Cook is excited to continue her passion for patient care with skin cancer detection and prevention as well as skin rejuvenation services at her new location. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 6561244 or go to velumskin.com.

YNP bridge project honored

Knife River, which constructed Yellowstone National Park’s Isa Lake Bridge project, has been honored by the Associated General Contractors of America.

“The contractors working on these projects stood out among their peers by demonstrating the finest traits of our industry: skill, dedication, and ingenuity,” said Charles Greco, the association’s president and chairman of San Antonio-based Linbeck Group. “This is the kind of proj-

ect that inspires other contractors to push even harder as they work to improve our built environment.”

The Isa Lake Bridge was constructed a short distance from Old Faithful. Knife River replaced a unique timber bridge over Isa Lake with an aesthetically pleasing 176-foot concrete bridge meticulously constructed to look like a wooden bridge. Despite challenges, the Knife River team delivered the project under budget and ahead of schedule. The bridge was opened to traffic one day earlier than the predetermined milestone, and the overall project was completed nearly a month

Rondon joins Surgicenter

Dr. Oswald Rondón, a board certified ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist, has joined The Eye Clinic Surgicenter. He received his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed his residency at Nassau University Medical Center/SUNY Stonybrook as chief ophthalmology resident. He completed a glaucoma fellowship at New England Eye Center Tufts University School of Medicine and at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston.

Rondón has presented at national ophthalmology meetings and written for a leading

glaucoma textbook. He is also experienced in general ophthalmology and refractive surgery. Rondón may be contacted by calling the clinic at 252-6608.

Corn yield earns honor

Darren Miller of Billings placed third in the state in the irrigated class of the National Corn Yield Contest with a yield of 254.17 bushels per acre. The annual contest is sponsored by the National Corn Growers Association. The winners were recognized on March 4 in New Orleans during the 2016 Commodity Classic, the premier convention and trade show of the U.S. corn, soybean, sorghum, wheat and equipment industries. For more information, go to ncga.com.

Cook joins Angus group

Parker Cook of Huntley has joined the American Angus Association. As a junior member of the association, Cook is eligible to register cattle in the American Angus Association, participate in programs conducted by the National Junior Angus Association and take part in Association-sponsored shows and other national and regional events. The organization is the largest beef breed association in the world, with more than 25,000 active adult and junior members.

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Residential Permits FEBRUARY BLDG PERMITS

RESIDENTIAL

Addition Single/ Duplex/Garage 5532 Bobby Jones Blvd., Chris & Annie Hunter, Lambrecht Construction, $100,000 5445 Burlington Ave. Bitney, Peter & Agnes, Thompson Construction Company Inc.-Pools, $14,000 500 Indian Trail, Butler, James K. and Darcene L., Reule Builders $25,000 214 30 St. W., Hayden, Scott L. and Susan, $11,200 2621 Orchard Drive, Murray, Bret T., Van Arsdale Duane Construction Inc., $15,750 3976 Woodcreek Drive, Mitch Thompson, Van Arsdale Duane Construction Inc., $20,000 3955 Pine Cove Road, Cardillo, David E. and Dora K., JKC Inc., $15,435 2232 St. Andrews Drive, Tengberg, Kim L. and Jody L., Bruce Tall Construction And Design Inc., $7,500

