February 2019 Thinking Bigger Business

VOL. 29 // ISSUE 2 // FEBRUARY 2019

CONSTRUCTING A LEGACY Joe Vazquez builds his contracting business for his family.

VIRTUAL BECOMES REALITY

Companies incorporate VR, AR.

UNIQUE INCENTIVES

Johnson County gets creative to draw small businesses. » iThinkBigger.com

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CONTENTS

F E BRUA RY 2019 VOL. 28 // ISSUE 2

F E AT U R E

28 A Virtual Boom Businesses find various uses for VR, AR.

IN FOCUS

45 The Place to Be Johnson County uses unique incentives to draw small businesses.

D E PA R T M E N T S

07 The Bigger Picture 08 Biz Bits 11 Calendar 12 BIG | deals 15 25 Under 25 Updates 50 BIG | shots

S M A R T S T R AT E G I E S

32 BIGGER | strategy

24 | KC ENTREPRENEURS

KC Hemp Co.: Marketing through education

34 BIGGER | sales Hiring for Sales

36 BIGGER | law Are LGBT Employees Protected from Discrimination?

38 BIGGER | finance Prepare Now for the Next Economic Slowdown

HE ON T R E V CO

EMBRACING OPPORTUNITY

Skills from a career in accounting helped lead to success for Vazquez Commercial Contracting.

40 BIGGER | tech Delivering Valuable Virtual Training

4

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

16 BIG INFLUENCE

|

19 BIG STARTS

|

19 MADE TO LAST

Vazquez Commercial Contracting has used the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program to grow.

17

C O M PA N Y T O WAT C H

20

KC M A D E I T

22

ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY

Allen Press

MADI Apparel

Matt Druten

Commercial printer presses forward with new technology, services.

Brand promotes sustainability, dignity.

Role models have helped the accountantturned-CEO in business, risk-taking.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

5

CONTENTS

FE BRUA RY 2019

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THE BIGGER PICTURE

Life Moves Pretty Fast.

Stop and Celebrate!

A

s a small business owner, it

small business community. The majority

can be hard to make time to

of businesses in the U.S. are small

celebrate the wins. When you’re

wearing many hats, you may spend a few

businesses. They create jobs and wealth, which many owners and employees reinvest

minutes reflecting on good news, but then you move on to the next task that has to be done.

into our community.

Many alumni of the program have outgrown the “under

In the words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast.

25” employee threshold, such as ECCO Select, The

If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you

Roasterie and k12itc. Many others have sold their

could miss it.”

businesses, providing a plan for longevity and continued

That’s exactly why Thinking Bigger Business puts on

growth — take Useagility, Bark to Basics, SoftVu and

the 25 Under 25 Small Business Awards. Each year

Indigo Wild.

since 2001, we’ve honored 25 outstanding Kansas City

There’s always more to do for a small business owner,

companies with 25 or fewer employees with a black-tie

but Thinking Bigger creates the space for them to pause

gala that has grown to about 700 guests.

and celebrate at the 25 Under 25 Awards. Celebrate the

All of these people come to show support for the local

wins with us Feb. 23.

Katie Be an

// Edi tor and Managing D irec to r // kbean@iThinkBigger.com

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

7

BIZ BITS

Kissick Construction Co. founder dies unexpectedly Jim Kissick, who co-founded and owned Kissick Construction Co., died unexpectedly Dec. 14, 2018.

Kissick started his company 24 years ago, and it since has evolved into one of Kansas City’s most industrious construction firms, known to tackle $100 million projects.

“Jim valued the relationships formed with clients, vendors and employees,” a release from Kissick Construction Co. said. “He believed in placing a high value on the connections made in all areas of his life and built his professional life on trust, integrity and reliability.”

Mark One founder leaves business legacy Carl J. "Red" Privitera, founder of Mark One Electric Co., passed away Jan. 4 at age 94.

Privitera and his wife, Josephine, founded Mark One in 1974. The company quickly developed a reputation for completing difficult jobs for demanding clients and soon worked in car plants and industrial facilities across the country.

"Carl was a true self-made man with a passion for his work," his obituary reads. "His childhood during the Great Depression gave him an entrepreneurial spirit that is rarely seen today."

His children lead the company today, with Rosana Privitera Biondo as CEO.

KC ranks as one of worst cities for minority-owned businesses In early January, LendingTree released a study that analyzes the 50 largest U.S. metros and firms that are either wholly or partially owned by minorities. Of those 50, Kansas City ranked No. 49, followed only by St. Louis in last place.

The reports show that only 2.4 percent of minorities in the KC metro are self-employed, with 42 percent of minority-owned businesses in operation for six or more years. Where Missouri’s minority-owned businesses chiefly struggle is in accessing capital, the report suggests.

San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., took first and second place for the highest numbers of successful minority-owned businesses, with Washington, D.C., in third.

SBA awards ‘Boots to Business’ instructors In December, the U.S. Small Business 8

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

Administration awarded two Kansas Small Business Development Center instructors with its "Boots to Business Instructor of the Year" honor.

The University of Kansas' SBDC Director Will Katz of Lawrence was recognized as one of five 2018 award winners, while Washburn University business adviser Laurie Pieper of Manhattan was named as one of five runners-up.

The awardees were recognized for their excellence in teaching the Boots to Business course, the entrepreneurial track of the Department of Defense’s Transition Assistance Program. This year, 86,000 veterans participated in the program.

“I consider it an honor and a pleasure to work with veterans and exiting soldiers,” Katz told Thinking Bigger.

Report projects KC to add 16,100 area jobs in 2019 The Kansas City metro is projected to grow employment by 1.5 percent in 2019, according to a recent employment report from the Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR) at Wichita State University. This would mean approximately 16,1000 new jobs in the market, headed by continued growth in the service sector.

The report claims that the trade, transportation and utilities sector (2,000 jobs); government sector (2,000 jobs); and production sector (1,800 jobs) are expected to comprise most of 2019’s new employment growth.

CoderDojo KC partners with KC STEM Alliance In January, Kansas City Women in Technology announced a new partnership for 2019 between its signature student program, CoderDojo KC, and the KC STEM Alliance.

KC STEM Alliance features a collaborative network of educators, business partners and organizations that inspires interest in science,

technology, engineering and math careers to generate a robust workforce of related professionals for the Kansas City community.

Kansas City Women in Technology's program CoderDojo KC provides local students from the ages of seven to 17 with a free introduction to technology.

Entrepreneur launches network for supporting startups In January, Kansas City entrepreneur Donald Hawkins launched KC Collective, a network for supporting entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

The collective aims to foster stronger startups in the region and will offer various resources for entrepreneurs, starting with regular educational programming and networking events.

Interested entrepreneurs can find the group on Meetup.

It plans to host monthly elevator pitch practice and dinners.

Streetcar cruises toward northern expansion without federal funding

The Kansas City streetcar saw a 2.6 percent expansion in ridership in 2018, attracting 2,114,886 rides last year, compared with 2,060,327 in 2017.

This uptick in ridership inspired plans to expand the streetcar route along the riverfront, from River Market toward Berkley Park. However, the streetcar’s northward extension hit a couple of bumps in the road: the Federal Transportation

BIZ BITS

Agency rejected the KC Streetcar Authority’s application for $25 million in December, leaving the funding for the riverfront expansion in local hands.

In better news, the streetcar has another promising project on its agenda: expanding the streetcar line along Main Street to the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The group is applying for $151 million from Washington, D.C., for the $316 million endeavor, and initial reports are positive.

providing an assist when needed.

Kansas City’s e-bikes are operated by Torontobased Drop Mobility and are available for use 24/7.

Users unlock the bikes by scanning a QR code through Drop Mobility’s app. A total of 150 bikes will be distributed downtown by March.

than 11,300 tech employees, the the Tech Council reports on its website.

The event will take place at The Abbott, 1901 Cherry St., Kansas City, Mo.

KC Tech Council to recognize local tech achievements

Kansas City-based AltCap recently launched a new fund for investors who want to channel capital gains into Opportunity Zones.

AltCap is a community development financial institution committed to directing investment toward undercapitalized communities and businesses. Created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Opportunity Zones tax benefit is designed to increase economic development and job creation by encouraging long-term investments in economically distressed communities nationwide.

AltCap plans to prioritize projects that will create new jobs, remove blight, foster a positive impact on communities and prompt additional investment in undercapitalized areas.

Shared e-bikes roll into KC The first of Kansas City’s e-bikes rolled into town around Christmas, making the KC metro one of only a handful of North American cities to adopt the transportation method.

Because of the metro’s hilly terrain, the easyto-use bikes feature a 300 watt battery-powered motor that helps propel cyclists up steep inclines and over longer distances. The bikes have a range of up to 30 miles and top speed of 20 mph, and they respond to the pedaling of its riders,

The Kansas City Tech Council will celebrate the metro’s tech community March 8 from 5:308:30 p.m. The event, called No Coast, will bring together companies and organizations that elevate KC’s tech industry.

In 2018, Kansas City’s tech sector contributed $10.8 billion to the KC economy as well as more

AltCap launches Opportunity Zone fund

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SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

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Calendar of Events FEBRUARY Bioscience & Innovation Day // Feb. 7 Kansas State Capitol, Topeka 2019 American Advertising Awards // Feb. 16 Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland 25 Under 25 Small Business Awards // Feb. 23 Kansas City Marriott Downtown Muehlebach Tower Bizwomen Mentoring Monday // Feb. 25 // Jan. 25 Overland Park Convention Center KC Collective's Elevator Pitch Practice and KC Startup Chowdown // Feb. 28 WeWork Corrigan Station

APRIL Brew:30 KCDMA Ambit Awards // April 4 Women's Employment Network Annual Luncheon // April 18 Sheraton Crown Center Leadership Lyceum // April 23

MAY National Small Business Week // May 5-11

KC Tech Council's No Coast: Celebrating KC's Best in Tech // March 8 The Abbott Big Breakfast // March 14 Chamber Board Room, Union Station InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum // March 19-20 Westin Kansas City Greater Kansas City Chamber Small Business Celebration Candidates’ Showcase // March 27

Big Breakfast // September 12, Chamber Board Room, Union Station

OCTOBER

National Women’s Small Business Month National Minority Enterprise Development Week Brew:30 NAWBO KC Women in Business Summit

Greater Kansas City Chamber Small Business Celebration // Think Tank breakfast, May 2; Awards luncheon, May 23

NOVEMBER JUNE

MARCH

SEPTEMBER

Kansas Governor’s Exporter of the Year Award Big Breakfast // June 13 Chamber Board Room, Union Station

Global Entrepreneurship Week AltCap Your Biz Pitch Competition UMKC Henry W. Bloch School of Management Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Small Business Saturday

JULY Brew:30 // TBD

AUGUST KC Animal Health Investment Forum // August 27

DECEMBER

National Write a Business Plan Month Big Breakfast // December 12, Chamber Board Room, Union Station

Looking for high-quality networking with like-minded small business owners?

Join Thinking Bigger for networking and educational events like the Big Breakfast and Brew:30.

Find more local business events online and submit your own at iThinkBigger.com.

10

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

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AWARDS & RECOGNITION Platte County Council Honors Standout Small Businesses

Eight Platte County companies were awarded for job creation and/or significant expansion and investment projects at the Platte County Economic Development Council's 28th Annual Business Excellence Luncheon in December.

The awards were granted in categories of Business Excellence, Community Development and Education Partnership.

Small and mid-size businesses earning awards included BMS Logistics Inc. of St. Joseph, Engaged Companies of Parkville, Miss Doyle’s Soapery of Weston, Velociti of Kansas City, Horticultural Impressions of Platte City, Al’s Bar and Grill of Platte City and KCI Auto Auction of Kansas City.

