June 2021 Issue

Green Light for Summer: Local businesses prepare for what might be the best tourism season ever

By Craig Manning

The world keeps spinning.

A year ago, when the Traverse City Business News took its annual pre-summer look at what northern Michigan’s peak tourism season might bring, we were staring down a summer unlike any other in Traverse City’s history. Festivals were cancelled. Businesses were reeling from a massive economic downturn. Unemployment rates were hovering at near-record highs. The “burning questions” the TCBN asked at the time had more to do with what wouldn’t happen in summer 2020 than with what would.

A year later, the world looks dramatically different. Vaccination rates are soaring – locally, statewide, and across the …

Making It in Northern Michigan: Dutchman Manufacturing Co.

By Clark Miller

Dutchman Manufacturing Company recently doubled its workforce. Since founding the company in 2011, Tom Van Fossen has relied solely on just two very special “employees.” Both of them work tirelessly, accurately and profitably – and without pay.

They are computer numerical control (CNC) devices. He has programmed them to churn out valves and fittings for the waterworks industry, a term that encompasses the firefighting community, which at this point is Dutchman’s most important end market. …

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know

By Chris Wendel

By Adam Grant/Reviewed by Chris Wendel

Knowing where to look for the book “Think Again” by Adam Grant in my local bookstore presented me with a challenge: Which section of the store would I find it? Part business, part self-help, part science; this nebulous category likes to explore human behavior that we take for granted and then twist it a bit.

The author usually explains their complicated research before revealing a well-vetted “aha” revelation that …

Sustainable investing in a new era of clean energy

By Dave Knight

The topic of environmentally, socially and governmentally responsible (ESG) investing has increasingly become a point of discussion for financial planning ... and for good reason.

In 2020, U.S. investors poured more assets into ESG funds than ever with net inflows of over $17 billion while non-ESG funds saw net outflows of nearly $300 billion during the same period.

Even with the relative outperformance of ESG funds recently, the core draw toward sustainable investing is most …