History of Willie Walleye

Ever wonder the history behind the famous Willie Walleye, the fish that has come to symbolize Lake of the Woods?  Here is a great article from Lake of the Woods Tourism on how it all started…

Click here to read the full article.

Zippel Bay Northern Pike Tournament 2016

By: Katie Pieper, Guest Blogger

I have been fishing the Zippel Bay Northern Pike Tournament for 8 years with my fishing partner Katie Berg who has been fishing the tournament for 17 years of the 20 year tournament. She started fishing with her dad in the beginning and as years past he decided to retire and I was able to step in. The tournament has always been the last weekend of April dependent on the weather. There have been a few cold years where the ice could still be seen on Zippel Bay where the tournament is held. Some years the tournament has been bumped back due to ice. It is extremely exciting yet competitive tournament for us. Our main goal every year is to beat our husbands Chris Pieper and Greg Berg, who are also a team. They have fished the tournament ever year since the beginning. Our excitement starts to build in early April as we get ready, checking our lines and lures. We prepare babysitting for the kids to make sure we have a fully uninterrupted weekend of Northern fishing.

Saturday morning as the sun rises we get our many, many layers on to stay warm for no matter what the weather brings! Everyone warms up their boats and watches the steam rise off the bay, secretly getting excited and anxious to see if they can catch that over 40″ Northern every one dreams about. The shot gun goes off at 8:00 a.m. for the first heat and the boats fly from the starting line, racing to get their spot. Katie and I have developed a system that works best for us, which includes music and lots of laughter. I’m pretty sure that’s how we draw the “big one’s” in! The limit is 6 Northerns per team and only two lines. It’s a race to get as much weight as you can before 4 p.m.on the first day. There is nothing more exciting than getting a hit and wondering, will it be a “big one”? As you start to reel and the fish starts to fight the adrenaline builds. When you pull up a 43″ Northern for the first time it is truly amazing as you see the head of this huge fish emerge from the water.
When everyone is back in for the evening Deanna, Nick and the staff at Zippel Bay greet you with warm how’d you do’s and cheering you on. Everyone waits for the leader board to show on the screen and see where we all fall into place. Even if you fall short on Saturday there is still a chance for Sunday! The great part about this tournament is it can change quickly with just one fish in your favor. It’s one tournament I will never miss as long as I’m able. The people are great, the fishing is amazing and the opportunity to win is in your reach.
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6 Tips for a Great Social Media Marketing Campaign

By smallbiztrends, Guest Blogger
Published: SBA March 17, 2016

“Social media can be a huge driver of website traffic, awareness of your brand and, of course, new business leads, and online and offline sales.

Social media can also be a time suck that eats resources but doesn’t yield results.

How do you prevent that from happening?  Simple: treat social media marketing with the same discipline and level of planning as any other marketing.  Don’t just engage in random sharing and chatting. Instead, plan and execute real campaigns.

Here are 6 tips for a great social media marketing campaign:

1. Define your goal – in detail

What’s the one goal you want out of your campaign? Is it to drive people to fill out a lead form on your website? Are you trying to increase e-commerce sales? Do you want to drive in store traffic?

Define it as an action you want people to take. Be specific. “I want people to [insert verb].”

If you aren’t clear about your goal, the rest of your campaign is likely to be vague and may disappoint you. Get this step right and the rest falls into place easier.

2. Specify a measurement

The next step is to define a number that you would consider a successful result. This could be a flat number such as adding 500 email subscribers. Or it could be a dollar number, such as driving $20,000 in online sales.  Your number could be a percentage growth as well, such as driving 15% growth in new leads.

Assigning a numerical goal gives you something to drive toward and later measure your success against. Just as important, it serves as a gut check to assess whether the resources you are about to devote will be worth the desired outcome, and whether the goal is a stretch yet attainable. If not, it’s better to set a different goal for your campaign.

3. Focus on one platform

Unless you’re an accomplished marketer, you’re going to want to focus on a single social media platform. By focusing on a single platform you can devote more effort to understanding the platform features and implementing the techniques to leverage them well.

More campaigns fail through poor execution than any other reason, in my experience.  Often that stems from not understanding the right steps to take or not knowing the social platform well enough to use advanced features that really can move the needle.”

View the rest of the tips by clicking here.

Minnesota Named Best State For Job Creation…

Research company Gallup gave Minnesota the nation’s top slot in its job creation index for 2015. Minnesota dethroned North Dakota, which has taken top honors in the annual study each of the last six years.

“This is the first time Minnesota has ranked number one in this reputable study,” said Governor Dayton in a statement. “I congratulate the hard-working people and businesses of Minnesota for achieving this national distinction.”

Read the full article by clicking here.

Minnesota Grants

Looking to help fund a project?

Grant seekers can search for grant opportunities by state agency or by subject area on the MN Office of Grant Managements website. Please read grant announcements carefully as some state grant opportunities are only open to certain types of organizations, such as units of government. For more details click here.

GrantWatch.com provides subscribers with the most grants for nonprofits and small businesses. Find GRANTS for your nonprofit, 501c3, NGO, education, religious or community organization, municipal government agency or small business in MN by clicking here

Guide to Starting a Business in Minnesota

The 2016 edition of “A Guide to Starting a Business in Minnesota” is now available from the Small Business Assistance Office at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) in St. Paul. The popular guide, which is now in its 34th edition and free of charge, provides a concise summary of the major issues faced by anyone starting a business in Minnesota.

“To best prepare business owners for the constantly evolving entrepreneurial environment, we continually update and expand the guide’s content,” said DEED Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben. “The 34th edition is a comprehensive and timely approach to planning, forming and running a business. Business owners and entrepreneurs will find expanded sections on business entity choice, changes in employment law and unemployment regulation, financing and taxation in the new edition.”

The guide includes information on the newly revised Limited Liability Company Act, which changes Minnesota’s current corporation-based model to a partnership model found in about 38 other states. The new model provides flexibility in areas like the standards of conduct required of Limited Liability Company members, managers and governors.

The guide also can be found on the DEED website by clicking here.