Happy Gillis Ranks Among Nation's Top Breakfast Spots Local eatery Happy Gillis, 549 Gillis St. in Kansas City, Mo., recently earned a spot on Thrillist’s list of “The Best 22 Breakfast Spots in America.” The website chose from restaurants across the country that specialize in breakfast foods.

Owners Josh and Abbey-Jo Eans purchased the restaurant in 2013 and offer seasonal food items that focus on high-quality, local ingredients.

“The magic is the tight but diverse menu, which manages to meet you in any mood you

wake up with,” Thrillist’s writeup reads.

Local Consultant Appears in Forbes Kelly Tyler Byrnes, from Kansas City-based Voyage Consulting Group, contributed to a December feature in Forbes called “13 People (Besides a Career Coach) Who Can Help You With Your Job Transition.”

She advised readers to consult a professional association leader when facing transition.

“The chapter leaders of professional associations relevant to your field, employers and customers can advise on changes and challenges their members are facing,” Byrnes wrote. “You can use that information to flush out how you can solve new challenges and target your search.”

CLOSINGS Coworking Space Bonfire Shuts its Doors

After five years in operation, the KC-area coworking space Bonfire closed its doors in late January. The location provided work and office spaces for creatives at 6104 Johnson Dr. in Mission.

The coworking studio was created by Rusty Wright and married couple Jason and Allison Domingues. Wright said that while the space will no longer function, its tenants will continue their work.

Mission Antique Mall Closes Operations After 24 years in business, Mission Road

Antique Mall closed its operations in late December.

Established in 1994 and 50,000 square feet in area, the antique mall had grown to include more than 300 vendors, according to its website.

Before its closing, the mall was at 83rd Street and Mission Road in Prairie Village. Although owner Casey Ward initially searched for a new location for the business, she ultimately decided against a relocation for cost purposes, according to The Shawnee Mission Post.

SewKC's Closing Promises National Expansion SewKC, an apparel and accessories store located in Leawood, announced its closing on New Year’s Day. Michele Dawbarn started the business to share her two passions: sewing and the Kansas City community.

In a goodbye post on Instagram, sewKC thanked the community for its support and urged customers to keep on the lookout for a new national brand called sewUS. “While closing our storefront was a difficult decision, we knew it was important so we could continue to grow,” sewKC wrote in the post. “It’s been a tough decision, but this is definitely the right one.”

Departing Made on Mass Thanks Lawrence Community On Dec. 17, Lawrence-based shop Made on Mass announced in a Facebook post “with heavy hearts” that the store would close by the end of 2018. Made On Mass started up in 2011 and specialized in providing products handmade by independent, local artists.

“We have loved being part of the Lawrence community and all the times we've shared together,” Made on Mass wrote in its post. “We will forever be grateful for your support of our little shop. You embraced us from the beginning, and we've enjoyed being part of your lives.”

Tomfooleries Says Goodbye After 26 Years on the Plaza Longtime KC bar and restaurant Tomfooleries closed its Plaza location at the end of December

BIG | deals

after 26 years of business. The location opened in 1992.

“It’s not my decision. I would be happy to continue operating as long as I can, to stay put and keep rolling,” owner Barton Bloom told The Kansas City Star in December. “We’ve been here a long time. But the building has been sold and there is quite a bit of talk about the development.”

Going forward, Bloom plans to continue managing the Broadway Bistro and catering operations for the Garment House, a sevenstory entertainment district at 1000 Broadway.

It is widely speculated that Nordstrom Rack and apartments will fill Tomfooleries’ vacancy in the Jack Henry building.

Shop Beautiful Closes Original Brookside Location After 82 years in operation, the Brookside boutique Shop Beautiful is closing its original location to consolidate with its Overland Park store.

Two sisters founded Shop Beautiful in 1936; Ruth Martin then purchased the shop in 1967, and two of her three daughters, Abbey Fields and Sarah Douglas, joined the company after helping out with the business growing up.

The Hawthorne Plaza shop, 5001 W. 119th St., opened in 1987.

The main reason for the move, according to the owners, is lack of space for events, even with a recent remodel.

Crossroads Retailer Announces Closure Crossroads retailer Urban Provisions announced on Instagram that the store would close in January.

“The last four and a half years of Urban Provisions have been phenomenal and have opened doors I could never have anticipated.

The time has come to close this door, and the store will be closing at the end of this month,” the company wrote.

EXPANSION Midwest Pool Company Expands Resort Life in Colorado Mid-America Pool Renovation Inc., based in Grandview, recently celebrated the opening of a new resort in Aurora, Colo., called the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center.

Mid-America Pool Renovations contributed 12

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

work to the resort’s aquatic amenities, which include over 20,000 square feet of heated luxury swimming pools.

“We knew right away that this was a project we wanted to pursue because it would give us a chance to highlight our abilities in a market that is desperate for quality tradespeople,” Mid-America General Manager Austin Kateusz said in a news release.

FINANCING BacklotCars Inc. Sees $8M Series A Funding Round Kansas City’s BacklotCars Inc., an online marketplace for auto dealers, recently saw an $8 million Series A funding round. Co-founded in 2014 by CEO Justin Davis, the company currently staffs 55 employees and it plans to hire several more in the near future.

The funding round also accompanied a $10 million credit facility expansion.

PlanIt Impact Receives $900,000 Funding Kansas City startup PlanIt Impact received $900,000 in funding in 2018. The company’s cloud-based software focuses on providing performance insights for architects, engineers and contractor teams.

PlanIt closed two rounds in April, which included

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several local investors in engineering and construction. The company used the funding to enlist an outside marketing firm, improve its software and hire a president/product lead and a director of sales.

NEW BUSINESS Pizza 51 West Says Goodbye to Fairway; Hello, Fairway Creamery On New Year’s Day, Pizza 51 West announced the closing of its Fairway location.

It was recently announced that in its place, chocolatier Christopher Elbow will open a shop called Fairway Creamery. The new store will offer artisanal ice cream, doughnuts, other frozen treats and, of course, Elbow’s trademark chocolates.

Pizza 51 West’s original location at 5060 Oak St. remains open for business. Elbow’s main shop can be found in the Crossroads Art District.

Rochester Brewing and Coffee Roasting to Brew in Crossroads

will also offer home-brewed coffee, pastries and other locally-provided food options.

Poi-ō Restaurant Brings Taste of Mexico to Crossroads The new restaurant Poi-ō, at 1000 W. 25th St., is bringing wood-roasted chicken to Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood.

Poi-ō offers roasted chicken dishes prepared in a cherry wood oven as well as Filipino-style baby-back ribs and traditional Mexican street food.

The store’s owner, Carlos Mortera, comes from a long line of restaurant ownership originating in Querétaro, Mexico. He runs the place alongside his father, Carlos Sr., with the occasional help of his brother and uncle.

“What we wanted was an affordable restaurant where a family of four can eat for $30 with fresh ingredients,” Mortera said. “It’s a community restaurant for this neighborhood.”

NEW PRODUCT Winery Adds Cider to Offerings Olathe’s Stone Pillar Winery & Vineyard has added an “amazingly delicious” hard cider to its lineup, the company said. The cider is available on tap at the tasting room, 11000 S. Woodland Road.

ON THE MOVE

A new microbrewery called Rochester Brewing and Coffee Roastery will open on the west side of the Crossroads Art District in late March.

The new venture is the brainchild of longtime friends and brewers Marshall VanTuyl, Philip Enloe and David Bulcock. Its location at 2129 Washington St. will feature a 1,200 square-foot tap room and 1,400 square-foot event space. In the back of the 6,000 square-foot building will be a five-barrel production facility.

The partners’ craft brews will include classic IPAs, stouts, kettle and traditional sours and lagers, as well as ciders and meads. Rochester

Athlete Network Taps Experienced COO Athlete Network, provider of athlete services technology for intercollegiate athletics, announced a new executive team member in January.

Deanna Ferrante joins as COO. Ferrante brings SaaS software industry expertise to the company, specifically in product management, client success, and strategy. She will lead the Athlete Network team in executing their strategic product roadmap, operationalizing client success, and driving efficiencies across the organization.

“I am beyond excited that Deanna has joined our leadership team,” said Chris Smith, founder and CEO. “Over the last 12 years, her leadership has been instrumental in growing two of Kansas City's most successful edtech and

SaaS companies. Athlete Network is excited to leverage Deanna's track record of success and execute on our ambitious growth roadmap.”

RE Closes West Bottoms Location, Reopens in Crossroads After seven years in the West Bottoms, family-owned home décor and furnishings store RE (previously known as Restoration Emporium) closed its original store location the third week of January.

Owner Chrysy Huff expressed “disappointment and surprise” after the West Bottoms building sold but spoke excitedly about RE’s new location in the Crossroads Arts District. Now paired with KC Furnishing Co., the new store opened in December at 1717 Washington St. KC Startup Homebase Moves to New HQ The KC startup Homebase moved to a new headquarters in the Crossroads Arts District in December. The startup, owned by CEO Blake Miller, specializes in selling a smart building software program.

Homebase’s 6,000-square-foot space, located at 1619 Walnut St., features storefront windows and a showroom. The company offers integrated tech for multifamily and student housing that connects with the Internet of Things.

Seven Swans Crêperie Finds Home for Winter Pop-Up Seven Swans Crêperie, a winter pop-up in the east Crossroads Art District, is offering a fixed location for regular customers and a menu serving up hot crepes, coffee and soup.

The cozy crêperie still has its food truck, but you can now find it in a warehouse location at 1815 Charlotte St. Seven Swans Crêperie now shares its space with Wheat&Waves Coffee Shop and Buffalo Mane barber shop. Owner Kate Bryan invited customers in a Facebook post to come enjoy a crêpe, a cup of Oddly Correct coffee and a “highly unusual orchestra of sights and sounds.”

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

13

BIG | deals

Filipino-Style Food Truck Plants Roots in West Bottoms Previously a mobile food truck, Filipinostyle eatery KC Pinoy has moved into a fixed location in the Kansas City West Bottoms.

The restaurant recently took over the space formerly occupied by West Bottoms Kitchen at 1623 Genessee.

KC Pinoy’s owner, Chrissy Nucum, began her food journey by cooking dishes alongside her mother, aunt and grandmother in Manila. The restaurant provides classic Filipino dishes such as adobong manuk (chicken thighs stewed in vinegar, soy sauce and spices) and sisig.

RSM Marketing acquires Unravel In January, Wichita-based RSM Marketing Services acquired Unravel, a Kansas City-based data-driven digital marketing firm with five employees.

RSM will continue to operate Unravel as a division offering specific digital marketing services such as website design, SEO and content marketing. Unravel founder Scott Schaper described the partnership with RSM as “a perfect complement to what Unravel already offers.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Schaper will continue to lead the Kansas City office.

Architecture Veteran Joins Contractor Project Interior construction contractor Built Interior Construction LLC recently hired architecture veteran Neil Sommers to create an affiliated architecture company called Built Architecture.

Sommers, a co-founder of Clockwork Architecture + Design, joined Built in October. Sommers will have several roles within this new project, including working as a liaison between project architects and Built.

Established in 2015, Built Interior has offices in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Small business duo takes majority in Smoothie Shop franchise

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Small business owners Kevin Oldham of Diffactory and Tim Denker, a business attorney with his own law firm, recently acquired majority ownership of The Smoothie Shop & Supplements franchise system. The pair is planning “aggressive expansion” in the Midwest.

“We see The Smoothie Shop & Supplements as a strong KC brand,” Oldham said. “For our customers, we want to change lives, one smoothie at a time.”

