Dave Decker, Kevin Winder, Adam Stevens, Seth Taylor

Jarrod Hunt, Commerce Real Estate Solutions: Definitely. If you can figure out a model that works in today’s environment, it’s going to work fantastic in two or three years when the economy is back to normal. There are a lot of things in your favor in 2011 — such as employees and real estate.

Curtis Blair, Froghair: I concur 110 percent. An old Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best is now.” Today is a good time to start a business. You can invest in 401ks or other opportunities, but the best investment is in yourself.

Mike Vanchiere, Mountain West Small Business Finance: Anytime is a good time to start a business. Plus, now we’re seeing things loosening up. Banks are more willing to take risks than they have been in recent years. With a good business plan, now’s a good time to start.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What legal considerations need to be taken care of right from the start?

Chris Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: Small businesses are often bootstrapped, and they are trying to do things on the cheap. I’ve had several instances in my career where people have neglected business formations at their peril. One lost $1.7 million and another over $100,000 because they didn’t take care of a $500 LLC at the beginning. Just jumping in with a de facto partnership or sole proprietorship can cause problems later on. Things get busy, and the next thing you know it’s been a year and a half and important items still haven’t been taken care of.

Bennett, BusinessQ: In addition to legal, what other areas get overlooked early on?

Jessica Devenish, Checknet: People don’t put a collection process in place. They’re making sales and gaining customers, and then one day they look at accounts receivables and it’s this staggering number. Then they call us, and we can help. But they would have been smarter to have a collections timeline ready from the start. Great business relationships include clear expectations.

Vanchiere, Mountain West Small Business Finance: One thing we see is a lack of working capital. What if they sell on terms and don’t collect quickly? What if it’s an elderly care facility that doesn’t fill up for six months? Without working capital, they may get three months down the road and not make payroll or make lease payments. Often we require our borrowers to have a working capital reserve.

Blair, Froghair: Financial capital is a key component, but it isn’t the only component. Mental capital and relationship capital are also important. Mental capital is innovation and proper execution. Relationship capital is who you know and how you network. Those things will eventually lead to financial capital.

Scott Miller, Miller & Wade: Another area that gets neglected is planning for business succession. We deal a lot with establishing a buy-sell agreement and ensuring contingencies for debt, disability and bankruptcy. It’s important to have that planned in advance and not wait until the event occurs because generally people don’t think clearly when they get to that point.

Terry Lyman, Pay Pros: Sometimes small business owners start something and see themselves 20 years down the road playing golf all day. They forget to structure their business well in order to get there. Should we form an LLC or S-Corp? What benefits will we offer? How do we do collections? You can always make changes to your business plan as the market changes. Get as much advice as you can, structure your business for success and put the processes in place that allow you to be successful.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: In 1995 when we started our business, we were so busy practicing law. Every small business owner wears way too many hats, and I include myself in that. But we need to outsource and get rid of those hats as much as possible. Early on we should have gotten benefits people, payroll people, collection people and backroom resources.

Hunt, Commerce Real Estate: Treat your outsourced professionals like your unofficial board of directors. You can leverage other people’s mistakes or successes and implement some of those same processes in your own business.

Vanchiere, Mountain West Small Business Finance: When people apply for financing, we get “napkin balance sheets” where they just jot numbers down. The kindest thing we can do is require them to have an attorney and an accountant to provide their organizational documents.

Bennett, BusinessQ: How important is a business plan?

Miller, Miller & Wade: We’ve been in business now for 25 years, and early on we didn’t do a great job of creating a business plan. My partner and I just wanted to create as many relationships as possible and build our business. And we’ve been fairly successful. However, a year ago we established a new division of our company that focuses on senior benefits, and we did create an executive summary business plan. This thing is exploding into a monster that we’re trying to tame, which is a good thing. We look at our original plan to keep us on track. That’s the biggest benefit of a written plan: making sure you are on course with what you originally intended.

Blair, Froghair: I wish our experience was that eloquent. We started our business 18 months ago on the back of a napkin. We’ve found ourselves zigging and zagging. In fact, Rich Christiansen (business partner) has written a book about our experience zigging and zagging. Our first step was to get to profitability, to cash flow. The No. 1 reason small businesses go out of business is they don’t have sufficient cash flow. The next step is adding resources and documenting processes. We’re in our 19th month and a lot of these things are so real that we’re speaking about: drive to cash, process, document and then scale. A structured business plan is part of that — whether it is on the back of a napkin or a formal document.

Vanchiere, Mountain West Small Business Finance: I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of business plans. Most of the time people make business plans to impress me or the bank rather than to use it as a management tool. I’m interested in knowing how are you going to pay me back, who do you have on your team, and what is your product or service? If you are a convenience store on convenience store row, how are you going to sell your Twinkies better than anyone else? The business plan for achieving financing should be different from the business plan you use to build your business. It should be a fluid document, not a binder on the shelf.

Hunt, Commerce Real Estate: If you are starting a business that doesn’t have a proven industry, you are testing a hypothesis. You can’t sit down and say, “This is where I’m going to be in five years.” A person doesn’t know if the technology they are developing is even marketable. If you are setting up a business in an existing industry, such as selling Twinkies on the corner, then you ask: What is going to make me faster, better, stronger than my competitors? Also, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. You’ve got to know what is happening to cash flow. You’ve got to know whether you are having success running ads in BusinessQ, for example. You have to measure results.

Blair, Froghair: You also need three great relationships when starting a business: a good attorney, a good accountant and a head pro at your local golf course.

Bennett, BusinessQ: I like that. Another reason for failure is growing too quickly. How can we manage growth wisely?

Hunt, Commerce Real Estate: Focus on high margin opportunities and add other things behind it as you have time and resources, rather than tackling everything that is loose out there. Otherwise, you can run yourself ragged and lose focus of what you are really trying to accomplish.

Devenish, Checknet: Sometimes losing the deal is the best thing for the company, as hard as it is. You want to accommodate and make it work, but at the end of the day some dollars just don’t make sense.

Hunt, Commerce Real Estate: By nature, entrepreneurs are very competitive. They never want to lose on anything, even if it’s in their best interest to lose. But you’ve got to let some things go that are just zapping the life out of you.

Lyman, Pay Pros: Most successful businesses have a specified market. When opportunities come along outside their realm of expertise, it’s hard as an entrepreneur not to say, “I can do that and here’s how.” It might be most profitable to walk away from a glamorous big deal and pick up 10 smaller deals.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: But that’s tough, isn’t it? When I have a potential client waiving a $10,000 retainer I think, “I can do that!” We have to follow our intuition as well and make sure we’re comfortable with where we are headed.

Bennett, BusinessQ: How do you attract and retain great employees right now when the pool of applicants is so large?

Miller, Miller & Wade: Within three days of posting our last opening, we had 150 applicants. We outsource to an HR recruiting firm that scours the applicants and narrows it down to the top three, whom I sit down and interview. We also use a local company called People Performance that helps us ensure we have the right people on the bus. From a retention standpoint, we feel we add value through benefits packages.

Devenish, Checknet: We use Persogenics to help us profile both the person and the actual job to make sure we have a fit. From retention, I think it’s ongoing. I’ve found that though you think it’s a monetary value that drives people, it’s actually recognition and appreciation.

Lyman, Pay Pros: With Utah’s many universities, there’s a huge pool to fish in for applicants. There are plenty of processes for finding people, but keeping the right people is the tougher issue. Money is never in the top five reasons why someone likes the job. It’s about how somebody feels appreciated. As an employer, we talk to our clients about figuring out what makes their employees tick — such as flexibility for family time or recognition. You have to give them opportunities where they have a say in what happens.

Devenish, Checknet: People who feel good about themselves produce good results.

Lyman, Pay Pros: We’ve seen companies give $50 Christmas bonuses all the way up to a $1 million year-end bonus. The reaction to those bonuses are so similar, “Oh, that’s great, thank you.”

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: Try the $1 million one on me! (laughing)
Vanchiere, Mountain West Small Business Finance: To an extent we are Pavlovian; when the bell rings we salivate. Initially money is a consideration for people. When they are comparing two similar jobs, they look at the one that pays more and has better benefits.

Blair, Froghair: Money is the initial reason people take jobs, but it’s not the reason they stay and are successful.

Vanchiere, Mountain West Small Business Finance: One key to our success is that we pay higher than the norm and have a generous benefits package. That is one way we attract good employees. I also like to empower my employees and I tell them, “You can run as fast and far as you want. If I’m not here, make a decision — even if it’s wrong. If it turns out to be wrong, we’ll sit down and learn from it.”

Bennett, BusinessQ: What role does social media have in starting a business?

Vanchiere, Mountain West Small Business Finance: My VCR is still blinking 12:00. (laughing)

Blair, Froghair: Social media has changed the landscape of how you target a customer. It’s now about persona architecture and a lot less about demographics.

Miller, Miller & Wade: Social media is important, but it’s difficult to build relationships and trust through Twitter and Facebook.

Hunt, Commerce Real Estate: It’s tempting to get caught up in the latest trend. You can have 1,000 friends on Facebook, but so what? If you don’t have a legitimate service people are willing to pay for, or a product that people want and need, then the peripheral social networking isn’t going to solve your problems.

Lyman, Pay Pros: I’ve never bought anything online as a business-to-business product. From business-to-consumer, I do purchase over the Internet. But business is relationship driven. Some young people don’t have the ability to have a face-to-face conversation. When I hire people to represent me, I want someone who can talk to others intelligently and make them feel comfortable.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Finally, what are common traits of successful entrepreneurs?

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: Early on I didn’t think I could seek out counsel from my peers and even competitors. We learned everything on our own, but I love sitting down with someone who is starting a practice. Many of my peers way back when would have done that with me if I had approached them. Sometimes we get into this competitor mindset, but in this valley people are friendly and want to help out.

Devenish, Checknet: Entrepreneurs have a risk attitude. There’s no reward without the risk. Sometimes you are on that cliff far longer than your comfort zone allows. If you aren’t made for that, then you probably should reconsider.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: Your spouse has to be made for that, too.

Devenish, Checknet: You’ve also got to like people — both internally with your staff and externally with your clients.

Blair, Froghair: As we visit with companies along I-15, I find that those who succeed carefully manage and protect their culture. The culture is the responsibility of the shareholders, and the more that employees feel that they are shareholders, the more protected and supported that culture will be.

Miller, Miller & Wade: Truly the most important predictor of the success of the business is who you have working for you. If you have a great idea, but don’t have good people to carry those things out, you are going to fail miserably.

Hunt, Commerce Real Estate: You have to have passion for your industry because if you are not willing to put the time and effort in it won’t be successful. A few years ago when the economy was roaring, there was easy money to be made in just about any kind of business. I saw a lot of smart, well-intentioned people that headed to Lake Powell too often. Six to eight months later they were done. You’ve got to prepare for dips and valleys so that year in and year out, it’s a means to provide for your family and employees.

Lyman, Pay Pros: For a business to be successful, there’s no substitute for hard work. I sit at a desk where it’s 70 degrees all the time and I have the radio on. It’s an easy job, but sometimes we take easy jobs to mean we don’t have to work hard. As an entrepreneur, you have to have that mindset of being willing to work harder than everybody else.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: Some people who start small businesses think if they put their shingle out there, people will come. We need to pay attention to the way our message gets out there. We need to make sure people know who we are and where we are and how we can help. In addition, when you have a dream and believe in it, it’s easy to focus on financing and leverage, which is necessary in the beginning. But for me, I sleep a lot better 15 years into my business now that we don’t have debt. There’s a point at which you have to convert from that leveraging focus to be more secure and stable as a business. This helps to weather the storms, which have certainly come the past couple of years and impacted most of us.

Vanchiere, Mountain West Small Business Finance: I like passion. Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm. You can’t walk into your clients looking like a cat that swallowed a sour mouse. If you’re happy and you know it, your face should surely show it. People will see that and respond positively. Integrity is also key. Your clients and relationship partners have to know your integrity is beyond reproach. Also, be able to admit you are wrong and learn from your mistakes. Lastly, be nice! Treat other people like you want to be treated.

Bennett, BusinessQ: It all comes back to that kindergarten lesson, doesn’t it. Thank you for your advice today on starting a business.

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Jeanette Bennett, BusinessQ: Describe successful entrepreneurs.

Aaron Brown, Box Home Loans: You’ve got to have a dream and a vision of what you want to create, build and grow. If you don’t have that, you’re probably not going to stick it out.

David Williams, Fishbowl: You need the willingness to lay it all on the line. Plus, you need a family who can handle not knowing if you’re going to bring in money or if you need to collateralize everything you own to make payroll.

Sean Whalen, Property 23: You’ve got to be fearless. When you do collateralize everything and push all the chips to the middle of the table and lose, can you do it again?
Cary Robarge, Robarge Collision: It takes somebody who understands the “why” is far greater than the “how” and “when.” It takes a big dream tank and the capability to see beyond what’s right in front and the vision to look forward when things are tough.

Williams, Fishbowl: We have to be a provider of hope to our people, even if we’re scared and don’t know if there’s hope. That separates the managers from the leaders. Leaders create hope and provide that for other people.

David Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions: It’s the opposite of the status quo mentality. It’s an extreme need to win and achieve. But there is a misconception that entrepreneurs are big risk takers. While there is risk in branching out on your own, a successful entrepreneur is never whimsical in making key decisions.

Whalen, Property 23: It’s a lot more calculated than people think. There’s a lot more thought and staring at the ceiling at night. It’s a passion-generated thought process. When everybody is jumping off the boat, you’re pushing forward — knowing these people have to put food on their table as well. It’s a totally different mindset than people think.

Brown, Box Home Loans: There’s a transition between being a risk taker and putting it all on the line and losing a couple of times, and then really having something and not just promising your wife, “This one’s going to go, I know it.” When it does actually go, something weird changes inside — you’re not as aggressive because you have something to protect and keep. That was an interesting transition that I experienced, and it was distinct.

Jonathan Driggs, Attorney at Law: To me, it’s not recklessness. There’s a maturity underneath it. They understand risk and they’re comfortable with risk, but they need to have their feet attached to the ground or they’re going to have a disaster.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Is now a good time to be an entrepreneur?

Robarge, Robarge Collision: Now is better than ever.

Williams, Fishbowl: We’ve got one of the most educated employee bases in one of the least expensive places to conduct business. There is cheap rent and other factors that encourage startups to use a smaller amount of capital to engage the market.

Whalen, Property 23: The cost of doing business is significantly less than what it used to be. The risk of rent, payroll, money and benefits is less. The talent pool is unbelievable. When you’re getting people with high-level graduate degrees applying for a $15-an-hour job, it’s remarkable.

Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions: If you have a brilliant solution that fills a major void, there’s never a bad time to go to market. But for most ventures, you have to step back and analyze your audience and understand buying patterns. Is your solution relevant enough or does it alleviate enough pain to motivate your audience to buy it now? If the answer is no, keep your day job until the market shifts.

Robarge, Robarge Collision: The golden rule is to buy low and sell high. We’re low right now, which means it’s time to buy or start a business. The changes have opened doors for new people to come into the marketplace and give it a try — that person who got laid off, that person who had a high-end executive job is still forced to feed his family. Maybe they weren’t willing to put it all on the line five years ago because they had such a good paycheck coming in.

Williams, Fishbowl: We had two main competitors who decided to stand still in this tough market. We decided to press, and now they’re no longer in our space. Not only startups but also mature companies need to make smart decisions during this type of economy. There’s less competition, so it’s a great time to capture market share.

Brown, Box Home Loans: We’re in a recession, but every time I go out to eat, the place is packed. People are paying $5 for a cupcake and $3.50 for a cookie. No matter the market, you can find a niche and provide something people are going to pay for.

Bennett, BusinessQ: During the start-up stage, what legal issues need to be addressed early on that entrepreneurs may overlook?

Driggs, Attorney at Law: Entrepreneurs don’t start a business so they can focus on compliance. But you need infrastructure that will help grow your business while being compliant. Generally speaking, we’ve been better in Utah at growing business ideas rather than growing healthy organizations that turn into long-term employers. Payroll, employment eligibility, I-9 form, e-verify — it’s more complicated than people realize and there are serious penalties if you don’t comply. This is where the entrepreneur’s risk-tasking trait can be a liability. I see common problems with compensation structures, agreements, commissions, bonuses. If they’re ambiguous, you’re going to have claims down the road. The current administration is ramping up enforcement. You can’t treat any employee as salary exempt; they’ve got to fit into an exemption. Get resources to set up your infrastructure and employee base correctly so it can grow in a healthy manner and avoid a painful adjustment period.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Did any of you learn these lessons the hard way?