Demolition 150 Garden Ave., James, Johnson, Rock Solid Excavating Inc., $3,000

Garage

2143 Largo Circle, Oakland 1311 Custer Ave., Reiter, Built Homes Inc., $146,280 Douglas W., $23,660 2146 Largo Circle, Oakland Built Homes Inc., $147,015 New Single Family 6140 Timbercove Drive, Clas337 Faith Drive, Wells Built sic Design Homes, $261,165 206 Mountain View Blvd., Homes Inc., $131,330 338 Faith Drive, Wells Built Patricia Smith, Emineth Custom Homes, $229,915 Homes Inc., $131,330 1303 Benjamin Blvd., Jeff Kre1901 Stony Meadow Lane, Mcitzberg Homes, $176,505 Call Development Inc., $221,190 1614 Songbird Drive, McCall 514 Shadow Lawn Court, Greg & Eileen McDonald, Jones Con- Development Inc., $247,980 3122 Reflections Circle, Oakstruction Inc., $532,445 1735 Heritage Walk, 1735 Her- land Built Homes Inc., $169,925 242 Sharron Lane, Reichenitage Walk Inc., P&R Construction, bach, Victor D., Kay Homebuilders $167,445 5627 Mountain Front Ave., LLC, $304,200 Trails West Homes LLC, $189,270 5631 Mountain Front Ave., New Two Family Trails West Homes LLC, $249,275 922 North Fork Trail, Trails 343 Faith Drive, Wells Built West Homes LLC $189,270 Homes Inc., $262,660 1902 Stony Meadow Lane, 339 Faith Drive, Wells Built McCall Development, $221,190 Homes Inc., $262,660 2601 Burlwood Drive, Classic 340 Faith Drive, Wells Built Design Homes, $225,935 Homes Inc., $262,660 2724 Troon Circle, Prori344 Faith Drive, Wells Built sion International, C7 Solutions, Homes Inc., $262,660 $249,275 347 Faith Drive, Wells Built 2303 W. Hollow Brook Drive, Homes Inc., $262,660 Doug Rausch Construction, 5339 Sundance Mountain $317,966 Circle, Jeff Junkert Construction 1411 Benjamin Blvd., Oakland Inc., $297,440 Built Homes Inc., $169,925 1239 Benjamin Blvd., Oakland Remodel Single/ Built Homes Inc., $169,925 Duplex/Garage 3053 Western Bluffs Blvd., Oakland Built Homes LLC, 840 El Rancho Drive, Fry, Cal$177,260 vin, Win-Dor Industries, $18,841

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2430 Interlachen Drive, Holzer, Terrence M. and Diane E., Construction By Design Inc., $29,000 620 Broadwater Ave., Dobitz, Chris, Frame To Finish, $200 910 N. 19th St., Charles Pett, $500 1140 Babcock Blvd., Chargualaf, Joseph M. and Margaret, Colossal Construction, $200 533 Terry Ave., Ellis, Billy Jr., Colossal Construction, $300 1067 Ginger Ave., Strickland, Terry Jean, Colossal Construction, $250 2002 Fairway Drive, Wegner, Brandon and Jacquelyn, Wegner Homes, $1,200 3207 Country Club Circle, Tronson, William R. and Cora Lee, One Source Construction LLC, $1,800 244 Ave. E, Riggsby Rental Enterprises, Allen’s Siding, $1,500 3772 Marathon Drive, Snell, Kasey Rose Dreamer, Colossal Construction, $300 280 Westchester Square S. Wilson, Darryl L., Colossal Construction, $269 525 Wyoming Ave., Mclean, Yvonne M., Big Sky Maintenance Inc., $25,000 1020 Burlington Ave., Brindle, Eric R. and Brianna F., C’s Construction of Billings, $8,164 4505 Hi Line Drive, Makuta, David N., The Pella Window Store, $2,300 2613 Clark Ave., Nash, Marcia

MOBILE

TABLET

A., Lynnrich Inc., $2,275 1009 Nutter Blvd., Pollock, John W. and Diana Heier, Northwest Building And Design LLC, $13,200 2212 Alamo Drive, Marler, Karrie K., $3,920 1728 Iris Lane, Kienitz, Timothy Lloyd and Lisa, $500 2936 Rimview Drive, 3MT Limited Partnership, Neumann Construction, $200,000 2105 12th St. W., Troxel, Troy N., Frame To Finish, $200 1506 Hawthorne Lane, Miller Charles E. & Rose, MCM Inc., Big Trees Construction, $1,200 1304 18th St. W., Heidt, Dennis P., American Exteriors LLC, $13,349 983 Dixon St., Anderson, Alan P. and Elisabeth P., American Exteriors LLC, $16,200 1400 Granite Ave., Ivanoff Family Trust, One Source Construction LLC, $1,500 3115 Lohof Drive, Schreiber, Christopher K. and Jodi, Classic Design Homes, $198,000 2518 Golden Blvd., Hoving, Harry C., $2,450 2159 Monad Road, Secretary Of Housing & Urban Development, Craigo Construction, $2,000 2825 Racquet Drive, Paulsen, James L. and Janice M., Lynnrich Inc., $9,467 1000 Blonco Circle, Wald, Leon and Carol, TB Construction, $375

