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 Emporia Main Street Special Projects Coordinator, Shane Wilson, put together the first ever "Mix & Match" event for employee retention and community engagement. The first iteration focused on new teachers and administrators from USD 253 and Emporia State University, but we look forward to working with other businesses, sponsors and people new to the community in the future! |
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Emporia Main Street
E-Newsletter
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Greetings!
Students are back, the temperatures are actually pretty nice, and energy is flowing through the community! Keep reading for upcoming events, community questions and MORE in this week's e-news!
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The Great American Market is Saturday, September 12th from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Have you signed up for your booth space? Spots are filling quickly! CLICK HERE for the vendor form.
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The next "How its Made" tour is August 27th at 6:30 p.m. Stops include Dynamic Discs, Time Travelers clock repair and Jim's Cowboy Shop (showcasing their leather and shoe repair). Contact Emporia Main Street for additional information and to RSVP!
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Quarter Mania- September 22
Do you want to gain some new customers for your business in a fun atmosphere that actually PAYS your business back? Quarter Mania may be the event you are looking for! Secure your business spot in the next Quarter Mania by contacting Emporia Main Street TODAY!
Click HERE for a video describing Quarter Mania.
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Learn more about local amenities, organizations, businesses, events and more with the E-Town Mobile App! The ETown App is a joint project among Emporia State University, Flint Hills Technical College, USD 253, The Emporia Gazette, the City of Emporia, the Emporia Convention and Visitors Bureau and Emporia Main Street.
For IPhone Users, Click Here!
For Android Users, Click Here!
For the iPad Version, Click Here!
For the Web Version, click here:
www.etownapp.com
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Property Availability Guide
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For property owners with property available for rent or sale, this is a free service to collect information and post it on the Emporia Main Street Web Site. With other market information available, we hope this site makes it easier for potential businesses and property developers to find spaces they need.
CLICK HERE to enter information about your available property and view previously submitted information.
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Business Investment Guide
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Do you know a business that should locate in Emporia? Maybe you know an entrepreneur looking for resources or a business owner looking to expand? The Business Investment Guide is community information designed to help you point your contacts in the right direction!
CLICK HERE for the INVESTMENT GUIDE
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Small Decisions, BIG Trouble
The seven deadly mistakes that can impact your business or organization...
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Mid-sized communities definitely have their advantages. We get the best of the "small town feel" while we have a variety of different business and organizational opportunities available. Within smaller communities, organizations and businesses can fall into certain habits or ill conceived strategies that could damage their culture and future growth prospects. After working with several businesses in mid-sized communities over multiple states, we've seen some patterns emerge that constitute "red flags" for businesses or organizations as they continue their quest for growth, improvement and profitability. These "seven deadly red flags" are things we thought important to share with businesses and organizations as they self reflect and mitigate threats while taking advantage of opportunities.
1. Have a defined management style/theory. Staff and volunteers like consistency. As a manager, it is important to define your style of management that you will use to maximize the effectiveness of staff or volunteers. For example, I know some managers that are effective in a hierarchical management style that is very "singular task" or minutia driven. In this style, employees or volunteers are expected to complete tasks in a very deliberate manner, within a given time frame. "Outside the box" thinking really isn't encouraged within a hierarchical management style. Emporia Main Street utilizes a more organic style, where we empower staff and volunteers to spot (and take advantage of) opportunities and mitigate threats. It's a messier style of management that takes a while to resonate with staff, but organizations typically create more "buy in" and generate more innovation over time. Regardless of the management style employed, you need to stick with it. Flipping back and forth between how interactions are conducted by management can cause confusion and stress.
2. Never, EVER, put yourself above the brand. In my former life as a retailer, the business that I worked for targeted mainly women and youth. I'm a guy, and I would often have other men involved with marketing  encourage me to make the marketing more about men. Everything from "real men shop Madelynn's" to talking about "men's style" and focusing on really specific men's niches within the confines of the store ( like barbecue supplies). Did we have male shoppers? Sure! But, if I simply catered to myself saying " I'm a guy, and this is what I would want to hear" without recognizing our target clientele, I would have created a horrible branding position. Businesses and organizations that take a 180 degree turn from their target clientele often "split their brand" which essentially creates twice the work for almost the same amount of return you got before. So, when looking at your business or organizational branding, are you appealing to your target audience, or are you simply catering to your own likes ( or placing yourself in the consumer mode irregardless of your actual target market)? I can count multiple businesses and organizations that may have received a short term boost from countering their target market, but I can count a lot of nonprofits and businesses that no longer exist because their brand drifted due to the personal whims of internal leadership.
