Candidate for the Legislature. Todd Mikkelson has had a varied career.
Musician. Videographer. Graphic designer. Inventor. Business owner.
Currently he owns the RM Group LLC, which sells the Rain Maker Spray Rack and other products for water and air testing of windows and other items. But he finds time to stay informed and involved at the state Capitol in St. Paul, educating and testifying on issues related to small business.
This isn’t a new interest for Mikkelson. He ran for the state House as a Democrat in 2012 and 2014. He lost, but says several party officials congratulated him for narrowing the margin over previous elections in his district.
During those contests, he met a lot of influential House members and learned a lot about navigating the legislative process in St. Paul. He’s also picked up some pointers on how to have his voice heard.
Other small business owners can, as well, he says. Whether it’s taxes, the cost of health care, mandatory paid leave or another issue of importance to you that nobody else has thought of yet, your opinion can and should be heard – but, Mikkelson says, you have to invest the time to make that happen. Go to the Secretary of State’s website, he says. Find your district. Attend a meeting.
“Start out,” he says, “by going to your party’s local committee hearings to start finding out what people are doing. Go online and start looking at some of these bills. Watch Almanac at the Capitol on Channel 2.”
It’s going to take time
Mikkelson was a musician when he got pulled in as part owner of a video company in the mid-1990s. The biggest client was an international window company and his firm had made safety and promotional videos. They wanted video of a spray test on windows that were already in houses.
“When I was out doing these videos the equipment the engineers were using wasn’t working very well,” he says. “They were trying to rebuild the laboratory setting in somebody’s backyard.”
He came up with an idea for a spray rack, had it patented and four years later was selling them. He’s since developed several other similarly purposed products.
“I’m in a different world than I strived to be in,” he says.
He knows being a business owner takes time and that it’s hard to stay up on legislative affairs.
“I can’t be at the capitol five days a week working on this stuff,” he says.
But he says it is important that small business owners carve out time to be heard, so they can be represented as well as large corporations are at the Capitol.
Several resources exist to make it easier, he adds. The legislative website has schedules and detailed information about existing bills and, through My Bill, people can search the history of an issue, Mikkelson says.
He’s gotten involved with the Main Street Alliance, through which he tries to help educate business owners on issues and get them to, at least occasionally, take the time to testify at House or Senate committee hearings. To do so, Mikkelson adds, business owners need to know they’ll be committing at least half of a day, if not an entire one. But he says many feel it’s well worth the effort.
“It’s actually an enjoyable thing to do,” he says. “Now we have a group of small business owners who are willing to do this and we are bringing them to the Capitol and letting them have their own voice.”
Legislators want your feedback
It’s not only enjoyable, at times, but it’s vital, because it’s the only way for small businesses to build a voice, says Corinne Horowitz, Minnesota state director for the Main Street Alliance.
“A lot of small business owners want to understand what is happening, but are so busy running their businesses, that they aren’t paying attention to what is impacting them,” she says.
Horowitz recommended getting involved with one or more organizations, because they often have different issues on which they are focusing resources. Health care and paid family leave, for example, are big with the Main Street Alliance right now. Some other issue might be the focus of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, a local chamber or a local business association.
Letters to the editor can be an effective way to communicate with a large swath of legislators. Or, if a business owner is ruminating over a new idea, they can reach out directly to lawmakers – their contact information is online – to see if they’d be interested in sponsoring a bill.
“The best way to talk about these issues is contacting their representatives directly,” Horowitz says. “A lot of times legislators don’t hear from small businesses. One email or one phone call will go a long way. … Legislators really do care about what small business owners have to say.”
Join a group
Business owners who have an idea they’d like to see codified through the Legislature are going to have a hard time making that happen alone, says Mike Hickey, Minnesota’s state director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses. There are citizen lobbyists working at the Capitol, but passing legislation that way is an uphill climb.
“It’s pretty hard for an individual to do that unless they are able to put a tremendous amount of time in,” he says. “For anyone who has a full-time job or is running a business that would be extremely difficult.”
Business owners are often more motivated than others because a lot of the issues facing state government have a tremendous impact on their bottom lines, Hickey says. That’s often why people join groups that have governmental relations or lobbying services, he adds.
Any group is going to keep its membership apprised of important happenings through sending legislative alerts at the proper time. That’ll be both to keep them informed and to try to get their members revved up and ready to pay attention or even testify on the issues that matter the most.
“You just hope you have some motivated members,” Hickey says.
For more general issues, such as taxes, regulations or health insurance, the NFIB might be a good place to start. The organization has about 10,000 members statewide and around 300,000 nationally. For a more nuanced issue, such as a regulation that would affect truckers, a specialty organization like the Minnesota Trucking Association might be a better fit.
“Being a member of a group is certainly going to give you an edge,” says Hickey, who adds that people can find such entities via Google or through the media. “There’s a lot of ways they can find out. You’re going to have a better effort if you are doing it as part of a group.”
Business owning senator says reach out
Pine City Republican Sen. Jason Rarick is an electrical contractor who owns and operates Rarick Electric. He’s serving his first term in the state Senate after having been elected to the state House three times.
He had never considered running for office, though he had long been involved with his local planning commission and then the Pine County Republicans. As a result of that involvement, he was contacted by a former state representative who asked him to run for office.
Rarick understands being busy, but adds that if entrepreneurs want to have a say in politics, they have to stay informed and form relationships with their representatives. In turn, he says, those people, when issues of importance to business owners arise, can act as eyes and ears for them.
“The best thing business owners can do is contact their representatives, whether it’s at the state level, the city or the county, and stay aware of what is being presented,” he says. “That’s one of the things I have noticed and heard from people is they’re so busy running their business they get blindsided by things that are coming up.
For those business owners with an idea but no real background in promoting or creating legislation, Rarick says there are legislative staff who can help sort out the process.
“Even if it’s kind of a concept, reach out,” he says. “The advantage here is we have access to people whose role here is to do the research and help you find out how to put legislation together to address the things people are bringing forward.”
He echoed other sources, who suggested involvement in various industry and business groups and verified that when entrepreneurs and business leaders can carve out time to testify in front of committees it can go a long way toward changing minds.
“That really helps present the case and get bills passed through committee,” Rarick says. “Those personal stories and the examples people have lived through are the ones that really have an impact and win over the vote.”
CONTACT:
Mike Hickey is state director of the National Federation of
Independent Businesses: 651.293.1283; www.nfib.com.
Corinne Horowitz is state director of the Main Street Alliance: 612.232.1655; corinne@mainstreetalliance.org;
www.mainstreetalliance.org.
Todd Mikkelson is owner of RM Group LLC: 952.220.5639;
todd@toddmikkelson.com; www.sprayrack.com
Sen. Jason Rarick is a state senator and owner of Rarick Electric: 651.296.1508; sen.jason.rarick@senate.mn; www.senate.mn.
