Five months after launching an effort to bring more women-owned businesses to the downtown area, the Iowa City Downtown District (ICDD) has announced it has recruited four such enterprises - two furniture shops, a wedding planning business and a marriage counseling service.
"For many reasons, targeting women-owned businesses as a component of the larger retail strategy is fitting. It's low-hanging fruit in many ways," said ICDD Executive Director Nancy Bird, adding that more announcements are likely on the way.
"The fact that the state of Iowa consistently ranks near the bottom nationwide for women-owned businesses doesn't mean that they're not here, they just aren't successfully connecting with the financial resources, encouragement or space opportunities it takes to open a store," Ms. Bird continued.
"By deliberately targeting female entrepreneurs, we've been able to open a portal for a pent-up segment of the retail market that is finally finding its way through and its impact is strengthening the larger retail cluster downtown."
The four new businesses include:
Luxe Interiors, 281 N. Linn St. Formerly located in the Iowa River Landing, owner Jan Finlayson decided to move her home furnishing and interior design shop to the Northside Commons building to grow her business connection to the community that feels like home. "When we were considering the move, I talked to a number of Northside and downtown business owners, and the sense of community and collaboration made the decision to relocate an easy one," Ms. Finlayson said in a release.
White Ivy Events, 281 N. Linn St. Owner Amanda Burrell has opened a wedding and event business and will partner with Ms. Finlayson in the same Northside Commons location. "When the opportunity arose to move my event planning business to downtown Iowa City, I had to take it", Ms. Burrell said. "When I was in school, the University of Iowa supported my business in so many ways. They provided funding to get me started and connected me with local business owners in Iowa City to mentor me in the starting of my own company - now I'm right there alongside them as a recent grad."
The Shop Iowa City, 4 S. Dubuque St. This home decor business expanding from its first location in Kalona, will feature vintage, restored and re-purposed furniture and home decor. "We've always loved downtown Iowa City," said co-owner Jessica Meyer. "It has the feel of a big city but the heart of a small town. The way the retail owners support each other and work together is just amazing."
Peacewise Therapy, 103 E. College St. A new marriage counseling and mediation business, Peacewise Therapy recently opened in the historic Savings & Loan building on the pedestrian mall. Owner Lauren Melton Tucker relocated from the Northgate area of Iowa City and is taking advantage of downtown as an added value for clients to grab dinner or coffee after sessions in her office, as well as proximity to the Johnson County courthouse.
"What's been really instrumental are the number of business owners that are informally supporting the recruitment effort by encouraging new businesses where offerings are complementary," Ms. Bird said, adding the district's more than 60 women-owned businesses support each other through mentoring, a monthly "retail caucus," showcasing each other's work and via ICDD's collaborative events and marketing strategies.
"You know when you open your business downtown, there is a strong multi-dimensional support system behind you," she said. "That's a pretty rare offering."
Kepros Physical Therapy expanding to North Liberty
Ted Kepros, founder and president of Kepros Physical Therapy, which opened a new North Liberty location last week, accepting the CBJ's 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Kepros Physical Therapy has opened its third Corridor location in five years in North Liberty.
The new clinic opened Aug. 1 in Penn Place, 780 Community Drive, joining Kepros Physical Therapy clinics in Marion and downtown Cedar Rapids.
Founder and President Ted Kepros said the move allows Kepros Physical Therapy to better serve the southern end of the Corridor. He said referring physicians and clients from the south end of the Corridor had been asking if he had plans to open in the Iowa City area. The decision was an easier one to make when physical therapist Steve Clark of North Liberty, owner of Iowa City Physical Therapy, expressed interest in joining Kepros Physical Therapy.
"We're very big about having the right individual," said Mr. Kepros. "We always talk about when we hire, we don't look at folks like a new hire, a team member. We look at them as a family member."
Mr. Kepros was well-acquainted with Mr. Clark, who was a clinic director at a large national physical therapy chain when Mr. Kepros was a group director at that chain. Both physical therapists have received advanced manual physical therapy certification.
The North Liberty facility is a seven-minute drive from Liberty High School, and will be similar in appearance and layout to Kepros Physical Therapy's Marion clinic, with four treatment rooms, an open gym space and similar interior decor.
"The patient in front of us is most important, but what's important is that patients has told five or 10 others about our practice," said Mr. Kepros, the
CBJ's 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year. "That kind of organic growth is what's led us to North Liberty." He said North Liberty is a "great general location where a lot of growth was occurring. We just felt it was a nice next step."