3. Friends are friends and business is business. Sometimes they cross over, but realize that sometimes they don't. The larger the staff, the more this becomes a problem. Several people in smaller towns have a "vetting" process that consists of "who knows this person?" When that question is followed up by inquiries  about work ethic, product knowledge, physical capabilities and other work related attributes, the small town network can be a good thing. However, when friendships cross over into the "I need to make some money?" or "I need a few extra hours?" or "could you get my friend a job?" problems can occur pretty quickly. The assumed chain of command can get altered by friendships, the most competent/hardest workers aren't always hired and the business culture can degrade. Ask yourself: "if this person came in with an application and I didn't know them, would I hire them?" Business is business, and personal is personal. If they cross over, then great. If the people you are hiring wouldn't fit your normal hiring standards if not for a personal relationship, it is usually better to pass...
4. Lead by example. I've had the conversation with staff members about expectations. When I tell people that I don't expect more out of them than I expect out of myself, that statement is usually followed with "but I expect a lot out of myself". People have a tendency to work harder when the "boss" is working right beside them. Absenteeism, or the belief that a bosses' brain is everywhere but on work, causes staff members and volunteers to lose interest in excellence. Be the staff member or volunteer that you want to lead.
5. Don't be pressured into decisions that hurt productivity. Every leader or manager has "triggers" that take away focus. Individuals, locations, technology (like social media) or other things that seem to just get in your head. You know what works for you, and you should be able to tell (over time) what works best for your team. For example, in college I worked in an office environment that had people on each of the far ends of the political spectrum. People would often pressure each other to get involved in whatever the political debate of the day was, someone would end up mad, and half the staff wasted three hours on topics that didn't directly impact us and couldn't be impacted by anything we did. I quickly learned that if I wanted to be productive in that environment, certain topics and people were just off limits, and I needed to avoid being drawn into the discussion (which wasn't always easy as a collegiate debater). Knowing what works best and resisting pressure to change must be balanced with just being stubborn. But, you know what keeps you focused. Stick with what works.
6. Short term gains versus long term growth. Have you ever seen a store that has "the biggest sale of the year" every weekend? Have you ever seen a not-for-profit that threw together a fundraiser that just didn't  seem to fit their brand and was obviously designed for the cash? Do either of those things work long term? It is important to break long term planning up into manageable "chunks" to achieve organizational or business goals, but you cap your ceiling if you start sacrificing your long term strategies for short term "blips". We've all been in a room where people are struggling for ideas, someone says something, and people just "go with it" because no one has anything better to say. Or, people are so intent on looking backwards at other short term gains that they just replicate the same marginal strategies over and over. If you ever want to get off the eternal business or organizational hamster wheel, you have to find activities that fit within your long term strategic goals. How you support your long term goals can include short term projects, but only if they support your long term branding strategy.
7. Planning plus flexibility makes perfect. The world of successful business and organizational development isn't black and white. You do need a plan well in advance of whatever initiative you want to  execute (the bigger the initiative, the more intense the planning). However, you don't want to get so deep into the minutia of the planning process that you neglect other opportunities and can't pivot to take advantage of things that present themselves within the realm of what you are planning. I'm not for quoting boxers often, but Mike Tyson's "everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth" quote is true. Anyone can write things down on paper, but truly great entrepreneurs, managers, staff and non-profit directors can roll with changes, identify opportunities and mitigate threats in the context of their strategic plan.
Do any of these seven points remind you of your organization? Recognizing internal issues (and fixing them) can help businesses and organizations achieve their growth potential. Take a little time to reflect on your internal methods and motivations to create a more positive culture, and you will undoubtedly see tangible results in the future!
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Did you know???
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Last week we met with consultants concerning a community project, did some consulting work with two local businesses, met with a local agency about some funding alternatives
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Before and after of a downtown "tree garden" at the downtown clean up this Saturday. People that volunteer to make the community better make a real difference!