APPS

2220 9 Ave. N., JS Realty LLC, Alpha-Omega Disaster Restoration, $30,000 2030 Fairway Drive, French, Quentin and Courtney, Big Sky Exterior Designs Inc., $4,800 811 N. 23 St., Gutierrez, Andrew V., $140 2332 Ash St., Living Color LLC, $6,000 3731 Hayden Drive, Potter, Thomas A. and Elizabeth A., WinDor Industries $20,787 384 W. Daffodil Drive, Burvainis, Meg, The Pella Window Store, $1,200 3065 Gregory Drive W., Mary Ellen Duke Trust, Freyenhagen Construction Inc., $15,000 19 Stanford Court, Ragar, Todd J., The Pella Window Store, $2,500 528 Burlington Ave., Nelson, Benita L. and Andy, Craigo Construction, $1,500 2325 38th St. W., Heenan, John C., Lynnrich Inc., $7,899 2734 Beth Drive, Mulvaney, Lesli J., Etal, Craigo Construction, $500 131 Stillwater Lane, Bourke, Fred S. and Twana D., Big Sky Exterior Designs Inc., $9,000 525 Wyoming Ave., Mclean, Yvonne M., Big Sky Maintenance Inc., $18,626 1830 Ave. E, Cunningham, Carol, $500 There were 57 Fence/Roof/ Siding permits issued in February.

Business licenses Latte Central, 1306 Central Ave., 208-2125 Rodeway Inn Billings, 1315 N. 27th St., 245-4128 Goforth & Prosper, 1335 Clark Ave., 828-230-1449 Todd Young, Shepherd, 6900421 David Garrett Construction, 2224 Hwy 87E, 545-9952 Greystone Operations, Froid, 249-0238 Unlimited Creations LLC, 1001 Shiloh Crossing Blvd., Suite 2, Sissie’s Cleaning Services, 12349 Cortez Ave., 697-2920 Heights Car Care/ Heights Conoco, 1320 Main St., 259-3709 Pen and Paige, 739 Lewis Ave., 690-8821 Joette Larson Photography, 328 Mt McKinley Drive, 861-3288 McGlone Hydroseeding LLC, 1931 Phoebe Drive, 672-4835 Playlive Nation, 1595 Grand Ave., No. 225, 894-2505 Caltex Renovations, Dade City, Fla., 903-421-6177

Underwood Construction, 1451 Matador Ave., 671-9498 Skyline Auto Center, 1001 Fourth Ave. N., 245-4309 Jefferson Lines, 1830 Fourth Ave. N., 245-5116 Z&K Development Company LLC, 1830 Fourth Ave. N., 2455116 JK Remodeling, 1738 Ave. F, 860-2792 Montana Pro-Result Painters, Red Lodge, 426-0802 Four Seasons HVAC LLC, Stevensville, 327-5542 Benchmark Sash & Door, 2950 King Ave. W., Suite 2 Tryans Auction Center, 1302 Second Ave. N., 245-6705 Corndogg Customs, 2311 Monad Road, No. 6, 431-2534 C. Schreier Construction, 3024 Ninth Ave. S., 694-7638 Neurohealth Nutritionals, 3737 Grand Ave., Suite 6, 516-672-4062 Trailhead Mobile Detailing, 605 18th St. W., 200-2351 Mountain Handyman LLC, Red

Lodge, 426-4432 Street Sweeper Records, 1215 Harney Drive, 860-3512 Cradles To Crayons, 2209 Central Ave., 702-1193 Occhipinti LLC, 1208 Yellowstone Ave., 647-4217 Clearview Construction, 3237 Parkhill Drive, 694-9758 Emory V. Hoke II, 2205 Lewis Ave., 591-3109 Granite Peak Builders LLC, Laurel, 670-2519 BMT Salon & Spa, 1430 Country Manor Blvd., No. 3, 714-322-1662 Brown’s Carpentry, 2 Queen Victoria Place, 694-1020 Pryor Mountain Builders, 4422 Vaughn Lane, 281-4896 AIH Manufacturing Inc. 5840 Titan Blvd., 894-2264 Happy Handyman Home Repair, 343 Clark Ave., 647-4227 Knock Out Realty, 926 Main St., Suite 24, 969-3343 Alegria & Sons, Park City, 281-1289 Snake Butte Construction, 2702

