Patch's New Site for Small Businesses Offers Tips, Info and More

The newly launched website provides practical advice and innovative ideas for those small business owners.

Patch has launched a new site — smallbusiness.patch.com — to educate and empower small businesses with the digital tools, social media strategies and marketing know-how needed to ensure long-term growth. Readers will have access to exclusive interviews with well-known founders and CEOs, and small business industry experts who share their experiences, advice and tips for success. One of the latest articles features an exclusive interview with successful real estate entrepreneur, Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group. In this Q&A, Corcoran discusses the how to take advantage of the size of a small businesses, and why making big “mistakes” made all the difference in her success. Click here to read about the tactics Corcoran used to…

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Small Business Owners Invest in Communities

The owners of small businesses throughout the Metro Milwaukee area say it works for them to be part of the fabric of their communities.

Small businesses work for a strong community. The days of Henry Ford coming into a community to build a plant and hire 25,000 workers are gone. But the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well on a much smaller scale. From neighborhood diners and booksellers with a handful of employees to niche operations with dozens of employees, small business owners have found ways to be profitable while strengthening the community in which they operate. Paul Schueller, CEO and part owner of Franklin Energy Services in Port Washington, Wis. was an engineer for Wisconsin Natural Gas Company.  Schueller saw an opportunity and struck out on his own.  “It’s more cost effective for energy companies to find ways to improve energy efficiencies than to build …

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Strong Small Businesses Make Communities Better

Local business improvement district leaders say a thriving small business climate makes the whole community stronger, but it takes support from residents, the government and business owners to make things work.

Thriving businesses are one-third of a triumvirate of a vibrant community. “You need good schools, a quality housing stock and a solid commercial area,” said Tim Ryan, president of Shorewood’s Business Improvement District.  Ryan is invested in all three. He and his family live in Shorewood, his daughter goes to school in Shorewood and he is the president and owner of Harleys: The Store for Men on Oakland Avenue in Shorewood. Small businesses line the commercial corridor that runs east and west along Capital Drive and north and south along Oakland Avenue, Ryan said. “Unlike many small communities, our business district is spread out on two thoroughfares.” Small businesses, like Harleys, are invested in a community the way national chains …

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David Tatarowicz

5:09 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012

@Ab Fab You make some very good points and more importantly ask some very good questions. I noted that Ryan said " thriving small businesses reduce the tax burden for homeowners and buoys home values." which is just not true. Property tax rates are the same for commercial property as it is for residential property. In Wisconsin, unlike some other states, the local communities get no share of the …   more ›

Kopp's Plans for Meditation Garden at Busy Intersection

It's the third plan the owner of the popular burger and frozen custard restaurant will submit to the city in the last six years.

The owner of Kopp’s Frozen Custard, already considered a top outdoor dining location in Greenfield, wants to spruce up a large “garden” area on the southwest corner of the intersection of 76th Street and West Layton Avenue. Karl Kopp wants to install anodized aluminum curved panels that are 6 feet high and 12 feet long along the north and east sides of the corner at the intersection, giving it an artistic, closed-off feel from the two busy thoroughfares. Large, illuminated glass artwork cubes would be placed between the panels as well. In April 2011, the city’s Planning Commission approved a proposal for a meditation garden at the corner that would have been enclosed by long metal tubes that were open to the interior of the garden to …

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Bren

6:43 pm on Monday, November 12, 2012

I'd be interested to see the plan. I like the idea of illuminated glass cubes, these look great especially at night. It is a very busy intersection and very commercial. As long as we have to wait for the lights to change, an attractive view would be welcomed.   more ›

Buca di Beppo Coming to Southridge?

Buca di Beppo might be setting up shop near Macy's.

Buca di Beppo might be coming to Southridge Mall near the new Macy's. Eyes from all over the Milwaukee area have been on Southridge Mall since it began its $52 million dollar renovation.  According to a lease plan on the property owner's website, Buca di Beppo will be located inside the mall next to an entrance in the south end near Macy's. The plan is also attached to this article as a pdf. Southridge Mall representatives were not able to confirm the new restaurant Wednesday. The mall cannot confirm or announce new businesses until all leasing paperwork is signed.  Many stores have left the mall, but many others have also opened.  Some stores that left the mall include Gap, Suncoast, World Market, Lane Bryant and Old Navy. New Southridge …

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Carol

9:33 am on Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Bucca's is a great restaurant! How can you say there aren't enough choices in the food court??? Sounds like you don't enjoy eating out, so it doesn't matter what comes to the mall. We need nice sit down restaurants instead of "fast food". "That is the reason people are obese cause they eat fast food all the time!   more ›

Hooters Orange a Thing of the Past

David Ross, owner of Dr. Dawg, changed the color scheme on the exterior of the former Hooters restaurant.

