SPARK ADVANCING MARKETPLACE TRUST | FALL/WINTER 2018 … · your better business bureau serving wisconsin spark ... they had full-time jobs, but they also wanted to start ... fall/winter

ADVANCING MARKETPLACE TRUST | FALL/WINTER 2018

YOUR BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU SERVING WISCONSINSPARK

YOUNG, SUPER SAVVY AND CHANGING THE WISCONSIN

BUSINESS LANDSCAPE FOR THE BETTER

THE NEWENTREPRENEURS

YOUNG, SUPER SAVVY AND CHANGING THE WISCONSIN

BUSINESS LANDSCAPE FOR THE BETTER

A s most new job opportunities are created by new businesses, startups and entrepreneurs are key to the Wisconsin economy. At SVA

Certified Public Accountants, we have assisted countless businesses in getting started, growing and becoming successful. Our ability to create, set up and support the discipline necessary to succeed in today’s complex marketplace is the main reason young, motivated business owners are especially important for our organization, as well as Wisconsin overall.

Recently, Wisconsin-based corporations came together to create a $100 million venture capital fund to invest in key technology and new business. This is a great way to spark new business ideas and attract investors to the great business community we have here in Wisconsin.

I hope that you will find inspiration from a few of the truly impressive new entrepreneurs and BBB Accredited Business owners highlighted in this issue.

Yours in trust,

Barbara Ecklond, CPA Principal-in-Charge SVA Certified Public Accountants, S.C. Milwaukee Board Chair, Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin

Every season in Wisconsin is special, but I love the fall. Trees changing beautiful colors, crisp autumn weather, plenty of football and Oktoberfest beer.

Our state has an abundance of natural resources and wonderful people. We also have a great education system, affordable cost of living and some of the highest skilled employees in the United States. The rest of the nation is starting to catch on. This year, Vogue magazine named Milwaukee as the Midwest’s coolest city. Wisconsin is an AWESOME place to start a business!

New ideas, new businesses and new approaches to old tasks all move our economy and our society forward. We do our best at BBB to make sure that traditional ideas of business ethics and trust stay relevant to all businesses. This fall issue of Spark features the stories of several young entrepreneurs who found success in Wisconsin—and joined BBB.

Every changing season brings new opportunities and challenges in nature, our businesses and our lives. Your BBB strives to celebrate new ideas, energy and passion while remaining grounded on the bedrock core value of trust.

All the best,

Jim Temmer President/CEO BBB Serving Wisconsin

Spark is published two times a year. Copyright 2018 Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.

Contact UsEnjoy Spark or have news you’d like to share with our readership? Tell us about it!

Email: [email protected]

BBB Serving Wisconsin10019 W. Greenfield Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53214 (414) 847-6000 (main)(800) 273-1002 (toll-free)

SPARK MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTORS

Content & ImageryJulie AlbrechtMorgan KielischAmy Kutka

Design & LayoutLeith Johnson

YOUR BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU SERVING WISCONSIN

SPARKFall/Winter 2018 | Vol. 1, No. 4

From craft spirits and weddings, to home remodeling and pet care, these five Wisconsinites have the spark it takes to move their businesses from start-up to sensation!

THEY’RE YOUNG, SUPER SAVVY—AND HELPING CHANGE OUR BUSINESS LANDSCAPE FOR THE BETTER.

NEWENTREPRENEURS

MEET WISCONSIN’S

CENTRAL STANDARD CRAFT DISTILLERY

WEDDINGS WITH A TWIST

T-C-O LANDSCAPES

CHEWIE BOOTS PET CARE

K&G CONTRACTORS

THIS ISSUE

1FALL/WINTER 2018

EVAN HUGHES,

ONE OF OUR FIRST

SPARK AWARD WINNERS,

IS THE CO-FOUNDER OF CENTRAL

STANDARD CRAFT DISTILLERY IN MILWAUKEE.

PAT MCQUILLAN AND EVAN STARTED THE BUSINESS

IN 2014. THE TWO ARE GOOD FRIENDS WHO WOULD GET

TOGETHER ONCE A MONTH TO TRY DIFFERENT CRAFT SPIRITS.

THEY HAD FULL-TIME JOBS, BUT THEY ALSO WANTED TO START

THEIR OWN BUSINESS. HERE’S HOW THEY MADE THAT DREAM COME TRUE.