Whalen, Property 23: Every single thing he just said I did not do when I started my company. A year and a half into running the business, we were growing like gangbusters and losing money. The best decision I ever made in business was bringing on my partner, who is the polar opposite of me. I went to one semester of college, dropped out and never looked back. He was well educated, structured and methodical — not an entrepreneur at all — and it transformed our business. It brought us from scooting-along to growing more than 1,000 percent and becoming a force to be reckoned with. Entrepreneurs don’t know what payroll taxes are half of the time, let alone how to pay them. You say I-9, and that’s like speaking Greek to most entrepreneurs.

Driggs, Attorney at Law: That’s not the fun part of running a business, but it is essential. If you don’t do it, there are consequences. Small businesses begin to grow and there’s a painful transition — there’s a loss of talent, there’s a loss of reputation of the leaders of the organization — and it can impact their ability to survive.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What is the best business decision each of you ever made?

Robarge, Robarge Collision: Jumping in headfirst. You can’t be an entrepreneur on the fence, wanting the security and wanting the dream.

Brown, Box Home Loans: Having the right partner is paramount. I had one partner who was not right, and the whole thing exploded. My current partner, Jeff Reeves, and I line up on our core principles, but we’re like a mom and dad and we go at it. We have different opinions, but because the principles we govern our lives by are the same, it’s been tremendous. Choose a partner who’s opposite so you can look from angles you didn’t see before. Then have the wherewithal to say, “I didn’t consider that.” I can’t imagine being an entrepreneur without a partner to keep me in line and vice versa.

Williams, Fishbowl: For me my best decision was determining what my values or my non-negotiables were. The people I would hire, now 78, needed to agree with my values. There are four non-negotiables, and if you can’t live with them, you can’t work here. It’s had a natural weeding-out effect. The four are: You have to trust one another. You have to believe in what we’re doing. You have to be loyal to one another. You have to be fully committed. If you can’t do any one of those things, you can’t work at Fishbowl.

Bennett, BusinessQ: In addition to aligning values, how can businesses grow by harnessing technology?

Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions: Technology is what makes a business relevant. The key challenge is identifying which technology will directly impact your business and then aligning yourself with that technology at the right time. Timing is critical. If you hitch your wagon too soon, you’ll waste significant resources and potentially upset your customers due to glitches. But if you’re late and the technology is disruptive enough to your market, you’ll get passed by and be out of business.

Brown, Box Home Loans: Our industry is full of variables, and our success depended on eliminating as many variables as possible. There wasn’t off-the-shelf technology that would meet our needs, so we had to build it ourselves. Over the past five years we’ve built a platform that has put us light years ahead of our competitors. Technology allows us to attract an infinite amount of customers. Fulfillment is another thing and we’re finite in that respect, but technology allows us to be different and attract customers.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What part should social media play in running a business?

Whalen, Property 23: Technology can separate you from your client. But if you are real, social media creates a nice buffer.

Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions: We’ve put time and money into building corporate structures and corporate brands, but social media allows people to get to know you as a person. They see you’re a decent human being, and they are more likely to do business with you. But that’s a new perspective for me. I’ve focused on creating a brand that has the right colors and says the right thing to fit the corporate mold.

Driggs, Attorney at Law: From a legal perspective, I’m seeing an increased number of issues where employees are misusing social media — everything from sexual harassment to threats of violence made over Facebook to complaining about the boss or the company on social media. It’s becoming more important to have a social media use policy in your workplace. Talk to your employees about your expectations as far as them making comments about work through social media.

Robarge, Robarge Collision: The power of Facebook and Twitter initially seems so overpowering compared to the other forms of media that I got caught up in that for a while to promote my business. It was a real slap when I got an article in the Daily Herald. The response reminded me that I had been attracting Gen Y, Gen X on Facebook and Twitter, but the clients who had money to pay their deductible and the claim were another demographic. We need to be cautious. Social media is relevant, but only a slim margin of my clientele base was finding me there.

Whalen, Property 23: Social media is crucial, it’s imperative, it’s fantastic. But there’s nothing that trumps a face-to-face meeting. They’re not buying because your Facebook is cooler than their Facebook. They’re buying you.

Williams, Fishbowl: We don’t see our clients, so social mediums are a source to provide awareness. We’ve received an amazing amount of leads through Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn has enabled us to reach out to the Utah market, which we’ve not done a good job of in the past. It has provided great one-on-one meetings with our local customers for the first time.

Brown, Box Home Loans: We’re having people post their experiences on Facebook. When we set out, our goal was to turn every client into three. So we have to provide a vastly different experience. Having people talk about us positively is crucial to our plan and has been from the beginning. Technology doesn’t do that, but it does allow us to systematize all of the variables. Our loan officers proactively reach out to the clients through our technology, which makes people say, “Wow. They care about me, they held my hand through this thing, and I’m going to tell everyone I know.”

Williams, Fishbowl: One of my employees was looking at getting a loan from you. They shot a message to 1,500 Facebook friends and got seven responses about you, all positive.

Brown, Box Home Loans: That is great to hear. Clients rate us as we’re going through the process. They can change the dial on a scale of 1 to 10 on how are we doing. If they drop the score, the loan officer, the processor and the manager get e-mails instantly so we can change that opinion before it’s set in stone. That was our best safety net when we hit explosive growth.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What pains have you experienced as you’ve grown? And secondly, how do you grow without giving up control of your company?

Robarge, Robarge Collision: In 2007 our business model quit working. We tightened our belts, reduced our overhead and whittled away at expenses. The question of growth is a double-edged sword for me. Do we want to grow bigger or more profitable? I found I could grow on the bottom line instead of gross revenue. For me, less is more. We grew by minimizing our menu. We want to be the best at insurance paid-for collision repair, and we did away with diesel performance, auto accessories and retail. We fixed a lot less cars for a lot more money last year.

Williams, Fishbowl: I’ve tried growing different ways. I’ve had lines of credit, VC money, bank money. This time around I decided not to have anyone own me. It’s been interesting to make decisions based on my own cash flow. We’re fortunate to be in BusinessQ’s Fastest-Growing Companies, but we’re also debt free. We can make decisions not based on what the bank wants or what the VC decides. It’s a remarkable experience.

Whalen, Property 23: As an entrepreneur you come in saying, “It’s my idea, my vision. I’m the biggest fish in the room and nobody can tell me otherwise.” Most entrepreneurs need humility. The number one thing I had to realize is there are things I don’t know. I have to find people who can help me. I’m an idea guy. I’m not a money guy. I’m not a structure guy. I’m not a spreadsheet guy. An entrepreneur has to check their pride and realize that running a million miles an hour is great, being in magazines is fantastic, being noted for explosive growth is great, but if you can’t have longevity and sustainability, it doesn’t matter. You have to bring people in who can do what you don’t do. If you don’t, you’ll fail. Period.

Driggs, Attorney at Law: At first, enthusiastic entrepreneurs say, “Let’s all get on the bus, and we’ll figure out where we’re going down the road.” They start making promises about commissions, bonuses, stock options. As the business matures, you’ve got to revisit those promises. Make promises in a reasonable way. Otherwise, there will be complications.

Williams, Fishbowl: I grew up on a ranch and my father would say, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Building the right structure, not promising flippantly, documenting things and having a good attorney looking over your documents is so important. You don’t think it is in the beginning. Sometimes you don’t even think it is down the road because everyone’s so excited. But if you ever hit the wall, things start breaking loose. Having your core infrastructure documented is vital to longevity.

Driggs, Attorney at Law: Just documenting conversations in an e-mail is so important. That has saved me countless times. Write down that which you visited and promised.

Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions: The textbook challenge for most entrepreneurs is giving up control and trusting others to make decisions. While difficult at first, this has proved to be extremely liberating. We’ve been fortunate to find enormously capable people, and there is no question we’ve made strides as a company that wouldn’t have happened if only the owners made the decisions. With that, when you lose one of those capable people, it’s extremely painful.

Whalen, Property 23: When the sky is blue, everybody is your buddy. When the ship starts sinking, you realize who is going to bail water. As an entrepreneur, you put your blood, sweat and tears into that baby, so when somebody realizes that’s not the thing for them anymore, you take it personally.

Bennett, BusinessQ: When is it time to share the success with employees and the community?

Williams, Fishbowl: From the first day, set aside a portion of your company for your employees. Do it in a way that’s prudent and that they have to perform to receive and that is given over time. As far as community social responsibility, that’s from day one, also. That needs to be a part of your culture. People are compelled by that behavior from leaders.

Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions: People want to be part of organizations they can take pride in. You want to take care of your employees and create a family environment. You want to pay them competitively. Creating a brand that I can be proud of, that my family and my employees’ families can be proud of — that’s what it’s all about.

Robarge, Robarge Collision: It’s pretty tough for a company to say, “When we get this successful, then we’ll give it out.” Entrepreneurs are givers at heart. We want to earn more so we can give more. That’s ingrained and that’s part of our plan. Being able to give and see that multiply is as equally rewarding for me as any of my bottomlines have ever been.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Lastly, what is the payday for being an entrepreneur? Why do we do this?

Williams, Fishbowl: Seeing people succeed and gain in their self-confidence, competency and skill set is a huge payday for me. To get to the point where a company has a shot at lasting forever is my most recent massive payday. My own children work at Fishbowl; I hope my grandchildren work there. I’m driven to have an enduring company for generations.

Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions: Candidly, when we started out, I was driven 100 percent by how much money we could make. Fortunately, that has evolved into wanting to build a respectable brand that people recognize in a positive light. Another major payday comes from creating new jobs.

Brown, Box Home Loans: The reward is two-fold. It starts because it’s a great idea and you think you can make a lot of money. But then the organization grows and takes on a life of its own to the point where you transfer ownership of responsibilities and roles. And then other individuals are making it better than you were.

Robarge, Robarge Collision: When I started it wasn’t for the money because there wasn’t any. The biggest reason I did it was to exercise my creativity. I can get up early and run hard and make this work, or I can sleep in and do nothing. I choose to run. I choose to create something bigger than me. It’s awesome to provide a living for others.

Driggs, Attorney at Law: As an employment law attorney, I’m well aware there are many employers in this valley who will go to great lengths to avoid contacting a law firm when they need help. I like finding a way to give them resources in a way they’re comfortable getting it. My practice focuses on prevention and early resolution. The majority of my clients don’t get sued because I work with them closely. It’s rewarding to provide resources that help others succeed.

Whalen, Property 23: The biggest payday is to hear people talking about what we have. There’s something that stirs a sense of pride in me to know people are talking about something that came out of my brain. It’s exciting.

Williams, Fishbowl: When we gather as a company socially, I like to talk to the spouses of my employees. For them to say he or she is excited about what is going on, that gets me emotional. Another example of a payday — three years ago, my 25-year-old son contracted cancer. For six months I didn’t go into work. The company rallied, and we actually had one of our best six months ever. They were motivated by helping and serving when I needed them. That was a massive payday.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Thanks for your insights. Now let’s go grow our businesses!

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Jeanette Bennett, BusinessQ: What factors help women to be successful in business?

Judy Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: Women tend to be multi-task oriented. In advertising it’s something different every day, and women are good at keeping balls in the air.

Lynette Hilgenberg, Bank of American Fork: Along those same lines, we are flexible. We have to be. When things come up — and they always do — we can turn or twist or do whatever we need to do to make projects succeed.

Mary Street, Commerce Real Estate Solutions: Women are great at synthesizing pieces of information and creating a big-picture concept. In sales, it’s not just understanding what people are looking for. I like to know the whole background on why they want that and where they are coming from so I can understand the big picture of where they’re headed. I’m more willing to sit and chat and get to know somebody as part of the process of getting to know what they want to do in business.

Cynthia Gambill, Remedez: As women have been consistently entering the workforce the past 35 years, many have thought we had to become like men. That movement did us a disservice. Studies have shown that what corporate America is lacking is a woman’s touch and perspective — it’s not necessarily better or worse, it’s just different. But three decades ago we thought we had to be like men.

Kris Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: Be like them or better than them in order to succeed — at least in my accounting profession. Women tend to naturally go a little bit further, do a little bit extra. I had a client whose wife was really, really sick. He was a busy doctor, and we took the tax return to her house and waited for 30 minutes until she could come to the door and get it signed. It’s not that men don’t care enough, but sometimes it’s more awkward for them to care to that extent.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: To add to your point, there’s that nurturing role women have. We’re more committed to see somebody grow and develop and to help them along their career path. That’s one of the elements we have brought into the workforce.

Hilgenberg, Bank of American Fork: Women are mentors, and we want to help others succeed.

Street, Commerce Real Estate Solutions: It’s my goal to get beyond the point where people are surprised that women can be good in business and get to where it’s expected that you either succeed in what you are doing or you don’t — ­­­­­­­regardless of what your sex happens to be.

Diana Hunter, UVU Community and Continuing Education: Women succeed in careers, but it is hard when you have to make the tough decisions, such as having to let people go.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Do you think those decisions are harder for women?

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: We can appreciate the situation. We understand that they have families and responsibilities. I think we bring a warmer element than just a traditional “we’re going to let you go.”

Gambill, Remedez: We are nurturing and can say, “I understand what you’re going through.” But I still think of the times I’ve had to do that, and it’s hard. It’s hard for anybody. But we can say, “I feel your pain.”

Bennett, BusinessQ: Do you feel women are good at mentoring other women or is there an element of competition that sometimes inhibits mentoring?

Hilgenberg, Bank of American Fork: When I first started in my profession, it was harder and there was competition between women. But we’ve come a long way. Now there are a lot of support systems that weren’t there before. I believe women are more willing to support other women than we used to be.

Gambill, Remedez: Going back to the history lesson, it wasn’t always like that.

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: We were fighting to get the same pay as men 30 years ago.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: In the past, I have known of women with an undermining attitude toward others, but I rarely see that today. Now I see embracing, applauding and supporting. When I look at my career, I see a large group of friends in my industry. Intelligent, knowledgeable and supportive women have been great assets for me in my life.

Gambill, Remedez: We all agree that things have changed, but in the past women would leave things conveniently out in some kind of training process because knowledge is power. If a woman had more knowledge, she felt she had more power than other women. Now we realize we can’t do it all, and we are helping each other.

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: I’m a mentor with the Center for Academic Leadership at UVU, and they are desperate for more women to be mentors. Some female students really want to have a female mentor, but it’s hard to find them because as women we are busy with work, home and volunteering.

Bennett, BusinessQ: So what is it like to be a woman in business in Utah County?

Street, Commerce Real Estate Solutions: Can we give honest answers?

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: One example — 25 years ago I went to the bank to get a loan and they said, “Are you married? Can we talk to your husband?” I told them I wanted to do this on my own to build my credit, and they would not give me a loan. The climate has changed, but I still think Utah is behind the nation in some of the ways we behave culturally.

Hunter, UVU: I was at a networking group recently, and they kept saying things like, “You can win this for your wives,” or “You can take this home to your wives.” There were not that many women there, but still.

Gambill, Remedez: Another problem we have is simply Utah County itself. When I moved to Utah County it was an unpleasant surprise to me that there is a barrier between our county and Salt Lake County. Why can’t we do business with them? What is the problem? There have been efforts with some level of success to break that barrier, but it’s still there. There is a tendency in Utah County to say, “We are what we are.” And there is a tendency in Salt Lake to say, “You guys are weird.”

Hilgenberg, Bank of American Fork: The two counties are like two different worlds. Utah County is a very value-conscious market, so you have to market somewhat differently. You have to be very aware of the values in this county when building business relationships. Business often happens over lunch, but some feel it is inappropriate for men and women to do this, so you have to be very conscientious of their values.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: And I totally respect that someone doesn’t want to ever place themselves in a position where they feel uncomfortable.

Gambill, Remedez: Sometimes we adopt somewhat of a comfortable position by saying, “This is Utah County and we do things differently here.” When we go into other counties, in some cases we’re almost apologetic about being from Utah County. But we should be able to blend in and be more open minded as we break barriers that are making us live in two different worlds when we are only 30 miles apart.

Street, Commerce Real Estate Solutions: I’m not from here, but I’ve lived here for 15 years. When we talk about demographics in Utah County, we dance around the issue without actually talking about a homogenous society with a predominant religion and mindset. You have to understand you are entering a culture when you move here. And the mindset starts at the very beginning. Children are taught values they don’t question, and that transfers on as they grow up. For example, the women’s role in the workplace or in the home is pretty much mentally defined at a young age. I really don’t find that it hinders me in business here to be a Methodist, but I am aware of my differences. And as long as we’re aware of differences, we have made it over the hump to being a more healthy community where we aren’t looking at what is different but at what’s similar about us.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: Like any market, this market is unique. The predominance of the faith and the values are not going to go away. You can paint Utah County as a unique little duck, but if you are going to go into any community and be successful, you have to find out what’s unique and how to be prosperous within the community. So do you look at our community as a great opportunity or do you look at it as constant brick walls you have to tear down? If you see brick walls, it’s going to be a very difficult time.

Hunter, UVU: I’m not of the predominant faith either, and it was hard when we first moved here 22 years ago. My son was told in first grade he couldn’t come to a birthday party because he wasn’t Mormon. I came from Boise where everybody expects you to be different. Here people expect you to be the same. It’s getting better because different people are moving in, and people are becoming more open minded as they face challenges and imperfections in their families. But our differences — whether religious or gender — shouldn’t matter. We should want to mentor and befriend men and women who have good qualities and potential.

Bennett, BusinessQ: As working women, do you feel accepted by women who don’t work?

Hilgenberg, Bank of American Fork: That’s come a long way, too. It used to be looked down upon if a woman was working outside the home. We are in a different culture now where many women have had to go back into the workforce. One issue that remains in this culture is that non-working women often plan events in the day without taking into consideration the schedules of those of us who work. But we’ve definitely come a long way in accepting women in the workplace.

Gambill, Remedez: Working or not working — it’s a nationwide division among women. Whenever somebody can find a way to marry us both — the working and non-working women — and live under the same sky and get along and be accepting of each other’s choices, then we’ll have a better world.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: I really believe when it comes to choosing whether to work it comes down to the woman and her stability, happiness and balance. If she needs to work for financial reasons, that’s different. But if a mother is home and struggling because she is not fulfilled mentally or educationally, she’s going to have a hard time being in the moment with her children. Conversely, if a mother is in the workplace and wants nothing more than to be home with her children and she’s filled with guilt and imbalance, the same thing holds true — her home is not going to be balanced and fulfilled. My kids are just as good and just as naughty as everyone else’s in the neighborhood and I’ve been a working mother the whole time. I had phenomenal women who cared for my children while they were growing up — educated, dedicated women. My kids were loved whether I was home or not.

Hunter, UVU: Everybody makes choices. I had a career before I got married and then stayed home for 18 years. I started back to work after my son graduated from high school and I raised some step kids.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: You bring to mind another change in our society. Twenty years ago it was career suicide to quit and stay home for a time. Now there’s much more openness if you want to enter back in the workforce.

Gambill, Remedez: The word of the day here is “choices.” Choices should equal happiness. I made the choice to step away from corporate America. Yet I still made a choice to have some level of a career and also be home with my kids by starting Remedez. Women need to make a choice and not look back.

Hunter, UVU: And accept other people’s choices, too.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: And we can’t always predict our choices beforehand. I’ve worked with women who say, “I’m going to have my baby and be back in two months.” And I always say, “Don’t say that. Don’t make a commitment until you are home because you don’t know how you are going to respond, and you need to make a decision that’s best for you once you understand the choice.”

Street, Commerce Real Estate Solutions: I was in residential real estate when my two sons were born, and I took them with me when I went to show houses. I worked at home a lot, and I worked at night a lot. Then I wanted to transition into commercial real estate, but I knew that meant a more traditional business schedule of 9 to 5 or 9 to 6. I delayed that decision until my kids were in first and second grade. But I appreciated that in Utah County people allowed me to bring my kids with me at times because they know that women are capable of working while taking care of children. I don’t think I could have gotten away with that anywhere else.

Gambill, Remedez: When I had my first child 12 years ago, I would take him to work with me in downtown Los Angeles because I was nursing. I probably couldn’t have done that 25 years ago, but 12 years ago it was more doable and it would be even more so now.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: When I started in the advertising industry, women had to work twice as hard to be considered equal. Now when women provide value to their employers, they are allowed to job share or work three-quarters of the day. It’s really encouraging to see a woman valued enough to be allowed a schedule that’s going to work best for her and her family.

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: Flexibility is great. Sometimes I don’t get invited to things because my friends think, “Well, Kris works; she’s too busy.” I do have a very flexible schedule, and I’m trying to get my friends to understand that and still include me when they do things.

Street, Commerce Real Estate Solutions: You should come to the Women’s Business Network lunches. We get together once a month and have a good time.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What advice do you give young women? How can we prepare them for the choices ahead?

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: My biggest advice is always to get an education. Regardless of the choice you end up making, you always have education to open doors for you.

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: When I got married, I planned to quit school and put my husband through. But he said, “You finish your degree because that is life insurance for our family if anything happens.” That was before I dreamed about owning a business. You’ve got to have the doors open. As women we shouldn’t shut doors. One in three women in this county supports herself. Are you going to be one out of three in your lifetime? Probably. I also encourage young women to find a business they can do at home. Having an income helps women to be empowered. They can contribute without having to give up that desire to be at home.

Gambill, Remedez: I would say if they want to enter the working world, enter it. Go for it. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Just enter the workforce. Taste it. It might be your thing; it might not be. But you don’t want to go through life wondering, “What if?”

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: But sometimes you get sucked in and get used to the income, and then choices get harder. You might say you’ll work four hours, and all of a sudden you are working overtime. In accounting, you can work all day and night. But that is not the life you want in my opinion. Be careful not to get sucked in because of status, pride or money.

Hunter, UVU: The education rate of women has surpassed that of men nearly everywhere in the nation except for Utah. That is a worry for us as a state.

Street, Commerce Real Estate Solutions: I watched my stepdaughters move through high school and stand on the cusp of the rest of their lives without a plan. I would say, “You are standing at the doorway of every opportunity out there; you can choose to go any direction you want to go.” But there was a reluctance to want to commit. The world looks scary if you’re 18 and standing at the edge of an open door with every possibility out there.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: This generation of women doesn’t have barriers. They have every opportunity open to them. For the most part all those doors have already been knocked down. They can choose to be in any field and take any path, traditional or not, and there’s not going to be the same kind of resistance.
It used to be unimportant if a woman went to school, but now parents understand the need for education. If you are an educated woman you make better choices; you have better opportunities; you are going to raise better children.

Hunter, UVU: A big part of raising great sons and daughters is spending time with them and preparing them for school and life. We need to remember that as women.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: I was talking to my son about going to college and he said, “I don’t know what I want to be.” And I said, “Well that’s the point. You go to college, you take classes. What bubbles out of that is something you find interest in that will become your area of focus.” Very few students know what they’re going to be on day one.

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: And chances are they will have seven different jobs in their lifetime. My daughter finished high school last year and got her associate’s degree at the same time. To do that she had to give up a huge part of her high school experience. A lot of girls are not willing to do that; they’re not willing to give up dancing, sports and singing. Those activities are wonderful and I did a lot of that, but those aren’t areas where you are going to make money in the future. Start making wise choices early.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: What a great opportunity these girls have to take college courses as high schoolers.

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: These high schoolers may not realize it’s time to make life’s major decisions — college, marriage, first jobs, where to live. That’s putting a lot on an 18-year-old, and they need to be prepared to make wise choices. It’s tough because what they really want to do is text and spend two hours on Facebook and downloading music.

Bennett, BusinessQ: How does having a career affect your other roles?

Street, Commerce Real Estate Solutions: To make it work for me, I had to be innovative. When I got pregnant with my second son, I knew my road warrior days were over. I left the technology industry and went into residential real estate. For some reason I thought it would be easy (laughing). I found it to be a fulfilling career, and I could do research at home. However, you have to block out personal time. If I had to pick somebody up at kindergarten, I blocked it out and told others that I had another appointment at that time. I forced scheduling on myself to be able to do the things I needed to do. As my kids got older, I included them in my work. They dug post holes and put up signs. So I’ve tried to make my business life be part of my family life.

Hilgenberg, Bank of American Fork: Being organized is the most important thing for me. I accomplished more at home because I knew I only had a few hours to get things done. When I was raising my children, I had to organize them as well so they could get their things done.

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: You have different roles — wife, mother, volunteer — but something has to come first at any given time. If there are two conflicting things you have to have the guts to know which one should be your priority. I love what Mary said about scheduling your family’s needs. You also have to know when you are working too much. You have to keep your marriage together, and you’ve got to take care of your kids. Otherwise, you can’t be super effective. You’ll regret not taking care of those things, which means sometimes you have to say “no” to opportunities. A committee asked me to do a certain thing and I said, “I could do that next year, not this year.”

Gambill, Remedez: This has been a good roundtable because we are a good sample size of our society. We have found a way through technology or societal changes that we can be a mother and have a career. But it is our responsibly as women in business that we don’t portray to the world, to other mothers, to younger women, that everything is just fine because it really isn’t. Today is not a good day for me because I’ve been running since 5 in the morning to make it to the school program and now here and then the next thing. Some days are better than others and some days are really, really bad. And that’s OK because tomorrow is a new day. So I don’t have a perfect life. You have to give up some things to have a career. We can’t do it all and do it well. Not all the time. It can be overwhelming to be everywhere all the time and please our employers or employees — as well as our families. We can’t send the wrong message to other women.

Hunter, UVU: As women we have seasons in our lives and we accomplish a variety of things, which prepares us to be successful in business. I was working for seven years before I got married. Then I married my husband and I instantly had five step kids and raised the two youngest ones. So I had to learn really fast to be organized, to cook more than three different things for dinner. And those different seasons of our lives prepare us to be good at business. Now I set barriers. I try to be home when I’m home and at work when I’m at work.

Copier, Kim Brown & Associates: I have been very fortunate to have a grounding rock — my husband — who is completely supportive of my need to wear both hats and to build my career and also to be a mother. And truly, we entered into a partnership where we are both responsible for our home and our children. At the same time, I’ve learned to be organized and conscious about choices. I have to choose to leave work and be home for dinner. Guilt is a waste of energy. If you can look at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say, “I did my best. Maybe tomorrow there’s something I can do better, but I did my best today,” that’s what it’s about.

Hoffman, Hoffman & Company: A lot of women need to work for their personal growth. They need to be around people.

Hunter, UVU: That’s why I don’t work from home. I don’t like working alone.

Gambill, Remedez: But in this time period, we can choose to work from home. We can choose not to work. We can choose a career. These are good times. If I had to choose a time to re-live my life, I would probably choose now.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Thanks for choosing to spend your time with us today!

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Jeanette Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What trends are you seeing with regards to small business benefits packages?

Keith Williams, Employer Solutions Group: Basic programs that include health insurance, dental and vision have in some cases been eliminated or the deductibles are going higher — or they are charging higher premiums to employees. To offset that and still maintain a good work environment, we’ve seen companies offer different benefits such as memberships to fitness centers and allowances toward lunch.

Scott Miller, MillerWade Group: We spend a lot of our time in the small group market. It’s alarming to us the number of businesses not taking proactive approaches in regards to health care reform. Small companies qualify for a tax credit based on certain criteria and can get a credit for the premium they are paying on behalf of the employees. It’s amazing how many don’t want to go to that next level to learn about it. We are approaching this as an opportunity to become a trusted adviser to them. We’ve seen a trend in the past three or four years toward more consumer-directed health care — HSAs, HRAs.

Keith Tintle, MountainStar: The lack of public education is phenomenal. We have an arm through our hospital where we can provide information and connect people with opportunities like the Utah Health Exchange, benefit packages and tax credits. We find more and more people accessing that information, but unfortunately it’s when they get into the hospital. Education needs to happen before that.

Don Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: We conduct a market-wide study every year of employee benefit offerings. In the last couple of years, we expected to see a reduction of the values of offerings. What we’ve seen is that the quality of benefits has held steady. Companies are not cutting their benefits. What we are seeing in the marketplace is a decrease in the size of employee groups due to layoffs and reductions in force. We’re not seeing companies eliminate benefit programs across the board.

Tintle, MountainStar: Employers are trying to maintain a benefit level. In addition, they oftentimes incentivize employees with higher co-pays and deductibles to think twice before they access health care. As a hospital, we have seen an increase in bad debt because we are collecting from the public and not from the insurance companies due to high deductibles.

Miller, MillerWade: We insure several physician clinics as well. Their receivables are much higher than what they used to be.

Tintle, MountainStar: Candidly, a part that speaks well to people using the health care system judiciously and appropriately. You want people to access health care when they need it. But at the same time, there’s a bit of a mentality where people expect first-dollar coverage, where health insurance starts looking like an entitlement or a right. Then they look at the employer and say, “Why don’t you give me that benefit?”

Ron Nielsen, UBIC: Companies have eliminated excess waste because the economy was different at the time they started their business. Benefits are still being offered to those people who continue to be key in the workforce. Business owners are just working a little smarter, a little harder, a little more efficiently.

Tintle, MountainStar: We are becoming a more productive country in terms of gross national product, but that doesn’t address unemployment.

Miller, MillerWade Group: For so many years there was the entitlement mentality — minimal premium out of pocket. But people didn’t know what the employer was paying to support that. Employers are having to squeeze to still offer a decent benefit package. Consumerism has been forced upon us as a society so we can see what insurance is truly costing us. It’s forcing us to take a more proactive approach to how we spend our health care dollars. It will be an evolutionary process to move people from traditional plans to HSAs and HRAs. It’s a paradigm shift about what the purpose of insurance is.

Tintle, MountainStar: It’s all evolutionary. We’ve been in a business-driven model until now. It’s becoming much more consumer-driven. What scares me is that if the business-driven model to consumer-driven model stops circling back around, people will look to the government as an entitlement.

Williams, Employer Solutions Group: Most companies are having to offer a dual option because the transition away from traditional insurance for the employee is difficult. They go from having a $10 co-pay to being charged $100-plus for an office visit. In the event of a hospital stay, it’s much higher depending on deductibles. One thing that’s difficult in a consumer-driven plan is that a patient will want to know what a treatment will cost. In my experience, a physician can’t always tell you. There’s a disconnect that makes it difficult for the consumer to use their dollars wisely.

Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: I agree, but fortunately the legislature is tuned into that problem. With the creation of the Utah Health Exchange, the legislature wants consumers to be able to find information about cost and quality. But it’s a little difficult to get at because of contractual privacy between insurance companies and providers. We already have some laws that require providers to publish their rates to some degree. They don’t have to publish their allowed amounts, but we are taking steps in the right direction.

Nielsen, UBIC: If consumers realized that insurance companies are actually for-profit companies, and if they treated the way they went to the hospital or doctor as money that comes out of their pocket, we’d all be better off.

Tintle, MountainStar: One problem is that small-business owners don’t know what to anticipate in terms of health care costs. An insurance company could drop a company if actuarially, the rates are higher. You can make yourself uninsurable. That’s why the Exchange makes sense. It’s what I like to call a defined contribution model. With defined contribution, small-business owners can predict their health care costs more effectively.

Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: The intent of the Exchange is to take consumerism to the next level. What we wanted to see was consumers having more choice over the product, who they buy it from, what design they wanted to buy. We wanted to create a system where employees could have a great choice in the product offerings they have and yet not go all the way over to disbanding group insurance and going to an every-man-for-himself system.

Tintle, MountainStar: The Exchange only applies to companies that have from two to 50 employees, however.

Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: There is a large employer pilot starting Jan. 1. Time will tell whether those medium-sized companies like the system. There’s a great opportunity for them to embrace the Exchange.

Tintle, MountainStar: It’s comforting that the Exchange isn’t meant to replace group insurance. It’s meant to augment it and be compatible with it. It allows existing insurance companies to exist in this market without the government stepping in.

Miller, MillerWade Group: In beta tests for the Exchange this past year, we didn’t get quite the response we were expecting: 133 registered and 13 jumped into the system. There were two or three groups that dropped throughout the year for various reasons, maybe because it wasn’t as user-friendly as it needed to be. With open enrollment in January of this year, hopefully we’ll see more success. I’m a big promoter of the Exchange. It creates flexibility for the employer to avoid the double digit increases they would have to absorb. Can the Exchange work long term? No question. Will it bring coverage to the uninsured? We’re not sure yet. In Utah, we’re being recognized as one of the more proactive states with regards to the Exchange. Outside of Massachusetts, I’m not aware of any other states that have an operable exchange.

Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: The Massachusetts Commonwealth Connector was really built around the individual market. They’ve accomplished some good. They’ve reduced the number of uninsured. The question is whether or not these subsidies are sustainable.

Miller, MillerWade Group: Basically, if you make less than $88,000 a year, you’re going to qualify for some form of subsidy based on the current model.

Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: I have five children, and as a family of seven, under the 2010 federal limits, I’ll be able to qualify in 2014 for an insurance subsidy making less than $133,000 a year. And that number is going to be bigger in 2014 than it is now. I think the intent of the administration was to create a system that was going to embrace the middle class. The subsidies they are providing are not necessarily for low-income people.

Williams, Employer Solutions Group: One of the sources of the hesitation you see from insurance brokers as well as employers is in the fact that it’s so new. I don’t know if there’s been a lot of education on the Exchange yet. Long term, it’ll be a good option. The transparency of costs is a big draw.

Tintle, MountainStar: The operative word here is transparency, not just with cost, but in terms of quality and outcomes. Even though we know what the cost of a McDonald’s burger is, we have to make a decision in our mind, “Is that low price worth the quality or do I get a more expensive burger at Five Guys?”

Miller, MillerWade Group: You hope that by insuring more people, you insure more healthy people — those who might have been on the outside looking in because they didn’t feel they needed insurance before. Obviously they contribute in a real positive way to the overall claims experience and loss ratios. So if you can accomplish that through mandating that everyone gets insurance, that could help. Again the question is going to be cost. When insurance companies are forced to insure everybody, what impact will that have on the whole? We saw some of that in 1997. HIPAA passed in 1996, and in 1997 we started seeing double digit growth. It was a direct correlation of insurance companies having to bring on all of these uninsurable people.

Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: The biggest challenge the Exchange experienced in the beta test was that it was charging companies more to buy the same product under a different piece of paper. That had to be corrected. Now when you go to the exchange, you’ll see parity in pricing.

Williams, Employer Solutions Group: When we tried to set groups up on the Exchange, we found higher prices as well. Now that the price is being addressed, that will help with participation.

Nielsen, UBIC: You have to remember that insurance companies have to be profitable to survive. If you have to insure everybody, you have to look at things actuarially and make sure you price risk accordingly. If the government says you have to price things at a certain place, there’s going to be fallout.

Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: Those who were part of the Exchange were already guaranteed issue under law. It wasn’t a move from a guaranteed-issue environment to a non-guaranteed-issue environment.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: Obviously you are all experts in this industry. But what advice do you have for business owners who are experts in their own industry and don’t have the time or interest to digest all of this information about health care?

Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: It depends on the size of the company, whether they are large or small firms. In my opinion, not to be self-serving, but they are wise to find others who deal with this industry. There is so much information to digest. Larger companies can have a member of their HR staff who are about as knowledgeable as a broker. They can afford to pay a person to do just that. But most companies just can’t pay employees to know this stuff. It’s wise to rely on an adviser.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What are some of the common mistakes business owners make regarding insurance?

Miller, MillerWade Group: Not knowing the basic, fundamental requirements — eligibility requirements, participation requirements, contributions requirements. They need to make sure they are meeting guidelines.

Tintle, MountainStar: I’m not going to say this is the responsibility of the employer, because I think it’s really the responsibility of the individual consumer — but understanding appropriate use of health care is vital. These new developments give our employees incentives to take care of themselves and develop relationships with primary care physicians and prevent paying huge amounts for an ER visit with something that could have been taken care of with an $80 doctor visit.

Nielsen, UBIC: I agree with you on the primary care physicians, but I would take it a step further. I think not getting in a relationship with an agency or broker is the biggest mistake because the agency or broker can understand that risk. They have seen what they’ve done in the past and can assist that business owner in making the right decisions.

Miller, MillerWade Group: As an agency we add as much value to our relationship with clients as possible. It’s not just about health insurance anymore; it’s about all the things you can bring to the table. The new health care bill is 2,000 pages long. People studying it deeply are saying that for every one page of the bill, there are 10 or 15 pages to define and clarify what that one page contained. We’re looking at a final bill that’s 20,000 or 30,000 pages long. How does the average employer understand what that’s going to mean to them? That’s going to fall back on us as consultants to understand what they need to understand and explain it to them.

Williams, Employer Solutions Group: That’s exactly right. For the employers, it’s not only nearly impossible to know what they need to know to make a good decision, but for the most part, they don’t really want to know. That’s not what they went into business for. They’ve got other things on their plate. Does this have a financial impact for them? Certainly. But they need someone to steer them through it.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What final advice do you have for business owners in regards to insurance and employee benefits?

Nielsen, UBIC: The employers need to focus on their loss ratio. What are they doing to lower their loss ratio for the insurance carrier? In the end it is going to help them if they have a lower-cost ratio. It will save their company money, making their bottom line look better.

Miller, MillerWade Group: We try to get our clients to look at the benefits they are offering through the eyes of the employees. If they were an employee, would they see it as an attractive and user-friendly package? It can be complicated. If we as the agency broker can give them resources to turn to if they are having problems and issues, the relationship works. They want to know they are going to get taken care of. That’s what we can bring to the table from a consultant standpoint.

Garlitz, FirstWest Benefits: It occurs to me that some employers may offer benefits because paternalistically they want to take care of their people. More commonly business owners pay for them because they have to competitively. As we study the marketplace annually, we’ve learned those are the two main priorities companies have. They want to bring in good people and keep them there. That’s why they are offering benefits. What an employer needs to do is understand their market, not just the overall market. They need to understand what they specifically have to offer to be competitive in the market they’re in.

Williams, Employer Solutions Group: I agree. Employers need to get a good sense of what the market is doing, but they also need to be creative and offer non-traditional benefits with little to no cost to give them an edge over the competition. Employers can get a good feel from the employees of what they would value.

Tintle, MountainStar: The trend of our whole discussion seems to be transparency. It puts a lot of responsibility on all of us to be accountable for what we do, to be more transparent in outcomes and expectations. A big piece of that is that as a society we need to come to a recognition of what our responsibility is to the uninsured.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: Thank you for your thoughts today.

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Jeanette Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What is unique about the legal environment in Utah County?

Bill Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: If you compare the Utah County bar to bars in other parts of the country, we’re a fairly collegial group. We extend courtesies to other counsel. There’s a common denominator of expected good behavior.

Chris Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: I’m thrilled to practice law in such a wonderful valley. We have great people. We have a competitive growth dynamic. There are 600 attorneys, which is one per 1,000 people. We’re courteous and civil practitioners, which I really appreciate. Some of my best friends are my competitors. People can have a negative view of attorneys, but we buck that trend.

Michael Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: Most of Utah Valley’s companies are homegrown. You can’t pacify clients by saying, “There is a corporate culture in force, and I don’t really want to do this, but I have to.” Here we have a lot of multi-level marketing companies still run by their founders, and you don’t have corporate ill-will that sometimes you get with clients from New York and other places.

Patrick Burt, Kipp & Christian: Although Utah has a rapidly growing economic base, it still has a small legal community. I started my career in Phoenix, and you would never run into the same judge or attorney twice. Here you have to be conscientious about being professional because you are going to run into the same people later. You have to build up the camaraderie, because it’s going to help in future litigation matters.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What are some of the top legal concerns you are dealing with in our community right now?

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: Clearly, the recession has had an impact on the legal profession. We’re seeing more debtor/creditor issues, like foreclosures. We’re trying to find ways to help our corporate clients stay afloat.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: There’s a lot more attention paid to appropriate capitalization of entities. Several years ago people just needed a good idea and things would work. Now people are focusing on the fundamentals that have always been important. You have to be well capitalized. You have to have a firm business plan that will take you through ups and downs.

Burt, Kipp & Christian: Cost is a big thing. Everybody is feeling a pinch. You have to consider how to comply with the laws so you avoid litigation. Or if you are in litigation, you need to get your best result without breaking the bank.

Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: We see a lot more settlements now rather than going to trial, and the cases settle much more quickly than they have in the past. Alternative compensation is a bigger deal now. We do a lot of flat fee work that we didn’t do before. I’m in the intellectual property field. It’s a difficult decision to cut back on an IP portfolio, but we’re seeing a lot of careful paring back.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What can business owners do to find a good attorney and then maintain a good relationship?

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: All too often we find that a new startup business seeks out counsel in their Elder’s Quorum and ends up with a divorce lawyer doing corporate work. Shopping around is good. Asking the right questions helps. Once a relationship is established, honesty and good communication make it work.

Burt, Kipp & Christian: You should communicate with your attorney early and often. We specialize in civil litigation. People show up to us when the wheels have already fallen off. From there we find a good solution with the situation they have handed us. You’d be surprised how many situations could have been avoided. If you talk to an attorney early and often, they can steer you away from problem spots.

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: Nothing beats preventative medicine, no matter the profession.

Caleb Frischknecht, Ray Quinney & Nebeker: Communicate with your attorney and insist on reciprocal communications. Be clear at the outset what the fee arrangement is and the scope of work.

Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: As some companies grow, their biggest problem is getting rid of their president. The same thing is true for counsel; you can’t be afraid to grow your counsel as your company matures. I like loyalty. It’s an important part of a relationship, but sometimes either the attorney has to say “You’ve outgrown me,” or the company has to recognize that. It’s part of having an honest relationship with your client.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: The nature of law has changed. There used to be general practitioners, but now there is individual focus within a framework of a general practice. Quite frankly, being able to say no to a client and refer them out is difficult. I had a conversation with a fellow yesterday, and I told him that Bill Fillmore was perfect for this case. It wasn’t Chris Dexter. You need to know your limits to be good, and know the area to which you dedicate yourself.

Burt, Kipp & Christian: On the other side, business owners also need to know their limits. My mentor always told me you need to let the client know we are the surgeons. You have to trust us when you hand us your case. Obviously we want your input, obviously we want you in the know. But ultimately we are the surgeons, so trust us.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: How has technology changed your industry?

Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: My first 25 minutes of everyday are spent going to five professional Web sites that offer opportunities to chat with other IP attorneys. I’m able to have a dialogue with 50 people from different states to establish best practices and raise the level of my personal practice. By doing that every day, I’m right up on top of the changes that happen in my profession.

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: Everything is faster. In most ways, it’s a good thing, but it is harder to walk away from your office and turn your phone off. We’re also going paperless at an accelerated rate.

Frischknecht, Ray Quinney & Nebeker: Technology has sped things up. Everyone, including the courts, expect accelerated responses. We must be careful in addressing these demands not to lose the art of contemplative and serious analysis of what to those with minimal exposure to the process sometimes mistakenly view as simple and straightforward; it heightens our responsibility to communicate clearly with our clients.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: Law books have become antiques. When I started practicing 15 years ago, law books were important. Then we received an updated CD each quarter. Now legal research is on the Internet. You can find things immediately. That’s good and bad. Sometimes the consumer thinks they have the knowledge and expertise to answer all of their questions just by Googling. That’s not the case. Lawyers should be used as advisers as entrepreneurs go through the life cycle of their businesses.

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: There’s such a temptation for legal consumers to go online and find a form and fill in the blanks and think that’s adequate. That’s so deceptive. There is so much more complexity that goes into forming a business. They need legal guidance. Filling in blanks leads to trouble.

Burt, Kipp & Christian: Bill mentioned speed. I think e-mail is a pro and con for business owners and lawyers. It makes communication much faster, but it’s much easier to send off something you shouldn’t. One of the first things we do when we get a case is gather e-mail correspondence. As business owners and executives, you have to be careful what you say in an e-mail because it can be brought into a legal case.

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: There’s a false sense of security with office e-mails. They become the treasure trove. People need to be very careful of the defamation risks involved in shooting off e-mails in the heat of the moment as Patrick indicates.

Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: Take that one step further with Facebook. We’re seeing a lot of social media problems arise because people think what they are saying is confidential, but it’s not. People post things they wouldn’t say in a professional environment.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What myths about your profession would you like to dispel?

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: By and large, in this county and in the state of Utah, the phrase “honest lawyer” is not an oxymoron. Most of our professional colleagues are very ethical.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: Most of the lawyers who get past all of the barriers to entry are there because they want to help people. We want to solve problems. I don’t know any other profession that gives more pro bono back to the community. Bill, for example, sits on many boards and gives of his time. Attorneys don’t have horns. We like people, we like to help businesses and we like to help families succeed. That’s what motivates me.

Burt, Kipp & Christian: When I first started practicing, people would say I was too nice to be a lawyer. The perception is that we are fighting tooth and nail — and billing you the entire time we’re doing it. My experience is you get a lot further in law and you get better results for your clients if you treat people kindly and if you give respect and have integrity. We want our clients to refer other clients. We want a good reputation in the community.

Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: There are lots of ways to get rewarded in our field. Money was an important motivator early on. As I’ve gotten older, money is less important and I strive for other things. An attorney who is striving for appreciation and relationships is going to do things for free, and all you have to do is invite him out to lunch and be open and honest with him. As the population ages, you have a lot of older attorneys who aren’t driven by money, but are driven by relationships.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What are some of the common ways businesses are charged for legal services?

Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: Everything I do is fixed fee, except for some contract negotiations. Clients know up front what they will pay. They know it’s going to cost them $650. If it’s $659, they will call me. People like fixed fee. I like it, too. Perhaps 30 percent of what an attorney does is fight with accounting and fight with a client over bills. It’s a complete waste of time.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: The fixed fee model is wonderful. I don’t know if I could afford to sign up for a blank check of $250 an hour with the risk of it ending up being $3,000 or $4,000 or much more. That is beyond the comfort level of a small- or medium-sized business. With fixed fee, clients can call the attorney without fearing, “Gee, I’m going to get this ticky-tacky bill for copies or a phone call.”

Burt, Kipp & Christian: Since most of our work is civil litigation, each case is unique and a flat fee usually won’t work. We go with the tried-and-true hourly rate, but we always make sure to provide a budget. Our firm is also good about sending monthly status letters to clients.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What are common legal needs that family businesses need to address?

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: One of the key things is a succession plan. What happens when Dad dies? Failure to answer that question legally can sometimes lead to frustration and bitterness in families. You are well advised to take care of that in advance.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: The theme this morning seems to be communication. Attorneys can facilitate that communication within a family. Sometimes it’s difficult for family members to have those conversations without a disinterested third party.

Burt, Kipp & Christian: Chris mentioned this earlier. You should have an attorney on board when you start the business. Sometimes family businesses aren’t ready for growth. Sometimes their paperwork or structure is not set up for that. They need ongoing legal counsel. Avoid the handshake oral agreements that often go along with family businesses. You need documentation and paper trails.

Frischknecht, Ray Quinney & Nebeker: Family businesses are very interesting. They involve succession issues, how to capitalize for growth, when and if to involve venture capital, how to pass on interests through estate planning, and a variety of other issues for a business that is dear to the heart of those who created it.

Burt, Kipp & Christian: If there is an attorney on board in a family business, it’s good to know who the attorney represents. Sometimes the attorney thinks he’s representing the company’s best interests, but family members have other ideas. The family needs to know the attorney’s role ahead of time.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: How have changes in real estate affected you?

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: We’re doing a lot of negotiations with banks. Real estate developers have been turned upside down. The appraised value of their properties is now less than their loans. This creates all kinds of problems for the lender and borrower — and a lot of legal work to be done in that regard. Frankly, some of the best men and women in this valley are under water and struggling to find a way out of the recession. There are things that can be done, strategies for negotiating with borrowers. There is a considerable increase in these types of cases.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: We practice bankruptcy law. There was a decrease of cases after October 2005, but now it has come back with a vengeance. Unfortunately, some get themselves into situations that are unwise from the start; but most who face bankruptcy are well intended. Nobody wants to file bankruptcy. They would like to negotiate their way out and honor their commitments, but the economy manifests itself in terrible ways.

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: The big problem in this valley and this state is the credit crunch. We’ve seen a lot of our clients who have done everything to weather the storm. They’ve cut expenses, they’ve laid off non-essential employees. They’ve cut back on frills and office parties. They’ve restructured their insurance plan, and the storm is still raging. They are up against the wall thinking the credit markets will ease up, but despite all the talk out of Washington, it hasn’t. Credit is still tough. Even those who are willing to lend are facing far heavier regulatory schemes. It’s a problem that isn’t going away quickly. I’m worried about small businesses who are stretched as far as they can go. The light isn’t there yet for a lot of them, and they don’t have much more capacity to protect their businesses. We’ve got to ease up the credit market.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: The national focus should be on small- and medium- sized business, which are truly the backbone of our local economy. If they can’t access capital, they can’t make payroll when things are tight. They can’t expand. They can’t do a lot of the things that would bless the lives of their employees.

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: I bet Michael sees these trends in his IP practice.

Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: We’re doing more provisional pats. The real estate side, interestingly enough, has benefited tech companies because there’s cheap space out there right now. Tech companies have weathered the storm better than most. Most of my clients are hiring. They have a little more money to spend on IT because they are spending less on rent.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: Let’s look forward. I know you have a front seat to the trends in the local economy. What do you foresee happening in our community in the next 10 years?

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: The economy is going to rebound. We have a remarkable entrepreneurial engine in this county that is not on its deathbed. It’s been suppressed by a lack of credit, but we’ll see a rebound. The Utah economy has done better than most states.

