Business Owner Profiles

What is this section of The DuSu?

Who springs to mind when you hear the term "business owner"? Bill Gates of Microsoft? Sam Walton of Wal-Mart? Joe Francis of the Girls Gone Wild empire? Chances are we're all familiar with big-name corporate honchos, but in truth, most businesses in the U.S. are small and independently-owned. In the Duluth-Superior area, you're more likely to walk past a store owned by one of your neighbors than by Donald Trump.

Many of the largest employers in the region are involved with education or healthcare, but in quantity, small employers account for a broad range of jobs in the area. Local business owners often feel heavily invested in the welfare of their employees and their community. Their success and innovation is a matter of pride for the entire region. Indeed, economic development has been a central issue of local concern. Many Twin Ports residents seek to buy locally, and many business owners go to great lengths to give them reasons to do so.

A five-minute bus ride down one street in Manhattan can take a person past three separate McDonald's restaurants. While downing a Big Mac is an unquestionably tasty proposition, one of the beautiful things about the Duluth-Superior business community is its diverse range of offerings. From restaurants serving foods from the far corners of the globe, to clothing shops stocked with garments filling every fashion niche imaginable, the area is in no short supply of novel options.

As technology becomes omnipresent in our lives, the world becomes a perceptibly smaller entity. Global and international business pursuits were once centered in sprawling metropolitan areas. With even remote rural areas gaining access to communication capabilities with infinite bounds, the business of the world has come right to our port town doorsteps. For a notably progressive community, the opportunities for economic growth and employment are tremendous.

Inside tough economic times, sailing the ship of economic progress through an ever-narrowing harbor is a challenge. Fortunately, the Duluth-Superior business community is championed by a capable crew of business owners and leaders. Raw talent, unique perspectives, and an unfaltering drive to make their local businesses succeed is just part of what fuels our entrepreneurial savants.

The DuSu is pleased to bring you profiles of local business owners who have opened their doors and let us pry into their psyches to learn about how they got to where they are today. Read on for all the highlights, and learn which interviewee began life as a robot (that may be a slight embellishment for dramatic effect).