The GJEP Outdoor Industry Committee has THREE (3) brand new GoPro HD Heros just WAITING to be given away!!
I see people biking, hiking, rafting, climbing and so many other things in the community every day, but what I am not seeing is videos being posted on our facebook page to win yourself a cool prize!
All videos have to be filmed somewhere in Mesa County, and the deadline is July 27, 2012.
I have been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks, not only to thank Chris Brown at Brown Cycles, but to gloat about how enjoyable it is being able to cruise around downtown while running work errands.
A couple weeks ago we were joking with Chris about him lending us a cruiser to make downtown errands go so much faster…well he came through in a big way! He called us and told us to pick up our bike! He even threw in a bike chain!
So now, I happily ride through downtown going to the bank, checking out proofs at our printing place, and whatever else needs to be accomplished. It has made life a lot easier and more fun… especially when it is a beautiful sunny day with a slight breeze rolling though.
Here is a picture of our little beauty…I don’t think she has a name, so if you have any suggestions let us know! Thanks again Chris!!
Last Wednesday, I had the great honor to be a judge for Colorado Mesa University’s Third Annual Student Showcase. The Student Showcase highlights student works involving creativity, discovery, research, innovation, and/or entrepreneurship through sessions by undergraduates at Colorado Mesa University (CMU) and Western Colorado Community College (WCCC). The Student Showcase builds on classroom experience and is a venue where students can share their work with faculty, student peers and community members. Students participating in this campus-wide forum have distinguished themselves as scholars. 
All judges were required to show up between 2 and 2:30pm to get their packets and meet other judges in their group. My judging group was filled with familiar faces including Tim Fry from Mountain Racing Products as well as a member of the GJEP board and Julie Morey from the Grand Junction Small Business Development Center. Our facilitator, Bill McCracken from WCCC, found us in the crowd and lead us outside. Mind you I hadn’t realized that it was going to be so hot in the month of April, I was wearing a black pant suit and it was about 89 degrees outside. This year there were 340 students who participated in the Student Showcase and they were scattered throughout the campus with tables set up inside and out. All of these students were split into specific categories and tracks, there were 22 different categories/tracks. The track that I was asked to judge for was the Career and Technical Programs Track.
We had six projects to judge from 3pm to 5pm; a Networked Robotic Arm, Pottery Kiln Heat Sensor and Remote Control Application, Shauenburg Coal Conveyor Prototype, Small Engine Dual Fuel Conversion (CNG & Gasoline), CNG/Gasoline Dual-Fuel Conversion Car and a Modular Transportation System. All of the projects were very interesting and the student groups did such a good job and worked really hard, some more than others. Each of the project groups had 10 minutes to present their project to the judges and 5 minutes for questions. Once we had finished listening to all of the project teams, Tim , Julie and I sat down under a shaded table, finally some reprieve from the heat, and spent about an hour discussing the projects, trying to narrow down the winner. We eventually settled on the Small Engine Dual Fuel Conversion (CNG & Gasoline) project, the project team had a solid presentation with great visuals and a great project in itself. Julie and I then headed into the University Center to the awards ceremony to watch 22 different project teams receive accolades from their peers and gift certificates for their hard work.
Other than the blistering heat, the afternoon was delightful and very inventive. I have always been and will always be a proponent of innovation and creativity. It is exciting to see student use their ingenuity and creativity, not for a grade, but to move the human race forward. As an alumni of CMU, it is exhilarating to watch the University encourage their students to create new knowledge and/or re-innovate and improve upon old knowledge. I hope I am invited to judge again next year.
~Mariah Zerbe
Business Development Manager
After Kelly and Mariah toured the new Lincoln Tower at Stoker Stadium, they decided it would be THE PERFECT meeting place to hold our ex-officio board meeting. This is a meeting that not only includes all of our board members, but other members of the community as well. It is a chance for all of us to gather and communicate events and project in the community. We have people from the City of Grand Junction, City of Fruita, School District 51, Mesa County Workforce, Colorado Mesa University, IDI, and the Downtown Development Authority. 