The owner of Dr. Dawg wasted no time removing the last remaining distinguishable marker from the former Hooters restaurant site. Just days after receiving Common Council approval to make some changes to the Hooters, 7700 W. Layton Ave., David Ross paved the restaurant's parking lot and painted over the recognizable "Hooters orange" exterior with red this week. The Chicago-style hot dog and Italian beef restaurant could open around the end of the year, five months after Hooters closed.

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Peter J G Chiconas

1:01 pm on Monday, October 22, 2012

A nice hot hot dog place sounds a lot more pleasant then the hooters!   more ›

Wear America Evolves Into 'Silk-Screen Boutique'

The screen printing shop's new owner is changing the business model based on new technology.

The apparel printing shop Wear America, one of the oldest businesses in downtown Greendale, is undergoing a business makeover under new ownership. The shop was primarily a walk-in business for embroidery, screen printing and retail with racks of generic Greendale material. New owner Marty Pierce is foregoing retail for an advanced screen printing business based on speed and technology. Wear America first opened in 1991 before Roy Reiman of Grandhaven, LLC revitalized the Village Center 15 years ago.  Wear America was struggling and in July 2011 Reiman bought the business from John Bachniac. This past May Pierce bought the business from Reiman in hopes that he could save it with his extensive background in printing. Pierce has 28 years in …

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Editor's Notebook

SCORE Helps Business Owners

No, there's not a catch. SCORE's experienced mentors will help you take your business to the next level.

When it comes down to it, behind just about every small business is an entrepreneur hoping to turn their passion into a paycheck. But, as many wise business advisers have noted: Hope is not a strategy. Business owners need support to turn dreams into reality. That's why Patch is pleased to announce a new partnership with SCORE, a nonprofit organization with 12,000 business experts nationwide who provide free mentoring to small business owners. The partnership makes sense because we believe that when local commerce grows, the whole community gets stronger. Patch already provides free listings for local businesses and other tools to help build local brands. Whether you're a 10-year-old jewelry designer or a 79-year-old who carves wood knives…

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Governor Talks Wisconsin Jobs, Mining and Education at Rotary Appearance

Gov. Scott Walker said, among other things, that he supported extending unemployment benefits through a worker's unpaid training period.

Gov. Scott Walker addressed job growth, responsible mining and the pressing need for skilled labor on Tuesday while speaking to a full house of almost 300 people at the Milwaukee War Memorial Center. The Milwaukee Rotary Club sponsored the appearance, during which Walker fielded questions from an audience without a protestor in sight. The governor thinks so. Walker said he's noticed a trend among small manufacturers — while there are jobs galore available and employers are desperately in search of employees, there are just not enough people to fill these jobs with the right credentials. "One of the most frustrating things for me, is employers telling me that they have jobs, but they don't have enough skilled workers to fill those jobs, …

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Steve

12:04 am on Saturday, March 10, 2012

It's not a soil sample but an exploration drilling core sample. Soil or overburden is removed before mining to get down to the "rock". Only one core? Before mining a lot of core samples are taken to find the ore body's width and depth. I hope they found some pyrite "The oxidation of pyrite (iron sulfide) by molecular oxygen produces iron(II), or Fe2+:" would be a crappy mine without iron   more ›

Getting Government Out of the Way so Small Businesses Can Succeed

In this week's radio address, Governor Scott Walker talks about how regulations for small businesses need to be smarter to help entrepreneurs succeed.

The state has partnered with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association to produce and distribute brief radio address once a week.  Audio files and a written transcript of this radio address can be accessed on http://www.wi-broadcasters.org and http://walker.wi.gov/Weekly-Radio-Addresses.  To download an mp3 file you can visit, right click the radio address link and click “save link as.” Hi. I'm Scott Walker. Touring the state and talking to small business owners, one thing has become crystal clear to me: government regulations need to be science based, predictable and practical.  All too often I hear about how government is standing in the way of those who want to grow jobs in our state. This is why I just signed Executive Order 61, which …

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Adam Wienieski

10:25 pm on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Bren said "The important thing to remember about government is the potential for politicization." Yes, I think that's a point we can all agree on. The founding fathers were so opposed to the concept of omnipotent government they listed a limited number of powers for Congress and said everything else belonged to the people or the states. It was the first time in history the power of government had…   more ›