2 SPARK | BBB SERVING WISCONSIN

THE NEW ENTREPRENEURS

TAPPING

“Part of our mission was that we really wanted to be a part of the solution in Milwaukee. There’s a lot of

great things happening, a lot of small businesses starting, providing opportunities for people, mostly younger people. And we wanted to be a part of that,” Evan said.

They had a lot of bad ideas that they’re thankful they never went through with, but one idea stuck with them. Both Evan and Pat are passionate about darker spirits like craft bourbons and rye, so one night after over-serv-ing themselves, they came up with a business plan to make craft spirits.

“And it was like kind of the back of the napkin, we came up with the name and decided where we wanted to open the distillery in Walker’s Point that evening. So, as the fog cleared the next morning, we re-visited it over the phone and said, ‘You know what, let’s write a business plan; let’s actually do a feasibility study and figure out where the craft spirits market is,” Evan said.

It turns out that the craft spirits market is around 7-8 years behind craft beer, which makes Milwaukee a per-

fect place for Central Standard. Evan said that people are changing their buying habits, and want to know the story behind what they’re drinking.

“People are becoming more curious, and it’s a lot more about the experience of what they’re drinking,” he said. For spirits, that means where the grains come from, what the process of making the spirits is, who the people are that are growing and processing the grains, and of course who

makes the spirit.When the two friends decided to start a distillery, they

needed patience. Since they sell alcohol, they had to get approval from the TTB and ATF, and had to report to the federal and state governments to get licensed. They also worked with the local police and fire departments, which all took time, but Evan and Pat knew that before going into the industry. In fact, it took about two years from the start of their idea to their opening to get the licensing needed.

“The city was wonderful to work with. They’ve always been open and responsive. We knew what we were getting ourselves into, because it’s a regulated industry. I mean, we make alcohol and that’s not like knitting,” Evan said.

In the four years since they’ve started their business,

SUCCESS

Pat McQuillan (left) and Evan Hughes toast to their success.

THE SPIRITS OF

3FALL/WINTER 2018


they’re starting to see more and more of that curiosity. Craft spirits are pop-ping up behind the counter at a bar, and restaurants are coming out with more craft cocktail menus. You al-ready see a lot of craft beers on tap at local pubs, and now the spirits indus-try is catching up to that.

Speaking of the story behind the spirits, Evan said that they get all

of their ingredients from local ven-dors within 120 miles of Milwaukee. For instance, they get their rye for two of their whiskeys from a farmer in the Oconomowoc area. Once it’s harvest-ed, it’s taken to Grafton Stone Mill, where they mill it and it ends up at Central Standard in 50lb. bags.

“So, we actually know a lot of the people who are making the grains for us, which is super cool. We get to have a relationship with these people,” Evan said.

There is one ingredient that is an exception to their local rule. They import Schisandra berries, which are grown in Asia, and use these berries

in their botanical-style gin. It’s a tart berry that has medicinal properties which helps promote liver regenera-tion. A perfect fit for gin!

When the business started in July 2014, Evan and Pat

opened a tasting room and small pro-duction facility in Walker’s Point. Since then, a larger production facil-ity has opened up in the Near West Side. One of the biggest challenges both co-owners face is how they pri-oritize time. In September 2014, Ev-an’s wife Megan and Pat’s wife Rachel both had children. Time became even more of a priority.

“We both had little boys. We both have amazing wives, who are super understanding. They should get more credit than we do,” Evan said, “We had kids, so we had to adjust our life, to be home more. Missing dinner wasn’t as much of an option anymore. You want to be there, you need to be there.”

The two families also recently had daughters as well. Evan joked

that the McQuillan’s are copying them since their children are both a month younger. Having a young family has caused time management to become more important than ever.

Evan said that opportunity is one of the biggest benefits of owning a busi-ness. That includes the opportunity to both grow the business and be a part of the community. Milwaukee has a lot of potential for growth.

“The opportunity to employ peo-ple, opportunity to grow our staff and grow our business with people, seeing how that positively impacts their per-sonal life and their families is really important to us. We get to participate in helping. Milwaukee has so many great things happening right now, and for us to be a small part of it is really quite humbling,” Evan said.

