As the media darling of the Midwest, the Grand Traverse area's population growth continues to outstrip other Michigan towns. Yet nearly all that growth is in the upper age range. Michigan as a whole is aging at a faster rate than the rest of the...
By Steven Johnson Reviewed by Chris Wendel 256 pages; published by Riverhead Books; September 2018 Hardcover $28, softcover $20, e-read edition $13, audio book version $15 In a nutshell: Complex decisions seldom come with a road map or text book. Writer Stephen Johnson studied the imperfect science of decision-making...
Tom Obrecht loves to learn. The retired steel executive is among hundreds of older students who fill seats in extended education classes offered by Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) – informal, diverse lifelong learning opportunities targeting many ages, including 50-and-up working people and retirees and also younger...
A commercial driveway. A labeling conveyor for bottles. Fifty bridal gowns. Little things like these had the power to make or break a new business this year in the 10-county Grand Traverse region. That's where Venture North Funding and Development steps in. Since 2015, Venture North...
Recently, a client shared a story with me that I will never forget. While skiing out west, he rode a chairlift with a young woman in her mid-twenties. As they chatted, he asked her what she did for a living. She replied, “Travel and ski.”...
Selling a home is fairly straightforward. Selling a business is anything but. Confidentiality marks the latter, says Curtis Kuttnauer, co-owner of Golden Circle Advisors (GCA), a Traverse City business brokerage that has helped several owners across Michigan sell their small- to-mid-sized businesses since GCA was founded...
From big banking establishments to local credit unions, many financial institutions are ramping up their security, overhauling their mobile apps or rolling out other new tech features or services to make life easier for their customers. The growing popularity of online and mobile banking is either...
Electric vehicles aren't exactly flying out the door at Bill Marsh Auto Group. Co-owner Jamie Marsh says that electric and hybrid cars probably account for less than one percent of the company’s sales. Marsh says that the Bill Marsh Auto Group has been working to get more...
Communities are in a constant state of evolution. They grow or regress, and the successful ones evolve with purpose, vision and inclusiveness. There’s little question over the direction of the Grand Traverse region’s evolution. The fortunes of our modest city by the bay have ridden a...
Serra Traverse City is one year into a multi-year renovation/construction of its auto dealerships on Garfield Road in Traverse City. Managing partner Jerry Zezulka said the projects began in August of 2016 and won’t be finished until sometime in 2020. “We started with a 36,000 square-foot service center on the South...