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that could potentially stretch their dollars, held a Promotions Team Meeting, hosted a Design Team meeting, worked with a local financial institution on some alternative financing for one of their clients, met with the RDA, hosted our first ever Mix and Match event, held a downtown clean up and prepared for the Welcome Back Block Party! Whew!!! It was quite a week, but those super busy weeks mean we get some great
questions from all of you
1. "What is this "mix and match" event about?"- From a downtown business. One of the four points in the Main Street approach is "Economic Restructuring" (soon to be renamed nationally as "Economic Vitality"). In Emporia, we call our economics committee "Business Enhancement". Through that committee, we identify trends, opportunities and threats that we can either intersect with or mitigate for the good of the community. One trend that we've noticed for a while is population turnover. Even though our actual population number remains relatively the same from year to year, we have a tremendous amount of new people coming into Emporia and leaving our city on a yearly basis. Growing our economy really comes down to two things: we have to grow our population and grow our incomes. Growing our population starts with retaining the new people that are moving into the community. Through conversations with "newbies" that moved away, many cited a lack of connectivity within Emporia (it was hard to become part of social groups). Main Street placed Shane Wilson (the Special Projects Coordinator) on the issue of retention with a test project utilizing USD 253 and Emporia State University (both have varying levels of retention issues among teachers and staff). We identified "Community Advocates" that represented specific categorical segments of the community (like churches, biking, running, the live music scene, local foods, crafts, sports, etc...) and made those advocates available to talk with participants. Information was collected on the "newbies" and advocates will reach out to people that signed up in their particular category to get them involved in Emporia. We had over 70 people attend the first event, but it will take some time to determine the actual impact on retention. Emporia Man Street wants to take proactive approaches to actually solving community issues, and the Mix and Match is another example of that proactive stance in tangible application.
2. "How was the turnout for Block Party?" From a text late last night. It was great! We estimate just under 3,000 people attended. The extended time frame for the event (that we will continue to tweak in the future) solved a major problem we had last year: a compressed time frame meant that we didn't collect a great deal of student information. This year, we were able to collect a lot of student names, emails and graduation dates, which will aid us in reaching out to students directly on behalf of all of you throughout the year..
3. "What do the students mean for the local economy?" From a local citizen. Each student represents between $14,000 and $17,000 in spending per year. They mean a lot to the economy, but they also mean a lot to the town's energy, creativity and cultural amenities. We are happy the students are back, and we look forward to another awesome school year!
Riverside Elementary will be holding a walk-about on September 22nd to learn more about their city. If your business would like to host a tour for the students or provide something that shows off your business, please contact Randielle at 620-757-9916 or Tracy at 620-481-9987.
4. "Why aren't there pictures of downtown leaders at activities like clean ups?" From a Gazette post. For volunteer based activities like clean ups, our focus is on volunteers. Actually, for most of our events and activities, the focus is on the participants. We preach a "servant" attitude within the office staff circle, and that means our focus will be external as much as possible. If it's a Main Street event, staff is there, but we are usually behind the camera and not in front of it. Similarly, when we have large events where members are present, we like to "push" members into the limelight so they can receive recognition for their efforts. It's the "we" not the "me" that moves us forward.
5. "What's the new shop in the 1100 Block?" From a bunch of different people. At the Welcome Back Block Party, a new women's clothing boutique called "French Lily" announced their presence. We are excited about more women's fashion clothing with great prices locating in downtown, and their proximity to Emporia State University in the 1100 Block of Commercial Street should be a wonderful addition to the Black and Gold Zone. Look for their opening in early September!.
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President's Circle
Emporia Realty Group
www.emporiarealtygroup.com
608 Commercial
620-412-9850
IM Design Group
www.imdesigngroup.com
17 W. 5th
620-343-3909
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Brickyard 20 Ale House
402 Merchant
www.brickyard20alehouse.com
2326 Industrial Road
620-342-0150
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Emporia Main Street Calendar of Events
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August 19
Board of Directors Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office
August 26
Business Enhancement Team Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office
August 27
How It's Made Tour
September 12
Great American Market
September 19-20
Trilogy Open
September 22
Quarter Mania
October 15
Public Improvement Auction
October 22-23
Multi State Development Conference
October 24-25
Escape Rooms
October 30-31
Haunted Tours
October 31
Downtown Trick or Treat
November 8
Freedom Fest
April 23
The Taste
For more community event listings, please visit:
www.etownapp.com
Do you have an upcoming event for your business or organization?
Let Emporia Main Street know and we may include it on our upcoming calendars!
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General Level Members
AKA Marketing
Amish Woodworks
Applebees
Ash LLC
Atherton & Huth
Bath Expressions
The Beauty Bar
Ben Moore Studio
Bennett Dental Group
BG Consultants
BLI Rentals
Bluestem Farm and Ranch
Brown's Shoe Fit
Bruff's Bar and Grill
C & J Woodworks
Candlewood Suites
Capitol Federal
Cassell Insurance
Chester Press
Clark Carpet and Tile, Inc.