Evan and Pat enjoy being a part of the neighborhoods. They work

with Startup Milwaukee and NEWau-kee to host events, they are both on the Board for FAB Wisconsin, an off-shoot of the Metropolitan Milwaukee



Association of Commerce (MMAC). Other Boards they are on include the Wisconsin Distillers Guild and Wis-consin Craft Beverage Coalition.

Evan doesn’t have a favorite Cen-tral Standard spirit, but he enjoys

the bourbons the most. Asking for him to choose a favorite spirit is like ask-ing which child is his favorite, he said. There are several new spirits this year, and they’ve nicknamed 2018 the Year of Innovation. They recently came out with Hard2O, which is a spirited wa-ter with vodka and natural flavorings. It has zero sugar, is under 100 calo-ries, and comes in easily-transported bottles. This year they also released a bourbon that is rested in California Cabernet wine barrels, and a Door County Cherry Vodka which is made with fresh Door County cherry juice and honey from a local beekeeper.

Also in their Year of Innovation, they tried out some different mar-keting tactics. They sponsored a car for the Indianapolis 500, which Evan said got a great response from locals.

In 2017, Evan became one of BBB

Serving Wisconsin’s first Spark Award for Entrepreneurship winners in its inaugural year.

“It was a very cool experience and, honestly, it was humbling. When Pat and I started the business, we didn’t start it for selfish reasons. These awards are a little awkward for us, to be honest. The people that are work-ing here, they deserve the award,” Evan said. “The Better Business Bu-reau has been the litmus test on eth-ics, so for us to be recognized by an organization that has the trust of ev-eryone, it was very good for us.”

When it comes to advice for fu-ture entrepreneurs, Evan has

days of it. He said that young prospec-tive entrepreneurs need to do their research so you know what you’re getting yourself into. But you should also understand that what you put in your business plan isn’t set in stone. Things will change. It’s like the Mike Tyson quote, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

“That’s what entrepreneurship is, you get punched in the face and it’s

about how you react. If you’re going to start a business, you’re going to need to believe in your ability to trouble-shoot and problem solve,” Evan said.

Evan and Pat’s partnership works out wonderfully. They both have strengths and weaknesses, and they support each other their their deci-sions. If they encounter a problem, they both attack it and figure it out together, which is Evan’s last piece of advice. Sprint towards your problems, not away from them, in order to solve them rather than just ignore them.

To be a successful entrepreneur, Evan stresses a commitment to

ethics. To have the local communi-ty support your business is import-ant, and that happens when you do things the right way. All it takes is one time being unethical and when it gets discovered your business will suffer. He also urges business own-ers to be involved in local charities, because it’s the right thing to do and a great way to help positively build the community.

5FALL/WINTER 2018


It is hard for Krista Dentice to pinpoint the exact moment when she decided she wanted to be a wedding planner, but she knew from a young age. In fact, many of her childhood

friends remember her saying that she wanted to plan weddings when she grew up. Krista said that a lot of the appeal comes from her being a hopeless romantic, while the rest stems from her love of planning and organization.

“It’s fun for me to do those things. I enjoy being able to help other people, and I always knew that whatever I ended up do-ing, it had to bring other people joy,” Krista said.

Her business, Weddings with a Twist, LLC, takes a flex-ible approach to wedding planning, which Krista said allows them to adapt well to changes, some even last minute. They work with couples at all different stages of their marriage plan-ning process. Some come in right after their engagement, and Krista can help them pick out venues, vendors and continue to help them plan throughout the process. Others need help right before the ceremony. Krista’s flexibility allows her to create custom packages for couples with a variety of needs and many different budgets.

“Every wedding is different,” she said, “so people’s’ needs are different too. Couples might hire me a little closer to the end to come in and help finalize some of the details and logistics, and help coordinate or set everything up, and be the point person on the day of the wedding itself,” Krista said.

Krista grew up in Milwaukee and went to school for graphic design at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, but always knew that she wanted to end up

back in Wisconsin. While she was attending college, she joined Habitat for Humanity and had the opportunity to help people while gaining free leadership and event planning experience.

“After my first year, I knew I wanted to get more involved, so I joined the Board, and by my 4th year I was the President of the organization. I got to lead our group in fundraisers on campus and I think that played a big role in solidifying my love for event planning,” she said.