With the expansion, Kepros Physical Therapy will have 24 employees.
The New York City-based online research firm, which examined seven different metrics, placed the Hawkeye State sixth for quality of life, seventh for cost of starting a business, and ninth for the labor market, making the state "a well-rounded choice for someone starting a business."
The report noted that Iowa offers the most affordable office space in the country, with small business owners paying only $17 per square foot annually for commercial office space.
Report authors noted the state's seventh-place overall finish demonstrated "an
impressive improvement over last year's ranking," calling it "one of a handful states located in the Midwest or the Plains...that embody key ingredients for creating and maintaining a successful business."
Other states in the report's top 10 include New Hampshire at No. 1 and Massachusetts at No. 2. Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, which finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, and Kansas (10) were the other Midwestern states in the top 10.
Louisiana (49) and South Carolina (50) fared worst in the report, which measured the cost of starting a business, taxes, labor market, cost of living, startup activity, access to capital and quality of life.
SBA seeks nominations for 2019 small business awards
The U.S. Small Business Administration has opened nominations for its 2019 National Small Business Week Awards, including the annual Small Business Person of the Year.
Since 1963, National Small Business Week has recognized the outstanding achievements of America's small businesses for their contributions to their local communities and to the nation's economy.
"This is a great opportunity to recognize those small businesses that have contributed significantly to their local communities, developed creative products or made advances with innovative technologies," SBA Administrator Linda McMahon said in a release. "A National Small Business Week award is one of the nation's highest honors for small business achievement."
SBA Awards given in celebration of National Small Business Week held May 5-11, 2019, include Small Business Person of the Year, Small Business Exporter of the Year, Phoenix Awards for Disaster Recovery and a number of federal procurement awards such as Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year and Small Business Subcontractor of the Year.
In addition to these national awards, the SBA's Iowa District Office will be presenting state-specific awards in several categories. SBA assistance is not required for these nominations. They include:
Iowa Women in Business Champion of the Year - presented to an individual(s) who has demonstrated a commitment to the advancement of women's small business ownership. Nominees may or may not be small business owners.
Iowa Minority Small Business Champion of the Year - presented to an individual(s) who has demonstrated a commitment to the advancement of minority small business ownership. Nominees may or may not be small business owners.
Iowa Veteran Business Champion of the Year - presented to an individual(s) who has demonstrated a commitment to the advancement of veteran business owners. Nominees may or may not be small business owners.
The SBA has a dedicated website to download forms, criteria and guidelines for submitting a nomination.All nominations must be submitted no later than 2 p.m. Jan. 9, 2019, and all nomination packages must be hand-delivered or mailed to the nearest SBA Office. Email submissions of SBA Awards forms will not be accepted as they contain personally identifiable information.
For more information, contact Dave Lentell at the Iowa District Office at (515) 284-4522 or [email protected].
Consulting: How to get more fish on the line
In this week's consulting spotlight, John Graham of GrahamComm suggests new ways of prospecting for leads in an era where voicemail and email messages are ignored.
"I am looking to further my prospecting techniques," the salesperson wrote in his email. "It seems I need to increase my ratios by the end of the quarter."
This story isn't new - years ago, salespeople were expected to get in front of prospects. Today, those doors are sealed shut. Voicemail and email messages are ignored. If all that isn't enough, few customers are willing to stick their neck out and make referrals. All of which makes prospecting frustrating and, unfortunately, bordering on useless. No wonder salespeople plead for leads and, hoping to get lucky, keep their fingers crossed.
If you're looking for an easy, quick way to find prospects, forget it. No matter what anyone may say, it doesn't exist. Nevertheless, hope springs eternal, which is why there are 17,300,000 hits in less than a second when you Google "prospecting in sales."
Here's the problem: How is a salesperson to go about finding prospects who are not only interested in buying, but who are also willing to do business with someone they don't know, let alone trust?
Getting negligible results from searching for prospects takes a lot of effort - wasted effort. Salespeople are often told, "It takes 10 calls to get one appointment." They are also told that out of 10 appointments, they can expect to make one sale. That means it will take 100 actual appointments to make 10 sales. Whether you do a little better or worse, the message is clear: finding prospects who are interested and ready to buy is so inefficient it doesn't work.
The prospecting possibility
It should come as no surprise why there's so much resistance to getting out and finding new customers. Even if we know who and where the prospects are, the obstacles to access thwart our efforts.
