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Success Stories

Blue Pine Construction

Blue Pine Construction is based in Wellington, and run by the husband and wife team of Mike and Lorilyn Bockelman. Their company does home  construction/remodeling, and a variety of outdoor “decking” projects, throughout Northern Colorado. Mike’s construction background, combined with Lorilyn’s retail management experience, makes for a productive combination. They have grown the business significantly over the last few years.

Blue Pine Construction now has 10 full time employees, including a new production manager. Mike is a Air National Guard serviceman, and tries to hire veterans when possible.  A project coordinator helps with client communication. Mike says “We spend a lot of time communicating status to our clients. Communication is our secret sauce.”

In 2020, Blue Pine Construction participated in a specialized SBDC program called ScaleUp Smart, which was significantly funded by the Wellington Town and Chamber of Commerce. The program produced customized marketing evaluations and recommendations. Lorilyn said “We didn’t have any active marketing. This program helped us clean up our website, and gave us the knowledge to tailor our marketing, and we work on select tasks every month now.  It also helped us focus on more appropriate projects. Right after completing the ScaleUp Smart program we hired a marketing company to help with our social media and
implement what we learned as well.”

Lorilyn adds “We got started with the Larimer SBDC through a HR class, done by Tina Todd of Simply HR. It was very thorough.”

Mike and Lorilyn also met with SBDC construction consultant Andy Meade. Mike commented “We discussed job costing, and also talked a lot about corporate structure; it was really helpful.” SBDC Director Mike OConnell also assisted with proactively using financial ratios to help meet profitability goals.

Today, Mike and Lorilyn report that Blue Pine Construction “is on track to meet all of our goals”, despite the current challenges of material cost increases and shortages.

“We got a great combination of SBDC assistance, across several aspects of our business, it wasn’t any one big thing.”, Mike remarked.

We at the Larimer SBDC look forward to continuing to work with this great local business!

Canna World Market Loveland CBD

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Beau & Belle Littles

The true measure of a successful product is: Does it solve a customer problem? As new, active parents, Paul and Rachelle Baron faced a common problem when trying to take their little one swimming. They wanted a high quality, reusable swim diaper that handled solid waste well, but there was nothing on the market that met their standards. “The problems we saw were that disposables were not good quality, didn’t contain solid waste well, and

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SlapStep Studios

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Daniël-James van den Berg and DJM Design

Daniël-James van den Berg and DJM Design have both come a long way over the years. Literally and figuratively. Born in South Africa, Daniël-James is a self-described Ginger, family man, Web Agency owner and newly naturalized U.S. Citizen with a double first name who enjoys doing freestyle breakdancing in his spare time.   We barely finished the tour of his Greeley office space when his wife, Joy, and their 16-month-old daughter, Zona, stopped by. “Joy keeps

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Clean Bees

Clean Bees Homekeepers Cleaning Up! When Katie Straubel moved from Florida to Colorado in 2001, she took a job doing house-cleaning to make ends meet.  Eight years later, she earned a history degree from CSU, while continuing to work in the cleaning industry. Today, she is the proud confident owner of Clean Bees, a Northern Colorado cleaning company with 35 employees and over $1M in annual sales! Katie says “I worked in the restaurant business,

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CF&G Public Market & Coffeehouse

CF&G Public Market & Coffeehouse, located inside the historic Colorado Feed & Grain landmark in the heart of Timnath, is owned and operated by Becca Bay.   The building has a long history that begins with its original construction in 1920. You can read all about it on the café table tops! Becca’s Public Market-style layout includes a café, artisan goods, and a Farmer’s Market that runs May through October as well an event venue.   Becca

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