Burt, Kipp & Christian: Utah didn’t get hit as hard as other regions because of our entrepreneurial spirit, our fighter mentality. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Utah rebound fairly quickly.

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: The state and local government leaders have done a great job keeping us in the black and staying on top of revenue decreases. We’re well positioned for the future.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: One thing Utahns understand — and the national politicians need to understand — is that capitalism is still good. Self-interest rightly understood is a good thing. As we move forward with ideas and develop in a competitive way, we can make great things happen. That is why America has led the world this last century. We are the good guys economically and socially. As long as we are responsible and respectful in the way we do business and the way we live our lives, we can still be a great force.

Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: My prediction is that in the IP world, we’re going to see a lot more globalization. If not in the next 10 years, soon after we’ll see a world patent. We’ll also see movement toward multidisciplinary practices where attorneys work in offices with accountants and engineers where a client can come in and get all those benefits from one visit.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What is the job market like for those coming out of law school now?

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: With two law schools in the state, we are churning out 300 new lawyers per year. Both schools prepare their graduates for big firm practice and constitutional law practice, and the reality is that many end up in small- to medium-sized firms, so it’s incredibly competitive. I’ve received 30 inquiries lately from people saying “Please, please can I work for free to get experience?”

Krieger, Kirton & McConkie: A lot of the 2009 graduates are starting now because they were deferred by law firms last year. Not only are firms not hiring people this year, but they are filling the few jobs they do have with people from last year.

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: We read about big law firms laying off substantial numbers of young lawyers. That’s tough. A lot of young lawyers would be wise to see law school as a stepping stone to another profession.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: It’s a great time to be in law school, though. It’ll come around.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What final message would you like to leave with our readers in regards to the legal industry?

Burt, Kipp & Christian: For business owners, it’s crucially important to find the right attorney and be in touch often. Keep them in the loop as business grows.

Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer: Most lawyers want to be perceived as a client’s friend and not a necessary evil. We want to be there for them.

Burt, Kipp & Christian: We take pride in our clients’ successes. It’s a joint venture.

Dexter, Dexter & Dexter: As attorneys, we can make a positive impact not only on the local community but on solving some of the issues people are dealing with. We are here to help.

Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: Thank you for your time today. I learned a lot, and I know our readers will, too.

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Jeanette Bennett, BusinessQ: What makes Utah Valley such a great place to start a business?

Neal Maxfield, Entrepreneurship Institute at UVU: It’s a culture that continues year after year. I have students in our entrepreneurship program whose parents have their own businesses. They’ve seen it modeled, and they have an excitement about business. Many start businesses as young college students.

Sonny Olsen, Heideman, McKay, Heugly & Olsen: Before becoming an attorney, I worked for dot-com startups. I would travel around the country, and people would ask why Utah County is another Silicon Valley. It’s a culture thing. People in this area are focused. They have fewer hobbies and fewer social activities in the evenings. They have fewer distractions and more support. Also, the culture is focused on networking, and there are simply some very bright people here.

Lance Black, Eli Kirk: Part of our culture is go to school and get an education. We have good people here, and when we put good people in good businesses, we thrive.

Eddy Hood, Dashboard Accountants: There’s a really strong mentorship mentality here. There are great angels, investors and lenders. These people take pride in saying, “I’ll take you under my wing.” You’ve got guys like Alan Hall, Greg Warnock and Brent Crabtree who will take time to help you grow your business.

Kiley Hix, Strategic Staffing: It’s a tight community with a lot of independent thinkers. In the staffing industry, we deal with businesses that are making decisions quickly. Entrepreneurs graduate from college and are ready to take on the world. Utah County breeds that independent nature, that entrepreneurial spirit.

Brandon Fugal, Coldwell Banker: We live in a very pro-business state. Most of the business owners in California right now feel like they’re penalized for being successful. Utah is fostering development and playing into our young, highly-educated workforce — and that entrepreneurial spirit we have. We have the perfect storm of benefits to foster growth in a difficult market.

David Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions: I agree that the culture and independence factor in, but it’s also out of necessity. I’m from Washington, D.C., and the mindset there is quite different. There are many large companies with established brands that have strongholds on market share, and the barrier to entry is daunting. Comparatively, in Utah there are more small to midsized companies so the opportunities of working up the corporate ladder at a blue chip firm are harder to come by. But that’s the beauty of Utah. There aren’t five large companies in every vertical that have the market cornered, so if you look hard enough, there are soft spots or ways to penetrate market share.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Utah is second in the nation for population growth — second only to Wyoming. How does population factor into our business growth?

Hix, Strategic Staffing: It makes for a great labor market. Even when unemployment was at 2.8 percent two years ago, you could find good employees. You might have had to turn over a few more rocks, but you could find employees.
Lee Livingston, Fibernet: Population growth means you need more businesses to feed the families, and that fosters economic growth and builds the economic cycles in the communities.

Fugal, Coldwell Banker: Having a growing demographic gives you a strategic position to grow your business. Companies succeed if they continue to recruit and retain key employees.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Is now a good time to start a business?

Hix, Strategic Staffing: Yes! Everything is on sale.

Greg Fix, Big-D Construction: It is less expensive to start a business today than it was in 2008. You’re starting at a low point and can build over time. The opportunities in the next two years are going to be great.

Olsen, Heideman, McKay, Heugly & Olsen: People hear the word recession and cringe. But recessions are the best opportunities to find value, not just in real estate, but in buying and selling businesses. It may not be the optimum time to start a business, but it’s a great time to acquire a business that may need some retooling. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in legal work for angel investors and securities. Many people have pulled money out of the market and have cash waiting to be invested — and they are investing in entrepreneurs and in businesses.

Fix, Big-D Construction: There’s a great network of people out there who are interested in investing in good ideas and in startup companies.

Hood, Dashboard Accountants: Any business that starts in this economy is going to start lean and stay lean. As we do the books for businesses, I can tell which ones started in the fat period as opposed to the skinny period. We are teaching the “fat ones” how to budget.
Fugal, Coldwell Banker: Right now, there are deals on commercial space. Businesses can procure free rent, furniture and other concessions they wouldn’t otherwise be able to benefit from. Landlords hate to hear that, but it’s a reality right now. If you’re looking to lease space, it’s a very competitive market. It’s a great time to be a new business.

Hood, Dashboard Accountants: It’s also a great time to hire. Every time we put a “help wanted” ad out, we get 50 resumes within a couple of hours and they’re all college graduates. You can build a great staff and not go broke doing it.

Hix, Strategic Staffing: If you’re in a position to hire, you’re going to get the cream of the crop. It’s a great time.

Black, Eli Kirk: Technology also makes it a great time to start a business. Somebody on a bootstrap budget can start a business using social tools and bring awareness to their concept or product or brand. Facebook brings a trusted friend network. If I have 700 friends on Facebook and I’m trusted among those friends, then what I say is gold. And then they’ll re-tweet it or discuss it among friends. So in talking to five friends, I can really talk to 3,000.

Fix, Big-D Construction: Our valley has amazing networking opportunities with the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, Corporate Alliance and ConnectShare. Add social networking, and there are relatively inexpensive ways to get to know people. People do business with people they know and trust. I really believe that.

Hood, Dashboard Accountants: When a business starts, sometimes they mistakenly take all their capital and go buy office space and business cards and fancy chairs. We tell them not to do that. Every dollar you have should be spent on marketing and getting customers. Then let your customers pay for all that other stuff once they’re paying you. Capital is a finite resource. Don’t blow your money on things that aren’t bringing in customers.

Bennett, BusinessQ: At what point should a startup develop its brand?

Black, Eli Kirk: Yesterday! Your brand is your customers’ perception of your product or service that they get in aggregate over time. It’s much more than a logo. It’s their experience when they call customer service. It’s the experience when they see a collateral piece from you or talk to one of your sales reps, or have a problem with a product and have to return it. A brand will happen regardless of whether you drive it. Who the boss says you are is not necessarily who you are. Who your customers think you are is who you really are.

Fix, Big-D Construction: Our people are our brand. We are who our employees make us.

Maxfield, Entrepreneurship Institute at UVU: Perception precedes using a service or company. If you can create a strong perception quickly, you’ve created value.

Olsen, Heideman, McKay, Heugly & Olsen: People need to spend money and get good advice on branding and marketing in order to get recognition and build their volume. For some companies, image is so important because they don’t have the relationships yet. They deal more in volume. For us, we focus more on relationships.

Maxfield, Entrepreneurship Institute at UVU: When I owned Maxfield Candy, we first had just a generic business card. Then we went to chocolate colored. Then later we photographed the chocolate and put it on our business card. So immediately people would know we sell boxed chocolate. Your logo and materials need to communicate quickly and clearly.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What are the accounting tasks that need to be addressed from day one?

Hood, Dashboard Accountants: Number one, they need to realize sales is the most important thing. You’ve got to get money in the door. The second most important thing is to track it. If you don’t track it, you’re going to lose it. Startups need to have three to six months of cash to cover operating expenses. Most of their operating expenses should be marketing. As clients come in the door, they should use that revenue to fuel growth of their business. Also, they need a cash flow forecast, not a pie in the sky. Sales is not cash. A sale is a transaction. Cash is what I get four months later when they finally pay me. You also need an accountant. Don’t be cheap on how you track money — and don’t be cheap on marketing.

Livingston, Fibernet: If a company is a service provider or has a complex product line, they need to know exactly what the costs associated with those products are. Reporting is such a key element. Set up the income and expense categories so you know how and what to sell effectively.

Hood, Dashboard Accountants: There’s no way you can grow if you don’t know where you’re sitting at all times.

Hix, Strategic Staffing: You also need to know what kind of corporation is best for you. If you grow too big too fast and you weren’t set up properly, you limit your financial capabilities. Are you going to hire employees? Workers comp? General liability insurance? These factors need to be thought out as you structure your business. When looking for trusted advisers, ask people in your network who they would recommend. If you sell widgets, you should seek out the best widget maker in Utah and see if he or she will share experiences with you.

Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions: As we transition to less of a cash-based society, businesses cannot survive unless they accept credit cards. I’d venture to say less than 25 percent of people under age 44 carry cash. But be cautious when selecting a provider. Taking credit cards pertains to your cash flow, so it’s critical you understand what and who you’re committing to. I cannot imagine trusting the lion share of my revenue to a company 2,000 miles away. Find a local company that will explain electronic payment processing and listen to your needs.

Bennett, BusinessQ: How does an entrepreneur figure out all the complexities when he or she would prefer to simply focus on the great idea?

Hix, Strategic Staffing: Bring in a team of advisers. You need an accountant. You need an adviser to tell you how much to pay yourself if you’re an S-corp. You need a marketing team.

Olsen, Heideman, McKay, Heugly & Olsen: You need the right representation. If you’re starting a sophisticated enterprise and you’re projecting millions in revenue, it’s extremely important that you get the right advice, and it’s relatively inexpensive compared to the other startup costs.

Hix, Strategic Staffing: There are companies like Omniture in Utah County that started with five employees and are now publicly traded. You need to take those possibilities into consideration.

Olsen, Heideman, McKay, Heugly & Olsen: The last thing you want to do is have the ability to go public and have somebody say, “You’re an S-corp? You need to be a C-corp for two years. Sorry you missed your opportunity.” That gives your competitors time to get into the market. You need a relationship with an attorney.

Livingston, Fibernet: To Sonny’s point, the setting up of a C-corporation or S-corporation has a big impact on the exit strategy. All of those factors have to be taken into consideration.

Maxfield, Entrepreneurship Institute at UVU: This brings to mind a UVU student who started a business a couple of years ago who wants to grow and sell it. If that’s your vision from the beginning, it makes a difference as to how you set it up. You have to have that vision all the way through. You have to decide are you going to be local? Are you going to grow nationally? What are you going to be doing with the life of your business?

Bennett, BusinessQ: When a business is starting out, how do they anticipate what kind of office space they need? How do they plan for growth?

Fugal, Coldwell Banker: Business owners can never be too proactive when it comes to space requirements. All too often business owners leave that decision to the end and then compromise their ability to negotiate from a position of strength. The earlier in the process you identify the right type of facility for your company, the more thoughtful you can be as you navigate the entire process. A lot of companies don’t look toward a three-to-five-year plan for growth. But the decisions they make upfront relative to their commercial space can have a huge impact on whether their operations can be effective or end up being displaced in multiple locations, which presents a major difficulty.

Fix, Big-D Construction: Knowledge is power. We like to begin with the end in mind and help the owner understand what the costs are going to be before they even get into the design process. Establish what the budget is and then go through that design process and design to what the budget needs to be.

Fugal, Coldwell Banker: People grapple with do I own or do I lease. Right now in the market where global finance is challenged, people don’t recognize there are tremendous opportunities with SBA financing. There are small business loans available. The key is you have to still be profitable. You still have to show profitability, and a lot of early-stage businesses can’t show that. If you can show a track record for profitability, in many cases it makes more sense to own your space. On the flipside, most of the Fortune 500 lease their space. Why? Because they need to be quick and nimble. Any business looking toward growth needs to afford themselves the ability to expand, contract, and to be quick and nimble — which leasing provides. On the flip side, if you are a doctor or an established company and your space needs aren’t going to change in the foreseeable future, it’s wise to create a profit center for yourself by building equity in your space as opposed to giving that equity to a third party. Each type of business has its own needs, and I’ve seen businesses end up building a building that is a monument to themselves that reflects the culture. But the exit strategy isn’t there, the ability to multi-tenant that building doesn’t effectively exist and it ends up being more of a handicap. There are a lot of considerations that go into a facilities planning strategy.

Livingston, Fibernet: If you are going to own your own property, it’s another business. You have to carefully consider where you want to spend not only your time resources, but your capital resources. It’s a huge expense. Are you going to spend your money on real estate or on building your business? What is your core business?

Olsen, Heideman, McKay, Heugly & Olsen: If you’re going to own something, you need to be smart about how you set up the shell to own it. In a lot of cases, you want to set up a separate entity. There can be serious liability implications from owning property that you don’t want to affect your core business.

Fix, Big-D Construction: Many times an owner will setup a separate entity and then lease it back to the company.

Bennett, BusinessQ: It’s not a guarantee that when you start your business, it will succeed. What do you see as commonalities among businesses that do succeed?

Black, Eli Kirk: It’s drive. It’s vision. It’s somebody who does not get too worried about the shortfalls and has the big picture vision and passion. Success in business is also based on having a culture and process in place to ensure customers are raving fans of your company — not just satisfied customers. Also, strengthening relationships with others — whether or not they are potential clients — is imperative to long-term business growth. We can’t see people as objects or as a means to a future business relationship, but instead we must look at ways we can help them.

Livingston, Fibernet: There was a time in history when the Internet was not a significant factor in the success of a business. Today it is one of just a few keys to perpetuating and having a successful business. One of the key factors to succeed is having an effective Web site. If you don’t have that, you are going to be outcompeted. But putting up a Web site does not guarantee anything. Marketing and driving traffic to a site is an essential key.

Fix, Big-D Construction: That’s the first place people start looking, so it’s essential to success. Also, an entrepreneur needs a strong will to succeed. One of the most important things is stay focused on why you started your business. What was it that brought the idea about? Focus on what you are an expert in and then hire people around you for what weaknesses you might have. Sometimes we try to do so much that we don’t focus on what we’re best at. We try to do all the things that bog us down in a business.

Hood, Dashboard Accountants: Number one, a successful entrepreneur is not afraid to ask. In a sales appointment, he’s not afraid to ask for the close. Entrepreneurs who are timid will fail. Two, you need a healthy respect for cash. Once cash is gone, you’re gone. Three, you have to delegate everything you aren’t good at. Get it off your plate. You don’t have enough time to do everything. If you are wearing so many hats that you have a kink in your neck, you’re going to fail. Four, the CEO has to be the best sales person in that business. The CEO should be out knocking doors with the sales manager every day.

Fugal, Coldwell Banker: Success in business comes down to identifying a need and filling that need in the marketplace and being able to execute on that. That’s the core of your business strategy. Identify it and then outline a strategy where you’re filling that need and doing it better than anyone else. The older I get, I’m less impressed by people who have money than I am with people who are excellent at what they do. People who have an eye toward excellence impress me, and it doesn’t matter whether they are a schoolteacher, an engineer, an artist or a CEO of a multinational organization. Whatever your business is, be excellent.

Decker, Complete Merchant Solutions:
You are not going to evolve without making mistakes — it’s part of the process. We were recently taken by a professional scam ring out of Los Angeles for more than $100,000. They used stolen identities and forged documents to open a merchant account. This was an expensive lesson. From this we’ve become much more aware of risk exposure. So be patient with yourself because you won’t always be perfect in your execution. And in conjunction with that, align yourself with capital outlets. Establish credit lines or keep angel investors in the wings just in case you have a Los Angeles-type experience of your own. Also maintain an abundance mentality rather than a scarcity mentality. Karma is so important. When you treat customers and partners well, they’ll spread the word.