Knowing she wanted to become a wedding planner was the easy part, but knowing how to get there was a chal-lenge. It took Krista time to plan it out. Her first step

was getting her wedding planning certification, which she says was a huge help in the steps to follow. She officially launched Weddings with a Twist, LLC in November, 2011. During her first year in business, she had 23 weddings, and it has contin-ued to grow from there. This year she has around 47, mostly from May-October.

Her team has also grown. She has a team of three women, most of whom are part-time and help out when there are multi-ple weddings on a day or weekend. In the future, if the business continues to grow, she hopes to be able to give these employees



7FALL/WINTER 2018


more hours, maybe even bringing them on full-time.

Krista said that because she was young when she first started, she felt a little intimidated at

times being around others in the wed-ding industry.

“Sometimes I was intimidated work-ing with clients or other businesses that were older than I was, but as I started to get more experience and more con-fident, that started to go away,” Krista said.

She advises young prospective entre-preneurs to be prepared and know the industry before going into it. Be pre-pared, but also realize that there are al-ways risks and scary times.

“You’re going to come across challenges. I’ve learned over the years that a lot of it is trial and error, you learn from your mistakes. Don’t get discour-aged by it. As you learn and grow, you change things and it gets better and better,” Krista said. It took her awhile to feel like she had everything under control, but said that it’s normal. It will take some time before young entrepre-neurs - or really any entrepreneurs - feel comfortable.

Krista’s business goal is to pro-vide her clients with exception-al and highly detail-oriented

service while being easy going and fun to work with. She wants her clients to feel at ease so they can enjoy the wed-ding planning process instead of stress over it.

“These couples spend so much time thinking about, dreaming about, stress-ing over and planning their wedding day and I want to execute it perfectly for them and I will bend over backwards to make that happen,” she said.

As with any entrepreneur, there is the constant struggle of work-life balance. Krista works

from home most of the time, so knowing that the work is always there makes it challenging for her to shut it out. Lucki-ly, the benefits of owning her own busi-ness by far outweigh the challenges. She loves the flexibility of entrepreneurship and the ability to make her own deci-sions and put new ideas into practice.

Krista’s business practices and morals helped her to be chosen as one of three recipients of our 2018 Spark Award for Entrepreneurship.

“I’ve always prided myself on having an honorable character, and that’s the

most important thing to be recognized for, so I feel very honored to receive the award,” Krista said.

She believes that running an ethical business is vital to the survival of a busi-ness, and that clients won’t hire some-one that doesn’t have good ethics or character.

“I think trust and ethics are the foun-dation of business and everything in life, and I think that what the BBB and this award stands for is something that ev-eryone should try to achieve. I truly be-lieve I wouldn’t have come as far in this business if I didn’t value ethics. I feel so grateful that so many people have trust-ed me with their special day,” she said.

Krista went on to say that there were times she could have taken the easy way out, taken shortcuts to help her busi-ness, but in the end she knows that the success she achieved has been earned honestly.

If any young entrepreneurs are look-ing to apply this year, Krista offers this bit of advice, “You have to think about how to describe your answers and show that you’ve thought about it. Think about it from a client’s perspective ‘What would they say about me?’ and don’t forget to explain the difference in your industry.”

(Photo credit: The Delacastros)



THREE YEARS AGO,

THOMAS O’HALLORAN

STARTED HIS

LANDSCAPING COMPANY,

T-C-O LANDSCAPES,

WITH THE LAST

$100 TO HIS NAME,

A WHITE PICKUP TRUCK,

A BROKEN WHEELBARROW,

A TARP AND

A RAKE.

Paydirt.

9FALL/WINTER 2018


he had already surpassed his five-year

goal, and in 2017 his company was voted

Top 3 in the Chippewa Valley for lawn

care, an honor that he proudly displays

on the side of his truck.

T-C-O Landscapes does everything

from landscaping to lawn care and snow

removal for the Chippewa Valley area.

Thomas was working a full-time, 9-5

job as a forklift driver when he put out

his first Craigslist ad for landscaping.

Over time, he had enough work to keep

him busy and made the decision to start

his own business.

