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Fargo is a hopping town. I went out last night instead of staying stuck in a hotel room out by the mall and ended up at the HoDo Hotel and Lounge. I went, based upon the recommendation of  new Twitter friends, especially someone who  goes by the handle @FargoMoorehead and is part of the local CVB. I love how this works. I roll into town, announce I am here and all of a sudden I have good recommendations for places to go.This, by the way, is a great example of how a CVB can be extremely responsive to the the needs of a visitor. Using social media they responded immediately by giving me information I needed. Way to go Fargo-Moorhead CVB!

The Hodo was a really cool place. Warehouse, lofty feel with big windows to the outside, a lot of original art, and a hip music background, part hip-hop, part Johnny Cash. Has anyone taken a Cash track and done a hip-hop/country mashup? Hmmm, interesting. Next time I am in Fargo I am staying at the HoDo.

Downtown Fargo as a destination looked pretty good . It was a good mix of nice restaurants, sports bars, pubs and  dives. I think they like their neon signs in Fargo, for each interesting place has a good looking neon sign that borders on kitsch art.

I met Dave the attorney and Bill the Banker at the HoDo lounge after I had eaten a really yummy Asian stir fry, and consumed a couple IPAs’. By the way I was a little disappointing that Fargo, according to the bartender, didn’t have a local micro-brew. I hope Amber was  wrong and under informed ( like the hotel clerk who scrunched her face when  I mentioned downtown). Having said that,  the IPA from some micro-brew in Minneapolis was quite tasty. Dave and Bill were two guys close to or  around my age. We had a great time talking about the differences and  similarities between Bloomington-Normal and Fargo. They were obviously well-informed and understood their community very well. They had pride in their area and it wasn’t blustery or boisterous, which was good.

By the way, no one I met talked like they do in the movie. Ok, the hotel clerk came close, but truthfully, Fargo people are full of the Midwestern charm and helpfulness one would expect. One more thing: According to those I spoke to last night and the local Arts paper Fargo apparently has a thriving art and culture scene.

I head for Omaha today. Looking a the interstate, it looks pretty long, straight and boring. I hope the worlds largest ball of string is on this leg of the journey. I will need something to break up the day.  I will travel through and hit parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Follow me on Twitter @bnedguy, I will tweet along the way.

A business incubator is being proposed for the Bloomington-Normal Area. The concept of a business incubator is that it is a place to help nurture and grow business in their formidable years (or months) before they are able to go out into the real world. An incubator primarily provides physical space for an entrepreneur to locate for a short period of time but also provides all types of other ancillary and complimentary services for an entrepreneur and we hope we are the position to do the same in BN in the near future.

I imagine that the business incubator will be more than merely a place for people to grow their business. I have often described the BN business incubator as a community center. This incubator could serve as a “Financial Center” or more appropriately a place where people who need to learn about building prosperity and wealth can go and accomplish that goal. There are many great examples of successful businesses in BN and no doubt these business owners could serve as examples and mentors at this community financial center, as well as teach and pass on their wisdom. Already our Circles of 7 mentoring program has proven this to be true.

Vey often I receive phone calls or meet people who want to start a business but really have no idea regarding the basics of money and finance. In fact, the conversation usually starts with the client asking me if they can get a grant to start or finance a business. Money, capital, cash flow, and the lack of it is the primary issue when it comes to starting a business. Everybody needs capital to start a business and they need capital to grow. The lack of sufficient capital is the single largest reason why businesses fail, and frankly it’s the reason people start businesses, right? They dream of making money and being financially self-sufficient.

Without a basic understanding of money and how it works within our system, one cannot expect to succeed, or at least succeed without a lot of pain. I have actually counseled people who wanted to start a business that had no checking account or even understood the “magic” of compound interest. Sometimes it is a mistrust of financial institutions that has been drilled into their head by their environment, or in other cases it might be a fear of looking “stupid” if they have had little experience with institutions.