Montana Ave., No. 202, 673-3031 Quesenberry Construction, 417 Hillview Lane, 702-6587 Powers Contracting, 1650 Sagebrush Road, 672-3019 Parramontes, 3031 Boulder Ave., No. B1, 850-7090 R&R Taylor Construction, Bozeman, 587-4451 Pet Peeves, 1304 Yellowstone Ave., No. 1, 876-4992 CM Cleaning LLC, 2214 Golden Blvd., 690-4584 Mariah By Design, 2214 Golden Blvd., 690-4584 Exterior Technologies Inc., 4134 Waterford Drive, 698-4731 Blueline Engineering Inc., 2110 Overland Ave., Suite 119B, 2942294 Story Stoles, 412 Gay Place, 541-519-0518 Pugliese Photography, 622 Parkhill Drive, 916-479-3648 Imynda LLC, 2043 Ave. B, 927-2447 Magnum Electric of Montana Inc., Fargo, ND, 701-551-3240

SUBSCRIBE NOW! Only $1995 for a Year of News-Packed Issues

How Sweet It Is-Big Sky, 901 Edgehill Vista Road, 661-706-1919 Gone Pro Glass, 23 Hartland St. N., 697-9628 Affordable Premier Tree Services, 6318 Bear Paw Drive S., 861-7254 Alexander & Associates, 2307 Lake Elmo Drive, No. 3, 480-4165 Flower Scapes By Linda LLC, 231 Juniper Drive, 208-5612 American Granite & Stone, 7804 Alderson Ave., 670-7557 Newton Construction, 31 Danube St., 371-1659 Therapeutic Laboratory Inc., 1106 Main St. B-Line Construction, Shepherd, 850-6430 Jay’s Waterline Repair, 220 Ave. E, 794-9775 Reliable Roofing, 4226 Jansma Ave., 245-1073 HMS Construction, 1110 Evergreen Drive, 794-4690 A-Concrete Inc., 921 Cerise Road, 259-7298 Magic City Lawn Care, 2111

Grand Ave., 969-1769 Big Sky Nanny Service, 1702 Stirrup Road, 672-9999 Rebel River Creative LLC, 2921 Second Ave. N., 655-4555 American Landscape & Irrigation Inc., 3859 Wheat Grass Place, 855-3040 Sidewalk Solutions, 1321 Peony Drive, 281-3641 Busy Body Cleaning Solutions, 2 Alma Lane, 794-1078 Deelynn Designs, 1005 Central Ave., 702-7676 Purvis Industries, Dallas, 214358-5500 Scrap Billings, 21 S. 29th St., 670-5566 Saunders Construction Inc., Centennial, Colo., 303-699-9000 Concrete Care, 3895 Vista View Road, 606-2055 Rave FX, 714 Bender Circle, 281-2111 2905 Montana LLC, 2905 Montana Ave., 698-9742 Useful Things, 355 Washington St., 256-6123

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Business licenses continued AAA Trees Done Right Inc., 9026 Kautzman Road, No. 10-1/2, 652-3764 Seal Tight, 1513 Ave. E, 6726561

Ideal Option PLLC, 1220 Ave. C, Suite C, 509-222-1275

Precision Builders MT, Shepherd, fanich Drive, 606-2361 Ebel’s Angels, 725 Ave. D, 371-3302 Liam Dolan Construction, 3455 697-1405 A Clean Break, Park City, 702Old Hardin Road, No. 6, 208-6211 704-5836 BW Construction, 1236 Stef-

Bankruptcies Billings area filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Feb. 1-29, 2016.

Addresses are in Billings unless otherwise noted.

Chapter 7 Nelson Louis Weishaar, 1645 Augsburg Drive, Feb. 2.

Jodee Jae Crable, 4617 Ruth Ave., Feb. 11.

Brandi E. Granzella, 317 Jackson St., Feb. 15.

Kendra Sue Zimmerman, 1803 U.S. Hwy 87 E. No. 23, Feb. 16.

Nicholas Eugene Kallem, 315

E Maryland Lane, Apt. C8, Laurel, Feb. 16.

Catherine Elizabeth Petersen, 415 Miles Ave., Feb. 20.

Erica Lee Anderson, 341 West Daffodil Drive, Feb. 23.

Casey C. Curtiss, Diane D. Cur-

tiss, 3430 St. John’s Ave., Feb. 18.

Kristopher A. Hasler, 914 Terry Ave., Feb. 26.

Melody Joyce Tanner, 1451 Chanel Loop, Feb. 26.

Raymond L. Hicks, 5225 Montana City Drive, Feb. 27.

Shawn W Hart, 405 Santa Fe Jennifer Sue Benson, 11 ParkDrive, Laurel, Feb. 6. side Drive, Feb. 27.

Kayla Jean Aspen, 731 Torch Michelle A. Holliday, 10 Miners Drive, Feb. 20.

