Friday, April 23 2010

Linda Schantz operating the wine bar for "Business After Hours" hosted by Fitter's Furniture
Mingling is networking at "Business After Hours"









Last Wednesday we were able to photograph a very important event to Main Street in Ellensburg. Actually, it's important to all Ellensburg businesses.

"Business After Hours" as it's known, is an event where a business "shuts down" and then hosts the community beyond their scheduled hours for refreshments, conversation, and a chance for people to get to know one another.

Sounds fun, but not significant at first.

Until you think about it from this perspective.

When you invite your neighbors, who tend to be business owners to your business for a social event, a very essential component for businesses occurs. And that is networking.

Even we were involved in the networking to a degree. Meeting people who served in non-profits, government agencies, and other business owners whom we did not know previously.

Now consider this kind of event occurring on a regular basis, and you begin to see how businesses can meet and form a plan on how to survive together.

It all stems from opening the doors a little longer, and inviting your neighbors in. An oft overlooked gesture by some, but one that is not when it comes to independent business owners.

This particular event was hosted by Fitterer's Furniture, and was a great success. Linda Schantz, owner of Gifts from the Vine provided an excellent array of wine and beer, and Greg Beach, owner of the Valley Cafe provided hors d'oeuvres to the crowd of roughly 80 people.

We saw people introduce themselves to strangers, and friends catch up, and collegues share information.

It's easy to see why this event is so helpful to a community full of independent businesses.

Yes indeed, a very simple gesture of opening your doors after hours can lead to very big things.

Wednesday, April 21 2010

Donna and Alisa German discussing their salon with Matthew






What a week!

When you're busy, time just flies!

The good thing is we've been working and accomplishing more tasks. And best of all, learning. We believe learning is a life long process, but more so when you're working a project such as this.

Last Friday we had the privledge of interviewing Alisa and Donna German, mother & daughter-in-law, and co-owners of Bahama Bronze.

Alisa and Donna remind me of what we've typically come across in our travels. Hard-working people that are true innovators, who are extremely humble. When you talk to them, it's as if someone in the back of the store is doing all these great things in business.

This is a quality in people we all admire, but sometimes you want them to grab the microphone and brag a little.

But alas, that's not how it works in small towns, or Agurbs as some call them. The people here are just as innovative and savvy as those you would interact with in a big city, but here, they don't let you know about it very often.

They're more interested in action doing the talking. Maybe that has something to do with their innovation not always being front and center.

Case in point. Over at Bahama Bronze, it started off as a spray tan business. Now from our view, that doesn't sound like a very convincing business model. But there was a market for it, Alisa saw it was there, and she put it together.

Along the way she added other services, the one's that we might all be more familiar with as a stand-alone business. Those being nail service, and hair cutting.

And since then, she's added other beauty services to turn her store from an innovative, one-service shop, to a full-service salon that one could spend an entire day in receiving everything from eyelash extensions to pedicures.

To hear Alisa say it, you wouldn't think she's as innovative as she truly is. When she talks about the things she's incorporated into her salon, like "bling strands" you almost leave the subject alone.

In case you're unfamiliar, bling strands are an emerging trend in the beauty industry that serves as an alternative for people seeking to dye their hair. They are synthetic, and can attach to existing hair follicles.

Why is this important?

As we know, most work places are revamping their rules of appearance for employees with less room for interpretation.

This means that people they may want to indulge in personal expression by dyeing their hair may not be able to because their employer only wants natural colors.

So for someone that wants to add color to their weekend appearance, bling strands may give them an option to still express themselves, while maintain an appearance that their employer won't balk at.

Also, when it comes to options for kids, dyeing is not exactly in the list. For one, many school districts have policies stating children cannot attend classes with unnatural hair color because it becomes a distraction in the classroom.

So now, kids can do something "adult" with their hair, that is effective in style, easy to control, and above it all temporary.

While some salons have incorporated this into their services, many have not. And even further, Alisa and Donna had the foresight to add this service into their store from the time it started, realizing the potential from market standpoint.

It probably wasn't the most popular service when they started, and it may not be even now, but story is how it has grown from being a once in awhile request, to a regularly scheduled appointment now.

As entepreneurs, they both saw the potential for this service and have capitalized on it. This all happened on Main Street, in a small town.

It is truly amazing the kinds of stories one can find on Main Street, and we look forward to many more.