Keeping it Local...Because You'd be Silly Not to do So.

One of my closest friends from Florida came to visit this past weekend and I was so excited to show her my new city. I wanted to make sure to take her places that only Traverse City offered...which was probably the easiest goal I've ever achieved.

The main reason that showing my friend the best of Traverse City was so simple was because local Traverse City businesses are fantastic. The businesses of traverse city offer such great products, food, drink, etc. that making sure to show off what we offer locally was a breeze.

We started off at Firefly on Friday night and had a wonderful dinner (and far too many pita chips), which included a lot of locally grown ingredients. We went back to my apartment and snacked on some Great Lakes Potato Chip Co. Tortilla chips...yes. I even keep it local at home.

Saturday began with some Higher Grounds coffee and a trip to the Commons. The commons did not disappoint - especially High Five Threads, which even had free (yes, you read that correctly...free) North Peak Siren on tap. Quality local goods...and local brews? We were sold.
We grabbed some so-delicious-that-I'm-still-thinking-about-it whitefish dip at Mackinaw Brew Co. before changing and driving over to The Jolly Pumpkin for dinner. The Jolly Pumpkin was beyond-words delicious. Where else can you get a side of truffle fries with your turkey sandwich topped with cherry pesto? Probably not many places...except for Traverse City.

Saturday night finished off with a trip to the new and improved Right Brain Brewery. If you have not taken a trip to their new location you need to go. right now. It has all of the charm of their last location, but with around four times the space. Plus, they always play the best music, not to mention have the most creative names for all of their beverages (who doesn't want to tell people that they had a wine called "The Betty White" the other day?!)

Sunday morning included a walk by the bay, a lot of touristy photos, and a brunch stop at Morsels, where my friend claimed that she had "the best breakfast sandwich in the world" and that her latte was "as close to perfection as humanly possible."

What I'm getting at is that we have such amazing locally owned businesses. It is really great to be able to allow our out of town guests to really experience what Traverse City has to offer...and that we get to enjoy these places on a daily basis.

Guest Blogger: Jonathan Campbell

Our guest blog is a week early, but we just really wanted to share what Jonathan Campbell of 231 Commerce had to say. Our Young Professionals love living in Traverse City and Jonathan sheds a little light on why starting your own business in the area is a great idea. Take it away, Jonathan!

If you were to tell me Four Years ago, that I would be married, living in Traverse City and own my own company, I would have thought you were crazy.  But, here I am living, working and playing in TC, loving every minute of it.

Three years ago I moved to Traverse City from California, where I had been living and working for a friend and before that I was in Boston working for a Commercial Contractor.  I am a Northern Michigan native, so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into, but little did I know how much had changed since I lived here 13 years ago!  My girlfriend (now wife) had a job in TC, so I thought it wouldn’t be bad to live here for a year before we moved down to Chicago, so we could both pursue our careers there.  I began looking for work, but never really expected to find much because the economy was so bad and hey, we would be leaving in 8 months anyways.

The rest of the story is history, because I found a job with MyNorth Media, began my new career in Digital Marketing and decided to buy a house and stay for a while.  I began meeting a lot of new people, networked into the business community and quickly learned that the Northern Michigan that I grew up in had changed.  Traverse City is now an incubator for young energetic talent looking to succeed in an array of different fields.

In April of 2012 , myself and a business partner decided to start our own company.  With his background in E-commerce and my background in web design and development, we thought it would be a perfect match for an E-Commerce Management and Digital Marketing Company.  We both agreed that there needed to be a young, fresh and progressive digital company in town that is well versed in the industry locally as well as nationally.  We are currently managing three online stores, Consulting with future clients about steps they need to take to successfully launch an online store, designing and developing websites and working on a couple smartphone applications.  We feel that we are able to offer our clients the best service in the digital market because we are diverse and have a proven track record of success.  Instead of telling clients what we can do, we can just show them the success of the products that we have already launched.

Everyday at 231 Commerce is different and exciting.  We are able to learn new techniques to optimizing our resources and trouble shoot new problems with customers.  We are writing our own book on Product Management, SEO, Customer Service, Product Fulfillment and online branding and Traverse City is the perfect place to do this. 

We have access to everything we need here in TC and that is credit to the continued hard work of the business community encouraging and supporting young entrepreneurs as well as the groups we are a part of, including the TCYP.  The TCYP is a great group that allows younger professionals the opportunity to interact and learn from one another and share helpful information as it pertains to our generation.  Without the TCYP I feel that our younger generation would be less informed, which would make it difficult for us to assimilate into the business community and be successful.

I couldn’t think of a better place to start a company.  Traverse City is a wonderful place to live and work and I look forward to growing my business here.