Place No. 1, Feb. 27.

John Calvin Perovich, 262 Wicks Lane No. 106, Feb. 27.

Chapter 13

measuring impedance of energy storage device. 9,244,130, Jan. 26, Battelle Energy Alliance LLC, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Qualtech Systems Inc., East Hartford, Conn.; Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Butte.

Orest Pilskalns of Missoula; Kevin Karpenske of Vancouver, Wash.; Adam McDonald of Longview, Wash.; Jacob Moore of Kalama, Wash.: Creation and use of digital maps. 9,245,041, Jan. 26, GeoMonkey Inc., Vancouver, Wash.

Vincent Steffan Francischetti of Columbia Falls; Gregory J. Wilson, Kyle M. Hanson, Paul Wirth, all of Kalispell; Robert B. Moore of Lewistown: Anneal module for semi-

conductor wafers. 9,245,767, Jan. 26, Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.

Shu Kuen Chang of Evanston, Ill.; Stephan Merkle of Chicago; Subrat K. Samantray of Khandagiri, India; Grant T. Sims of Littleton, Colo.; Sean T. O’Neill of Campbell, Calif.; Ryan C. Artale, Robert M. Sharp, both of Boulder, Colo.; Tony Moua of Broomfield, Colo.; Roland J. Wyatt of Bozeman: Ornamental design for a handle for laparoscopic device with integral rotation wheel. D748,260, Jan. 26, Covidien LP, Mansfield, Mass.

Anthony Cerasani of Missoula: Hand-holdable mixing container.

9,248,423, Feb. 2, Platinum Products LLC, Montana.

Charles M. Thompson of Missoula and Sandip Bharate of Pune, India: Benzothiazole-based pyridinium compounds. 9,255,091, Feb. 9, The University of Montana, Missoula.

Harlan D. Caldwell, Deborah Crane, both of Hamilton: Chlamydia vaccine. 9,259,463, Feb. 16, The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health & Human Services, Washington, D.C. Lane R. Gobbs of Townsend, Derek L. Hansen of Laurel, Kenneth P. Pitman of Billings: Wheel assembly

seal. 9,259,965, Feb. 16, Crown Parts and Machine Inc. Michael T. Tessmer of Bozeman: Method and apparatus for dynamically selecting a multiplier and dynamically applying the multiplier to a limited number of paylines among a plurality of pre-defined paylines.

9,262,891, Feb. 16, MTD Gaming Inc., Highlands Ranch, Colo.

William E. Clem, Leif Summerfield, both of Bozeman: Intelligent urban communications portal and methods. 9,262,915, Feb. 16, KERBspace Inc., Bozeman.

Richard Beach, Brian Marquette, both of Louisville, Colo.; Christopher Butler of Westminster,

Montana patents Below are listed U.S. patents issued to Montana inventors Jan. 26-Feb. 16, 2016. For assistance in patent filing, call Billings patent attorney Antoinette M. Tease at 406294-9000.

Raymond Robert Kavarksy Jr. of Bozeman; Christopher M. Doyle of Waterbury, Vt.; Scott T. Keller, of Waterbury Center, Vt.: Snowboard binding and boot. 9,242,168, Jan. 26, The Burton Corporation, Burlington, Vt. John L. Morrison William H. Morrison, both of Butte; Jon P. Christophersen, Chester G. Motloch, both of Idaho Falls, Idaho: Method, system and computer-readable media for

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Colo.; Jon Ford of Broomfield, Colo.; Christopher Omland of Bozeman: Distributed dictation/transcription system. 9,263,046, Feb. 16, NVOQ Incorporated, Boulder, Colo.

Rick C. Powell of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Upali Jayamaha, Anke Abken, both of Toledo, Ohio; Markus Gloeckler of Perrysburg, Ohio; Akhlesh Gupta of Sylvania, Ohio; Roger T. Green of Monclova, Ohio; Peter Meyers of Lakeside: Photovoltaic devices including doped semiconductor films.

9,263,608, Feb. 16, First Solar Inc.

