Mitten Money

Will had the opportunity to interview Cameron Massey, Executive Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, before the beginning of their season!

Cameron got started at the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra after volunteering while running his own marketing firm. Eventually, his role at the Orchestra turned into a marketing position, and eventually Executive Director. He has always had an interest in instruments, as he plays piano, guitar, bass, and much more. But his passion lies on the stage.

When a new season comes around, Cameron and his team take into consideration things their audience would want to see and hear. Whether you want to hear the same classical piece over and over again or want to experience a movie with live music, this season of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra has got you covered. They also take into consideration the Saginaw community and how to get them involved.

The Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra is growing and growing. The goal is to always bring the most music possible to the area – this is one of the Symphony’s biggest budgets thus far. Cameron doesn’t consider other orchestras as competition. Instead, he thinks of them as all working together to keep classical music alive. The season begins October 7th and  includes numerous exciting programs that they haven’t done before.

Connect with Cameron and the Symphony here:

Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra | Website

Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra | Facebook

Today, Will sits down with Joseph (Skip) Simms to discuss angel investing and his journey to becoming Managing Partner of the MI Angel Fund.

Skip mentions how he started in venture investing in 1999, went through the dot-com boom and bust, and later got involved with Ann Arbor Spark, an economic development organization. Skip also talks about the growth of angel investing in Michigan and the importance of honesty and transparency in investor-founder relationships. He shares a success story with SkySpecs, a company focused on drone monitoring for facilities, and how they shifted their focus from drones to technology. Skip reflects on the changes in the venture capital landscape in Michigan and the need for state incentives to encourage more high-net-worth individuals to become angel investors.

Connect with Skip:

MI Angel Fund | Website

Joseph Simms | LinkedIn

Will sits down with very special guest Johnathan Rand, author of the Michigan Chillers and American Chillers series, as well as various other books.

Michigan-native Johnathan originally wanted to work in conservation, keeping reading and writing as a hobby. His journey took him to radio commercials, where he practiced telling stories. Johnathan self published in 1987, and his career took off. He found a passion for recordings and audio, eventually releasing audiobooks on cassettes. Eventually, the idea for a kids’ horror series dawned upon him from the fictitious name of a bottled town, and the Chiller series were born.

Johnathan suggests that self-publishing is still a great opportunity for a new author. Self-publishing opens doors for creativity, but he touches on how not many people are prepared for the next phase of it: marketing. While you can have a great story, who is your audience? The first step is to think ahead. With self-publishing, you have to think of how you will get your book out there.

Around 2004, Johnathan’s series really started taking off, initiating the idea of his retail store Chillermania. Many people started showing up in his community looking for his books, so Johnathan decided to place the store in a high-traffic area off I-75. The store has entertainment value along with products, making it a hot spot for visitors during the summertime.

You can connect with Johnathan here:

Johnathan Rand Website

Did you know July is National Ice Cream month? In this episode, Will sits down with three ice cream connoisseurs of Michigan to discuss how they make their business as sweet as can be.

Tim Mangan of Michigan Cream & Sugar Ice Cream Company in Bay City discusses moving from creating menus at Horizons Conference Center to managing their new ice cream shop in the midst of the pandemic. Cream & Sugar is known for sourcing Michigan ingredients, ranging from sugar made by Michigan Sugar Company to carrots for a carrot cake flavor from Cherry Capital Foods in Traverse City. During Tim’s off-season, he spends his time crafting recipes for the upcoming season and training new staff. His secret to making his business so well-liked is keeping his staff happy, which in turn makes the guests happy. Cream & Sugar recently received a grant to open a second location in Old Town Saginaw!

Chris McKellar of Love’s Ice Cream & Chocolate in Grand Rapids tells his tale of starting as a performer to e-commerce to finding a passion in cooking and recipe-development. When this “love” sparked, he sold his e-commerce company to a competitor and opened Love’s. It started small, but eventually became big enough to ship their products internationally. Love’s also offers gluten and dairy free options to reach a broader range of ice cream lovers.

Jon Plummer of Moomer’s Homemade Ice Cream in Traverse City tells how Moomer’s operates an 80-acre dairy farm right next to their ice cream parlor - you can see the cows that potentially made the milk in your ice cream. Moomer’s likes to experiment with flavors and products, ranging from eggnog in July to asparagus ice cream (which didn’t get as much buzz as eggnog). Back in 2008, Good Morning America had a “Best Scoop Shop” competition in which Moomer’s was voted the best shop in the nation! They celebrated by inviting customers to come out for free ice cream early in the morning for the GMA taping!

Connect with these sweet businesses here or by stopping in:

Michigan Cream & Sugar Ice Cream Company

Love's Ice Cream & Chocolate

Love's Ice Cream & Chocolate | Facebook

Moomer's Homemade Ice Cream

BSA Officer Cindy Holliday and Owner of Blue Thumb Kip Northrup walk us through their journey today of encountering check fraud.

Kip had a first-hand experience with check fraud, as one of his checks was intercepted by a third party. He reached out to Cindy for the next steps on how to handle the interaction. With Cindy's help, they were able to stop the deposit of the check.

Check fraud is one of the most common types of fraud back on the rise. Kip and Cindy used Positive Pay, a fraud management tool, but advises those without it to check your account and make sure your checks get deposited correctly and all the information is correct from one party to the next.

This is not the first time Kip has experienced fraud; he recounts another time where funds were almost incorrectly sent to a "customer." In this instance, Kip was able to recognize the signs of fraud and reach out to Cindy once again.

