Success Stories

Flax is among the grains grown on Bethke Farms located in rural Raymond South Dakota. As the family explored ways to add value to their produce, Wanda Bethke, who owns and operates Bethke Farms with her husband Gene, established the business Purity Seeds in 2006. The first sales, made at farm shows, local groceries and on eBay, consisted of flax seed for human consumption in zip lock bags with computer printed labels. Eventually a grinder, bag sealer and professionally printed labels were added to streamline the local process.

 The Montgomery Advertisor - Cosby Woodruff - May 8, 2008

WETUMPKA -- Lynn Carter's efforts growing Southeast Cherokee Construction from a small Alabama Department of Transportation subcontractor into a booming company earned her the 2008 U.S. Small Business Administration Small Business Person of the Year award.

Gluten Free Oats®, LLC (GFO) started as an FFA school project. It has become a full-time, family- owned business. Forrest Smith and his parents suffer from celiac disease, an intolerance and severe reaction to grain products that contain gluten.  Forrest, now a high school graduate, was diagnosed with this illness at age 2. His desire to have cookies and other foods he missed convinced him to research possible ways to overcome this problem. He found a source of “safe” oats and began rolling these oats for himself and then others in the local celiac support group, things took off from there.

Deb Olsonoski and Avery Hoosier had wanted to start their own landscaping business for several years. Each had significant experience in the industry and enjoyed a reputation for excellence in design and construction of landscape projects. It was very important to them that they work on projects using natural stone that would enhance and not detract or distract of the beauty of Door County, Wisconsin. As they put it in their business plan, “to beautify and enhance our customer’s property trough exception landscapes.”