October 2018 Issue

The 'Sweet Spot': GCA riding wave of mergers, acquisitions

By Al Parker

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 three years ago.

"With a home sale, you want people to know that the house is available, but with a business it’s very different," Kuttnauer said. "Confidentiality is of the utmost importance. Most times, a business owner doesn’t want their clients, their staff or their competitors to know the business is for sale. When …

NMC Offerings a 'Gateway' for 50-plus Learners

By Amy Lane

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 students.

Obrecht, who has taken more than 60 classes through NMC’s Extended Educational Services (EES) and even learned to play piano, said EES “opens up more of the world” …

Serra Investing for the Future: Construction expected to end in 2020

By Ross Boissoneau

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 campus. The service center, which houses Subaru, Cadillac, VW and Audi with 30 bays, opened August 2017. Then we went right into the second …

Plugging In: Electric vehicles slow to take root in northern Michigan

By Craig Manning

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 experience with electric and hybrid vehicles. In recent years, the company has added several vehicles in these classes to its dealerships throughout northern Michigan. These cars include the …

Old School Goes High Tech: Banks embrace voice, touch, thumbprint and texting

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 pushing banks to invest …

By Craig Manning

'Silver Tsunami' Continues to Roll: Retirees pushing area growth

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 country, and this area is …

By Ross Boissoneau

To Grow Up Here Doesn’t Have to Mean to Leave Here

This is my first column for Traverse City Business News. I’m honored and excited. My goal is to share some of the thoughts and insights I’ve developed during a lifetime of doing business in Traverse City, traveling the globe and meeting some of the world’s most successful people. I have …

By McKeel Hagerty

Venture North helps bridge funding gap for new businesses

By Mary Bevans Gillett

Creating Responsible Caretakers for Family Wealth

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.” When he inquired (in a …

By Cortney Danbrook

Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most

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 before …

By Chris Wendel

Marsha Smith and Rotary Charities – A Dynamic Duo

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 steady wave in recent …

By Doug Luciani

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