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Commercial building permits 2620 6 Ave. N., Rocky Mountain Oil Inc., Roset and Associates Inc., $8,000 2001 Overland Ave., Greenleaf Addition Land & Live Stock Co., Broken 3145 Sweet Water Drive, Faith Arrow Construction Inc., $19,310 339 S. 26th St., Matt RobertEvangelical Church, AJ Construcson, Capital Roof & Construction tion Inc., $9,000 LLC, $4,000 927 S. 32nd St. W., Doc & 984 N. 18th St., WWP North Eddy’s, $26,000 18th Street LLC, Big Sky Exterior Designs Inc., $7,800 Demolition 210 Hallowell Lane, Richau, Kevin, Empire Roofing Inc., 1233 N. 27 St., Rimrock Inn $36,000 LLC, CMG Construction Inc., 13 N. 23rd St., CTA Building $33,500 2216 38th St. W., The City Of LLP, Empire Roofing Inc., $88,000 3307 Grand Ave., Lais ProperBillings, $6,000 ties LLC, $12,000 117 N. 30th St., Clean Fence/Roof/Siding Enterprises LLC, Bradford Roof Management Inc., $74,000 1041 N. 29th St., Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Bradford Roof Management Inc., $180,000 New Hotel/Motel 4015 First Ave. S., Hagstrom Properties LLC, Wegner Homes, 4908 Southgate Drive, North$7,200 ridge Assets, Comfort Suites, 4848 Midland Road, The City $7,830,000 Of Billings, DPS Company LLC, 2611 7 Ave. N., 7th Avenue $48,000 Hospitality, Langlas & Associates FEBRUARY COMMERCIAL BLDG PERMITS

Inc., $7,287,000

1327 Main St., Popelka Enterprises LLC, Billings Alarm Company Inc., $300 Other 2209 Central Ave., Equality 2636 Lillian Ave., Alternatives Investments LLC, AJ Construction Inc., $1,800 Inc., $167,500 2345 King Ave. W., Hayhook/ 242 E. Airport Road, Less Bottrell Family Investments LLC, Billings LLC, Dick Anderson Treco Constructors Inc., $150,000 Construction, $65,000 402 N. 32nd St., Young Men’s 2412 Overlook Drive, The Christian Association, Langlas & City Of Billings (Airport), Jones Association Inc., $100,000 Construction Inc., $375,000 2925 First Ave. N., Swank Properties LLC, $200,000 New Townhomes 1537 Main St., SFH LLC, (Three or More Units) Jones Construction Inc., $500,000 1868 Songbird Drive, McCall 896 S. 29th St. W., 29 West Development, $966,680 Retail Partners LLC, Langlas & Associates Inc., $5,000 New Warehouse/ 880 N. 29 St., Riversage BillStorage ings Inn, Jones Construction Inc., 2636 Lillian Ave., Alternatives $17,000 3131 Iron Horse Trail, Lai Inc., $100,000 Khoon Eng, Kenmark Inc., $78,000 Remodel 1500 Poly Drive, Grabos LLC, Jones Construction Inc., $17,500 300 S. 24th St. W., Rimrock 50 27th St. W., 4M Properties, Owner LP, De Jager Construction Montclair AT&T, $20,000 Inc., $100,000

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1440 Grand Ave., Bennett, Garry V., $20,000 301 S. 24th St. W., David Keith, R&R Taylor Construction Inc., $30,000 595 Main St., Main Street Partners, R&R Taylor Construction Inc., $30,000 402 N. 32nd St., Young Men’s Christian Associates, Langlas & Associates Inc., $306,000 4125 Grand Ave., King Of Glory Lutheran Church, $80,000 4106 State Ave., Vesta Ventures LLP, Hardy Construction Co., $600,000 510 Moore Lane, Wind Tunnel Properties LLC, Lynnrich Inc., $3,758 4047 Montana Ave., Big Country Auto Sales, Chuck Krutel Construction Interior, $2,500 1505 Rehberg Lane, Northwest Billings Associates, C Squared Construction, $5,000 702 Dunham Ave., Western Wireless Corp., $20,000 1375 4 Ave. N., Calmont Limited Liability Co., Hulteng Inc., $95,000

4047 Montana Ave., Teyler Marvin W. and Barbara L., Chuck Krutel Construction, $2,500 145 Regal St., Blain, Gerhart S., Big Moose Construction, $815 1411 4 Ave. N., Calmont Limited Liability Co., D&D Distributing LLC, $1,500 637 Anchor St., Billings Heights Post #6774 AT&T Mobility Proposed Modif., $10,000 112 N. 28th St., Jeff Bouri, $42,000

Remodel - Change In Use 2501 Montana Ave., Computers Unlimited, Brad Hudson Inc., $50,000

Remodel Multi-Family 300 N. 25 St., Tarra Hergenrader, Van Arsdale Construction, $36,000

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