Connect with Cindy and Kip here:

Cindy Holliday | LinkedIn

Kip Northrup | LinkedIn

Today we are joined with 1st State Bank's Executive Vice President & Chief Lending Officer, Todd Gregory, and Saginaw Bay Underwriter's President & CEO, Peter Ewend, to discuss the rise of check fraud.

Fraud is back on the rise. Changing checks - whether it be tampering the dollar amount or duplicating a check - is becoming very common in the banking world. The level of information provided on a check and the technology we have makes them an easy target for fraud. Another form of fraud going around as of late is mail fraud, or stealing mail directly from mailboxes.

While fraud can be alarming, there are some ways you can prevent it. A few different methods include verifying requests, monitor your accounts, and noting all the information provided on the check you are about to send. There are also insurances available for business to protect against losses and other policies put into place to protect aspects of fraud.

Todd and Peter's tips for staying safe against fraud include being knowledgeable, aware, and educating others. Prevention is key, and working with others can be a great resource.

You can connect with Todd and Peter here:

Todd Gregory | LinkedIn

Peter Ewend | LinkedIn

1st State Bank

Saginaw Bay Underwriters

In this episode, Lizzi shares her personal story of returning to Michigan and seeking opportunities for work. Lizzi reached out to her alma mater, Saginaw Valley State University, and eventually found herself working in their Career Services office. The Career Services office at SVSU goes beyond providing support solely during the college years; they offer lifelong services to alumni.

Lizzi explains that the office has noticed an increase in alumni returning for assistance in tweaking their resumes and navigating career transitions, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. On a day-to-day basis, Lizzi engages with students, collaborating closely with faculty members to ensure that students have a job lined up when they walk across the graduation stage.

When it comes to making a career switch or finding your first job, Career Services takes a comprehensive approach to help individuals explore their options. They administer a questionnaire consisting of over 200 questions designed to delve into an individual's interests and passions. Along with this, they partner with over 20 employers to gain insight about the do’s and don’ts of resumes and interviews.

Lizzi highlights important tips to master your career skills, whether it be straight out of school or 15+ years into your career. With helpful insight from her time at Career Services, Lizzi hopes these tricks will be useful in your searching process.  

Connect with Lizzi here:

Elizabeth Hubble-Radosa | LinkedIn

SVSU Website

On today’s episode, we sit down to chat with Wendy Groll and Dan Handley from Dale Carnegie Training of Mid-Northern Michigan. Wendy got her start in Dale Carnegie after emerging into a leadership role of her previous job, and Dan followed his family in the business after graduating college, working alongside his father.

Dale Carnegie offers educational courses to enhance your leadership skills to use in the workplace and your personal life. Training at Dale Carnegie is very accessible, with over 9 million graduates to date. Many graduates of Dale Carnegie speak of their experience to others, which result in more graduates to come.

The training Dale Carnegie offers is applicable to a multitude of people because of their commitment to growth. People’s ability to create change and opportunity drives training. In today’s world, growth is a skill that continually needs to be mastered.

Most people’s calendar is spent convincing others to do things – friends, family, coworkers. Learning the “sales skills” Dale Carnegie provides helps create action. Dale Carnegie training is about the ability to connect and bounce around ideas and skills that someone may not utilize personally.

Dale Carnegie provides live online training as well as face to face, which are both highly interactive. Every participant will leave with a specific action plan that resulted from various activities and lessons that will help add to their skillset. With every skill learned, it opens up the question of what else someone can learn.

It is crucial to continue your education throughout your careers. If you aren’t growing, others around you are, and so are your competitors. Certain skills get you to an opportunity but growing them will keep you there. Today if you sit back, life will pass you by. Growth is fun!

Connect with Wendy and Dan here:

Dale Carnegie Training of Mid-Northern Michigan

Saginaw-native Mike Ball has been doing comedy for 11 years, yet he hadn’t seen live comedy until he was about 21 years old. He eventually started going to LA during his lawn business’s off season, and eventually interned for comedian Pauly Shore. Since then, Mike’s career has taken off with his own comedy show, “The Future of Comedy Show.”

While comedy is ever-changing, Mike says the basics are still the same. According to Mike, comedy is “the last form of free speech.” Through his career, he has met many comedians who have given him advice along the way; Mike’s advice to being in comedy is to be who you are, no matter your style of humor, because there’s only one of you. While it is important to be who you are in your humor, there is a time and place to do so – Humor in the workplace has its limits, but an open mic does not. Mike advises to make safe jokes in your place of work and experiment outside of the office. Open mics are the perfect opportunity to practice other things on top of humor such as public speaking, stage presence, and much more. Mike practices this with corporate clients, as well as “under-promising and over-delivering.”

Find Mike Ball here:

Mike Ball | Website

Mike Ball | Facebook

Right before the pandemic, Ali Huntoon decided she wanted to quit her corporate job to start her own HR consulting business, Allied HR Solutions. During the pandemic, Ali began scouring the internet for freelance jobs, but soon began working for people all over the country.

Every engagement is different for Ali and the small businesses she works with. Her work involves anything from attending staff meetings to working with budgets and recruiting for small businesses. Ali’s business not only offers HR services, but anything a small business needs – from advertising to marketing to audits, Allied HR is a catalyst to make sure these operations are seamless. Although she does it all, Ali’s favorite part is the “people stuff.”

Starting her own business during the start of a pandemic had Ali noticing how the job market is changing. For her recruiting services, she has noticed more workers value their time and families, and more people are looking for a hybrid-remote work environment. Ali manages her work-life balance by mixing her other business, Allied Group Fitness, with something she loves. Her trick is to catch burn out before it happens.

Connect with Ali:

Ali Huntoon | LinkedIn

Allied HR Solutions