Nell Hill’s Changes Ownership

14

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

CentralSquare consolidates with Overland Park-based Lucity Lucity, a tech company based in Overland Park, recently was acquired by a Floridabased public safety software company, CentralSquare Technologies. CentralSquare will keep Overland Park’s office location and its 65 employees; however, Lucity’s technology will be integrated into CentralSquare’s to streamline services for users.

Lucity CEO Don Pinkston expressed in a news release that he hopes to expand the company’s reach with CentralSquare’s access to more than 7,500 agencies across North America.

Metal Doors & Frame Co. acquired by Walsh Door & Security

Ruby Receptionists teams up withProfessionalChats The home décor and furnishings store Nell Hill’s has changed ownership. Its founder and owner for 37 years, Mary Carol Garrity, announced in a company blog post that the transition marks the end of "one of the most rewarding chapters of my life."

Garrity sold the business to Kansas City couple Brandon and Katie Laughridge. To assist with transition, Garrity plans to stay on through 2019.

receptionist service based in Portland, Ore. Founded in 2016, ProfessionalChats provides personalized online chat services to more than 1,400 businesses throughout the U.S. ProfessionalChats’ founder and CEO, Scott Hansen, described the partnership with Ruby as “a natural next step.” Hansen will continue to lead the Lee’s Summit organization.

Lee's Summit-based ProfessionalChats has been acquired by Ruby Receptionists, a live

Hardware distribution company Metal Doors & Frame Co., located in North Kansas City, was acquired in early January by the Des Moines-based Walsh Door & Security.

Metal Doors & Frame was founded in 1970, and it will continue operations at its 1606 Burlington St. location. The facility will be expanded as Metal Doors & Frame transitions its brand to join Walsh’s.

“We are confident this transition will greatly benefit our commercial customers in Kansas City and the Midwest,” Metal Doors & Frame CEO Kevin Smith said in a release.

2 5 U N D E R 2 5 ® U P DAT E S

Celebrate the 25 Under 25 Award Honorees A special section is included with your February edition. It includes the profiles of the 2019 honorees of the 25 Under 25 Small Business Awards, recognizing outstanding companies metro-wide that do great things with a staff of less than 25 employees.

Join us at the gala Feb. 23 to celebrate the contributions of small business to Kansas City and the economy. 25Under25.com

Affinis Corp. earns engineering awards Civil engineering, surveying and consulting firm Affinis Corp (Class of 2012) earned two 2019 Engineering Excellence Awards from the American Council of Engineering Cos. of Kansas.

The awards recognized a reconstruction project on Johnson Drive in Merriam, which was completed in 14 days, and improvements to 159th Street between Nall Avenue and Mission Road in Overland Park.

The 159th Street project included safety improvements for drivers as well as cyclists and pedestrians.

3 KC Bier Co. brews make top 100 list Kansas City Bier Co. (Class of 2017) had three of its brews listed in the Top 100 Beers of 2018 by The Beer Connoisseur, a national beer magazine.

Featured beers: »» No. 10: Festbier, “World Class” rating of 96 »» No. 55: Helles Lager, “Exceptional” rating of 94

»» No. 88: Hefeweizen, “Exceptional” rating of 93 “KC Bier Co. of Kansas City, Missouri has gone to exhausting efforts to bring us their quality Vienna-style Festbier,” reads the “Judge’s Second Opinion” review.

“Considering the care and effort in creating this traditional example of the Vienna Lager style, it is of little wonder that the end result was a beer of high quality and one that would have made its creator Anton Dreher proud.”

MSP drafts new team member Midwest Sports Productions (Class of 2018) of Shawnee has added a new player to its roster.

The world’s largest fastpitch and baseball event company called up Jeff Babcock, a former intern, to become event communications coordinator. He will focus on event coordination, scheduling and communication with coaches before events.

Mi Rancho Tequila enters international distribution deal, global market Mi Rancho Tequila (Class of 2019), Kansas City’s privately owned tequila brand, is making fast headway in the global market.

In December, Mi Rancho Tequila announced, in partnership with Hermitage Spirit Corp., a multiyear strategic production and distribution agreement to sell the brand internationally.

Hermitage Spirit Corp. intends to expand the brand within its network of Asian and European partners.

Topping off a busy December, Mi Rancho Tequila sold the first two tequila futures contracts ever in 500-piece lots at $750 a bottle. As part of its international distribution, Hermitage Spirit Corp. and Michael Dean, Mi Rancho Tequila’s founder, established a super-premium tequila profile called Mi Rancho Legacy to sell in the

futures market.

For every bottle sold of Legacy, Hermitage Spirit will give back $20 to a charity called La Familia Dean Lozoya Foundation, which supports the education of Hispanic youth in areas of agriculture, international business and chemistry.

Roasterie introduces chill new CBD cold brew The Roasterie’s (Class of 2011) latest coldbrew product may surprise you: it’s infused with cannabinoids, more commonly known as CBD. The canned coffee product, which debuted Jan. 3, includes 10mg of CBD and took 18 months to perfect.

CBD is best known for its various remedial effects such as pain relief and anxiety and depression reduction. The Roasterie’s blend includes beans from Mexico, Brazil and Kenya and is one of only a handful of CBD-infused coffee products sold in the U.S. You can find this chill drink at The Roasterie’s factory location at 1204 W. 27th St. Shatto Milk features new chocolate beer ‘broo’ Shatto Milk Co. (Class of 2006) recently teamed up with Martin City Brewing Co. to provide a surprising (and tasty) new dairy product: chocolate beer.

The latest addition is called Brooo, a limited-edition chocolate milk stout that combines Shatto’s signature chocolate milk with Martin City’s brewing expertise.

"While we, and our bovine friends, know very little about the brewing process, we believed our chocolate milk could provide a good start in formulating an outstanding Chocolate Milk Stout," Matt Shatto, son of Shatto’s founders, said in a news release in January.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

15

AT A G L A N C E K C

E N T R E P R E N E U R S

BIG INFLUENCE | WHISKERS CAT CAFE

Cafe’s Pet Project Facilitates Litters of Adoptions

T

ucked away off of 37th and Southwest, you’ll find Whiskers KC, a cozy spot where shelves of all different heights are filled with books, games and … well, cats.

The first of its kind in Kansas City, this café and kitty haven has partnered up with the KC Pet Project to promote the adoption of rescue cats.

The incentive behind Whiskers is two-pronged, according to Boese—not only does the operation connect cats with their forever homes, it also has a positive correlation on mood and mental health in its visitors.

In the lounge, visitors can socialize with the cats, whether they’re looking for a fast fix or a new family member. Next door, customers can grab a cup of coffee in the Whiskers café, kept separate to preserve the health of the cats.

“There are lots of reports that say being with cats lowers blood pressure, stress and anxiety,” Boese said. “A purring cat can calm your nerves and take you out of your daily stress; it gives you a break.”

The first cat café opened in Taiwan in 1998, and the trend rapidly spread across Asia and Europe over the last two decades. While the popularity of cat cafés has only recently skyrocketed in the United States, Kansas City is no exception. Locals have clamored for a KC addition to the tradition for some time now, so co-founder and owner Audrey Boese took up the charge.

The café opened on Black Friday in November. Within the first two months, Whiskers had facilitated more than 18 adoptions, which Boese says is “above and beyond.” The café currently offers weekly yoga sessions and “Kids Time,” which allows children under the age of 10 to socialize with the cats.

In early 2018, Boese and her fiancé, John Thompson, started a Kickstarter to gauge the level of community support for the café.

The pair raised $20,000 in 30 days.

16

“That was the turning point where we decided, ‘This has to happen,’” Boese said. “That was our answer.”

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

Down the road, Boese is eyeing a book club, private party sessions and a liquor license to serve beer and wine.

“We’ve felt tons of support from the community throughout,” Boese said. “There’s just been an amazing response.”

C O M PA N Y T O WAT C H K C

ALLEN PRESS

E N T R E P R E N E U R S

PRESSING FORWARD (Photo courtesy of Austin Walsh Studios)

NEW TECHNOLOGY, MARKETING SERVICES KEEP COMMERCIAL PRINTER AT THE FOREFRONT.

or almost 85 years, in the face of evolving technology and the digital era, Allen Press has kept the presses rolling.

Founded in 1935 in Lawrence, Allen Press is a publishing and printing company of 175 employees that specializes in publication and commercial printing as well as scholarly publishing and marketing services. Its scholarly publishing unit creates, edits and prints scientific and academic journals for hundreds of nonprofit societies around the world.

With last year’s addition of a new in-house marketing agency, Allen Press has expanded its digital marketing and web development services to offer comprehensive strategies for clients.

F

ENTREPRENEUR

CEO Randy Radosevich C O M PA N Y I N F O R M AT I O N

Allen Press 810 E. 10th St., Lawrence AllenPress.com 785-843-1234 TYPE OF BUSINESS

Commercial printing, marketing and publisher services YEAR FOUNDED

1935

“We do all our marketing and design in-house now, and we’re looking to repurpose that model for clients and publishers,” said Taylor Fulton, senior manager of marketing services.

FULL-SERVICE MODEL

The addition of a marketing team has positioned the company for sustainable long-term growth, according to Fulton. Allen Press provides what it calls a “full-service model,” which offers marketing, editorial and digital assistance in addition to its trademark printing, publishing and association management services.

This holistic setup allows the Allen Press team to do “everything under one roof.”

“A lot of publishers don’t have the staffing, resources or online presence they need,” Fulton said. “We’re hoping that we can help them with their website, social media channels, digital advertising and online publishing strategy.”

Within the industry, commercial print sales have increasingly ebbed as traditional publications transition to digital platforms. So what’s Allen Press’ secret to staying at the top of the market and growing the print business?

“It really goes back to our full-service model.

We don’t just do printing or publishing— we’re the one-stop shop for all media needs,” Fulton said. “As publishers are facing those challenges, we’re hoping our in-house marketing agency can be a support area to provide those digital marketing services.”

NEW TECH

Allen Press also implemented new state-ofthe-art technology in 2018. Additions include two HP Digital Indigo 7900 presses--which give Allen Press heightened production flexibility in the press room--and the Tempo 22 stitcher, currently the fastest saddle-stitcher in the world.

The team also added a top-notch die cutter and foil stamper, which add high-tech finishes to products. When it acquired the Brause 1050SFi last spring, Allen Press was the first and only commercial printer in North America with that machine.

“We’ve added equipment that allows us to enhance our portfolio of products and services,” Fulton said. “If you went back three to five years ago, we were primarily a publication printer. Today, we’re a lot more diverse.”

‘NOT SATISFIED WITH THE STATUS QUO’

In keeping with its social impact statement, Allen Press contributes to community service efforts in and outside of Lawrence.

In addition to its nonprofit academic contributions, the company does pro bono printing and marketing work for small nonprofits within its local and industry communities. Sometimes, the team volunteers, contributes donations or hosts community events.

“What it’s chalked up to is we want to help change the world for the better through our services,” Fulton said. “We’re very growthdriven, and we’re not satisfied with the status quo.”

Moving into 2019, Fulton says the company hopes to promote its academic and scholarly services through this lens of social change.

“We try to proactively stay in tune with our culture and its values,” Fulton said. “There are far too many businesses that don’t understand the impact they have on culture and society at large; so we’re trying to do that in Lawrence as well as in the larger printing industry.”

Claire Martin is a reporter for Thinking Bigger Business Media. // cmartin@ithinkbigger.com SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

17

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E N T R E P R E N E U R S

BIG STARTS | SOCIAL APEX MEDIA

MADE TO LAST | RAU CONSTRUCTION

Marketing Firm Channels Millennial Enthusiasm

148-Year-Old Firm Specializes in Historic Rehab

COMPANY // Social Apex Media

There aren’t many companies in the Kansas City area that can claim roots as far back as the 1870s, but Rau Construction is a rare breed.

