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Truck Drivers-Groendyke-Phillipsburg, KS

Regional drivers needed.  Industry leading pay, health, dental and disablility Insurance, 401k w/company match, vacation pay, hoiday pay, safety pay and uniforms.
Contact 1-800445-8711 or check us out on the web and fill in an on-line application:  www.groendyke.com

Phillips County is a ROZ county, which could allow a new resident to qualify for the student loan forgiveness program (in-state or out-of-state applicants) or for the Kansas Income Tax forgiveness program (only for out-of-state resident applicants). More information is at www.KansasCommerce.com and search ROZ.

Rural Grocery Summit

Local grocery stores represent a critical infrastructure for our rural communities. These stores are an important part of the local economic engine, providing essential jobs and taxes. They are a vital source for nutrition and health, supplying of fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, dairy and protein. These groceries are especially critical for the rural young, elderly and those with limited resources. Grocery stores are where we meet friends, catch up on the latest news, network with others and literally create the bonds of community. Grocery stores, like schools, cafes, and post offices are community assets used to recruit and retain citizens, standing a symbol of community health.

All too often, however, we receive news of yet another store shutting its doors and going out of business. Because the loss of a rural grocery store threatens the health of local citizens, local business, and the very existence of that community, Kansas State University and a broad range of partners are working to assist rural communities and their grocery stores through the nationally recognized Rural Grocery Initiative (RGI). Since 2007, we have been identifying the challenges rural grocery stores face and offering solutions to those challenges.

We are now preparing to host our third national rural grocery summit in Manhattan, Kansas on June 5-6, 2012. In 2010, over 200 participants from 13 different states attended. We are expecting an even larger event this year bringing together store owners, concerned citizens, funders, non-profits, government agencies, food suppliers, university researchers, and business leaders. Participants will spend two days talking with one another about the “triple bottom line” of rural grocery benefits” – economic development, improving health, and community sustainability.

Specifically, the rural grocery summit will:

* highlight the latest and best thinking about rural grocery stores and rural community sustainability,

* emphasize the nutrition, economic development, and community benefits rural grocery stores provide,

* offer rural grocery store owners and rural grocery stakeholders the opportunity to network with one another about the significant issues and challenges they face,

* provide a discussion of rural grocery best practices, and

* chart a path forward for rural grocery store sustainability issues.

Please visit our website at www.dce.k-state.edu/conf/ruralgrocery to learn more about our summit and to register.

Save the Date Post Card
Registration Form

Facebook Engagement

Tips for Facebook pages and websites from: Beyond the Facebook Business Page – How to Generate Traffic and Leads with Facebook by Andrea Vahl publication of HubSpot

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/

Tips for Facebook & Website:

-Engage your Audience on Facebook

• Provide Tips
• Useful Information
• Incentives
• Contests (through an application-3^rd party)
  • Photo or video contest
• Ask Questions

-Add your website address in the About section (first thing) on the Left Sidebar

• Website address will be seen more
• Have good content on your website that will make visitors want to come back
  • Blog: Helpful Information – Answer questions, Give tips
  • Post your blog link on your Facebook page each time you blog

- Give Resources – Helpful information

• Frequently asked questions
• Special Articles
• Examples of your work
• Testimonials
• Free services
• Webinars

- Advertise on Facebook: Can reach target markets based on key words (age, gender, location, etc)

-Measure your traffic on your website: Analyze the data to see what works

• Google Analytics

- Create a Landing Page on your Facebook page through a Facebook Application – will help capture leads

• Landing Page: First page non-subscribers will see
  • Facebook Application Example: Lujure
  • Try to get email addresses
    • Provide an incentive to giving their email: Freebies, Rewards

-Establish a deeper relationship with your fans through email

• Have fans subscribe to your newsletter: provide incentive
• Announce your product, service, expertise
• Give useful information (not just a sale)

FREE WEBINARS

Inspiration & Innovation Classes for Entrepreneurs

FREE WEBINARS for Phillips County business owners and managers! Phillips County Economic Development will be showing FREE webinars in the E-Center located at the Fischer Building in Phillipsburg. PCED has become a member in the Partner Program through Jon Schallert’s Destination University and one of the benefits is to show webinars from experts and authors. One webinar will be shown each month on the 2^nd Wednesday as a brown bag lunch from 12:00-1:00pm. Bring your lunch and learn about different business ideas which can improve your business! Below is the schedule of the webinars.

Please RSVP with Andrea Lowry – PCED Office Manager at 785-543-5809 or pced2@ruraltel.net. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! You will want to take advantage of this great opportunity!

Printable version of the schedule

Made in America

Have you ever thought about what kind of difference it would make if more people purchased “Made in America” products? ABC news did a story on one contractor who built a house of all “Made in America” products. The statistics of jobs created across the nation by buying more “Made in America” products is phenomenal. Watch this short story to see the effects of buying products Made in America!