“I did landscape projects after I

clocked out and on the weekends. I con-

tinued to get more clients through word

of mouth and Craigslist ads so I decid-

ed to take a leap and go off on my own,”

Thomas said.

Being his own boss is one of Thomas’

favorite parts of owning his own busi-

ness. He enjoys the freedom to take on

clients that he wants and to say no to

the projects that he doesn’t specialize in.

For instance, he loves to do the planting,

mulching, fertilizing and grass cutting,

the maintenance aspects of landscaping.

One thing that his company doesn’t

provide is water features like ponds,

but luckily there are companies in the

Chippewa Valley area that do and are

willing to work with Thomas to get those

jobs done.

“We might sub that out to anoth-

er company who is interested in that.

Clients generally like one bill, so as long

as everyone is properly licensed and in-

sured, we can get them taken care of,”

Thomas said.

Thomas came up with this catchy slo-

gan in his first year of business: ‘Creat-

ing Beauty in your Neighborhood’. He

said it reflects his passion of maintain-

ing the beauty in a world that isn’t al-

ways beautiful. In fact, if you drive by a

Taco Bell or Arby’s in his area you’ll see

how much he cares about his work. His

company just picked up that contract re-

cently, and prior to his crew coming in

and redoing the landscaping, it hadn’t

been touched in about 10 years.

“Our mission is to provide quality ser-

vice at a reasonable price, but I think

maintaining that beauty is why I do it,”

Thomas said.

Owning his own business is not with-

out its challenges. Thomas said that

wearing all the hats can be the most diffi-

cult part. Paperwork, human resources,

bookkeeping, plus being in the field and

outside all day can be a challenge. He

tries to keep constant communication

going with clients, and he doesn’t let a

month go by without having an inter-

action with them. He has to make sure

everything runs properly, especially his

equipment—the oil has to be changed,

spark plugs replaced, blades sharpened.

“When I started it was just me and

now there are two crews, three trailers,

three brand new mowers, four plows,

and it turns into a lot. If you get me on

a mower or snow plow, I can work all

day. But when it comes time to sit in my

office at home and send the emails and

invoices and things like that, you need

time for that or else you don’t get paid,”

Thomas said.

This year, there are two people on

payroll, but Thomas hires out through a

temp service because it’s cost-efficient.

There are generally 3-4 people per land-

scaping project.

As for future plans, Thomas hopes to

grow his business, in whatever form that

may take. He would like to have more

large corporate properties under con-

tract, and he would eventually like to

be out of the field entirely and move to-

wards soliciting new business and being

the face of the business. Landscaping

companies have a natural ebb and flow

of business. This year, they’re making

more money with less payroll, which

Thomas says is the end goal: working

smarter, not harder.

“It’s really hard to say what you want

the future to be, especially when you

have ambition, and I’m always getting

a new call for something else. Whatever

form it may be, growth,” he said.

Thomas offers some advice to other

young people thinking about starting

their own business. He said you don’t

need to start with a business loan, and

not to worry about getting your LLC

right away. It’s more important that you

get your name out there so people know

who you are.

“If you want to start a business, start

now, because if you wait, you’re going

to be another year older. And you don’t

have to start with a lot of capital. I was

completely broke. That $100 was the

last $100 to my name. But the longer

you wait, the older you’ll be. The free-

dom I have now is indescribable. That’s

the best part. The life I live today is the

life I never thought I’d have.”

WITHIN THE FIRST SIX MONTHS,



11FALL/WINTER 2018


The best care for your best friend—no bones

about it.

KELLY KERNEN, OWNER OF CHEWIE BOOTS PET CARE, LLC,HAS OVER A DECADE OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE WORKING

WITH ANIMALS. WE SAT DOWN WITH HER (AND HER ADORABLE DOG, CHEWIE) TO TALK ABOUT HER BUSINESS IN THE APPLETON AREA.



WHAT DOES YOUR BUSINESS DO?

I’m an in-home pet sitter and I also offer dog walking and yard clean-up. My mis-sion is to provide quality, professional care for pets in their own home where they are the most comfortable.

Basically I make visits based on the pet’s needs of each client. So, I usually stay about a half hour, but depending on the pet, it may need more attention so I am able to stay longer if needed. The dog walking is for the people who can’t get home during the day, because they work long hours or something like that.

TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT

YOUR BACKGROUND.