ENTREPRENEUR // Sam Kulikov, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) WHAT THEY DO // Founded in July 2018, Social Apex Media is a

multimedia marketing agency that helps companies cultivate and distribute a personal brand.

“Our specialty is translating and communicating business’ stories and qualities across the digital space,” Kulikov said.

The Social Apex team works with small companies and startups to finesse SEO strength, social media presence and creative content.

INSPIRATION // One of Social Apex’s unique assets is its entirely

millennial staff. Kulikov is 22, while his co-founders, Brandon Priest (COO) and Jake Bjorseth (Chief Growth Officer), are 22 and 19.

The group started Social Apex after struggling to find positions in the corporate world that fit their qualifications and creative visions. They wanted to create an environment for intergenerational collaboration and to channel the skill sets and enthusiasm they saw in fellow millennials.

“We’re really focused on helping our millennial workforce understand that the knowledge they have is valuable,” Kulikov said.

WHAT’S NEXT // While Social Apex focuses on expanding other

businesses’ brands, the company has experienced no shortage of growth itself. In less than a year, its staff has more than quintupled in size and has already tackled almost 300 projects.

CONTACT // SocialApexMedia.com

The family business was founded in 1870 in Solingen, Germany, then moved to Kansas City around 1905. Since then, Rau Construction has been maintained and operated as a familyowned company.

The company’s projects include structures such as churches, office buildings, retail, schools, industrial complexes, renovations and interior finishes.

Roughly 50 percent of the company’s construction work involves historic rehabilitations in the metro area. Rau is currently preparing to rehabilitate its 50th building in downtown Kansas City.

“We’ve always been a KC company that’s been true to Kansas City,” fifth-generation owner Gus Rau Meyer said. “We have a great group of customers, and they’ve been very loyal to us over the years.”

With 148 years and six generations of family history behind the business, it’s safe to say that stability is one of Rau’s assets. The key to its longevity has been customer loyalty and personal attention to the needs of clients.

“We’re small enough that we’re involved in every project on a daily basis, but we’re large enough that we can handle projects up to $50 million or more,” Meyer said.

Today, Gus and his brother Dan are principal owners of the company, and the sixth generation (Jason, Andy and Alison Meyer Kirn) is already in line to inherit and continue the business. The company has five projects in progress for 2019, all of them historic rehabilitations downtown and in the West Bottoms.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

19

KC MADE IT K C

M A D I A P PA R E L

E N T R E P R E N E U R S

Supporting Women Through Apparel Brand promotes sustainability, dignity. ayley Besheer relocated her apparel company’s headquarters from Florida to Kansas City after discovering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and curious customer base, the founder of MADI Apparel said.

“Here (in KC), it feels more like (customers can) come into our space and can learn about the mission, and (in Florida) everything was sold on online,” said Besheer, standing in the flagship store at 1659 Summit St. in Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood that she has stitched into the fabric of the local fashion scene since 2014.

“It really started to feel more as if Kansas City was supporting the women that they were donating to, and more like the buyer is empowering the women (directly) as opposed to through a computer screen.”

H

‘IT’S NOT JUST UNDERWEAR’

MADI — Make A Difference Intimates — delivers high-quality intimate apparel made from a bamboo fabric. The company partners with 13 organizations in the metro to donate a pair of underwear to women in shelters for every pair sold, Besheer said.

Fabric made from bamboo fibers are expected to be long-lasting, odor-preventing and fast-drying, she added, with the slight damage to the environment in the harvesting process being the only downside to the sustainable brand.

The MADI team found that underwear was one of the most urgent needs among domestic violence victims and survivors, Besheer said, noting that most people don’t spend much on the highly necessary, everyday item.

“As a society, we consider underwear as like throwaway items, but it shouldn’t be that way because that is the No. 1 thing that actually literally matters — it protects you,” she said.

“It’s a matter of confidence. It’s not just underwear, it’s dignity.”

20 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

CONSUMER EDUCATION

Storefront and online sales are evenly balanced, Besheer said, but the brick-andmortar atmosphere is more conducive to explaining to shoppers the mission behind the items and the importance of minimizing human impact on the earth.

Returning customers and tourists seem to treat the store as a travel destination, she said, adding that buying the items feels like gift, regardless of the items’ intended owner.

The locally-made brand — powered by the nonprofit MADI Donations — balances a high price point with the promise of long-lasting clothing, Besheer said, noting that supporting sustainable fashion is a needed “mind switch.”

“People need to be open to consideration of long-lasting products,” she said. “It’s not just the fabrics that we use, but they’re all locally made.”

“When (the price is) super low, that is a red flag because somebody is not getting paid very much to make it, and then they’re using very cheap fabrics,” she added. “Some people will gawk at our price, but that’s an education thing that we have to explain.”

Manufacturing ethically and utilizing Kansas City talent allows for transparent marketing and storytelling that other brands find difficult, Besheer said.

After many requests, the brand is expected to expand into men’s underwear, she said, noting the resulting donations will still be made to women because of the overwhelming need.

“When we bring menswear into the line, we want to make sure that it’s men empowering women and just kind of taking a stand, which is a very unique; there hasn’t really been that spin before,” she said.

Elyssa Bezner is a reporter for Startland News, a news partner of Thinking Bigger Business

[Photos courtesy of Startland News]

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

21

ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY K C

( by Kate Leibsle )

E N T R E P R E N E U R S

Making Space for Change Role models have helped Matt Druten in business and risk-taking.

F

rom looking at his resume, you might think that Matt Druten, cofounder of Edison Spaces, makes for a somewhat unlikely entrepreneur.

The Kansas City, Kan., native and University of Kansas graduate spent years working in the financial space, where his employers included Deloitte & Touche, American Century Investments, Atrium Doors & Windows and SPX Cooling Technologies. Those adventures led him from Kansas City to Dallas to Maine 22

THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

to Kansas City to Charlotte to Kansas City and hops to three foreign countries, too.

But when you dig a little deeper, you find that Druten may have the brain of an accountant, but his heart is all entrepreneur.

He attributes that to following the examples set by three men: his father, his uncle and his business partner.

Role Models Druten’s father and uncle are brothers who contribute both to Druten’s methodical, accounting side and his freer, entrepreneurial side.

“My dad is an artist, painter and sculptor,” he said. “I think he’s the most fascinating guy in the world.”

His uncle was a long-time employee of such Kansas City stalwarts as Hallmark Cards Inc. and Kansas City Southern.

“He’s always been my professional role model,” Druten said. “He has such integrity.

He gave me a lot of business advice when I was in my 20s that I didn’t ‘get’ until my 30s.”

As for the influence of his business partner, Tim Barton, that’s still a work in progress.

After Druten’s last out-of-town gig, he came home and met Barton, one of the founders of FreightQuote, a third-party logistics brokerage.

He was instantly taken with Barton’s freewheeling, no-holds-barred approach to business and entrepreneurship. A partnership and long-lasting friendship began.

The two worked to build FreightQuote, where Druten became president and CFO. When the company was purchased by C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc., Druten stayed for a bit but quickly felt hemmed in by the

“(My uncle has) always been my professional role model. He has such integrity. He gave me a lot of business advice when I was in my 20s that I didn’t ‘get’ until my 30s.”

Matt Druten // Edison Spaces

needed working space, but none of the existing co-working places fit the bill. The partners’ biggest complaints were that finding a business home involved signing a long-term lease at a cost that was high and didn’t include anything except the space.

The premise of Edison Spaces is that everything should be upfront when it comes to office space and should be ready on Day 1.

“Other places, you have to sign a threeto five-year lease,” he said. “Then you wait six months for furniture; then you have to negotiate and wait for cable, WiFi, etc.”

With Edison Spaces, customers are ready to go when they move in, he said. The spaces come equipped with furniture, WiFi, refrigerators and coffee makers in each office,

and a fully stocked, all-included business equipment center with copier, fax, etc.

There seems to be a ramping up of the need for co-working and flexible spaces. Druten feels his team has Edison Spaces positioned as an industry leader and innovator.

Currently, Edison Spaces has two Kansas City area locations. There is a pilot program going in Austin and plans for a Denver location soon.

Druten’s ready to take on whatever entrepreneurial challenge he and Barton whiteboard next. They operate by a simple philosophy: “You can be more risk averse by betting on yourself.”

Kate Leibsle is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

ACS Data Search – “Unlock the Truth” ™ more corporate structure it imposed. He had lived that life and wasn’t interested in living there again.

There was a “mutual parting of the ways,” and Druten sought out Barton to discover the next step in his professional life.

“I think I always knew I was going with Tim,” he said.

Following Where Brainstorming Leads The two began plotting their next moves on whiteboard – a process which continues today when they gather a team to discover where their energy needs to go next.

“We go from brainstorming to a whiteboard to launching companies,” he said. Through that process, Druten and Barton founded Edison Spaces, where Druten is CEO. Edison Spaces came out of the early days of the process when their nascent company

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Vazquez Commercial Contracting is a family business. CEO Joe Vazquez works with his wife, Adrianne, along with his father-in-law and brother-in-law.

24 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

KC ENTREPRENEURS

Embracing Opportunity Skills from a career in accounting helped lead to the construction firm's success.

I

ENTREPRENEURS

Joe C. Vazquez C O M PA N Y I N F O R M AT I O N

Vazquez Commercial Contracting 3303 Gillham Road Kansas City, Missouri 64109 (816) 569-6869 VazquezCC.com TYPE OF BUSINESS

General Contractor YEAR FOUNDED

2008 E M P L OY E E S

68 KEYS TO SUCCESS

“You do a great job, it opens the door."

—

t didn’t feel like it then, but getting fired was one of the best things to ever happen to Joe Vazquez.

Losing his job as an accountant led the Kansas City entrepreneur to found Vazquez Commercial Contracting, one of the city’s fastest-growing construction firms — one that can tackle everything from stormwater projects to demolitions to historical restorations.

The Midtown-based company was on pace to end 2018 with about $40 million in revenue, and it already has $50 million in backlog scheduled for 2019.

“Going into the year with $50 million right out of the gate?” Vazquez said. “We don’t have to get any new work and still hit $50 million. Who knows where we’ll end up?”

GROWTH TRAJECTORY

Government contracting has been a huge factor in the company’s growth. Vazquez pursued and won a string of certifications, including 8(a), HUBZone and MBE, and he’s leveraged those to win business from the General Services Administration, the National Parks Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and several other agencies, performing work across the country.

The company also has become a trusted partner of private-sector firms such as JE Dunn and McCownGordon Construction. It recently teamed with McCownGordon on the Hy-Vee Arena project in Kansas City’s West Bottoms — Vazquez was the lead HVAC contractor.

The company’s five-year growth rate is just under 1,500 percent. In 2018, Forbes magazine ranked Vazquez Commercial Contracting sixth in the nation on its Inner City 100, a list of the fastest-growing businesses located in an urban core.

The company’s headquarters is in Midtown, with satellite locations in St. Louis and Michigan.

“It’s been a trajectory that I could never even have imagined,” Vazquez said.

BOUNCING BACK AFTER JOB LOSS

On paper, it didn’t seem like Vazquez could ever be anything but an accountant. His senior year, Vazquez and his twin brother both were voted Accounting Student of the Year at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Vazquez secured his job at accounting firm BKD more than a year before he actually graduated.

But he never really took to accounting. He enjoyed working in the firm’s auditing unit, but he could never find the motivation to complete the certified public accountant exam. In 2003, after five years at BKD, his career stalled out. He couldn’t be promoted without his CPA, and he was asked to leave.