Thanks to one of our board members, we were able to book Lincoln Tower and be the FIRST official meeting/event held in the brand new structure. It is a beautiful building that gives a great view of Grand Junction, the Grand Mesa and the National Monument. I wish we could have all our meetings there, but they have already gotten great response renting the place out, so I don’t think that will be a possibility 
The meeting went pretty well too! GJEP reported outreach efforts and our first quarter prospect report. We have had more activity in this first quarter than all of last year, AND the quality of prospects has been more targeted within our goal industries.
Kelly and Mariah
April 5th was Local Government day for the Mesa County Leadership Class. Executive Director, Kelly Flenniken and Business Development Manager, Mariah Zerbe toured various local government facilities including the new Mesa County offices (off of 1st and Main), the Mesa County Landfill, Mesa County Animal Services, and the new Grand Junction Fire Department Firehouse.
View from Lincoln Tower
They also got to view the soon-to-be finished public safety building, the Lincoln Tower at Stoker Stadium and Suplizio Field.
It was a great day filled with tons of information on county vs. city responsibilities and how they both work together to make Grand Junction and Mesa County a great place to live, work and play.
The seventh annual Entrepreneurship Day at CMU was held Wednesday, April 4, 2012 and was a HUGE success! The theme this year was the outdoor industry and there were lots of panels and discussions from people involved in the local outdoor industries in Mesa County.
Some of the panel topics included
The lunch keynote speaker was Hap Klopp. He talked about how his company began and what he still hopes to achieve through business opportunities and ventures. He encouraged young entrepreneurs to take chances in business because failure is not the worst thing that will happen, not learning from your failure is. Hap stressed the fact that there are no overnight successes. Long hours and plenty of mistakes along the way is the way to learn and grow your business.
The turnout for Entrepreneurship Day was immense and raised money for scholarships in the business department at Colorado Mesa University. It was a fun day filled with lots of information and stories of entrepreneurs in the area.
The second session of the ED Partner’s New Way of Doing Business was held this morning at Two Rivers Convention Center. We had a great group of participants and informative panel of experts.
The discussions were about “Access to Capitol – What are banks actually looking for?” and Employment resources and training available in the area.
The banking panel mentioned the importance of having a business plan for new companies looking to gain some capitol. For new businesses without a financial track record, this is a good way for banks to gauge how much thought has been put into a new business. It also helps the business owner look at their competition and strategize what they will do in order to gain the edge. The Business Incubator can be a great help for anyone looking to brush up on their business planning skills. Contact them for some guidance.
The Employment Resource panel mentioned all the FREE services offered by the Mesa County Workforce Center. If you are looking to hire new employees they will post your jobs, sort through all the resumes and skill test candidates to ensure that they will be a perfect fit for your business. Western Colorado Community College stressed the flexibility of their programming. If there is a community need to train future employees in a specific skill they will be more than happy to discuss new program additions to meet that need. These resources and more are available to Mesa county at no charge.
Stay posted for future installment announcements for a New Way of Doing Business. Each set in the series will focus on different aspects/problem areas for local business and what resources are available to help them out.
Don’t forget that tomorrow at 7:30am is the New Way of Doing Business seminar. It will be held at Two Rivers Convention Center until 9:30am.
The seminar will have presentations covering the following areas
Remember, there is more information on our website.
We are getting so excited about the CMU Maverick Classic coming right up this weekend! The downtown Criterium will be on Saturday from 5-10pm. Due to this event there will be some road closures downtown so check out our website to learn more about the parking information and road closures.
Also, Team time trials will be held in the morning of the 24th at K and 21 Road. The weekend will finish out with a road race out on the Reeder mesa on Sunday the 25th.
We would love to see you out there supporting this great event and all the athletes that will be participating.
Every week we receive an email from the State of Colorado giving us some “economic indicators” of statistics about how the economy is doing, specifically things in Colorado. This email had some great news in it!
The state of Colorado reported that employers added 19,500 jobs in January 2012. It puts Colorado in the top five states in the U.S. that had job growth in January.
Economy.com forcasts that Colorado’s job growth rate will be 1.9% ahead of the national average. That growth rate puts Colorado in the top 10 states nationwide having job growth.
Job growth is always exciting and GJEP is working diligently to ensure we continue onward and upward!
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