Hix, Strategic Staffing: Some of the training seminars that I’ve been to talk about how businesses should keep it simple. Focus on one, two or three core things you do as a business. Those are your goals, dreams and passions. Be quick and nimble and able to change what you do. Last year we had to rapidly change what we did. As a business owner, be able to wear different hats and adapt to the circumstances.

Maxfield, Entrepreneurship Institute at UVU: It comes down to finding something you love. Passion comes from within. Even with passion, it takes experience to understand the marketplace and needs of the customer. The owner of a business is the one who really drives it. You’ll be first one there, the last one out and last one to get paid. You have to love what you do.

Olsen, Heideman, McKay, Heugly & Olsen: Our law firm has been known as a litigation firm, but now we are focusing on relationships and our business clients. Business people need sound short-term and long-term legal advice. Companies that are successful value relationships as well. Whether it’s Brandon with real estate or David with merchant services, you can’t do everything and you need to form relationships with others who can help you. It doesn’t matter how brilliant you are, if you aren’t getting good advice and setting up your business properly, you’ll run out of cash, you’ll lose focus and your customers will recognize it. Build a network of people who will live and die with you.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Thank you for your advice on starting a business.

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Jeanette Bennett, Editor of BusinessQ: What is it like to be a woman in business in Utah County?

Cynthia Gambill, Remedez HairSpa: There are certain aspects of being an entrepreneur here in Utah County that are very ideal, such as workforce, the character and the caliber of women. And then there are other aspects that are less than ideal, such as historical ideas of what women should be doing here in Utah. The truth is there are more women in the workforce here in Utah County than men.

Jessica Devenish, Checknet: I always read that, but when I go to a local business retreat or seminar, I’m certainly not the majority. I sit at a table where I’m one woman with nine or 10 men.

Gambill, Remedez: I have 40 employees and they are all women, but they are obviously not the CEO or CFO. Many women in the workforce are behind desks doing clerical work or being assistants in law offices. They aren’t always attending leadership meetings or retreats.

Kathy Anderson, Fillmore Spencer LLC: We see a lot of entrepreneurial women coming to our law offices and starting businesses, but a lot of them are home-based. Women often like to find things they can do at home with their kids.
Laura Jarman, Dear Lizzie: We have amazingly talented women in this valley in all different fields — the caliber of teachers, entrepreneurs and artists is inspiring. It’s fun to be in business in this community because women — and men — are succeeding in their own fields.

Jill Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: My identity as a woman business owner isn’t really in Utah County because I do a lot of business outside the state. But I do know women are underrepresented in Utah County boardrooms. I’m usually the only female in the conference room, but I don’t look at it as intimidating. It’s wonderful there is at least that one female in the conference room. I do enjoy seeing local female entrepreneurs because they are adding income to their homes while raising children. That is the kind of home I was raised in. My mom was always integrating additional money-making opportunities into the home.

Gambill, Remedez: I have read that 40 percent of women in the workplace are the main breadwinners. It’s not just an addition to the family income — it’s the only source of income in the family.
Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: I spoke to the entrepreneurial department in UVU back in January, and I asked the chairman about the male/female ratio in the department. He said for every 10 men, there is one woman. So it is important for females to get out there and identify themselves in whatever business capacity they are in because we can make a difference in encouraging women to get an education and consider a future in business.

Anderson, Fillmore Spencer: At the BYU law school, 39 percent of the incoming first-year students are female this year. I think they will pass the 50 percent mark, and that’s a great thing. We have a few female attorneys in our office, and it adds an important dimension to have them there.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Have you ever felt misunderstood by other women in the community?

Anderson, Fillmore Spencer: In my neighborhood, most women stay at home. I’m the odd man out. How I view things and how I handle things are different than the majority of people surrounding me. Not that it’s good or bad — it’s just different.

Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: Like Kathy, I deal with being the odd man out. As far as being misunderstood, I’ve just come to understand that it is a part of me. As an entrepreneur, I tend to be misunderstood because what is going on in my brain might not be what is going on in everybody else’s brain. I can be misunderstood in more than just my gender. I used to live in an older community where the women had raised their children, so there was more career camaraderie among us. I moved to a different community, and it was quite contraire. Whatever our choice is, I would hope there would be camaraderie among us. I’m a big advocate of supporting others.

Devenish, Checknet: I wish there was more camaraderie among girls from elementary school to high school and on through adulthood. My whole life I have been misunderstood by other women. A lot of my best friends are guys — I have girls that are best friends, too — but it just seems that women are always misunderstood. There is never the camaraderie that you would hope among our gender.

Gambill, Remedez: There is a sense of trying to justify the fact that I am not home like a lot of my neighbors. I live in a town where most women are at home and don’t need to work. There is also a cultural background concerning women in the workplace that has affected the community — not necessarily for good.

Devenish, Checknet: Maybe I surround myself with women who all work because my best friends all work. They might not be the CEO, but they all work full time.

Gambill, Remedez: Personally, I don’t know myself without a career. I didn’t get married until I was 36 and had my first child at 37. So, in this community I am the odd man because of my age as well as my career choice. There are a lot of books written about finding the balance of your home and your career. What is balance anyway? Balance is different for everyone. I know what balance is for me. I know I can’t be at school and at work at the same time, and I have to be OK with that. It’s all about the choices and decisions we have to make.

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: We hear a lot about the “time and a season” concept. I’ve been highly involved with the schools in a different season in my life, but I’m at a different place now. It can be discouraging sometimes because you would like to be involved in the ways you were before, but you can’t. You gave it your all when that was your moment to do it, and now your attention is drawn elsewhere. I’ve been very lucky in my neighborhood and community to have a lot of support. They see the pull of the business and the intensity of the demands.

Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: Do you find it interesting that as females we have a greater need to justify or defend ourselves? Instead of having to defend why you can’t be the PTA president this year, your merits should stand for themselves.

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: We need to be mutually supportive. It is hard to be a mommy at home with little children. I’ve had women say to me, “I understand your time is limited” or “you work so hard.” But I’m thinking, “You work so hard, too,” and “your time is limited, too.” I appreciate that they give me that benefit, but at the same time I understand they are also busy.

Bennett, BusinessQ: How do you feel about balance — the word we all hate to hear but always think about?

Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: A partner at home is very helpful for balance. If you have someone at home who can prioritize the family and the home life equally, then it’s a huge factor. It could be difficult to have 100 percent of the needs of the children met when you don’t have that kind of support.

Gambill, Remedez: I don’t believe in balance because I don’t think it exists. But I do believe in good communication with your spouse or your partner or whomever you live with. Technology can put all your schedules together when you meet daily, weekly or monthly. I do believe people can become very good at scheduling; scheduling is more important to me than balance.

Devenish, Checknet: I cringe when I get asked about balance. My husband and I don’t do 50/50, we each do 100 percent. I’m not very good at saying no, but over the years I’ve learned my limitations. I have to say, “I’d really like to be part of that, but I’m going to have to pass this time,” which is hard as a woman in business because you want to be out there and be part of the community. But sometimes, you just have to say no.

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: There is this thing out there for women that says you can have it all — you can have your family, you can have your career. I‘ve decided I’m not a big believer in that. We do it all, but I don’t think it necessarily means we have it all. When one thing rises up, another thing drops down, such as attention to your children or spouse. And that requires a lot of sacrifice. When I really went full steam ahead with my business, it was hard on me and hard on them. Now we’ve come to a new balance because with time you figure out how to make it work. It’s good — it’s challenging, but good.

Anderson, Fillmore Spencer: You can’t be 100 percent mom or 100 percent wife or 100 percent businesswoman all at the same moment. You do have to know your limitations. That’s a hard thing to figure out. We need to say, “I’m just not going to do this” and feel OK with that.

Gambill, Remedez: It comes down to choices.

Anderson, Fillmore Spencer: You have to make the choices as to what works for you and your family. I don’t have a partner at home, but I have parents who support me and who make a difference so I can be a mom and a career woman and do everything to support my family.

Gambill, Remedez: I always think about when my kids are my age, how are they going to talk about me? What did she do? Was she involved with the community? Was she an educated woman who could maintain a conversation without shutting down? A woman in business is not just about money; it’s about many things in life we need to prepare ourselves for. We need to be our best selves and contribute in meaningful ways.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What have been your experiences as you employ women who are also going through the whole balancing issue we’re talking about?

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: I personally love it. There is so much we can do for each other. As women in business we can support all the different roles women have by focusing on the gifts of the person who is before us. Really what women can do best is provide an environment where they are safe, appreciated and understood in all these ways we’re talking about — families, husbands and challenges at home. As women we can let our businesses be personal and allow that part of it in. It invites challenges, but it also invites other positive things.

Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: It’s important in a business environment to have boundaries with the injection of the personal world. As far as females go, my first employees were my sisters and my mother. I learned a lot as it relates to working with family and females and integration. Ten years ago, a girl who still works for me called because her son had an ear infection and she had to take him to the doctor. She was going through the rounds of defending her position with this child, and I had to tell her, “Hey, work will always be secondary — your children will always be the most important.” It’s hard to maintain those kinds of standards when your business is on the line, but when you can maintain those standards, the employees are empowered to give everything they can.

Gambill, Remedez: When our fathers were climbing the ladder in corporate America, most of our mothers were at home. These last two generations of women started making it in corporate America, and we’ve added that female touch. For the first 15 years of my career I was corporate. I noticed the more women a company hired, the more the business softened overall.

Devenish, Checknet: I work with my mom and sisters, and we have an office full of women. It’s camaraderie in a very positive, passionate way. It’s like the “you go girl” attitude. When girls get past those misunderstandings, it’s such a powerful feeling because there is no stopping you. We can change the world as a group. We do have heart in a different way than men do. Sometimes it’s a strength, sometimes it’s a weakness. The heart — the word heart — is just different in a man and a woman. Not better — just different.

Gambill, Remedez: One weakness women have is we aren’t able to leave our work at work. We take the work home, and it may affect our relationships with the ones we love.

Devenish, Checknet: That’s when it’s bad. We don’t know how to disconnect and drop the anchor. We always hold onto it.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What other strengths do women have in a business setting?

Anderson, Fillmore Spencer: Like Jessica said, we view things differently. We’re able to see the bigger picture. Men are sometimes more narrow-minded, whereas women see the whole picture and how it is going to affect everybody. I also think the heart that we’re talking about builds loyalty with your employees when you understand they have a crisis at home. They are so happy you understand that it builds loyalty, and they are more willing to put in the extra effort.

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: Women are good multi-taskers. Women can juggle a lot of things in business — they’ve had practice.

Gambill, Remedez: We are resourceful because of the very nature of having to do a lot of things. We don’t shut our brains off when we get home. We keep on running, and I don’t know if I stop.

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: I like the energy that comes with women working together in the workplace or in the community. When you get hard workers together, great things happen. It’s fun and inspiring to see other women in action doing the things they do best. It’s like what you said, that “go girl” attitude. If we can be supportive and let social things drop away, great things happen because we understand each other.

Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: We are also good communicators. From my experience among the females, amazing brainstorming sessions have surfaced. When you feel trusted and safe in an environment to throw ideas out there without being ridiculed or criticized, amazing things happen. That’s one of the things I really believe is a positive for our gender.

Bennett, BusinessQ: How has technology been a blessing and a challenge as you meet the demands of your varied roles?

Gambill, Remedez: I could not survive without a Blackberry. I still have younger children — my oldest is 11 and youngest is 6. I am not sure if I like the idea of communicating with my children or my spouse via text or e-mails. But I’m fighting a losing battle because it’s easier to pick up this piece of technology and text my husband or my employees or my friends, but we’re losing a little bit of touch. It’s high-tech, low-touch. It is useful because it has made us even more effective and efficient. But it has taken away a lot of the nurturing aspect that women naturally can give.

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: It makes everything so much faster. You feel like your lives — your weeks and your days — go by so fast. Everything is so immediate with the information you can get and the information you can give. There is never any lag time. You can get your answers right away. It is a blessing and a curse all at once.

Devenish, Checknet: The one bad thing that supersedes everything is that you never disconnect. If I’m out of the office for a couple of days and I don’t respond immediately, there’s that level of dissatisfaction. I also feel like we’re never with the person we’re with. We are always checking an e-mail or a text, and there is a lack of quality in that.

Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: It allows us to manage more. I know my communication is pretty critical, but it has been important to establish boundaries. If you build patterns that teach people you are going to respond to their e-mails in five minutes, then when you don’t, it’s disappointing for them. We want to be there for others always — that’s the female in us. My husband is horrified because every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is check my e-mail. I say, “You know what? When everything is calm and good in my Blackberry, I can actually wander downstairs. But if there is some catastrophe that ensued overnight, I can manage it straightaway.” Technology is a blessing and a curse — but I think it’s more of a blessing than a curse.

Gambill, Remedez: It really is such a blessing. How did we used to communicate with our mothers if we forgot our lunch?

Anderson, Fillmore Spencer: It makes it easier to be out of the office when you need to deal with the kids or the family. Even when you’re doing something happy like a school program, you are still connected to the office, so it’s not like you’re off in never-never land when a crisis happens. For me, it makes it a little bit easier to take care of both sides. Most of the time, I see it as a blessing, but there are times when you would like to throw it out the window.

Bennett, BusinessQ: How has your career affected your marriage?

Devenish, Checknet: My relationship with my husband has been nothing but enhanced. We do work together, but we haven’t always. When I had been in business for four years, he came to work for us. It’s wonderful. I see disconnect with friends who become frustrated because their husband is late at work or their wife is late at work, and they don’t understand what’s actually happening in the office. We don’t have that disconnect because if I’m working late, he knows the project I am working on. If a client calls and needs him when we’re at dinner, I know he needs to take the call. I love having him in the office everyday. I look forward to spending the time with him. We go to lunch all the time. We are better friends because we have that second type of communication.

Gambill, Remedez: A working career woman is not for every man. For some men, they feel resentment. I work with my husband, too, so I feel exactly the same. But I work with a lot of women and have a lot of female clients who get home and have to fight the battle and justify being gone all day. There are a lot of divorces as a result of people fighting battles.

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: It’s the battle of who is working harder. My husband works with me, and we love working together. There is a lot of respect in that relationship because of the things he brings to make it all work and the things I bring to make it all work. The level of sacrifice on both sides is mutually acknowledged.

Gambill, Remedez: It sounds like we are pretty lucky in this room. This is not the norm — we just picked good men. Even in the 2009-2010 year, I still see that some men do not understand it that way — particularly in Utah County.

Devenish, Checknet: It makes me more grateful for what I have. When my husband can see I’m going to be late, I don’t have to explain. With the women who work for me, I hear the explaining and defending and they feel guilty.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Lastly, what do you want your daughters to understand about their possible future as a woman in business?

Devenish, Checknet: I tell all of my children they can be whatever they want. They have seen me do what I love, and I want them to have strong feelings for whatever they choose.

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: My daughter is 15, and she gets to be involved with me at work. I love for my children to see hard work and the results that come from hard work — to not be afraid of that and not shy away from that. My journey to where I am now in my career has been vast and varied. For my daughter, I want her to have an idea of where she would like to land someday and to enjoy the process of getting there — be it her education or whatever her work experience may be along the way. I’ve been amazed over my years of working with phenomenal women in business — even at times when I was the secretary — to look back at those moments and see what I learned even when I didn’t know I was learning. It’s part of what creates the person you are, and I want her to enjoy that.

Gambill, Remedez: I only have sons, so I know there are other mothers out there grooming women for my sons. I want my sons to choose women who are sensitive, hardworking, charitable and educated. But am I raising my sons to deserve that profile of a woman? I’m working toward trying to teach them the values these women should have. My job is to raise sons who deserve them.

Anderson, Fillmore Spencer: My daughter is in college, and I’ve watched her emulate me from the time she was 3, 4 and 5 by taking notes, typing on the computer or just doing the things I do. She’s always enjoyed coming to work with me and has seen me in the workplace as well as at home. She knows that’s who I am, that’s what I do. As she has gotten into college, I want her to make choices that make her happy and know that the possibilities of what she can accomplish are limitless. Whatever goals she sets, whatever she sets her mind to and wants to achieve, she can. Through hard work and effort there are no limitations. The most important thing is to be happy.

Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: I have three children. My oldest son is 15 and I have two daughters who are 5 and 7. The example of mom for the daughters is pretty clear. I, too, want them to know they can do whatever they want. What I struggle to do the most as a parent is raise my children with hands a little bit out, so I don’t try to tell them what their consciousness should be. If I tried to conform to what my parents wanted me to be, I don’t think I would be what I am today. I want my children to stretch their wings and fly.