Luckily, Vazquez could rely on one of his biggest assets: his family.

His father-in-law, Tom Roseburrough, invited him to come work in Roseburrough’s home renovation business for a few months and get refocused.

At the same time, Vazquez knuckled down and finally got his CPA. He even went on a few interviews, but he just didn’t want to go back to accounting.

Instead, he kept working with his father-in-law and his brother-in-law, Nathan. They opened their own home-building business.

The Roseburroughs were the guys who knew how to build. At construction sites, Vazquez laughs, he was basically a glorified go-fer. But his accounting chops were still valuable. He handled the enterprise’s taxes and billing, helping them to keep costs low.

by James Hart // photography by Dan Videtich SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

25

Vazquez Commercial Contracting started in 2008 with one job. Now it employs 68 people and has $40 million in revenue.

CHANGING DIRECTION

Life was good … until the housing crisis. Work dried up, but hope came in the form of a tiny side project Vazquez had launched: Vazquez Commercial Contracting.

He’d always wanted to own a business, and his father-in-law encouraged him to chase his dreams. So, in early 2008, Vazquez fired up LegalZoom and formally launched his company.

He quickly got certified as a minority business enterprise with the State of Missouri.

One day, months later, Vazquez got a phone call. A company in St. Louis saw his company on Missouri’s MBE directory. It needed someone who could install concrete pillars for GPS sensors at a dozen Missouri Department of Transportation sites around Kansas City.

It was a shockingly easy job, Vazquez said. He and the Roseburroughs finished it in less than four days and got paid $38,000 — under budget, which

thrilled the St. Louis company.

“I don’t know what they know. But I “They were so impressed with realized you don’t have to. As long us,” Vazquez said. “They said, as you have people that know what ‘Would you like to go around the you don’t, that’s all that counts.” entire state of Missouri and do Joe Vazquez // President this at 70 MoDOT locations?’ We were like, ‘Absolutely, we would love to Assistance Center, Ken Surmeier Business Development Program do it.’” at the U.S. Small Business for disadvantaged businesses.

That one job paid about Administration and Carlos Gomez The nine-year program is $250,000, enough to keep their at the Hispanic Chamber of designed to help these companies families fed and pay off some debt. Commerce of Greater Kansas City. build capacity and become Gomez told Vazquez about more competitive. They receive 'I WAS EVERYWHERE' training programs for smaller coaching and training, the Vazquez threw himself into the contractors, offered by Turner opportunity to partner with new business as he and his inConstruction and JE Dunn, which larger firms and access to solelaws shut down their homeopened the door for jobs with source contracts. building operation. those firms.

Earning 8(a) status can be “I did everything, and I went “I was so anxious going to these transformative, but the application to everything,” Vazquez said. “I construction events,” Vazquez process is daunting. You don’t went to every breakfast, seminar, said. “Like, what do I know? I submit your application in an meeting. I was everywhere, and don’t know what they know. But I envelope. You need a box. everybody knew my name, and realized you don’t have to. As long Not that Vazquez minded.

I was getting business cards as you have people that know what “The reason that I became so out there.” you don’t, that’s all that counts.” successful, I believe — and I’m not He made connections that trying to pat myself on the back completely transformed his KEYS TO SUCCESS or anything — but I’m a CPA,” business, learning from people The company’s biggest Vazquez said. “I spent five years like Shelly Cunningham at the breakthrough came when he Missouri Procurement Technical learned about the SBA’s 8(a) in public accounting. Paperwork

26 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

is a joke to me. You give me paperwork, and I’m not scared of it.”

But he remembers praying over the application, which stood 18 inches high. A Christian, he believes that God has been a crucial part of Vazquez Commercial Contracting’s success.

“I know it may be hard for some to understand,” Vazquez said, “but when we made Jesus a partner in this business is when things took off.”

'I KNEW THAT DAY MY LIFE WOULD CHANGE'

Vazquez still remembers where and when he was when he learned that he was accepted into the 8(a) program.

“July 19, 2010, at 2:03 p.m.

I’ll never forget — email on my phone, because I was over at my in-laws’ — getting that email,” he said. “I was told that if you get an email, you got denied. If you get the letter, you get in.”

He was crushed when he saw the email waiting in his inbox, but

then he opened it up.

“I knew that day my life would change, and it really did,” Vazquez said.

The next year, the company made its first million dollars. Things have skyrocketed from there.

“In the last 8 years,” Vazquez said, “we either have in contract or have completed over $120 million in government work alone, with the help of the 8(a) program.”

He’s been careful to reinvest the profits back into the business. In the last few years, Vazquez Commercial Contracting has started its own mechanical and electrical divisions.

Instead of outsourcing those jobs, the firm can “self-perform” the work, delivering a better price and greater quality control, which customers appreciate.

Tom and Nathan Roseburrough are still critical parts of Vazquez Commercial Contracting, and Vazquez’s wife, Adrianne, has joined the company, too, overseeing everything related to human resources. She’s helped keep the people side of the

business on track as its head count has mushroomed.

Family support is crucial, Vazquez said.

“My wife is wonderful because she will definitely keep me grounded,” he said. “You have to have that support system because, literally in five years, we went from having nothing to having more than I ever dreamed of. It’s been so quick. You have to stay humble, or it could be taken away instantly.”

CONTINUING THE STORY

What does the future hold for Vazquez Commercial Contracting?

Vazquez isn’t sure. He can make some projections about the next couple years. But this summer, the company will age out of the 8(a) program. If revenue continues to grow like it has, it’s on the verge of becoming too big for some of its other certifications, too.

Vazquez has spent the last 10 years working to get the business to this point. He said he often wonders what it would be like to

retire in 20 years … then realizes he never wants to retire.

“This is my life, and I would not change a thing,” he said. “I would love to continue to build a legacy to pass on to my two sons.”

With the company’s continued growth, Vazquez recently hired a new accounting firm — the same one that fired him years ago. No hard feelings, he said.

The experience of losing his job opened the door to an adventure he never expected.

“I was so embarrassed to tell people I got let go, but that’s a part of my story,” Vazquez said. “I was let go. It changed my whole career path. It literally took my fear of change and chucked it out the window. If I didn’t get let go, I tell you now, I was scared to do anything. I’d probably still be in accounting, and I’d be miserable. I really would.”

James Hart is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

27

Pulse Design Group

A VIRTUAL BOOM BUSINESSES FIND VARIOUS USES FOR VR, AR

T

oss out your 3-D glasses. These days, there are newer and better headsets for your technological needs.

Across Kansas City, a growing number of small businesses are incorporating virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) tech for various purposes.

Primary among these services for clients are “experiences,” a popular term among VR/AR teams to describe users’ novel engagements with the technology.

HARNESSING TECHNOLOGY

What exactly is virtual reality? Or augmented reality, for that matter? There’s a 28 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

significant difference between the two sister technologies, as most VR/AR teams would be keen to show you.

Virtual reality uses equipment (mostly headsets) that allows users to fully immerse themselves in a simulated and highly realistic world, and it uses tracking technology to follow the exact movements of its users. This provides users with free physical range over conceptual space in real time.

Meanwhile, augmented reality adds to the world that already exists, layering visuals on top of whatever the user sees.

With AR headsets, users can still physically

engage with what’s in front of them, but it’s not as totally immersive as VR is. A low-grade example of AR would be Snapchat or Instagram filters that distort users’ appearances.

While some do have VR tech in their homes, most of the mainstream hasn’t yet dabbled in the world of virtual realities, and many more don’t know what the technology is outside a passing familiarity. VR requires open spaces due to its mobility and spatial dimensions, which makes it more difficult to use in the confinement of a home—driving users to seek engagement elsewhere.

For some small businesses, VR/AR

The Pulse Design Group VR/AR development team says the technology will be "explosive" in the way it enters everyday life in the near future. (Photo courtesy of Pulse Design Group)

technology has become a crucial addition to their operations and the services they provide, while in others, it’s a natural sideeffect of the 21st century experience.

PULSE DESIGN GROUP

When it comes to cutting-edge technological innovations, Pulse Design Group is leading the charge.

Although Pulse started out in 1980 as a health care-focused architecture firm, the rapid technological growth of VR and AR within the past three or four years has caused the firm to shift its focus to represent clientele from all backgrounds and locations.

Because of its contributions to VR/AR innovation, Pulse has recently steered away from strictly architectural design and toward software and sales tools development for corporations all over the country. This often includes work for major health care corporations and

military-medical projects.

With Pulse’s advanced VR tools, clients can visually enter the rooms of buildings still in the conceptual design phase. Before construction even begins, they can move around the space, interact with various elements in the rooms and even map out eye-lines, wall distances and different decorative details. One of the most significant paradigm shifts that President Rick Embers emphasizes is VR’s transition from a design to a communication tool.

“There are some clients who look at a drawing on a 2-D plane and can’t read it the way architects can,” Embers said. “But they can see the real world, and if we provide that to them, they’re able to communicate back what works for them. VR is the ultimate communication tool.”

Nearly every major corporation now utilizes VR in some capacity, the Pulse VR team says.

And that impact will only keep snowballing, based on their predictions for the next couple of years.

“It’s a whole new medium,” said Andrew London, Pulse’s VR and AR developer and specialist. “We haven’t seen something like this since the introduction of film and TV.” Pulse’s impactful additions to VR and AR development place the company on the forefront of the technological frontier. So far, the company has drawn clients from at least 22 states, including some of the leading corporations from Silicon Valley.

“Our competitiveness is great for Kansas City because this is such a new, emerging market, and we’ve trailblazed enough that we’re just as viable if not more so than developers that are on the coast,” London said.

“We’re just as good a solution, if not better, for a lot of these clients. They’re coming to the Midwest—the Silicon Prairie.”

Embers, London and Virtual Reality Manager Steve Biegun collectively agreed that the rising popularity of VR and AR will inevitably expand outside of the business world over the next five to 10 years—right into the everyday tech of average citizens. Each SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

29

Dimensional Innovations recreated the Kansas City Royals World Series Parade for fans through VR. (Photos courtesy of Dimensional Innovations)

week offers brand new innovations, making it a considerable endeavor to stay at the front of the pack.

“It hurts sometimes,” London joked.

“That’s why they call it the cutting edge. We learn something, and then next day, it’s been revolutionized by someone else.”

“Right now we’re looking at how can this improve people’s lives?” Embers said. “How can we use this new technology in a new way?

I think we’re going to see so much in the next few years.”

“It’s gonna be explosive,” London agreed.

DIMENSIONAL INNOVATIONS

Although Dimensional Innovations has been on Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing companies for four years running, the experience design firm got its humble start in a garage in 1993, designing, building and branding for megaplexes in the theater industry.

Twenty-five years later, Dimensional Innovations’ interdisciplinary team now includes nearly 250 people, including industrial designers, brand strategists, graphic designers, architects, interior designers, content creators, engineers, fabricators, general contractors, technologists and project managers.

Beyond its diverse team, its repertoire of services is massive. The company prides itself on being “borderless” in its innovation, designing entertainment 30 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

experiences for different sectors such as health care, professional and college sports, workplace environments, entertainment and retail, civic and transit services, and museums and zoos. Its clients include Disney, Google, LinkedIn, AMC Theatres, Caterpillar, Children’s Mercy and numerous sports teams. Its locations have expanded outside the Kansas City area to Atlanta and Minneapolis.

For DI, VR and AR are significant primarily for their ability to enhance unique experiences for their clients.

“The main benefit of VR is being able to visualize things and immersing yourself in the experience,” said Technology Director Curtis Walker. “We use it for transporting people to places they don’t normally get to go.”

