Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?
Charter Solutions
Charter Solutions’ CEO
uses networking on way
to top NAWBO award
Dee Thibodeau, CEO of Charter Solutions Inc. in Minnetonka, can be seen every year hosting several tables at the annual holiday gala for the National Association of Women Business Owners. Last year she held court wearing a fur-collared jacket.
Now she’s captured NAWBO’s business owner of the year award. “I’m very, very excited. This is the ultimate award for me personally because NAWBO has meant a lot to me and this is their highest award,” she says.
Thibodeau’s a master networker who regularly calls local women she reads about and invites them to lunch. “I’ve found that women are so busy with their families and everything else that they don’t take the time to do this,” she says. “I love connecting people.
“Whenever I’ve found a successful woman, I try and meet her, because usually I learn something from her, and usually I can connect her with somebody else,” she says. “It’s stimulating to me. It gets me moving.” Thibodeau says sometimes the connections lead to business, a lot of times they don’t. Either way it’s worth it because a relationship has been started based on trust.
As for business, the $4.5-million Charter Solutions is doing well, Thibodeau says, a challenge in this economy. A key has been partnering with several software companies, so that when a customer buys a company’s software package, Charter Solutions is brought in as the expert integration partner. It’s also helped to focus on financial services, health care and food, industries that are doing well.
Dee Thibodeau, Charter Solutions Inc.: 952.545.1768; dee.thibodeau@chartersolutions.com; www.chartersolutions.com