Devenish, Checknet: We always play this game where I am like, “What about being a dentist? Who wants to be a dentist?” I have those conversations with my kids because they only see me doing business stuff and expect the same for themselves. So I am always like, “Well, what if you want to be a flight attendant?” I don’t want them to just see what they see in our home, because there are so many great jobs they might not even think of.

Grammer-Williams, American Name Services: But, the entrepreneurialism is still planted in children of entrepreneurs. My daughters are hysterical when it comes to this kind of thing. They do their lemonade stands on the corner, but their most recent entrepreneurial venture — which is different than what I’ve been exposed to — is they’ve started their own little Internet shows — their own “iCarly.” Throughout the neighborhood they put signs up saying the show is going to be at 3, and this is what we are going to do. While they see the different businesses we run, they have integrated business principles in their own way. They have turned it into something they enjoy, which is these little podcasts. And they’re doing it at 5 and 7, so bravo.

Gambill, Remedez HairSpa: In truth, we want our kids to be more than just happy. Many teenagers are happy watching TV in the basement or playing games. But author Carole Wiseman writes that what we really want is for our children to be happy AND productive. That’s probably the goal of any mother — to combine those two.

Devenish, Checknet: We need to bring out the creativity in our children. My 9-year old loves to draw. So I say, “You can be an artist.” And she says, “You don’t do that at your office, do you?” And I say, “No, there aren’t any artists at my work. But there are many opportunities for artists out there.”

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: You need to really focus on what their gift is.

Anderson, Fillmore Spencer: My daughter had a certain major in mind — accounting. But now she’s decided she doesn’t enjoy accounting. She had tunnel vision for her first plan, but now she’s changed to education and is thrilled and happy. Sometimes our children do follow our examples, but it’s important for them to broaden their views and see the bigger picture.

Jarman, Dear Lizzie: Among us, we have different gifts because we are all in different businesses. So our children can see what we are good at. I like that our children can see that our businesses are not just a hobby — they can learn that what you’re good at can be translated into something very legitimate as a business that can support your family.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Thank you for making time in your busy BlackBerries for this conversation! Now it’s back to our other many roles today!

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Jeanette Bennett, BusinessQ: How is the convention and meeting industry doing in Utah County?

Joel Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: We’re not feeling the same level of impact that destinations like Scottsdale, Ariz., and Las Vegas are feeling right now, but we are definitely feeling contraction and pull back from corporate meetings and events. Some companies are on edge about how they are spending that money.

Mark Hiles, Diamond Rental: At Diamond Rental we have seen a contraction of corporate events either through cutting back or downsizing. Some companies who do four or five events a year are now down to one or two.

Fritz Black, Cowboy Leaders: Companies are spending less money on lower levels of leadership and spending more on upper management.

Kendall Wimmer, Thanksgiving Point: Our corporate numbers are holding well, but the companies are spending less on the higher-end audiovisual and tent rentals. They are still having meetings, but they are downscaled.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What would you say to businesses about the importance of events and why they shouldn’t continue to cut back?

Black, Cowboy Leaders: Anytime you send someone to an event or a retreat you are hoping for a change in behavior. Executives need to understand what that change in behavior is and where you can get the most bang for your buck. One of the best ways you can institute a change is to go away from your comfort zone with people you haven’t met before. Different ideas can be exchanged where there isn’t the pressure of the daily grind. It’s really important to get away from the workplace.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: The notion of teleconferencing has its place, but business is really accomplished face-to-face. That is where you can get creative, you can brainstorm, you can look at the body language of individuals and you can feel how your meeting is going. We just hosted an event yesterday at the courthouse. What we accomplished there we could not have accomplished in a conference call. We had to hash it out and have some compromise and negotiation. We had a successful meeting.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Recently the media has painted a negative picture of some big national companies spending a lot of money on lavish events. What do you want people to understand about why meetings and events are a way of doing business?

Wimmer, Thanksgiving Point: There is a difference between a corporate retreat and an AIG corporate retreat. Very productive meetings can happen by getting away from the office. These meetings don’t have the distractions of the phones and copy machines or other employees coming in. There is a tremendous amount of team building and camaraderie that comes out of an event. Getting your mind away from the office and focused in an unfamiliar territory elicits new ideas.

Jack Marvell, Marvellous Catering: For the past 10 or 12 years we have done a party for the same company, and their numbers are down this year from 1,500 attendees to 1,100. But they are still going forward with the party to say “thanks” to their employees, because those employees are still working everyday. Every year, we cook steaks and the corporate executives serve them to their employees. They go around and talk to their people. It’s good stuff.

Black, Cowboy Leaders: There is something about changing attitudes that can’t be done just with policy change or a procedure change. What you really need to change is the attitude of the people, and you can only do that in a face-to-face setting. When you are sitting down, getting to know each other or breaking bread together, that is where you really share. That is when attitudes can change.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What role does food play in a successful event?

Marvell, Marvellous Catering: I have discovered that if you want them to come, feed them. If you want them to come back, feed them well. That is what it boils down to. When you feed them filet mignon for 12 years, they keep coming back — as opposed to other parties where it is a hot dog and a bag of chips. Only half of the company shows up to an event like that.

Black, Cowboy Leaders: If the food is bad, that is what they talk about. You can forget the message about the whole event presentation because they are going to talk about the food.

Marvell, Marvellous Catering: In the final analysis, it all comes down to that. The food is where the rubber meets the road.

Wimmer, Thanksgiving Point: I agree with everything that has been said, and I also think good food is a lot more affordable than people think. We see a lot of people in our deli area crowded around a public table trying to have a business meeting. For a few bucks more on food and a nominal room fee they can have a catered event in a private room with a staff that will care for their every need. Many places in the community are more affordable than people think.

Jared Kearns, McKay Events Center: We have an excellent Culinary Arts program at UVU. I’ve seen corporations come in and have elaborate dinners for all their employees. Then if they scale back the next time, they have less of a turnout. Food really does play a big part in an event.

Marvell, Marvellous Catering: When one company switched from steaks to hamburgers and hotdogs, we didn’t hear the end of the complaining. Everybody was saying, “Where are the steaks?” When I looked at the situation, I really didn’t see a good explanation for their decision because the difference in price between the two options was a buck or two.

Black, Cowboy Leaders: People are trying to walk a fine line between not spending too much and still trying to take care of their people. They don’t want people saying, “If things are so tight, why are you spending so much money on an extra?”

Marvell, Marvellous Catering: As things get tighter, people have the mentality of pulling in. But you have to be careful because people who are working for you need to know you care about them.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Let’s switch gears and talk about planning. What is the ideal time frame for someone to come to you and start planning an event?

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: I’m a member of the Western Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus, and every year we go to a CEO forum. Three years ago I thought, “Why don’t we host this event in Utah?” I wanted to see the economic impact come to my community. I also worked with the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Park City bureau, and we put together a bid. We had to get organized early on in the bidding and planning process.

Sharon Curley, Diamond Rental: We usually work a year out to plan an event, which gives us time to talk to the show managers and the vendors to make sure that everything is in line. Within that year of planning, I keep an open mind in case something comes up. I like to talk to the convention center early on and follow up with them. With a large expo event, we focus our attention on the exhibitors. If they aren’t happy, it isn’t a successful show.

Wimmer, Thanksgiving Point: At a year out, we would love to know they are coming. As we get closer, we secure bigger details. Often the menu falls into place as the last thing.

Kearns, McKay Events Center: I wish I had a year out! We have a lot of people show up two weeks or a month out wanting to pull off a dinner for a thousand people. Our clients are often first-time, local people.

Black, Cowboy Leaders: You need to understand the size and scope of your project. For small groups you can plan things on a very quick basis. And here in Utah County you can put things together in very short time span. Look at the people around this table — I don’t think there is one of us who would say no to business next week.

Marvell, Marvellous Catering: How about tomorrow? I’ll tell my wife to load the wagon, and we’ll take care of it.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: We’re seeing that the booking window is much more narrow than it used to be. Groups aren’t always planning a year in advance.

Hiles, Diamond Rental: That is a good point. We do see the time frame contracting a little bit with the economy. We really bend over backwards for a lot for these people to make sure we can accommodate their needs and get it done last minute. Utah County is great for that.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What are some of the big mistakes people make in planning an event?

Wimmer, Thanksgiving Point: Too often, people neglect to utilize the expertise of professionals. All of the people at this table have done this a lot. We have seen hundreds of events, and I’m surprised how often people don’t take advantage and ask us questions. We have professional meeting planners who often don’t get to use their skills because someone else is forcing an idea that may or may not work. We can take care of the little details, and we are there to make you look good. If you communicate to us about what you need, we can help. People often make the most mistakes when it comes to planning their audiovisual needs.

Kearns, McKay Events Center: The biggest thing I see is that people assume we have everything at our facility. People show up with their computers and don’t know how to run them.

Hiles, Diamond Rental: As a rental business, we see people try to cut expenses by doing it themselves. They don’t realize what goes into planning an event. We try to accommodate them as much as possible, but we do get a lot of last minutes calls about audiovisual or sound needs and lots of little overlooked details.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: I went to a tech summit in Northern California, and we had Internet connectivity problems. There were all these wired techno-geeks with laptops and Apple products, but they couldn’t get connected. We were close enough to Cupertino that it should have worked. It was a wonderful event, but the tech problems are what people were talking about. Think about the type of group you have and be proactive about the things that absolutely have to work.

Curley, Diamond Rental: As part of the planning, we need to ask the client the important questions. We ask them if they have thought about this or overlooked that. We can find out how to make things work.

Bennett, BusinessQ: After all the planning has been done and the event is actually happening, what can companies do to ensure the meeting goes smoothly?

Black, Cowboy Leaders: Watch the behavior of the people. Make sure you are getting the behavior you want to get. Get comments from people at the event and make changes on the fly.

Wimmer, Thanksgiving Point: What you don’t want to do is start a meeting with chaos. For a lot of people the first hour is spent running back and forth getting the last minute things taken care of. The key to an event going well is in the pre-planning stages. With proper planning and using your meeting planner, you can walk into a room that is already set up and be shaking hands at the door instead of running up and down the hall.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: When an event begins, you have to be in execution mode.

Marvell, Marvellous Catering: It’s showtime!

Bennett, BusinessQ: Are there any misunderstandings about the options in Utah Valley? Do you see businesses going to Salt Lake for meetings when they don’t necessarily need to?

Black, Cowboy Leaders: Absolutely. I think people look outside of Utah County first. We’ve got some great businesses here, but they look to Denver or Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. They figure they have to leave the county to get what they want, but they don’t pay attention to what is right here under their nose. If you want to cut money out of your event, cut your airline ticket. If you cut that you can spend more time and more money at your venue.

Wimmer, Thanksgiving Point: The accessibility of areas in Utah County are much better than in Salt Lake or other outlying areas. The ease of parking and access from I-15 makes a big difference.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: We in Utah County can do much more than people give us credit for, but we do have limitations. We have limitations of the size of groups and meeting space. Many network marketing companies hold their events in Salt Lake where they can handle 7,000 or 8,000. In Utah County, we only have about 3,000 hotel rooms.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What about tourism in Utah County? How do we entice people from out of state to come here to host events?

Black, Cowboy Leaders: The majority of our business is out of state. We host small groups that come to our outdoor setting where all of our meeting facilities are open air with all the modern conveniences you would expect to have. People come and spend time in the mountains — just a half hour out of Provo — and then they say they want to bring their families back. It boosts tourism.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: Meeting attendees are definitely future tourists. I can’t tell you how many individuals who attended my conference a week or two ago had never been up here, and they are already planning a trip to bring their families back. We’re talking about Utah Valley, which is great, but high tide raises all boats. When outdoor retailers comes to the Salt Palace, the attendees will cross lines and come down to Thanksgiving Point, or come down to the Provo River to fly fish.

Wimmer, Thanksgiving Point: We’re seeing a lot of businesses bringing families with them to conventions. We’re seeing corporations taking it into consideration — What is there for my family to do? Mom or dad are going to the meetings, so the kids are finding avenues to explore.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: It’s become a trend to tack on a vacation at the end of a business trip. It’s also a trend for people to stay closer to home — the “staycation.” Our state park numbers are up this year because Utahns are visiting. Timp Cave, Camp Floyd State Park and Utah Lake State Park are spiking in the number of attendees during the summer travel season. People are bringing their families and tacking on one or two extra days. Some people may not think of Utah County as a true tourism destination. Our goal is to help people understand what additional things they can do here. Whether they have come here for a purpose or a specific vacation at Sundance, for fly-fishing on the Provo River or golf at one of our 11 incredible golf courses, we have a lot of things to do.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What are some of the trends in conventions and meetings? What things are big right now in food and decor?

Curley, Diamond Rental: Utah County is very conservative. We have seen a lot of weddings scaled down. But a lot of them like to use lighted canopies. Décor-wise, they use lighting to give more flow. As far as conventions, we use the standard tables and chairs. A lot of times the exhibitors want to upgrade to different linens to add to their booth packages.

Marvell, Marvellous Catering: It’s been interesting to me to watch the trends in food over the past 20 years. I would attribute most of it to the Food Network because people are now aware of food. About 12 or 15 years ago, there was a little barbecue place down by Albertsons, and it didn’t make it. Now we have seven or eight of them in the valley. People want to taste what they see on TV — chipotle this, Asian that. The Food Network has changed things dramatically. We still serve a lot of the traditional kinds of things, but all the time we see requests for things they’ve seen on TV. In Utah Valley, we’ve become very international as it relates to food.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: We’ve got some good ethnic restaurants here, so I would agree with that.

Kearns, McKay Events Center: The trend we’re seeing is toward athletics. We had the Utah Thunder start up, and we have the Utah Flash. Throwdown does a few events, also. And, of course, we have UVU athletics. The trend I see is more and more people coming out to support these athletic events at the McKay.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: I admire your programming ability. You’ve got to be on top of things to pull off everything that happens in your facility.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Let’s look forward. What are some of your predictions for trends in your industry for the upcoming years?

Black, Cowboy Leaders: I predict people are going to start making decisions to do things they have been putting off. Rather than saving money, they are going to say, “No, we’ve got the money so let’s go ahead and do an event.” People are going to start breaking loose with dollars for conventions and training. They are going to look for more value for their dollar — whether it’s the quality of the food, the quality of the facility or the quality of the training. I strongly recommend to anyone who is going to hold any type of event that you look at the quality of the change you hope to make. Decide what outcome you want, and go to a place that will give you that outcome in buckets. If it’s food and pleasure, certainly go to someone who is going to give you the kind the food you’re looking for. If it’s training, then look for a company that can train. Whether it is sales training, leadership training or relationship training, find those things that are going to have a profitable outcome. People are going to be looking for that.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: Our infrastructure is going to change dramatically in Utah Valley. The venues we have are going to improve and increase. There have been groups who would love to come here but haven’t because we can’t meet their needs. Once the economy turns and the airlines are looking toward small carriers, we’re going to see scheduled service at the Provo Airport within three to five years. When we have a carrier that connects to Las Vegas or Denver, we’re basically connected to the rest of the world. Some facilities have been announced and we have seen efforts toward developing them such as the Frank Gehry Project in Lehi and the John Q. Hammons project in Pleasant Grove. Utah County has talked for a number of years about developing a smaller convention center in downtown Provo. I got three phone calls yesterday that said they are moving forward. It’s very exciting because if we wait before the economy rebounds to start this facility, we’ll continue to miss opportunities. This facility could be built in the next two years. We’re going to start getting a better piece of the pie. Hopefully, the regional corporate meetings, events, monthly training meetings and fly-in weekends that are currently being held elsewhere, will be held here. So we’re going to see incredible growth and much improved infrastructure.

Wimmer, Thanksgiving Point: We anticipate continued growth at Thanksgiving Point. This year, our food service numbers have been down, but our venue numbers have been higher than last year. It’s been good to see the locals come out and take advantage of local opportunities. As we start to get back to business, there will be a return to old business practices. People are understanding — particularly on the wedding side of the business — it’s not a whole lot cheaper to try to pull something off by yourself than to use one of these venues. The cost of a tray of fruit might be more than you would pay at Albertsons, but after you factor in tables, chairs, linens, glassware and canopies, you get a-la-carted to death. You end up spending a lot of money, not to mention the headache involved and not really enjoying the day you’re supposed to be enjoying. We continue to see talk about the quality of life here in Utah County. I think that will continue to attract businesses, and businesses will continue to build in this county. Transportation is huge. When UTA’s Front Runner goes in, that will be huge. I think it’s a very bright future for Utah County.