DI’s tech allows clients to interact firsthand with experiences they usually wouldn’t have access to, such as tossing the coin at football games or jumping over 15 police cars in true Evel Knievel style.

Clients can even use VR and AR to relive those once-in-a-lifetime moments they may not have been present for, such as the Royals World Series celebratory parade.

In June 2018, DI repurposed 360-degree footage it had taken of the event in 2015 to create a VR experience for fans attending a Royals game through an app and cardboard headsets given out.

While VR and AR can intensify

experiences for its users, the tools are by no means definitive of DI’s identity as a company, or even its main technological focus. Rather, in Walker’s view, VR and AR act as mechanisms to improve upon the experiences the company already provides.

“VR is first and foremost a design tool that we can use for the visualization piece of experiences,” Walker said. “Because of the individualistic nature of it, it’s not the main thing that we do, but it can help with the activation of an experience that we’re doing.”

The main challenge that DI faces with the equipment is translating VR’s individualistic experiences onto a communal stage, where it can be experienced collectively by several people at once. One of the company’s future goals is to supply these experiences for wider audiences—starting with a new virtual world that launches this month.

“Going forward, we want to tap into more senses, make it more immersive and invite more people to the party,” Walker said.

“It may not be a virtual world that you’re experiencing on a headset, but instead in a theater built around you. We’re trying to make it so that a room of people can experience it versus just one person.”

FLIPSWITCH VR

The first of its kind in Kansas City, the newly minted FlipSwitch VR in the Crossroads Arts District is bringing VR to

Dimensional Innovations created an experience for daredevils that replicates an Evel Knievel jump.

(Photos courtesy of Dimensional Innovations)

a whole new level and bringing to bear the team experience.

As a VR gaming lounge, FlipSwitch offers both the advanced technology and the open spaces that gamers may not have access to at home.

“Over the last month, 90 to 95 percent of people who come in have never done VR before,” co-founder and co-owner Jim Mahoney said. “Hardly anyone has it in their home. The public is confused; it’s static. Because VR is a reality experience, you have to teleport to different spots.

Jim and his son Jamie—a mechanical and an architectural engineer, respectively— started up FlipSwitch VR in November because they recognized the potential of VR and AR tech for the gaming community. For their clients, however, VR is more than a game — it’s a new reality.

“Everything in VR is better than in flat games because you’re surrounded by it,” Jamie said. “Your physical movements are matched one-to-one versus playing with a controller. From my experience as a gamer, having tried every console, VR is by far the most immersive and fun.”

Because the tech is still so newly established, Jim and Jamie admit that they’ve had to finagle with technical issues in their first run but said their business is already teeming with potential. The two designed one of their in-house games from scratch and had the other developed specifically for FlipSwitch by an outside company. The first lets you battle skeletons on a pirate ship amidst booming cannons and hot gales of wind; the other allows you to fight hordes of zombies in the U.S. Southwest desert.

Beyond the immersive experience of the games, FlipSwitch’s VR tech also provides

gamers the ability to play in teams and to experience the game simultaneously and in real time. This team play counters the individualistic experiences of traditional video games and even other forms of VR and AR. “The games are a stepping stone for the future of these technologies,” Jim said.

“They’re not games—they’re experiences.

We call them games because they look like games, but it doesn’t have to be synthetic.

It’s not necessarily virtual; it’s real. It’s an environment you’re immersed in.”

As FlipSwitch’s initial rates of success can attest, the future of VR games is bright, and its players steadily on the rise.

“We’re hoping to fill the pipeline with gamers that know how to use this technology, then can go out and spread the word,” Jim said.

Claire Martin is a reporter for Thinking Bigger Business Media. // cmartin@ithinkbigger.com SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

31

BIGGER | strategy S M A R T

( by Kate Leibsle )

S T R AT E G I E S

Marketing Through Education Excluded from traditional media, CBD store relies on other avenues to get the word out.

H

ow do you market a business when traditional advertising methods aren’t an option? If you are Heather Hobbs and Kyle Steppe, owners of KC Hemp Co., you turn to Facebook, Instagram and old-fashioned wordof-mouth to find customers.

Hobbs and Steppe have used social media to their best advantage to get the word out about their retail store, which just opened in September. They are also regulars at area chamber of commerce events and at the Overland Park Farmer’s Market.

32 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

They’ve worked with area hospitals, chiropractic offices, massage therapists and Midwest Rehabilitation to spread the word.

Why not use traditional advertising? Many media outlets aren’t open to showcasing the company’s products – which are completely legal but misunderstood by many people.

Dispelling Confusion One of the couple’s key challenges is educating consumers about their products.

People are confused by hemp and its

relationship to marijuana. The two are very different, Hobbs said.

The basic difference is in their composition.

Oil from hemp plants, cannabidiol (CBD), has a very small (less than 0.3 percent) amount of THC in it. THC is tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the active ingredient in marijuana.

Hemp is the stronger of the two plants as well. It can be used to make textiles, fuel and medicines.

In Kansas, marijuana is illegal. In 2018, the Kansas Legislature clarified laws surrounding

Heather Hobbs and Kyle Steppe are owners of KC Hemp Co. in Downtown Overland Park. Their store offers CBD-infused products for people and pets. (Photos courtesy of KC Hemp Co.)

CBD, excluding it from the state’s definition of marijuana — as long as it includes no THC. For Hobbs, the retail store is a dream realized since she started using CBD oil to combat ADHD. She’d been taking a variety of prescriptions but found the side effects weren’t worth it.

Today, she uses the CBD oils exclusively to manage her symptoms, as Steppe does for his anxiety and depression.

The store’s products have been fully embraced by their customers – most of whom you wouldn’t necessarily mark as stereotypical hemp devotees.

“Seventy-five percent of our clientele is older,” Steppe said.

Appealing to Johnson County Shoppers KC Hemp Co.’s store is a fashionable, airy, well-lit location. If you are thinking of a head shop or dank, dark or frankly scary place to

shop, this isn’t it.

Hobbs and Steppe knew that a Johnson County location meant a certain look and atmosphere would be a key to success.

Their shop has all kinds of natural light, eclectic, modern seating and enough room to host events, which they do often.

In building their first location, they wanted the store to appeal to a Johnson County audience. The store is across the street from the Matt Ross Community Center in the heart of downtown Overland Park.

The store almost didn’t happen because the couple couldn’t find a bank to finance their dream. Finally, Arvest Bank stepped up, even sending two of its employees to the shop to review the business.

“That was impressive,” Steppe said. “They took the time to educate themselves.”

Education is one of the prime ways the two spend their time.

The couple’s first store is doing well,

and they are looking to open several more locations around the area in the next year.

They have not only oils but other hemp products, such as purses, bath and body products, and pet products.

Beginning this year, hemp farming will be legal in Kansas, and the couple hope to eventually sell only Kansas-based hemp.

“We want to be hyperlocal,” Hobbs said.

“People don’t ‘community’ like they should.

We want all of our products to be organic, natural and local.”

They’d also like to build with the product.

“Hemp is incredibly strong,” Steppe said.

“Hempcrete is the building material of the future. I will one day have a building made of hempcrete.”

Kate Leibsle is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

33

BIGGER | sales S M A R T

( by Ryann Dowdy )

S T R AT E G I E S

Hiring for Sales How an owner can set up a new team for success. is one or 100 sales people) is an important G part of business growth. If your background rowing a sales organization (whether that

isn’t in sales or sales management, this might feel like a monumental task.

Before Your Hire Your First (or Next) Salesperson There are a few things you need to be mindful of before you ever hire your first salesperson.

Take precautions How can you protect your business from these scams? Take the following precautions.

1. Know your value proposition When you hire someone else to go out into the world to represent your brand and your business, they need to be able to clearly articulate what you do and why 34 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

your clients buy from you. This may seem obvious to you, but writing it down and make sure it’s clear will be essential to your first sales hire.

2. Know your pricing structure As a small business owner, you know the ins and outs of your pricing, your margins and how you make money. Your new salesperson will NOT be familiar with these things. You will find more success in handing your new hire a rate card with guidelines for negotiation than hoping they can “wing it” as well as you can.

3. Fine-tune your sales There is a step-by-step process you follow when you’re out in the field talking with prospects and new clients. Write it down.

Formalize it. Teach it to your sales people.

Giving someone a step-by-step process to follow will give you a much higher likelihood for success than hoping they figure it out on their own. Taking the time to fine-tune this will probably help you identify a few opportunities for improvement in your current process.

We would never hire a web designer and tell them to “figure it out,” so don’t do it to your sales team, either.

4. Know your onboarding process for new clients This is another thing you’re likely already doing but haven’t written down.

Nothing is more deflating to a new sales hire than bringing home their first signed contract without a clear next step to follow. It doesn’t inspire confidence in

your new client, either.

Think of every small detail needed and create a process around it.

5. Develop a 30-60-90 day plan for your new salesperson Setting expectations from the beginning is always important in business. If your new hire (in any role) knows what is expected of them, how they will be judged, and what is important to you and their new role, they have something to work toward. This also gives you the guard rails you need to see if this person is a good fit for your organization.

Before Your Hire Your First (or Next) Salesperson Now that you have the basics in place, it is time to start thinking about your new salesperson.

Who are they? What kind of experience do they have? What kind of clients should they

have experience working with ? There are a lot of different schools of thoughts around salespeople. You’ve likely heard something along the lines of “hire someone with experience so they can hit the ground running” AND “hire someone green so they don’t have any bad habits.”

Your salesperson needs to match with what you sell, who you sell it to, the technical experience needed in the role, your average contract value and many other factors.

Essentially, hiring someone with experience selling $5,000 deals to sell $150,000 deals is going to have a steep learning curve. Hiring someone just out of college to sell business solutions to business owners with 15+ years of experience might be a challenge. If you have an 18-month sales cycle, it will take a special salesperson to have that kind of patience and persistence to thrive in that role.

Being mindful of all of these things when

you’re recruiting and interviewing will likely up the changes of finding the right fit for you and your organization.

Ryann Dowdy is the founder of Uncensored Consulting and is experienced in training, building and growing sales organizations.

NEXT MONTH Read about training, measuring and managing your new salesperson in the March issue of Thinking Bigger Business.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

35

BIGGER | law S M A R T

( by Danny Ramón )

S T R AT E G I E S

Are LGBT Employees Protected from Discrimination?

Stay abreast of shifting laws and ordinances.

E

mployers should closely monitor the shifting landscape under federal, state and local laws prohibiting discrimination, especially as they pertain to LGBT employees.

FEDERAL LAW Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including federal, state and local governments.

Under Title VII, an employer may not discriminate with regard to any term, condition, or privilege of employment.

While Title VII does not explicitly protect employment rights based on sexual orientation or gender identity, some circuit courts of appeal have recently held that Title VII’s protection against discrimination “because of … sex” provides protection based on 36 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

sexual orientation, and others have extended protection to transgender employees, either on the basis of transgender status or as a form of prohibited “sex stereotyping.”

Neither the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals (covering Missouri) nor 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (covering Kansas) have recently ruled on the scope of Title VII’s protections against sex-based discrimination, but older case law in these circuits holds that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity does not violate Title VII. Nonetheless, the 8th Circuit has a pending case requesting the court change its position.

Even the federal government itself is split on the issue. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is responsible for enforcement of Title VII, has taken the position that all LGBT discrimination violates Title VII. The Department of Justice takes the

opposite view — reversing the prior administration’s position.

Most importantly, the U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering whether to hear three employment cases addressing whether discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity violates Title VII. Whether — and how — the Supreme Court rules may have significant consequences for employers subject to Title VII. STATE LAW A U.S. Supreme Court decision would be particularly significant for Kansas and Missouri employers, as neither state currently prohibits employment discrimination under state law.