I worked as a vet technician for 10 years. The clinic hired me right out of college and I started working in the kennel, doing some cleaning and taking care of boarding animals. I went through my schooling at Moraine Park in Fond Du Lac.

I’m familiar with giving medications, and I’m able to use my knowledge as a vet technician to notice things like if a dog starts limping during a walk, so I can then tell the owner that there might be a concern.

HOW DID YOUR BUSINESS GET

STARTED?

I started about three years ago. My fam-ily moved up to Appleton from Ripon because it’s closer to where my husband works. We’ve got three little boys. Two of them are in school now and my young-est is three. I didn’t want to put him in a daycare so that I could work full-time.

When I worked full time at the clinic, I did occasional pet sitting for people, and my husband and I talked about it and we came to the idea of trying an in-home pet sitting service. It was a way to stay home with my youngest, and take him

with me if I needed to, so that’s how this whole thing got started.

I’ve always loved animals, which is why I became a technician. And after I start-ed doing pet sitting, my mom actually apologized to me. She said “When you were little you said you wanted to walk dogs for a living. I told you that people wouldn’t pay you to walk your dogs. I apologize, because I was way wrong.”

You never know what life is going to give you. I’m a hard worker and I couldn’t see myself just staying at home. I love my kids and my personal pets, but it’s not the same thing as going out and doing a good job for someone else, helping other people. That’s what I love doing.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART

ABOUT OWNING YOUR OWN

BUSINESS?

I’m having a lot of fun. I don’t have to worry about specific hours. It’s kind of challenging with the hours, because I try to be available 24/7 for my clients, so sometimes it’s early mornings or late nights to take care of their pets, but it’s fun doing it, because I know that I’m providing quality care for them and able to be around for my boys.

With my first two boys, I was working full-time and my mother-in-law and dad were my babysitters, so I didn’t have to worry about them too much. When I started my own business, and was with my youngest all the time, I realized how much I missed with my first two. It’s nice being home with them and being able to go on field trips if I want to.

DO YOU FACE ANY CHALLENGES

BEING A BUSINESS OWNER?

Basic challenges like making sure paper-work is in order and making sure I have time for my family, not just my business. Learning that, and making sure I run a good business. I think so far, winters are

my least favorite. It gets cold, and I have to still walk the dogs.

ANY FUTURE PLANS?

I am thinking in the next few years, I might have to start hiring help, having an extra hand would be good. I just have to do my research and find out how to financially do that.

I also have experience with laser ther-apy for pets, which helps with pain, so my plan is to see if I can try to purchase a laser to help with pets’ needs. It’s an amazing technique, I used it on myself a couple of times and it works great. It helps keep animals off of medication. Getting a laser would be part of a part-nership, working alongside the veteri-narians in the area. That’s a big goal for me.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE

NAME OF YOUR BUSINESS?

We have three cats and two dogs. All an-imals are rescues. I was trying to figure out how to get all of my pets’ names into one business name, but it wasn’t work-ing, so my husband thought of Chewie Boots.

Chewie is one of our dogs. He was our first adopted dog as a family, and he’s an amazing husky mix. And Boots was one of our cats. He was a ragdoll. We adopted him from a breeder. He lived to be almost 17, and passed away short-ly before we moved up here with kidney failure. Now his name lives on. I chose “Pet Care” to allow for expansion.

13FALL/WINTER 2018


A 27-year-old entrepreneur from Twin Lakes had to work hard to break down age barriers when he first started his business. Kyle Pembroke started K&G Contractors in 2016. He’s a father, a husband and a young business owner.

K&G Contractors specializes in kitchen and bathroom re-modeling, and has a service area in the area surrounding Twin Lakes: Burlington, Lake Geneva, Delavan and other neighboring cities.

Kyle gave up a good job to start his own business, and peo-ple around him had their doubts.

“Everyone told me I was stupid, because I threw away a job making over $100k per year. There was no guarantee I’d make a dollar. But I did it,” Kyle said. He was lucky when he first started out, and his first year went very well with im-provement every year. He even received BBB Serving Wis-consin’s Spark Award for Entrepreneurship in 2018, and has been a BBB Accredited Business for nearly two years.