Made in America Video

If you want the list the video talked about or want to support the cause here is a link to the list of companies who are making goods across many industries. Made in America Company List  

Destination University Membership Discounted Cost

Destination University is a membership-only program designed exclusively for independent business owners to help them grow their businesses, while increasing their sales, profits, and customer traffic. Destination University was originally created to highlight Jon Schallert’s proprietary Destination Business processes. Now, Destination University has fifteen different business experts and authors who contribute their expertise in the form of live and recorded webinars in our social networking area, the Destination University Student Center.

Members of Destination University will benefit from and have access to:

• Online training library of webinars covering many topics presented by Jon Schallert and business experts in various fields
• Monthly live webinars presented on a different topic each month by Jon Schallert or one of our other Business Experts
• An interactive social networking area where business owners can communicate with other owners and resources from around the world
• Email access to all of our Business Experts to ask a question directly to any of them
• A business resource area with companies and services that can help grow a business

Phillips County Economic Development joined the Destination University (DU) within the Partner Program to allow Phillips County business owners and managers the ability to join DU at a discounted price. A regular membership cost $29.95 a month but becoming a member under Phillips County will only cost $19.95 a month and the registration fee will be waived! This is a great opportunity for Phillips County businesses to become a member of Destination University and hook into marketing/networking insights which could lift your business! PCED will also be able to show business webinars so look for more information on the webinars coming soon

For more information about Destination University visit: www.destinationuniversity.com/

Phillips County Destination University Form

Putting Humor to Work - Michael Kerr

Eleven business owners and community leaders from Phillips County attended the 2011 Summit Business Conference in Boulder, CO. I feel very privileged to be one of the eleven to attend this conference! Jon Schallert, founder of Destination University, organized the conference and hand-picked nine world-class authors and experts to present to small business owners and community leaders. Everyone who attended gained useful, practical, and valuable information to make their business better (no matter what kind business it was). All of the speakers were energetic, passionate, very informative, and excellent. It was most certainly a fun and educational experience to have all of these experts in one place presenting to small business owners in North America. I will share information from each presenter in future blogs.

The first presenter to get the conference kicked off was Michael Kerr presenting “Putting Humor to Work”. He was absolutely hilarious, enthusiastic, upbeat, and made you feel very energized and excited.

Here is some information Michael Kerr’s gave in his presentation at the Summit Business Conference to help you energize and excite employees to become more productive with the end result of making your business more successful. To learn more about motivating and inspiring employees visit Michael Kerr’s website: http://www.mikekerr.com/

Michael Kerr tells us a way to release stress could be to tap into our own since of humor. A work culture that creates fun and humor will reduce turnover, increase productivity, create a good work environment, and be more successful. When people are having fun they will like their job more resulting in being more productive for their employer. Business owners and managers need to strive to create a work environment that they would want to recommend to their children or best friends.

Providing humor does not mean you have to be comedians, but rather using what works for your organization to balance stress. To add humor to the work place and lighten the atmosphere, organizations can have a funny: bulletin board, signs, mascots, humor first aid kit, rituals, and traditions. Happy STAFF makes HAPPY Customers.

Michael Kerr gives the 3 R’s:

            Relax: Humor helps people relax. It may help one to relax mentally and physically. When people are relaxed and enjoying work that attitude catches on and lowers tension.       

            Reward: Rewarding employees shows that you appreciate the work they do. You may have to turn bad situations into good situations. One example: a business is by train tracks which makes it really noisy and shakes the office when a train goes by. Instead of complaining about this nuisance, the business provides chocolate to their employees when a train goes by. By doing this the business has turned the bad situation into a good one and boosts morale.  

            Reframing Challenges: Stress is in the eye of the beholder. No matter what’s going on, you have 100% control of how you react. It is human nature to have negative thinking instead of positive thinking. However, negative thinking never produces success. It takes a lot of positive thoughts to reverse the effects of negative thoughts.                               

Michael Kerr’s Books: Inspiring Workplaces – Creating the Kind of Workplace Where Everyone Wants to Work and Putting Humor to Work.

QR Code - A Technology Tool

Technology is becoming more and more advanced each day and people have grown to be accustomed to using technology on a daily bases. Businesses need to utilize technology that fits the business. Utilizing technology helps each business compete with other competitors and will create definite benefits. It is impossible to utilize every type of technology, but the more you know about what is available, the more it will help you in deciding which technology to implement in marketing your business. 

 A QR code is a neat technology tool that was created in Japan about a decade ago but has only been in the United States for over a year. A QR code resembles bar codes that are on retail products which are used to track their merchandise.  This QR code holds more digital data than a bar code. The digital data could be a link to a website, video, or email address. There are a number of things you could use a QR code for. This could help get people to visit your business website because they are curious what the QR code connects to. You can learn more about QR codes on www.qrstuff.com.

Sheila Roberts from Sign Solutions states, “They really work. You can put whatever information you want in them. Possible media ideas: direct mail, newspaper, flyers, email, T Shirts, caps, signs, business cards, text messages, mobile apps, facebook, twitter, linkedin, vehicle graphics, promotional items. If you have a QR code, it can be placed almost anywhere. Smartphones read them and store the information!”

The Discover Phillips County Semi Trailer wind skirt is receiving a QR code that links to the PCED website and the Track the Trailer Facebook page!! Be looking for this addition!