Coffelt Sign Co.
Complete Works
Country Mart/Price Chopper
Dan's Hands Massage
Davis Paints
DG Wingz
Disciple Shoppe
Dorsey Eye Care
Douglas Chiropractic
Dr. Kerri Thompson, DDS
Dynamic Discs
Eastwood Lake Apartments
Eclectic Bikes
Ek Real Estate
Emporia Construction and Remodeling
Emporia Radio Stations: KVOE, 104.9 & 101.7
Emporia State Federal Credit Union
E-Town Solutions
ESU Memorial Union
Evergreen Design-Build
Flint Hills Eye Care
Flint Hills Mall
Association
Flint Hills Music
Floyd's Automotive
Forget Me Not Productions
Four Seasons Apartments
George Groh and Sons
Gerald Schumann Electric
Granada Coffee Company
Graves Drug Store
Haag Management
Hair Krafters
Heart Center Studio
Helbert & Allemang
High Gear
Java Cat Coffeehouse
Jimmy Johns
Junque Drawer Emporium
Kansas Radio 96.1 The Wave
King Liquor
L & L Pets
Little Red Rooster
Lyon County State Bank
Lyon County Title
Mark II Lumber
McDonalds
McKinzie Pest Control
Midas Touch Tans
Mike Alpers Agency
Mr. Sisters Sweets
Modern Air Conditioning, Inc.
Mulready's Pub
Navrats Office Supply
Papa John's Pizza
Paper Moon Antiques
Pizza Hut
Pizza Ranch
Plum Bazaar
Poehler Mercantile
Pool and Associates
Prairie Sage Apartments
Pro-Cuts
Rand Simmons Law Office
Redline Trucking
Reflxns Salon
Rhinestone Cowgirl Salon
Rockin' Accessories
Sauder Custom Fabrication
Schellers Lawn and Landscape
Scott's Lawn and Landscaping
Second Love Gifts
Stanley Jewelry
Studio 11
Studio 50.4
Subway
Sunflower Gymnastics
Sutherlands Lumber Co.
Sweet Granada
Textbook Corner
Thompson Auto Repair
Thrifts and Gifts
Toso Appraisal
Total Technology
Town Crier Bookstore
Triad Leasing
Uncommon Threads
Value-Net LLC
Waters True Value Hardware
Westar Energy
Williams Automotive
Wright CPA Group PA
Wright's Furniture
Xan-A-Do Salon
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Non Profit Level Members
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Cradle to Career Cneter
Emporia Eastside Community Group
EHS- FBLA
Emporia Arts Council
Emporia Chamber of Commerce
Emporia Farmers Market
Emporia Friends of the Zoo
Emporia Presbyterian Church
Emporia Friends of the Library
ESU- Alumni Association
ESU- Small Business Development Center
ESU- Memorial Union
ESU- Theatre Dept.
Flint Hills Community Health Center
Granada Theatre Alliance
National Teachers Hall of Fame
Saint Francis Community Services
Salvation Army
SOS
TFI Family Services
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Home Based Business Members
Avon- Amanda Hopkins
Gold Canyon Candles- Stephanie Morgan
Green Door Recycling
Interdependent Web, LLC
Mary Kay- Lori Engle
Origami Owl- Angela Dowell
Paula's Creations
Pampered Chef- Chelsea Gerleman
Purse Lady- Nancy Crawford
Tastefully Simple- Vanessa Apodaca
Thirty One Gifts- Linsey Hopkins
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Individual Supporters
Rick Becker
Amy Evans
Brad Harzman
Dale & Carolyn Davis
Don Hill
Erin and Casey Woods
Joyce Zhou
Julie Johnson
Kayle Oney
Kelly Wade
Lynn Knechtel
Mark and Amy McAnarney
Michael and Karen Shonrock
Valerie and Matt Zimmerman
Roger Heineken
Smitty Smith
Sue Blechl
Tim & Mary Helmer
Tyler & Melanie Curtis
Yvonne Pool
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Casey Woods
Emporia Main Street
12 E. 5th Avenue
Emporia, KS 66801
(P) 620-340-6430
(F) 620-340-6434 |
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If you only want to go where you've already been, always do what you've already done. If you want to achieve something different, you must do things differently.
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