Small Business Profiles
BikeWorld
BikeWorld was founded by two avid bicycling enthusiasts, Huth Smith and Martha Emmons in 1987. Since its establishment, BikeWorld has founded, sponsored or strongly supported every major bicycle event, operation and facility in Western Kentucky. “The fabric of a place is best discovered by bicycle,” Martha says. In an average year, BikeWorld will help local…
Catskill Collectibles
Founded by Tom Illari in 2016, Catskill Collectibles sells antiques, knick knacks, postcards, outsourced reproductions and prints, and other historical souvenirs from the region. Tom’s interest in the Catskills dates from his early childhood, and since then he has been an avid student of their history. In turn, he assembled a substantial collection of regional…
L&K Homestead
When Lora Knaack, her husband Kyle, and their three kids moved to their farm in 2013, she envisioned one big pen and all the animals living in harmony. They started out with cattle, but it wasn’t until 2020 that they added a few Nigerian Dwarf goats to the family farm – that’s when Lora says…
Jeff’s Famous Jerky
When Jeff Richards was just a hungry teen in the early 1970s, he realized his favorite snack – beef jerky – had the potential to be so much better. It was then that Jeff jump started his entrepreneurial career by buying his first ever dehydrator and began what would become thousands of hours of experimentation.…
Mariposa Coffee Company
When Gerry Caputo and his wife started Mariposa Coffee Company in the fall of 1991, they had just moved their family from the Bay Area to the rural mountain community of Mariposa near Yosemite National Park. “I wanted to do something in this small community that nobody else was doing,” recounts Gerry, “I decided to…
Florida Georgia Citrus
Kim Jones was in the tractor business for 48 years – until his grandchildren, who have a particular fondness for satsuma oranges, inspired him to start a citrus farm. Florida Georgia Citrus began as an “all hands on deck” family operation in 2014. Before long, Kim’s small orchard of about 800 trees soon flourished into…
The Top 5 Things Small Business Owners Need To Know When Selling On Amazon
Whether you’re setting up shop for the first time or expanding your existing sales channels, deciding to sell on Amazon is an important step in broadening your customer base. The service has a strong appeal to platform users–in 2021, roughly 65 percent of all U.S. Amazon shoppers were Prime members. Small businesses are the backbone…
Revitalizing Milwaukee through E-commerce
Founded by Lilo Allen and Tiffany Miller, Bronzeville Collective MKE in Milwaukee sells the handcrafted goods and art of more than 25 Black, Brown, queer, and ally creators. Allen is proud that her small business is “one of the few retail spaces in the city that celebrates not only Black culture but the culture and…
Why Aren’t Policymakers Listening to Small Businesses on Anti-Tech Legislation?
Over the past two years, there has been a forceful effort by a coalition of unusual parties that have been working to completely rewrite America’s antitrust laws and upend the digital economy, hurting small businesses in the process. Progressive members of Congress seem hellbent on punishing success, conservatives claiming private entities that remove hateful or…