Prior to working 9-5 in the service department at his previ-ous job, Kyle was a subcontractor. Back then, as an 18/19 year old, potential customers had a difficult time with his age, even though he already had years of experience. When he tried to take on his own jobs, he often didn’t get hired because of how young he looked. Even in his first year at K&G Contractors, he never won a bid for any jobs over $50,000. He attributes that to his age.

“I think that was because I was young and people looked at me being young. Now people still look at me like I’m young, so age is still a factor, but now they see the business side of my company,” Kyle said.

BALANCEFINDING



It also helps to have a team of subcontractors that have been in the industry and doing the work for 20, 30 or more years. Clients like to know that there are older people doing the work, since it’s a type of job that benefits from years of experience.

Aspects such as social media and being active on the in-ternet have helped his business and others in his industry. Kyle said that before-and-after photos are huge, because they allow customers to look at your work and hire you based on that.

One of the biggest things that hurt the contracting indus-try is HGTV. According to Kyle, unrealistic expectations are becoming more popular thanks to many home improvement shows giving people false ideas about what is actually possible in terms of pricing and timing.

“Unrealistic expectations hurt, because people almost feel like you’re lying to them or deceiving them,” Kyle said. And there are already enough trust issues with contractors thanks to historical stereotypes.

The trust issue is one of the reasons why Kyle strives for professionalism. Clients have to trust contractors fully to let them into their homes.

“It’s a hard barrier to break. We want to be professional and look professional to people,” he said.

Kyle makes customer satisfaction his number one priority. “Part of my sales pitch to customers is that I will bankrupt

my company before I leave you unsatisfied. I will make you happy,” he said.

Flexibility is one of Kyle’s favorite parts of owning his own business. If any of his children are sick, he can drop what he is doing without having to answer to anyone, which was a wel-come change after working at a place that handles 24-hour service calls.

“I missed my first born’s first word, his first crawl, his first walk, his first birthday, his first Christmas. I was gone for all those, because I worked 90+ hours per week. For my second child now, I’ve been there for all of those,” Kyle said.

There is some advice that Kyle often offers to friends and acquaintances that approach him asking for tips on starting their own business. “If you go in expecting to succeed when you first start, you’re going to set the standard so high that you’re going to fail,” he said, “Owning a business is like riding a roller coaster, there’re ups, there’re downs. You have to find the balance in there, and if it makes you happy, then you can wake up every day regardless of the stress—and know you can do it.”

Upcoming Events

BBB Serving Wisconsin provides a wide range of events and other opportunities throughout the year to help you connect with your customers and other business owners.

Wednesday, December 5, 2018USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO BUILD YOUR BRAND AND GENERATE LEADSTime: 7:45am-9amBBB Serving Wisconsin OfficeVisit bbb.org/wisconsin to register for this free event.

Thursday, January 17, 2019SMALL BUSINESS SCAMS(Webinar)Time: 1pm-2pm

Thursday, March 21, 2019MANAGING YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE(Webinar)Time: 1pm-2pm

Wednesday, May 15, 20192019 WISCONSIN BBB TORCH AWARDS FOR ETHICS LUNCHEON Bartolotta Catering at the Italian Community Center in Milwaukee631 E. Chicago StreetMilwaukee, WisconsinTime: 11:30am-1pmEarly Bird Registration begins on February 15. Watch your email for details, or visit us online at www.torchawards.com.

15FALL/WINTER 2018


AWARDING EXCELLENCE INENTREPRENEURSHIP

Through recognition, these young business leaders inspire other young Wisconsin entrepreneurs to both follow their dreams and continue to work toward an ethical and positive marketplace.

It is our hope that the Spark Awards encourage young business owners to open up shop in Wisconsin and continue to support one another to create a successful startup culture in our state.

Every company is unique and has different experiences and policies. The external panel of judges who read our Spark Award applications look to see that applicants are not only telling the story of their en-trepreneurial organization, but showing how it lives out three main principles: character, culture and community.

CHARACTER: Judges look for transformative leadership in young business owners, meaning that lead-ers are continuing to learn, are open to criticism, and are aware that their own personal development is still growing.

Ethical maturity cultivates an envi-ronment that promotes higher stan-dards of better business practices and a mutual understanding that each employee has control over their own character.