It's time to step back and take a careful look at how selling and prospecting differ. When you think about it, they require two different types of skills: prospecting is all about getting the fish on the line and selling is getting it in the boat.
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Corridor Stocks
Short-Term Event Planner
Aug. 10
NewBo Open Coffee, by NewBoCo, 8-9 a.m., Roasters at NewBo, 1100 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids. This meetup is a minimally guided conversation among community members about anything rooted in creativity and entrepreneurship. All are welcome. Free. For more information, visit
bit.ly/2Hoprdn.
Accountability and Performance Management, by Kirkwood Community College, 8:30 a.m.-noon, Kirkwood Center for Lifelong Learning, 6301 Kirkwood Blvd. SW, Cedar Rapids. Explore your role in managing performance and learn what steps you can take as a leader to have your team deliver the expected results. Cost: $99. For more information and to register, visit
bit.ly/2LKRCBn.
Aug. 13
Coralville Roundtable, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, noon-1 p.m., Mellow Mushroom, Coral Ridge Mall, Coralville. Roundtables are social lunches over the noon hour. All are invited to network and keep up-to-date with chamber and community events. Free for members. Call the chamber at (319) 337-9637 if interested and not a member.
Aug. 14
TechBrew AM, by Technology Association of Iowa and Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, 8-9 a.m., 501 First St. SE, Cedar Rapids. TAI President Brian Waller will conduct a casual interview with a local executive as part of this informal networking event. August's featured technology expert is Eddy Etsy, director of IT for Iowa Athletics. Free. Register at
technologyiowa.org/events.
Small Business Roundtable, by SCORE of East Central Iowa, noon, Granite City, 4755 First Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids. Bring your questions, challenges and best practices to this informal gathering for both those in business and those thinking of starting a business. Free. For more information and to register, visit
conta.cc/2OfCTiq.
Hiawatha Business Summit - Young Professionals, by the Hiawatha Economic Development Corporation, the city of Hiawatha and the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, 4-6 p.m., Dave Wright Nissan, 999 Boyson Road, Hiawatha. Hear from a panel of young professionals and those that employ them as they discuss what young professionals are looking for when looking for a job and what local businesses are doing to recruit and retain them. Free. For more information or to register, visit
bit.ly/2LMNzHV.
Headlines from CBS2/FOX 28
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
A new bus service is coming to the Corridor and will offer rides from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City.
Officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation hope an express bus between these cities will help commuters skip some of the daily hassles of driving on the interstate. "For years, it's been targeted to have a bus service connecting Cedar Rapids and Iowa City because you know we see travel patterns," said Brock Grenis, Transit Administrator and Planner, ECICOG. Starting Oct. 1, four Windstar Lines buses will offer rapid bus service between the two cities for $3.50 one way or $7 round trip. Buses will run every 30 minutes from 5:20-10 a.m., then shift to every hour. Buses will start returning at 3:20 p.m. every 30 minutes until 8:20 p.m. The idea was supported after a 2014 Iowa DOT surveyed showed 70 percent of 1,000 people would take advantage of the service. "Millennials seem to be more amenable to riding mass transits, so we're hoping they'll get on the bus," said Transportation Planner Cathy Cutler, "and also our senior population who maybe have difficulties driving." The service is being tested a year before major construction takes place on the interstate 380 and 80 interchange. Each day, more than 7,500 people commute across the Corridor, which is why the DOT hopes the service reduces congestion on the road as construction ramps up. "We're anticipating about 500 people a day to use this service," Mr. Grenis said
The Marion Police Department says to be on the lookout for a fundraising campaign they are calling a scam. A campaign calling itself the Marion Area Volunteer Firefighter Drive is soliciting money purportedly to help recruit volunteer firemen. However, the Marion Fire Department is not participating in such a drive and advises those receiving the letter to disregard it.
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
CBS2 Chief Meteorologist Terry Swails' Weather First Forecast
A cold front is on the way to eastern Iowa today - it will be hot and humid ahead of it and a few storms will be possible along it.
There will be sunshine to start and temperatures will climb into the mid 80s north to low 90s in the south. It will be muggy and heat index values will be in the low to mid 90s at times. As the front moves through, a few isolated showers and thunderstorms will develop, mainly after 4 pm. Any rain should be pretty brief and there won't be much accumulation. High pressure will move in and it will be dry through the weekend. It will be warm with temperatures in the low to mid-80s Friday through Sunday and it will be a bit humid. The next chance for rain arrives Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
Downtown IC sees success recruiting women-owned businesses 