A basic knowledge of money, and more appropriately “cash flow” and how it is the king of business success is needed. A business incubator can be the first step in helping people. I have a vision that people who need help would come to classes on understanding financial principles, banking and compound interest, then they could graduate to business finance, then they would proceed to understand business accounting, collection, credit and so forth. As they are taking these classes new entrepreneurs can be learning about other business issues such as marketing, advertising, human resources, and other issues more pertinent to their specific business.

So the business incubator is more than small start-ups and others leasing space and growing before they go out into the world. It is about interaction, about learning, and getting the confidence one needs to grow and contribute to their own financial self-worth and ultimately the community’s.

You will hear more from me about the business incubator as time goes on. Are you a candidate to learn? Will you be the next growth story in BN? Do you know somebody who needs help? Tell me your thoughts or send me your ideas.

One of the neat things about social media or social networking is that you end meeting people that you would likely never meet unless for the deployment of said social media. I just cam back from a little social media event in Bloomington. It was a tweetup hosted by a local photographer and it was a nice little event. I got to meet some folks that I would have never met before and probably people I would never meet in any other situation. Twitter brings together for common discussion and sharing of ideas.

I also had an opportunity to talk to two very diverse businesses this week about social media and its use. One was an artist and gallery, and the other was a doctor’s practice. Both had attended our social media seminar and wanted to delve a little deeper into its use. Both have different reasons for using the media, and it was fun to explore their business issues, their goals and the best ways to exploit the medium.

Artist Gallery — So how does an artist use social media to grow it s business? First of all what is the business model. In this case the artist operates his own gallery and sells almost all of his art through his gallery. He said tha most of his art can be found within a 50 mile radius of his gallery. He and his business partner/spouse work very hard on promoting their gallery and the art scene in Bloomington Normal. My advice to them was to establish their Twitter account (they already have a Facebook page) and begin slowly to build up a following of friends and followers in Twitter. Here is some other advice I gave them and that other artists might consider:

1. Post tweets about other local artists. Send information about shows and new work by local artists in the area.
2. Re-tweet their tweets. Be kind and tell your followers about the work other artists are doing. Hopefully they will do the same in return.
3. Tweet about thoughts or inspiration you are having about new art you might create. Use twitter as a tool to inform your art.
4. Obviously tell people about events you are having in the studio.
5. Follow other artists.
6. Send pics of your own art…not to often though. Although a simple landscape with no words attached can be a powerful message.
7. Encourage others to follow by using other SM sites.

Are there other suggestions for artists? The Creative class, particularly artists are often overlooked as business people. However they add a lot to the community. They bring new money to the community yet their footprint is usually fairly small. A concentration of artists can contribute large levels of economic impact.

Visit a local artist. Buy some original art. You will be happy you did.

Financing Small Businesses in Uncertain Times

It’s always a challenge for entrepreneurs and small business owners to find the funds they need to start and grow their firms, but it is even more challenging in the current economic and financial situation. The Economic Development Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area (EDC) is cosponsoring a seminar, along with the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Illinois State University and the McLean County Chamber of Commerce on how to finance your small or start up business. The seminar will be held from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7th at Illinois State University’s Alumni Center (1101 N. Main St, Normal), Room 118. There is no charge to attend this seminar, but space is limited so please register in advance by contacting Cathy at the EDC office at (309) 452-8437 or cathy@bnbiz.org

Free Seminar: Challenges of Starting and Operating a Home Based Business

There are some real advantages to starting and running a small business out of your home, but there also are some challenges. If you are not careful, you may compromise your chance to launch, sustain and grow your home based businesses. This seminar will focus on some of the most common mistakes made by home based business owners. The seminar, which is cosponsored by the Economic Development Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area (EDC) along with the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Illinois State University and the McLean County Chamber of Commerce, will be held from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 8th at Illinois State University’s Alumni Center (1101 N. Main St, Normal), Room 117. There is no charge to attend, but space is limited so please register in advance with Cathy at the EDC office, (309) 452-8437 or cathy@bnbiz.org