Category: Newsletter

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Choteau Area Port Authority Receives Marketing Grant!

Choteau Area Port Authority Logo

Congratulations to the Choteau Area Port Authority! They received the Department of Commerce Tourism Grant to create marketing and branding materials for the Choteau Area!

We in the Choteau Chamber are excited to be a part of this historic collaboration between Choteau’s 3 primary economic development and business organizations: the Choteau Chamber of Commerce, the Choteau Tourism Business Improvement District, and the Choteau Area Port Authority!

If you know a marketer or designer who would be interested in submitting an RFP, please have them contact Choteau Area Port Authority President Mary Sexton at msexton@3rivers.net

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Business Readiness Transition Workshop

Mark your calendars for February 13th! The Montana Manufacturing Extension Center (MMEC) will be hosting a half-day workshop designed to help business owners, especially those in manufacturing, achieve more successful transitions. 

The Great Falls MMEC Business Adviser, Doug Roberts, assisted by Montana’s first and only certified exit planning advisor, Alistair Stewart, will help owners identify action steps to begin “de-risking” their businesses, increase value, and improve their transition outcomes. Transition readiness is “just” good business, and owners who commit to becoming more transition ready will enjoy greater financial success, better legacy outcomes, and increased personal fulfillment. Business owners will learn what transition readiness is, why it matters, and how to improve their personal and business outcomes.
 

PARTICIPANTS will be guided through critical questions:

  • Where are you going in the next 12 to 18 months, and how will you get there?
  • What risks threaten the outcome(s) you seek, and how will you manage them?
  • What agile strategies will you implement to take you and your
    business to your desired outcome(s)?
  • How is my team doing, and what will improve its function?
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Live Plan Business Planning Tool Available Free from GFDA

LivePlan Logo

With LivePlan, anyone can create a professionally formatted, investor-ready business plan in half the time. LivePlan helps you define, run, and grow your business with a full set of features to keep you on track.

Receive step-by-step instructions, generate detailed financial statements, and track your progress and performance.

No-cost licenses are limited. Preference will be given to GFDA clients who are dynamic users and will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.

To learn how to leverage the power of Live Plan, contact SBDC Regional Director Jason Nitschke at (406) 750-0314.

Learn more at the Great Falls Development Association.

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January Choteau Chamber Meeting Update

Choteau Chamber of Commerce Logo
  • Thanks to Mickey Hodgskiss (Choteau Country Hallmark) for another year of supporting the Chamber’s Christmas Tree Fundraising Sale! We netted a little over $900 for the Chamber.
  • At Tuesday’s Board meeting the Chamber Board of Directors said thank you to Tom Frownfelder for his service as a Director and 2019 Board President, we welcomed new Directors Kyra Bouma (Stage Stop Inn) and Charley Yeager (Opportunity Bank), and Tom also transitioned into his role as the Chamber’s Secretary/Treasurer
    • Also at the meeting, the board elected Steve Dogiakos (Golden Triangle Goods/Choteau Lions Club) as Chamber President and Charley Yeager as Vice President
  • I discussed my membership recruitment goals for 2020: I am hoping to recruit 70 members, with an emphasis on Individual Membership. Additionally, I want to reactivate former members with businesses, as well as former members who have retired from their business or job. I also requested that everyone try to bring a business owner to the February meeting who does not regularly attend. Finally, the Board is pushing hard to emphasize everyone getting on an annual membership cycle. We will be introducing and adopting pro-rated membership rates at our next Board meeting to help make it feasible on the administrative side. Please pay your dues by January 31st!
  • Within the context of the membership, I discussed the new website and email system that Tom and I set up so that we will be better able to serve Choteau Chamber members. If you have feedback on our new systems, please send me a message!
  • We went over the proposed 2020 Budget and discussed the changes and additions that I proposed. In the meeting, a $1,000 line item for Chamber Educational Offerings was added during the meeting. The budget will be finalized at the February meeting
  • Annie Olson (Benefis Teton Medical Center/Foundation) and Kayla Breen (Main Street Express/Breen Oil & Tire) discussed their plans for the 2020 Super Bowl Chili Feed and Appetizer Pot Luck. Worth noting is the ability to reserve tables! Reserve yours now!
  • Finally, we talked about upcoming events and Chamber After Hours events. Several were scheduled:
    • Opportunity Bank – January 23, 2020 4p – 6p
    • Copper Creek – February (exact date TBD and will be announced)
    • Rocky Mountain Insurance Services – May 25, 5p – 7p
  • You can find other Chamber and Choteau events on our Google Calendar (Hint, click the +Google Calendar button at the bottom of the event list to add the Chamber Calendar to your Google Account or device!):
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Ignite 2020 – Jan. 20 – Great Falls

Register: Ignite 2020!
Friday, January 20th
7:30AM – 10:30AM
Meadow Lark Country Club
300 Country Club Blvd
Great Falls, MT 59404

Questions? Give GFDA VP Jolene a call at 406.750.4481.

Ignite has become the premier business event to kick off the new year in Great Falls. Happening this year on January 10th, 2020, Ignite quite literally “sets the stage” for business announcements in the upcoming year.

The event is a fast-paced, exciting, and high energy breakfast that allows business developers, entrepreneurs, officials, and educators to share the room with two hundred other community businesses and leaders so that they may, for the very first time, unveil their upcoming projects.

The format is simple and quick – five-minute presentations on business startups, expansions, real estate developments and capital projects that will either start of open in 2020. Ignite is an exceptional way to gain insight into the year ahead!

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MEDA: Montana NextGen Project

Montana Economic Developers Association and Montana Chamber of Commerce team up for the MT NEXT GENERATION ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

The Montana Economic Developers Association (MEDA), in partnership with the Montana Chamber of Commerce, has contracted with TIP Strategies (TIP), an economic strategy firm with offices in Austin, TX, and Seattle, WA, to complete an analysis of Montana’s economic and community development tools, programs, and funding mechanisms. Support for the project comes from over 75 partners across the state. TIP will provide specific recommendations to improve the state’s competitiveness. Although the recommendations will be designed for near-term implementation, the impacts will be focused on maintaining and improving the long-term competitiveness of the state.

“An effort like this has not been conducted on this grassroots level for nearly 20 years. In the face of such great change and future economic opportunities and challenges, Montana needs to do its homework and consider anew what tools and strategies are needed to maximize economic future. Let’s get this work done and then let’s have the conversation about strengthening each of our communities.”

Steve Arveschoug, MEDA President and Todd O’Hair, Montana Chamber

Here’s a one-page project description: worth a look!

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Mark Your Calendar: The LaunchPoint: A Pre-Business Workshop 1/23/20

Thursday, January 23 – 4:00 PM-5:00 PM

Have you been thinking about an idea and always wondered if you could make it a business? Are you a business owner but not a business school graduate? Are you passionate about the thing you do and don’t know how to turn that passion into profit? Join GFDA and the Great Falls Small Business Development Center for The LaunchPoint, a business planning and strategies workshop that will walk through the key structures, available tools and why money is important before, during and after you open your doors.

To join this presentation from the comfort of your home, office, or mobile device, register here.

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Choteau Economic Development Efforts Highlighted in Governor’s Office of Economic Development Whitepaper

across the state

Download the whitepaper Across the State: A Picture of Local Development Efforts by Main Street Montana Rural Partners

“Like many small communities in Montana, Choteau relies heavily on volunteer support, which can be overwhelming and exhausting for the handful of volunteers that serve on every board, committee, and organization in town. Communities often look for new ways to increase capacity for community projects and economic development initiatives.”

Read the whole whitepaper here: