The City of Atchison has released a new video promoting the local small business community's participation in the Destination Boot Camp Program. The video features Backroad Atlas (832 Commercial), Sunsetters Salon (516 Commercial), Extreme Value Mattress & Furniture (510 Commercial), Webcom Resources (521 Commercial Street, Suite D), and Becky Berger, Atchison's City Manager.
Grants through the Atchison E-community program enabled local attendees to learn business success strategies from Jon Schallert
Over the last 14 months, 19 Atchison business owners and community leaders have graduated from the business workshop armed with new strategies and inspired about their business and their community. The 2.5 day event is designed to help entrepreneurs create the kind of businesses that people drive for hundreds of miles to experience.
Business expert Jon Schallert holds seven Destination BootCamps each year, training businesses and communities to become consumer destinations.
Benefits of attending
The group that attended included Atchison retailers, restaurants, service providers, event organizers, and community leaders.
“Jon has a special talent for provoking ideas,” said Katie Wagner of The Sunflower Coffee Shop. “I was challenged both mentally and emotionally to stimulate new ideas in an ever-changing consumer atmosphere. I learned just how important it is to set yourself apart from your competitors and how to use differentiation in order to create something that’s truly one of a kind.”
Later this year, Schallert will make a return trip to Atchison, visiting each attendee’s business to give in-person feedback. Schallert will also give a public keynote presentation during his return trip to Atchison, on August 7th from 8:00 to 9:30 AM at Elizabeth's, above the Jerry's Again Restaurant in downtown Atchison.
Building the culture of entrepreneurship
“The biggest long term takeaway is the relationships I built with the other people in our group,” said Angela Harris-Spurlock of Backroad Atlas. “We’ve been in Atchison together for decades, but it wasn’t until the boot camp that some of us spent any extended amount of time together. There’s a lot of energy and confidence that comes from developing those relationships.”
“There’s a really robust small business community here,” said Justin Pregont, Assistant City Manager. “We want our E-Community Program to help build relationships, connect small business owners to capital, provide professional development opportunities, and collectively build the confidence of the business class in this community. That’s what the E-Community Program and our participation in Destination BootCamp is all about.”
The Destination BootCamp experience is yet another success story for the Atchison E-Community Program. Local businesses can inquire about another Destination BootCamp opportunity by contacting Justin Pregont at justinp@cityofatchison.com.
Atchison businesses and organizations that attended the Destination BootCamp:
- Extreme Value Matress & Furniture / 5th Street Mercantile
- Muddy River Guitars
- Daylight Donuts of Atchison
- Theatre Atchison / Fox Theatre
- True Roots Massage
- Webcom Resources
- Gateway to Kansas
- Sunsetters Salon
- The Sunflower
- Jerry’s Again
- Trusted Care Chiropractic
- Atchison Farmer’s Market
- Long View Farm
- Harvest Video
- Northeast Kansas Enterprise Facilitation
- Chamber of Commerce (x2)
- City of Atchison (x2)