Waseca Music Company
What business has been around for more than a half century, serves the music needs of several south-central Minnesota communities and is owned and operated by people who work there without pay?
What business has been around for more than a half century, serves the music needs of several south-central Minnesota communities and is owned and operated by people who work there without pay?
Tammy Spence was raised on a Good Thunder farm that instilled a “strong work ethic,” said Spence in a telephone interview. “There was no getting out of responsibility.”
The example set for Brooke Linder while growing up in Cleveland, Minnesota, was a mother who worked five jobs. “She sacrificed everything she had for us kids,” said 26-year-old Linder in a telephone interview.
As a child in a major Midwestern city, I watched Green Acres. Bumbling Eb, channel-surfing Arnold Ziffel, greenhorn Oliver Wendell Douglas (Fresh air!), and screw loose Lisa Douglas (Times Square!) were all half-brained Hooterville hoots…
The new owner of Jiffy Lube franchises in Mankato and Rochester, Tony Chahine (pronounced Shuh-HEE-nee), was raised in a close-knit, middle-class family in Los Angeles where dad had a security-related job and mom stayed at home.
Owner Kay Prescher said in a telephone interview, “I was always the person that wanted to be around everyone and make them feel happy.” The 38-year-old Wells native’s business, Lava Java, opened within the last year in the downtown Mankato Mall.
Several Connect Business Magazine readers have inquired about sursum ad summum, the phrase I have been placing atop my signature below. Translated, this Latin means, “Rise to the Highest,” and was the official motto of my Ohio high school, Walnut Hills.
Before starting my editorial yarn, I first have to thank our panel of Minnesota State College of Business professors for choosing our 2012 Business Person of the Year, an honor shared this year by North Mankato kettle corn moguls Dan and Angie Bastian.
Brian Maciej and his business, Lime Valley Advertising, are a study in contrasts. The company 47-year-old Maciej owns is located in a two-story French Second Empire home in Mankato. The 3,700 square feet of space provide an elegant setting for the 16 offices from which a staff of eleven provides integrated marketing for clients.