Like Title VII, the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA) prohibits sex discrimination but does not explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The MHRA generally applies to employers with six or more employees.

Missouri As late as July 2017, the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District of Missouri held that the MHRA did not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and the Missouri Human Rights Commission agrees.

In October 2017, however, the same Court of Appeals ruled that even though sexual orientation is not a protected class, the MHRA does prohibit employment discrimination in cases of “sex-based stereotyping.”

issued an executive order prohibiting the executive branch of the Missouri government from discriminating in employment on the basis of sexual orientation.

The Missouri Supreme Court took up two of these cases in 2018 and is expected to decide within months whether the scope of sex discrimination under the MHRA extends to LGBT employees. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson also recently indicated that he is open to the idea of extending anti-discrimination protections to LGBT Missourians.

LOCAL LAW While LGBT employment protections under federal and state law are far from settled, employers also should take note of local ordinances prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

These include Wyandotte County in Kansas, as well as the following cities: »» Kansas City, Kan. »» Kansas City, Mo.

»» Roeland Park »» Mission »» Prairie Village As the laws in this area continue to change and evolve, employers should regularly review their policies and practices with employment counsel.

Danny Ramón is a partner at the law firm Seyferth Blumenthal & Harris LLC in Kansas City, Mo. He concentrates his practice in employment law and general civil litigation, at the trial and appellate level in addition to counseling employers on compliance with state and federal statutes.

Kansas As with Missouri state law, the Kansas Act Against Discrimination (KAAD) prohibits discrimination in employment based on sex but does not explicitly extend to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The Kansas Human Rights Commission’s complaint form instructions specifically state that “sex” under the KAAD does not include sexual orientation or gender identity.

The KAAD applies to all public employers and private employers with four or more employees.

Executive orders LGBT state employees in Kansas and Missouri may also be covered by executive orders.

In 2007, then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius issued an executive order banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in Kansas state employment. Gov. Sam Brownback rescinded the order in 2015, but newly elected Gov. Laura Kelly pledged to reinstate these protections.

In 2010, then-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon also SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

37

BIGGER | HR S M A R T

( by James C. Knapp, AIF )

S T R AT E G I E S

Making Financial Sense Prepare now for the next economic slowdown. have a responsibility to anticipate B multiple scenarios that could disrupt their usiness owners and their executives

company’s success.

I advise having a pre-determined action plan for the unforeseen event(s) or conditions that could derail them in working toward their objectives. These plans work toward surviving a major economic downturn.

When the business is doing well, these risk mitigation strategies often tend to fall off the 38 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

“to-do list” and may not get completed at all.

In my experience advising clients, I have found business owners feel the pain of losses more than they do the joys of any gains.

These painful feelings may impair you from making rational decisions during times of economic turmoil.

According to a September 2018 special report from CalChamber, “The United States is currently in the midst of the second longest expansion in the nation’s history at 111

months and counting. In July of (2019), we will officially be in the midst of the longest expansion on record.”

I believe no one has a crystal ball to accurately predict the timing of the next slowdown or when the next recession will occur, but I do find it critical to prepare for it.

POTENTIAL ECONOMIC HAZARDS Consumer spending is a vital part of the

American economy and thus large contributor to gross domestic product (GDP). Though it varies by year, consumer spending accounts for approximately 70 percent of the U.S. economy, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Monitoring the underlying drivers of spending can be helpful as you consider the probabilities of future outcomes.

It has become common for customers to purchase items using credit cards. This can be an efficient way of buying products if fully paid off when the bill is due. The problem comes when those customers do not pay their bill in full.

Credit card debt in the U.S. peaked at $1.02 trillion in May 2008 before falling off during the global real estate crisis. It eventually hit a low of $832 billion in April 2011. However, according to the Federal Reserve, as of August 2018, credit card debt has now climbed all the way back to a record level of $1.04 trillion.

SLOWDOWN PREPARATION Business owners and their executive team should look at their operations and balance sheet to determine, should a slowdown or recession occur, if they are in a strong financial position to survive.

To work towards your slowdown plan, consider these five steps: Review Data // Monitor your core (sales, production and operational) performance metrics enabling real time adjustments.

Plan Ahead // Construct a detailed plan should the business experience a 5 percent, 10 percent, 20 percent drop in sales. Visualize the ramifications to the business should this occur & what reductions specifically, if any, will logically be needed to stay profitable and current with bills. I would also advise having an appreciation of what your key customers will endure and its impact to your business.

Improve Balance Sheets Now // Previous recessions have shown that companies with strong balance sheets, lower debt ratios

and untapped lines of credit were better positioned to maneuver through greater financial flexibility.

Monitor Accounts Receivable // Previous recessions have shown that businesses can quickly become cash-strapped.

This makes your customer’s ability to pay your invoices more difficult to pay in a timely manner or at all.

Banking Relationship // It is crucial to have a strong personal banking relationship.

A fully transparent, communicative and consultative rapport with your bank may enable you to adjust as needed that works towards best positioning your business for

success. Take a moment to evaluate your current relationship.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

James C. Knaap, AIF, managing partner of Knapp Advisory Group, helps business owners and executives who seek, among other things, a work-optional lifestyle. // 913-544-1509 // KnappAdvisory.com

New Entrepreneurs Need Your Help!

www.kansascity.score.org

Volunteer and join our professional team offering free mentoring/workshops.

SCORE is a non-profit partner of the Small Business Administration

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGERÂŽ

39

BIGGER | tech S M A R T

( by Christy Rogers )

S T R AT E G I E S

Delivering Valuable Virtual Training How to keep your cool when the technology misbehaves.

W

hat’s the saying? "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" — especially if it is up to you to deliver training virtually.

Whether you have experience presenting virtually or you have recently been assigned the task, it is a good idea to get a game plan if — I mean when — things go wrong.

Know Your Platform REALLY know your platform. Take it for a spin several weeks ahead of the virtual training date.

Discover the answers to these questions: 40 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

» What does it look like when people join the training room? » How do you mute everyone? » How does the chat box and polling

features work?

Ask a friend to practice with you. If you cannot find someone, set up two laptops side by side. Use one to log in as the presenter, and use the other to log in as the participant.

Consider when choosing a webinar or training platform: » How many people will typically be in your

training room? Will you ever have the need to educate a large audience over 50? » Will you need to create breakout rooms? » Check your network security. Is there a firewall that bans certain software? » Price for value.

Know Your Audience Who will be in the training and why?

Is it mandatory or optional? Knowing this information can help you set a positive tone.

Engage Your Audience Make good use of the platform’s collaboration tools.

For example, create an ice breaker poll. Ask the group an engaging question that can get the conversation going. You may ask, “What is a good book you have recently read? Or movie you have seen?” Continue to ask relevant questions throughout the training to engage your participants. Plan these questions ahead of time.

Many webinar platforms will allow you to enter your virtual room early and get set up.

Say their name. If someone engages back with

you, acknowledge it! For example, “Yes, Brian! I read that book! It was a great story.”

Use your video. People want to see who they are talking to. Pay careful attention to what’s behind you. Does your background look professional? Or is it distracting? Learn how to pause your video if you need to step away.

Know Your Plan B It is important to give your audience not only an agenda but a contingency plan if the technology misbehaves.

For example, what should they do if they can no longer hear you on the call, but they can still see you? What should they do if the screen freezes but they can still hear you?

You might suggest to log back in. Perhaps try a different browser — Chrome versus Internet Explorer versus Safari. Close other apps on your desktop. Check your internet connection.

Top technology issues during a virtual training session: » Bandwidth issues (slow internet connection) » Unskilled learners (have trouble with

the technology) » Unskilled presenter (lack of preparation and practice) These cannot always be avoided; however, how we react can make all the difference. » If the internet goes down, have a dedicated or mobile hotspot available. » If an issue arises, acknowledge it and offer to record the session. Don’t keep saying “Geez! Gosh! Look! We crashed again! Oh boy!” » Audio issues? Have group/individuals hang up and dial back in. Using VOIP with a good quality headset is best. » Slow bandwidth issues? A hard internet connection is ideal. Test ping time (www.speedtest.net) to see if it is over 100. If it is over 100, this could mean you have connection issues with your provider. » Have an alternate phone bridge ready. » Consider using a third-party screenshare software to have access to the learners screen.

Host vs Presentor: What is the Difference?

The host has full control over all functions of the meeting. They typically set up the meeting room, invite attendees and start the meeting.

During the session, they are responsible for troubleshooting technology issues. The presenter engages with participants through polls, chats and screen display.

It is a good idea to create a checklist for each role. Assign tasks for three weeks prior, two weeks prior, one week prior, and one to two days prior. Of course, these tasks may vary from one organization to another.

Not all presenters are lucky enough to work with a host. If you fall in this category, be extra prepared for your plan B’s.

Christy Rogers is the founder and lead instructor at Training Umbrella, a company that specializes in teaching Microsoft and Google Applications, along with providing computer lab and event space rentals. She has been involved in the planning and training of multiple software migrations in the Kansas City area and across the United States.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

41

SCALEUP! KC

BEE ORGANIZED

( by Dawn Bormann )

Lifestyle to Legacy ADVISERS HELP OWNERS STREAMLINE TO FRANCHISE. ormer stay-at-home moms Kristen Christian and Lisa Foley started their home-organization business after realizing that the inflexible hours of a corporate job wouldn’t work for their families.

Three years later, the entrepreneurs have turned Bee Organized into a thriving business. They have franchise operations in Dallas, San Francisco and Oklahoma City.

The business owners employ 17 part-time employees – many are stay-at-home moms in need of flexible hours – within Kansas City.

The growth has been so explosive that the two knew they had to be more intentional about their day-to-day processes to properly scale. Growing too fast without clear operational direction could water down the product that Foley and Christian worked so hard to create.

It led them to ScaleUP! KC, a free program offered by the University of Missouri-Kansas City Innovation Center with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The program includes classes, peer mentoring, professional guidance and more. It’s open

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42 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

to small businesses like Bee Organized who operate in a small market capable of supporting more than $1 million in annual sales and who want to rapidly grow their business.

CONSIDER THE END GAME

Christian was hesitant at first. She wondered, What successful small business owner has time to step away from their business every Thursday?

“As with any entrepreneur you’re really drinking from a fire hose all the time,” she says.

She laughs now at her short-sighted thinking.

“ScaleUP! was amazing because they really encourage you to look at the end. What’s your end game? What’s your goal? The day you’re walking out of your career,” Christian says.

“What does it look like to you, and then let’s plan backward for you.”

These days, they consider the long-term effects of every business decision.

“That’s become part of our verbiage and jargon,” Christian says. “How does this decision line up with our end goal?”

TAKING ADVICE FROM PEERS

ScaleUP! experts and other entrepreneurs also guided the two as their business hired a

part-time employee to handle business development to grow the Kansas City market.

Until then, the entrepreneurs handled every business decision in the Kansas City market. But other business owners in their ScaleUP! cohort reminded them that they can’t do everything and scale.

“It’s not healthy or realistic to think you can do everything,” Christian says.

The owners also are working on a job description for an operational manager, who will take on many of their day-to-day roles.

They’ll still oversee Kansas City business, but it frees them up to market their franchise operation.

It’s a scary step, Foley says, but feels less intimidating thanks to the long-term strategies that ScaleUP! experts helped create.

It was also easier after Christian was able to regularly seek the advice and tips from fellow ScaleUP! entrepreneurs. The group has a regular roundtable, where they share advice. They offered insight and professional friendship that the two owners expect to rely on for years to come.

“There is such a trust factor to be able to share your troubles and weaknesses,” Foley says.

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“ScaleUP! was amazing because they really encourage you to look at the end.

What's your end game? What's your goal? The day you're walking out of

ENTREPRENEUR

Kristen Christian and Lisa Foley COMPANY

Bee Organized LLC BeeOrganized.com Bee Organized is a residential organizing company that provides unique, customized

your career.”

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Kristen Christian // Cofounder

well as concierge services and assistance and organizing support during major life transitions.

ARE YOU READY TO SCALE UP?

ScaleUP! Kansas City—a free program for KC small businesses—is looking for companies that want to supercharge their BECOMING A LEGACY BUSINESS

Another major change for Bee Organized came when ScaleUP! advisors asked entrepreneurs to write down every process, philosophy and step required to run Bee Organized.

It might seem small, but that effort turned their business from a lifestyle business into a legacy business. Writing down every step of their processes was essential in their efforts to scale and perhaps sell the business one day.

“If you have a legacy business, which basically means that you have something that is repeatable and scalable, really what that means is you have systems and processes in place. You can omit yourself from that business,” Christian says. “I can essentially get run over by a bus and the business would keep going. And if you don’t do that, you have nothing really tangible to sell or to pass on.”

The entrepreneurs had spent so much time working on branding and their reputation — they needed a written plan in place to ensure franchisees and employees didn’t water down their efforts.

When they recently met with a franchisee, Christian proudly presented their operations manual, thanks to ScaleUP! “This is what you’re paying for,” Christian told the franchisee as she placed it on the

table. “This is what the franchise fee is for right here. It’s how we do everything.”

growth. Learn more at www.scaleupkc.com.

UNDERSTANDING FINANCES

AUTOMATE WHEN POSSIBLE

ScaleUP! also helped the owners analyze their finances through a different lens.

“Lisa and I aren’t good at numbers. We should be passing that on to somebody else,” Christian says. “But that doesn’t mean you take yourself out of the equation. That’s a dangerous thing that a lot of business owners do.”

ScaleUP! experts encouraged Christian to consider how adding a service would change the finances.

These days, Christian hears the ScaleUP! advisers’ voices in her head as she asks the proper financial questions before making decisions.

“For every dollar of growth, how much are you going to have to spend? If you’re wanting to double your sales in 2019, what does that mean? What is that going to take in marketing? Do you have the workforce?” she asks.

In the past, Christian and Foley might have taken on the extra workload without considering the workforce. They would have shouldered more and squeezed in more hours. But that’s not sustainable for a business to scale.

ScaleUP! provided several other advantages as well.

Bee Organized implemented a customer-relationship-management program at the recommendation of ScaleUP! The CRM program was created by another ScaleUP! business, Kakkuro Suite.

The CRM allows Bee Organized to automate marketing messages to clients.

After leaving a job, an employee can create a message checking in on the work that will be sent several months later.

“ScaleUP! is very, very big into getting you to automate things that you do on a regular basis to free you up for the bigger picture,” Christian says.

These days, Christian laughs at her old way of thinking. Especially the side of her that thought she was too busy to apply for ScaleUP! “It’s never going to get easier,” she says.

“You have to make the time.”

Dawn Bormann is a freelance writer in the Kansas City area.

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IN FOCUS

JOHNSON COUNTY ( by Katie Bean )

2019

THE PLACE TO BE

JOHNSON COUNTY USES UNIQUE INCENTIVES TO DRAW SMALL BUSINESSES.

or years, downtowns were the cool place to be. Companies moved their offices to attract urban-minded millennials.

Development continues in Kansas City’s downtown, but Johnson County hasn’t conceded. In fact, growth is strong in its office market.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, 61 percent of multitenant buildings under construction were in Johnson County, accounting for 383,797 square feet, according to a report from global commercial real estate firm CBRE. In Johnson County, companies and economic development officials are exploring unique ways of luring businesses while relying on the area’s time-tested selling points: affordable housing, great schools and highway access.

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AVOIDING A COMMUTE

One company that has capitalized on the demand for Johnson County offices is Edison Spaces. It has two locations, both on College Boulevard, offering fully furnished, private offices set up for teams.

The offices include couches, coffee makers, whiteboards and, of course, desks for teams as small as two to as large as 15. Leases are all-inclusive and month-to-month, allowing fast-growing teams flexibility. Tenants can move in as soon as the next day after going through the website to choose an office.

CEO Matt Druten said that when his team came up with the concept for Edison Spaces in 2016, the intent was to build in the Crossroads Arts District, which has been hot area for startups. But as discussion continued, he said, they realized that everyone in the room lived in Overland Park.

“We kind of raised our hands and said,

‘Who would like to avoid the commute and the parking issues?’” he said.

It was a lightbulb moment worth of Thomas Edison himself: “Overland Park is lacking what is in the Crossroads and downtown,” Druten said.

Locating in the suburbs also gives tenants more space, Druten said. In urban areas, the density is higher for office spaces — a 500-square-foot space might house nine people in an office or coworking space downtown, whereas it houses four at Edison Spaces.

Having a large parking lot with a spot for each tenant is also a selling point, Druten said.

“It’s really catering to people in the suburban ring to help avoid commuting, with the same amenities you get downtown,” he said.

SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

45

IN FOCUS

JOHNSON COUNTY ( by Katie Bean )

2019

Edison Spaces, a company that offers all-inclusive, short-term leases at two Overland Park locations, is offering young companies space and resources through its Edison Jumpstart program.

(Photo courtesy of Edison Spaces)

GETTING A JUMPSTART

In order to give more burgeoning businesses the opportunity to work close to home, Druten’s company launched Edison Jumpstart.

It’s not an accelerator, per se, and there are no cohorts. It’s open to startups and small businesses that meet the criteria.

Edison Jumpstart provides free office space for three months and access to business resources through parent company Edison Factory. Druten said that could include chatting with Edison Factory’s “world-class” developers about how to solve a problem or getting advice from entrepreneurs who have been there, done that.

“As long as we have the available offices, we’re going to be very welcoming to the applicants. We personally love seeing startups at the very beginning, before they can afford office space. Hopefully we can build relationships with these companies and help them, and ideally they end up being in Edison Spaces permanently.”

The program is available to metro-area business that have a team of two to eight employees, were founded within the past six to 24 months and have secured or plan to secure seed funding. That’s not exclusive to highgrowth startups, Druten said — the investor 46 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

could be the business owner.

“We want to know it’s your full-time job (and) that you’re devoted to the business,” he said.

There’s no catch to the program, either — the company doesn’t plan to invest or take equity in any of the Jumpstart participants.

LEASE RATES INCREASE

Druten said the lease rates for Edison Spaces are on par with other office spaces in the area, when the cost of utilities, furniture and shared services are factored in.

According to CBRE, suburban lease rates increased 2.2 percent in 2018 over the previous year. In Johnson County south of Interstate 435, lease rates are the highest in the Kansas City metro outside of Country Club Plaza. South Johnson County asking lease rates increased 4.1 percent or 89 cents per square foot year-over-year, and 7.8 percent —$1.58 per square foot — over the previous two years.

The area commands a high rate, the report says, because there are limited large blocks of quality space, and new construction commands higher asking prices.

Given the data, the Jumpstart grant is even more lucrative for companies looking to office in Overland Park.

FLEXIBLE FUNDING OPTIONS

Further west, Shawnee also has incentives to draw small businesses.

The city has a unique asset, said Ann Smith-Tate, CEO of the Shawnee Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Council. It receives income from Waste Management, which takes up 9,000 acres in the city for a landfill — that’s nondevelopable land.

Shawnee sets those funds aside and pays it forward to other businesses in the form of forgivable loans, microloans, an SBA loan assistance program, lease assistance or small grants to help downtown businesses update buildings, signage and systems. The goal of these programs is to help small businesses with startup costs, Smith-Tate said.

A benefit to how the funds are set up is that they’re flexible — the EDC can work with a company that doesn’t check any of the predetermined boxes, she said.

“It is a good tool that we have — we’re willing to work for the right idea and the project that seems like it’s really going to be a catalyst or game-changer. Those are the things that we’re looking for,” Smith-Tate said.

Currently, she said, the EDC is reviewing the allocation of funding to best serve

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY

Developers are betting on demand in

Rendering of Nieman Road Improvements.

(Photo courtesy of Shawnee Chamber of Commerce)

Johnson County, adding 383,797 square feet of multitenant office space in the fourth quarter of 2018.

businesses that want to locate in Shawnee, as well as to increase the impact of other offerings. Those include an Opportunity Zone in downtown, which is along Johnson Drive from King Street past Neiman Road, and tax abatements in the same area that are available through the Kansas Neighborhood Revitalization Act. The Opportunity Zones program, established by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, encourages long-term investment and job-creation in areas designated as low-income.

“We have had a lot of interest, but I think it’s still so new that we don’t really know exactly how we can put all of it into play,” Smith-Tate said.

INCREASING INTEREST AND DEVELOPMENT

While downtown may be a fit for some traditional small businesses, Shawnee also offers options for manufacturing, logistics, warehousing and even bioscience at its WestLink Business Center near Kansas Highway 7 and 43rd Street.

“Every time one of those 170,000-squarefoot buildings opens in the WestLink Business park, it fills up,” said Eric Ely, director of business development and retention for Shawnee’s chamber and EDC.

The city expects a new building proposal early this year, he said, opening the door for additional businesses that need a lot of room or easy access to K-7 and Interstate 70.

“We can get to the airport pretty quick, too, by the way,” Ely said.

Smith-Tate touted the perks common to all of Johnson County — excellent schools, quality of life and location in a right-to-work state — adding that Shawnee has good access to labor, as well as both affordable and executive housing stock.

“We offer a fair and competitive business environment,” she said.

The chamber also sees a trend of development swinging back to its portion of the county.

“We’re in the northern portion of Johnson County,” Ely said. “Well, years ago, a lot of the growth was rolling out south in those communities. … We’re watching a lot of growth starting to come back this way.”

Katie Bean // Edito r and Managing D irec to r //

Some of the construction activity includes: »

Edison District in Downtown Overland Park: 100,000 square feet, 4 stories of office space, about 25 percent pre-leased

»

Avenue 82 in Downtown Overland Park: 67,529 square foot office building, 82 percent pre-leased with anchor tenant BRR Architecture taking 40,000 square feet

»

Lenexa City Center: 96,000 square feet of office space in mixed-use development

Source: CBRE Research, Kansas City Office report Q4 2018

kbean@iThinkBigger.com SMART COMPANIES THINKING BIGGER®

47

IN FOCUS

JOHNSON COUNTY ( by Katie Bean )

2019

Edison District broke ground in 2018 in downtown Overland Park and will add four stories of office space there.

(Photo courtesy of Edison District)

OFFICE SPACE Compared with the rest of the metro, Johnson County has some of the most desirable office spaces and commands the highest rent of any area except Country Club Plaza. Vacancy rates are low, and developers expect new buildings to fill up quickly. Interstate 435 is considered the dividing line between North and South Johnson County in the following data.

SUBMARKET

VACANCY RATE

MULTITENANT BUILDING SQUARE FOOTAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

GROSS AVERAGE ASKING LEASE RATE

Metro Overall

13.30%

604,178 square feet

$19.64/sq. ft.

Suburban

12.40%

581,268 square feet

$19.77/sq. ft.

10.30%

241,000 square feet

$19.73/sq. ft.

11%

120,268 square feet

$21.89/sq. ft.

North Johnson County

South Johnson County

Source: CBRE Research, Kansas City Office report Q4 2018

48 THINKING BIGGER BUSINESS // February 2019

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