The Business of a Summer Ballgame
What if the MoonDogs aren’t really in the baseball business? Shane Bowyer explores how sports tourism, entertainment, and local spending create an economic ripple effect that reaches far beyond the final score.
Columns
The People Between the Projects
Shane Bowyer looks beyond the buildings, plans, and public projects to focus on the people and relationships that have shaped the Mankato area’s growth. From Fred Lutz to today’s community leaders, the column explores why connection remains one of the region’s greatest strengths.
Independent Insurance Agencies Providing Options
When searching for home, auto, property and business insurance, consumers have three different avenues to choose from. They include working
10 Key Areas to Focus On for a Strong Start to 2021
The close of 2020 means that you’ve been busy getting your financials in order, evaluating your numbers, measuring your success,
National Independent Retailer Month
Elsewhere in this issue, we talk about the recently coined phrase “Retail Apocalypse.” Well, I want to throw out another one that I’ve embraced for decades now…“Retail Therapy.” This is the counterpoint to the national phenomena that is happening as large national retailers continue to struggle.
Columns, Cownie Connection, Insights
Embrace Freedom From Work
Let’s face it, vacations aren’t what they used to be. It used to be, that they were regular occurances. Everyone took their yearly vacation! These days though, that is not the case. Americans just can’t seem to unplug. According to a report by the Project: Time Off Coalition, between 2000 and 2014, the number of vacation days U.S. workers took declined steadily from a long-term average of 20.3 days to 16.
Columns, Cownie Connection, Insights
Words to Live By: Just Keep Swimming
“Failure is not an option.” At the time NASA flight controller Jerry Bostick uttered that phrase, I can see his point. After all, he was on a mission to bring home the damaged Apollo 13. A fitting phrase, given the circumstances. However, it’s a phrase that has been repeated so many times that it seems it is a part of our psyche, and sometimes makes us so focused on just not failing…that we don’t aim for success.
Embrace Your Inner Blogger
Countless times in a day people will tell me they are terrible writers or they don’t know how to write. Some even describe it as a painful experience. While I can’t relate to the angst that a writing assignment or task may bring people, I can relate to having to do things you don’t want to do for the good of the cause…which in the case of this particular column, is your business.
Columns, Cownie Connection, Insights
How One New Ulm Business Opened Its Eyes, Gave One Young Man’s Life New Meaning
I know it seems there is a month and day for everything….from “National Ice Cream Month” to “Hug A Dog” day. Some months or days, though, may be worth taking a closer look. In my opinion, October is one of those months, National Disability Employment month. Having an inclusive work culture may not be as hard as you think.