One of the ways I find new businesses to help is by picking up brochure while I’m in their business, or when I see them around town. Brochures are your little sales dudes, sitting there on the counter, trying to get a date (generate interest enough to make a sale). They’re critical. They introduce your […]

As I write to meet the Beacon’s deadline, this year’s ballots have yet to be counted. As you read it, chances are, the results are in. Half of you are feeling much better about the direction of your city, county and country – the other half, not so much. And a few of you are […]

Jim Patrick’s tenure as Kalispell city manager came to an abrupt end earlier this month. The circumstances surrounding his firing remain murky, as Kalispell city councilors have instead chosen to explain his dismissal in the broadest terms possible, taking the high road, I suppose, in what was a likely bitter divorce. “We just determined it […]

I’ve been a resident of Montana for more than 30 years, and I believe that Montanans who face imminent death from terminal illnesses deserve the right to make their own end-of-life choices. Those choices should include Death with Dignity. I hope the Montana courts will soon rule that our state Constitution protects the dignity and […]

There’s a lot of talk about change these days. No, this isn’t another tired political story. I’m a bit burned out on them too. Let’s talk about changing your business for the better. Many ideas for business change come from your clients. Another source is from events like TED. TED is an annual conference that […]

Now is the time when editors and pundits write on the uplifting theme: “Citizens, Do Your Civic Duty This Election Day and Vote.” Well, my theme is: Citizens might best fulfill their civic role by staying the heck home. My friend Robert Struckman over at NewWest.Net wrote an item titled, “Should You Vote?” that featured […]

At the beginning of October, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced California may need an emergency $7 billion-loan from the Federal Treasury because his state is running out of cash to pay for basic services. A week later, Montana’s Legislative Fiscal Division projected a budget surplus of nearly $1 billion through the middle of 2011 for our […]

Folks who eat the food that Pam and I grow at Purple Frog can all attest that we work hard and pour our heart and soul into our community. It’s that value of hard work and honoring locals, instilled by parents and grandparents, which I bring to Helena. It’s a funny campaign when special interest […]

Small, stooped, with a wry sense of humor, Winfield Emerson Page was one of the early stock market “day traders.” Page was essentially nocturnal. He seemed able to function with very little sleep. He frequently stayed up most of the night to monitor foreign markets, making trades by telephone and telegraph, at all hours, nationally […]

Flathead Business and Industry Association has recently been the victim of “hogwash” on the part of Rep. Jopek, as a result of our recent endorsement and advocacy on behalf of pro-business candidates in the Flathead. Rep. Jopek’s statements in a recent Beacon editorial about FBIA are as insulting as they are false. On behalf of […]

In last week’s column, I lightly admonished an anonymous bunch of folks for not personalizing their business (noting that the title of this column is “Business is Personal”). After that, it seems logical that I give you some tools to make it easier to do what I was complaining about last week. There are two […]

As a longtime Alaskan, and former Montanan, I have some interesting observations for the Big Sky. I was born in Montana, educated at the University of Montana and immediately adventured to Alaska for a lifelong accounting career. As a CPA and private sector community leader in Wasilla, yes, I know Sarah Palin very well. I […]

It can only rain this hard in Washington, Oregon or Guadalcanal. The tires aquaplaned on the river running down the middle of the eastbound highway headed for Mount Hood, just east of Portland. We had passed dozens of automobile agencies that were devoid of customers and drowning in unsold merchandise. For a weekend, at least, […]

My birthday was earlier this month and as I do every year, I take great care to notice (and reward) those businesses who paid attention in the past when I brought it up, as well as those who already have my birth date and use it wisely. While not every business knows my birthday (or […]

Congress’s lardy response to the Wall Street mortgage fiasco leaves me wondering about governmental fiscal responsibility – not just inside the Beltway, but here in Flathead County. Both Whitefish and Evergreen passed public-safety bond issues in the past couple of months in special elections. Evergreen’s fire hall is falling down, plus the department has seen […]