It all started in August of 2023 when Paige Kielian and Micaela Karg spoke with the previous owners of the store who mentioned selling. Paige had worked with her sister for several years in her t-shirt shop doing the custom apparel and I had a background in marketing as well as plans to have a western clothing store. When the opportunity arose, we were ready to jump but we knew they would need some extra help when it came to the feed. We immediately thought of our friends with Valley Feed & Supply in Iliff, that brought Kole Dennis, Matt Stanley and Tyler Marin into the ownership group. They had an already established feed business and they were looking to grow. When we reached out they were very interested. Once they wanted to purchase the business, they had to secure funding.

After months of working with SBDC, lenders, accountants, the sellers, building owners and more, we were thrilled to be able to close on the purchase of our business and relocate to a new location that better served the vision of the company.

Visit Fashion & Rations to learn more.

Statistics have shown that when kids are ready for formal education, they are academically successful. This has a strong correlation to socioeconomic and health consequences. Apart from school readiness, the high priority placed on the development of executive functioning skills in kids, has shown a greater correlation between executive functions and success in life. At ESTEMI, we believe every child is uniquely created with inherent abilities to reach their maximum potential. It is our responsibility to team with parents as professional early childhood educators and caregivers to provide a safe and loving environment that will stimulate a love for learning.  Emmanuel STEM International was a Large Family Child Care Home preschool program with a maximum capacity of twelve from July 2017 until March 2023. The challenge became how to make the program more accessible to many more families and expand the maximum capacity. After expansion in 2023 navigating the challenges of navigating the journey of growth and development of a Business Plan.

The Trainings: "Fundamentals for ChildCare Business" and "Mastering Business Financials" helped build on my business acumen and prepared me for the challenging but successful journey. We are privileged for the support of Springboard Childcare Inc and the Buell Foundation for supporting us since the pandemic and making it possible for us to move into a center space at 802 Quari Ct, Aurora. CO. 80011 with a maximum capacity of fifty-seven children. Our high-quality program is now accessible to many more families who could otherwise not afford an early childhood education.

ESTEMI is diligently working on opening a second site at 1690 S Chambers Rd, Aurora. CO. 80017. This is a six-unit space. ESTEMI has built out three of the units with an initial capacity of forty and hope to gradually grow into all six units with a maximum capacity of Eighty-five children. 

Visit Emmanuel STEM International Preschool to learn more. 

Like other businesses in 2019, they were faced with the challenges of COVID-19.  They were able to survive by utilizing curbside delivery and being very cautious of health and safety precautions.  A big boost helped them to overcome COVID-19 when the business in 2022 was chosen to participate in HGTV Town of Fort Morgan Take Over.  Through this process they redid the front, remodeled the inside of the building, and received national publicity that drew customers from all over the world.

During COVID-19, the SBDC assisted them to find funding to support their business.  Morgan County had a grant available that was shared with the client and provided support during the application process. Part of the strategic planning that our consultant assisted with was financial analysis.  This was crucial during the pandemic!

The business was featured on HGTV and after the announcement that they were one of the businesses that had an HGTV Makeover, the SBDC helped them in notifying the public that they were one of the businesses.  We featured them to our advisory board and announced it at meetings that we attended such as Morgan County Economic Development Board, to other clients that they may want to ask them for advice.

Visit Mosqueda Delicacies to learn more.