Kearns, McKay Events Center: I’m more in the entertainment industry. There continues to be more entertainment and better quality. I think of the Orem Owlz and the Utah Flash. Businesses come for parties and entertainment. Businesses are using these different venues and avenues to bring clients in. Utah County is developing these areas, which they haven’t in the past.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: The days of nothing to do are long gone.

Kearns, McKay Events Center: Right! There is always something to do here.

Curley, Diamond Rental: As Utah County continues to grow, there will be more tradeshows and conventions coming to Utah County.

Marvell, Marvellous Catering: I don’t even suppose to know what’s going to happen in the industry. I just know that we have recently moved into a new facility and we’re keeping ourselves in as good of a financial condition as we can. We’re going to ride this thing out, and we’re going to figure out how to sell some food. When the economy comes back, we’re going to be ready.

Hiles, Diamond Rental: I’m excited about the new facilities that will come in and bring more business. As Fritz was saying, people look for a bang for their buck. In Utah County, we don’t have a Salt Palace or a South Towne Expo Center. But I think UVU offers a great venue for the expos, especially for the smaller ones because you get a better bang for your buck there. I’m excited Utah County does have enough to offer. We just need to continue to get the word out about what is available here.

Racker, Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau: If we can get folks in Utah Valley to be thinking about how they can become an ambassador and bring events here, there are organizations to help them. And the Convention and Visitors Bureau is one of them.

Bennett, BusinessQ: That’s a positive way to end. I’m excited about the future just as all of you are. Thank you for your time today.

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s economic environment is compounding the opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Jeanette Bennett, BusinessQ: How would you describe the current banking environment in Utah Valley?

Richard Beard, Bank of American Fork: It’s not a secret we’

ve had a real change in the economic climate in the United States and Utah. The banking industry is not immune from that. It has been a time of change and getting back to the fundamentals.

Edward Sanches, Western Community Bank: The challenges we are facing are unprecedented. But this has brought out more commitment from bankers. There is the old joke about “bankers’ hours,” but lights are on late in managers’ offices. This is directly related to the commitment bankers now have, not only to their clients but also to the community they are serving. Bankers are pulling together.
Thomas Morgan, Zions Bank: Today’s challenges are affording us a tremendous learning opportunity. For our industry to be vibrant, we have to be good at what we do, and if we get complacent because times are really good and things go smoothly all the time, we get into a rut. Unless our protocols, our theories, our processes are tested, then we don’

t know whether we are good or not. It gives us an opportunity to test our resolve, to test our ideas and to test our credit scoring methodology. This truly is the real stress test for all of us. The next generation of banking will be an improvement on the last one if we learn from where we are at.

Leonel Castillo, AmBank: In general, banks in Utah are in pretty good shape, particularly in Utah County where we are well-capitalized and well-run. Our area banks have done a lot to help businesses stay in place. However, there has been much discussion about there being no money available and about banks being self-interested corporations with total lack of empathy for the customers they serve. In Utah County, that is simply not accurate.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What do you want people to understand about the banking industry?

Castillo, AmBank: We are part of the community whether we are a small institution or a regional bank. If you, as a consumer, have an issue, give us a call, come in, and let’

s see if there is a way we can find common ground.

Don Norton, Far West Bank: The banking industry has really made Utah an effective leader in the development of small businesses. From the small bank to the regional bank, we are all committed to the customer and to helping create an environment that encourages new business.

Mark Drake, Family First Federal Credit Union: Even though the economy has slowed down, Utah County is still doing well. We still have people applying for money, and we are still granting the credit.

Bennett, BusinessQ: The perception exists that it is difficult to borrow money right now. Is that true?

Beard, Bank of American Fork: We have gone back to being very careful about credit, and that by its nature tends to tighten things up. At least speaking for our bank, we are still very much open for business. We are making loans to credit-worthy customers. Small business lending is still an active area. As this economy pulls out of this lull, we will see more lending to small businesses.

Morgan, Zions Bank: The perception of a cutback in lending largely comes from a national perspective where there were untraditional lenders in the credit arena. The subprime and untraditional lenders created an unsustainable growth. When they fell apart, everyone began thinking that nobody is making loans and that they can’

t get the money like they used to. But in reality, we have simply come back to prudent, smart, conservative lending practices that have been the foundation of all these lending institutions here today.

Drake, Family First Federal Credit Union: I’m sure everyone in this room has been asked by someone, “Are you still lending money. Did you quit?” The basic principle that people need to understand is that banks are in the business of loaning money. If we don’

t loan money, we are out of business.

Castillo, AmBank: The lending industry got carried away with too many exotic financial instruments. What’

s happened over the past six to nine months is a reset in going back to those standards of loaning to people who have good credit, a down payment, and are able to show how they can make the payment. The second part of the change is that with the downturn in the economy there has been a reset in the values of real estate. Over the past five years land became so expensive that few people could afford it. This reset is painful, but it will ultimately be a good thing for everyone.

Beard, Bank of American Fork: Capitalism is an efficient system if you’ll let it work, and it has to be able to punish those who get too far out of line. There were a lot of financial institutions that got out of the proper parameters, and they paid the price. Capitalism does that —

it cleanses itself.

Norton, Far West Bank: Unfortunately, the whole industry has been painted with the same brush based upon the effects of Wall Street and these funky mortgage instruments that were established. There was an attitude of, “You’ve got to lower the standards so that every American can be a homeowner.” In Utah, foreigners and strangers came in to lend money, and their standards weren’t like ours. But we didn’t lower our credit standards. Now, customers are saying, “Wow, that loan was a good deal while I had it, but now I’ve got all this property and nothing is selling.” It’s been very dramatic to see what I would refer to as foreigners that didn’

t have the basic principles of the banking industry.

Morgan, Zions Bank: For all of us, it’

s back to the basics. Discipline is a good thing. It may seem restrictive, but in the end discipline will be the thing that has saved our ability to give credit to the people who are qualified.

Sanches, Western Community Bank: No bank right now or finance institution wants to bring on new loans that are going to be trouble for them. No bank really ever has. What caused the recession wasn’

t commercial banks like ours. In reality, it was the mortgage and investment industry that said everyone deserves a home, no money down. Consumers got in their mind that all banks should offer that. Some banks did get sucked into that and now they are feeling the ramifications. For the majority of Utah Valley banks, it is business as usual for qualified borrowers.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Where will we go from here? What do you see happening in the next year within the banking industry?
Beard, Bank of American Fork: You’re going to see slower growth in banks as they cleanse themselves. I’m not one that believes the economy is headed into depression. We always come out of these cycles, and I don’t see any reason to believe any different this time. As we come out, business will continue to operate, the housing industry will continue to see movement in the lower-priced homes, and the ones that were overpriced will come back into line. People that built those will be hurt —

banks and builders. But capitalism will do its thing and the market will get back into balance.

Castillo, AmBank: Regardless of what you think of the government’s efforts to stimulate the economy, there are some real opportunities for a cross-section of individuals. The combination of federal and state initiatives to help first-time homebuyers is a real opportunity for those who have been priced out of the market. Those programs together with some of those falling prices will create an excellent opportunity for investors. For small businesses, the government has increased the size of the SBA guarantee and they’

ve also eliminated some borrowing fees. So in the next year, while we still have a lot of issues to sort through, there will be a tremendous amount of opportunity for everyone.

Morgan, Zions Bank: We take our place in the community as leaders. We lead by example. We do the right thing internally first as individuals in our own families, and then in our institutions. We do the prudent thing. Every one of us are relationship bankers. The fundamental ingredients are the relationships that we build. When we build those, we take a leadership role in not encouraging our customers to get overextended. We don’t encourage our customers to live beyond their means. We don’

t encourage our customers to use substandard assets in order to get ahead. We lead by encouraging our client to do the right thing, and as partners we together improve this economy.

Norton, Far West Bank: We’

ve seen historic highs for the past three months in the volume of refinances. The incentives will begin to take care of the excess new home inventory that has been built up through speculation.

Drake, Family First Federal Credit Union: Everyone wants to focus on the good news. But there are legitimate times when things are problematic. If things are downturning for you in your personal life or business finances, go in and talk to your banker before you get delinquent. It’

s a lot easier at that point for the banker to work with you.

Sanches, Western Community Bank: It’s not even that we need good news, we just need the absence of bad news. There’s been so much negative media focusing on all the troubles that it has caused people to completely restrict. Jobs are going to be the driving force. Historically, Utah unemployment has been lower than the nation. Utah’s unemployment is 5.2 compared to 8.5 nationally. Even though we are going through difficult times, it’

s not as deep as what is perceived out there.

Bennett, BusinessQ: You all have a good pulse on the community and the economy from your perspective as community bankers. What are some examples of good news in our community?

Beard, Bank of American Fork: Take an area like Saratoga Springs. Right now there are tons of homes for sale and it looks bleak. But by 2040, Saratoga Springs will be home to about 240,000 people. All of those people will have to live somewhere. All of those people have to have a job. All of those people go to restaurants and buy things. We have a good population growth in our area. Utah tends to historically be late going into recession and it doesn’t go as deep as the country’

s recession.

Morgan, Zions Bank: In a downturn, there are qualified borrowers who stay away from looking for an opportunity to borrow until they see what is happening. What we have seen just recently at Zions is the re-emergence of qualified borrowers. That is good news. Qualified borrowers are coming back.

Castillo, AmBank: I believe the people in the valley are good news. While we were all shell shocked last year, we have a bright population and we have a motivated population. I think we are going to see new businesses come up. We are going to see people who are adjusting to difficult circumstances. They are going to make lemonade out of lemons. They are looking for the silver lining in the storm cloud. I think the quality of the people in the valley and the opportunities that are here are good news.

Sanches, Western Community Bank: The good news in the banking industry is that short and long-term rates are at all-time lows. For those who are qualified, short term rates are very low. Mortgage rates are very low. Compare that to what we went through in the 1980s … granted I was in elementary school …
Norton, Far West Bank: I’ll tell you about the ’

80s. (laughter)

Beard, Bank of American Fork: Look at what has happened in the housing industry. Two years ago, there were all sorts of houses for $800,000 and $900,000. Now the billboards are advertising homes for $180,000 and 200,000. We are adaptable. Builders are getting efficient enough that they can build a $200,000 home and people in the valley can afford a $200,000 home. That entrepreneurial spirit is adaptable.

Bennett, BusinessQ: How should a business pick a banking institution? What should go into that decision?

Norton, Far West Bank: Initially you have to understand that each bank has a strategy. We all provide the same kind of a product: checking, savings, money markets, merchant cards and credit cards. But we each have a strategy as far as what our portfolio looks at. We are very entrepreneurial, and we enjoy working with entrepreneurs who have great ideas. Sometimes they forget about the importance of the financing and accounting. They need to mesh their ideas with people who have finance backgrounds. You bring the idea and let’s see how we can help you develop that. We see great ideas coming short of capital and they just need us to lend them the capital. When an idea for a business is a good one and we know it will work, it’

s a no-brainer for us. The banking industry is here to help.

Castillo, AmBank: If I was out looking for a financial institution I would do research regarding that institution and what sorts of credit they offer. All of us have certain types of products that we like better than others. As a startup business I would find an institution that has a history of funding startups. Since having working capital is the lifeblood of business, I would develop more than one relationship. In the event the primary financial institution has determined they can’t help you, it’

s good that you have established some other relationship. The other thing I would be prepared to do is move all your primary deposit accounts and personal account so you have a whole relationship with that financial institution. That gives all of us a greater comfort to see how John Doe manages not only their personal account but their business account.

Sanches, Western Community Bank: If I were an entrepreneur going out to find a bank, I would research. When you buy a camera you do homework, and it’

s no different looking for a bank. You want to find someone who is going to be able to relate to you.

Beard, Band of American Fork: Money is all the same in a sense, but at the end of the day the best thing bankers can do is help small businesses understand what financing is. A lot of people understand how to make a widget, but they don’t understand that the cost of the money to make the widget is an important piece. So if you have a brand new startup and they come to a bank and they want venture capital, they are shopping in the wrong place. A banker does a great service to sit down and explain that there are different pots of money. A venture capital pot of money is a different kind. It has a different return. It has a different risk profile. If they try to shop that kind of a deal at a bank they are going to get really frustrated and go back to the idea that there is no lending being done. The person needs to understand — and the banker needs to explain —

what types of financing banks can offer. The days of drive-by lending are over.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What are some bank services that people aren’t utilizing or don’

t understand?

Beard, Bank of American Fork: Consulting is one of them. Obviously banks give money in a loan, but too many people, and particularly businessmen, think, “That’s all I need is the money.” But relationships are important. Relationships are rewarded. In our bank, for example, we have a product called “My rewards,” and it gives a high rate of interest if you’ll bring your whole relationship to the bank. We can afford to do that if people will be totally at the bank. It’

s like frequent fliers in the airlines. You can give people a higher yield on checking accounts and maybe lower rates in terms of borrowing, but there has to be some commitment to a relationship.

Sanches, Western Community Bank: Internet banking has come a long way, and there are a lot of tools that may not be fully utilized by small businesses. For example, small businesses can pay employees through direct deposit. It makes it much more convenient.

Morgan, Zions Bank: I do think the industry has some tremendously robust treasury management products these days that are very helpful for small-, medium- and large-sized businesses. Not everybody understands our industry. Find a trusted adviser who can communicate with you, and it helps you understand what a partnership with a bank can be. Find an institution where you say, “This is the place for me.” Then the next step is to find someone within that institution who you can connect to. At the end of the day it’s all about that interpersonal communication. In addition, if you get in trouble or if you think you might be in trouble financially, it’

s important to go to the bank and talk to them. Work it out in the beginning before it becomes a major issue.

Bennett, BusinessQ: What is happening in the world of small business loans?

Castillo, AmBank: SBA lending allows us to make loans on terms you wouldn’

t normally find. For example, it allows for a longer amortization period. That helps the business with cash flow. On the real estate side, the SBA 504 program fees have been eliminated. Now is a good time for businesses to explore the purchase of their own facility. The 504 program provides an excellent combination of rate, cost and terms that are extremely beneficial to a borrower.

Norton, Far West Bank: The perception for a long period of time was that government lending products have horrendous paperwork. People wondered how they were going to muddle through it without a finance degree. But that perception needs to go away. Government loans are much more streamlined now.

Bennett, BusinessQ: As we close our roundtable, what are your final thoughts you’d like to share with Utah Valley’

s business community?

Drake, Family First Federal Credit Union: One of the key things we talked about today is banker relationship loyalty. As you pick a bank or a credit union, you need to find someone you can relate with and who understands your needs. Banks and credit unions are in the business to loan money. For someone to say there’s no lending out there would be to say McDonalds doesn’

t sell hamburgers anymore. Banks and credit unions are there to lend money. We want to be your financial partner.

Sanches, Western Community Bank: Banks in Utah County are, for the most part, strong, well-capitalized and actively looking for clients. It really is refreshing. Now we’

re seeing the resurgence of qualified borrowers coming into the institution. There are less people coming in to borrow money, but those who are coming in have the capability to repay what they are asking for. In general, I want to reiterate that Utah Valley banks are strong, secure and well-capitalized. We are in business to lend money.

Castillo, AmBank: Difficult times, whether professionally or personally, help us all become better people at whatever it is that we do. Periodically we have to go through these periods to sharpen our skills. Together with that difficult time are some wonderful opportunities.

Morgan, Zions Bank: I add my statement of confidence related to the institutions in Utah County. We are partners ready and willing to help small businesses and large businesses alike. I personally believe, not on behalf of Zions Bank, that we have been forced into a correction that was a necessary correction. Values on properties have come down because they were unsustainable values based on easy money. If we as individuals and families will learn from what has gone on and do not overextend ourselves — if we live within our means — we can learn from the challenges that we’

ve seen. How do we improve the economy? It starts with me and my family and you and your family. In our homes, we do the right thing in our little economy and that improves the larger economy.

Beard, Bank of American Fork: There is sometimes a misperception, even in Utah, of what a bank is. When you look at what happened with Lehman Brothers that filled the news last year, those are investment banks, not commercial banks. A lot of the correction has occurred on the investment banking side. Here in Utah I don’t know that what played out on the national news really affected or changed what we do. Individual banks are looking at ways to operate prudently. I’

m cautiously optimistic.

Norton, Far West Bank: The people and the American spirit are going to confront challenges and do what’s right and make it better. We have to understand it isn’t all doom and gloom. Because of Utah values, we’

re going to bounce back much quicker than investors nationwide. Their eyes are on Utah. We are slower going down and we come back quicker than anywhere else out there in the country.

Bennett, BusinessQ: Thank you for your banking insights.

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