CULTURE: Workplace cultures can be formed between employees, cli-ents, vendors, even customers.

Judges look to see that the workplace culture helps these relationships and teams work toward their goals, be honest and transparent with one another, and establish guidelines to hold one another accountable. Pro-gressive cultures set ethical ways for a business to problem solve, resolve conflict and inspire evolution.

COMMUNITY: Admirable entre-preneurial organizations show ap-preciation for their communities by enthusiastically giving back. Judg-es love to see community-inspired businesses that help their environ-ment, stakeholders and community membership by reinvesting and vol-unteering.

Do you know of a deserving young business owner who meets this cri-teria? BBB Serving Wisconsin is now accepting applications for the 2019 Spark Award for Entrepreneurship. To nominate a deserving young business owner, or to apply for the award, visit torchawards.com.

Entering its third year in 2019, the purpose of the annual

Spark Awards for Entrepreneurship is to recognize the hard

work of Wisconsin’s young business owners.


THE LAST WORD

CRAIG BARTOLExecutive Director of Risk ManagementJohnson Controls, Inc.

JOANNE BISCHMANNVice President, Communications, andPresident, Harley-Davidson Fdn., Inc.Harley-Davidson Motor Company

BARBARA ECKLOND, CPA**Principal – Business Advisory SvcsSVA Certified Public Accountants, S.C.

JEFFRY F. FREIBURGER*Managing Director /Chief Compliance OfficerRobert W. Baird & Co., Inc.

ANN GRANITZVice President - Associate Sales Manager BMO Harris Bank N.A.

WILLIAM D. GOODMAN, CPA*Associate Member

JOHN J. HALECHKOExecutive Vice President,Director of Branch BankingAssociated Bank

LORI HIGHBYPresident / OwnerKeystone Click

HOLLY KELLESVIGEVP / Chief Operations OfficerDave Jones, Inc.

NICHOLAS S. LASCARI, CPAConsumer Member

AMBER LAURENTRegional DirectorManpower

CITLALI MENDIETA-RAMOS*Owner & Director of Special EventsAntigua Latin Restaurant & Catering

UGO NWAGBARAOCHAPresident / OwnerDiamond Discs International, LLC

WILLIAM R. O’TOOLEPresident & CEOCatholic Financial Life

JACQUELINE L. RUPPELVice President, Private BankingJohnson Financial Group

PAUL SARA*Vice President of Sales,Southeast WisconsinActive Roofing Company

DANIEL A. SCHWARZShareholderSchenck S.C.

DEAN STEINEROwner, Director of Sales & MarketingAce World Wide Moving & Storage /AW2Logistics

DANA STEVENSConsumer Member

PAMELA SVIATOSLAVSKYDirector of Customer Service and ACEKohl’s Department Stores

GARY SWICK PresidentSWICKTech

JIM TOLKANPresidentAuto Dealers Association of Mega Milwaukee (ADAMM)

JOHN ZAGANCZYK*Vice President – Customer ServiceWEC Energy Group

CARMEN N. DECOT(BBB Legal Counsel)Foley & Lardner, LLP

BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF WISCONSIN, INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2018-2019

CORPORATE COMMUNITY PARTNERS

For a complete list of our Corporate Community Partners, please visit bbb.org/wisconsin/partners.

DIAMOND LEVEL PLATINUM LEVEL GOLD LEVEL

KEY: *Executive Committee Member, **Board Chair

SPARKc/o BBB Serving Wisconsin10019 W. Greenfield Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53214

The Wisconsin BBB Torch Awards for Ethics honor businesses and non-profit organizations of all sizes that meet the highest standard of ethics and trust among their employees, customers and local communities, embodying BBB’s mission to advance marketplace trust.

Visit www.torchawards.com to apply for a Torch Award or to nominate a deserving business. Or contact Amy Kutka at 414-847-6068 or via email [email protected].

MAY 15, 2019 | BARTOLOTTA CATERING AT THE ICC IN MILWAUKEE

WISCONSIN

SAVE THE DATE TO HONOR WISCONSIN’S ETHICAL BUSINESS LEADERS

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SPARK ADVANCING MARKETPLACE TRUST | FALL/WINTER 2018 … · your better business bureau serving wisconsin spark ... they had full-time jobs, but they also wanted to start ... fall/winter