Mile High Biz Blog

A new month always means a busy time at Mile High Business Allinace. It's when we get to set our intentions for the month, and build our days around accomplishing the measures to fulfill on our intentions (sounds exciting, right?)

A big thanks to all the businesses that came out to the Energy Workshop on Tuesday evening at Wash Perk. We had 12 business owners/managers come to learn more about how their behaviors can improve energy efficiency in their workplaces. Members Boyer's Coffee and Snooze A.M. Eatery among them. There are new rebates out for the Denver Energy Challenge program that can be found at Denverenergy.org and we are excited to continue providing support to businesses looking to reduce their energy consumption!

We co-hosted a conference call today with the American Sustainable Business Council about Benefit Corporation legislation, which is coming through the Colorado Congress in just a few weeks! It is estimated that 60,000,000 consumers want to buy from sustainably-minded companies and that there is $2.7 trillion in potential investments for these companies. This is a 100% voluntary legal framework that allows companies to "bake in" their sustainability initiatives into their bottom line. To support the Colorado legislation coming through in a few weeks, you can download the letter template and send to your legislator.

We attended the press conference for the Mayor and the Office of Economic Development to release their economic development plan, and think it's important for all Denver residents and businesses operating within Denver to take a look.

We also attended the City Council meeting on Monday night and spoke on behalf of the site at Garfield/Monroe & Colfax being re-zoned so that Sunflower Farmers Market can build a store there. In the interest of fresh, afforable food being available to all people in all parts of the city, we support this development.

Last, but surely not least. We're still taking resumes for our Administrative & Program Assistant position, until next Friday February 10th. We're looking forward to finding an awesome new addition to our team!

This week our team was focused, energized, and intent on finishing January with a bang. 

We believe our team culture not only defines our work, but defines us as a team. On Monday, we hosted Laura Conley from Culture Counts for our final session on team culture. Not only was Laura able to identify the different ways in which we communicate, make decisions and the pace at which we work (and so many other things!), she was able to have it all make sense for us as a team who works together every day. We'll continue to do this work as individuals and as a team, as it has made us know ourselves better and contribute to our work in more open and honest ways. Thank you, Laura!

We held a year end tax workshop with 7 businesses participating who got clarity on the confusing process of keeping records and reporting taxes to the IRS. Thanks for Letitia Pleis for hosting the workshop at our office!

Peter is working on securing a sponsor for Local Flavor Guides, and managing the new membership structure. If you're an MHBA member, please contact Peter to learn more about how you can upgrade your membership this year! Or if you are interested in taking part in an established, successful campaign like Local Flavor Guides, please reach out to him as well.

Melanie, our Outreach Coordinator, has really been enjoying meeting with members who are renewing their membership this month. People have been very receptive to the new membership structure, including Margo at the Denver Tea Room, Gail Lindley of Denver Bookbinding, and Jason Calloway of Rooster & Moon. They were all super enthusiastic about our work. Their passion for the community and for their respective businesses is infectious.

Valerie participated in the Denver Seeds Taskforce alongside Mickki this week as the Mayor's group determined how to assess the state of our local food system in Colorado. The work this group will do in 2012 could mean huge changes in the relationship Coloradoans have to their food.

We started our planning for Small Business Forum, which will take place at the end of May/beginning of June. We may have just secured a location for this awesome resource event - so stay tuned!

Sharing in this format allows us to make each week distinct from the next. The Mile High Business Alliance is not like a traditional business in environment or culture. We're "scrappy" as our Executive Director described us on Monday night at the Members Soiree. Meaning we operate with little resources, are resilient, and have the ability to survive and make things great in an efficient and effective way.

We were able to share a little bit of that "scrappiness" to our members at the Annual Meeting on Monday night, where we celebrated our accomplishments from 2011 (see the Annual Report), shared our strategy and new membership structure for 2012, and acknowledged some of our amazing member businesses for what they did for us last year. Here they are, in all their glory:

Frame de Art - "Willingness to prettify all the work we do"
Denver Bookbinding Company - "Most involved in policy & biggest auction surprise ever"
Yellow Dog Printing & Graphics - "Best supportive partner in Colorado Local First campaign"
Energine Marketing - "Newest member who came to the most events"
Land Title Guarantee - "Local First" Champion" 
Planet Media (and Denver Green Streets) - "Biggest media advocate & Local First cheerleader"
Calanan Photography - "Giving MHBA the best look we could ask for"
See Saw Creative - "Giving MHBA the best look we could ask for"
Rooster & Moon - "Best MHBA pre-work, during work, & after work hang out"
Colorado Audio Group - "Willingness to help out at the last second"
Irongate Financial - "Most referrals of new members"

We are also inches away from receiving our Colorado Local First stickers, which have been in progress for a few months. Thank you to our generous sticker sponsors for making that happen! Studio CPG, Land Title Guarantee, Denver Community Credit Union, Housegreening, and the Tattered Cover (see preview to right).

We're excited to have member businesses and non-member businesses participating in our Small Biz Year-End Tax workshop next Tuesday morning at our offices!

We continued work around our 2012 Programs line up and think Colorado businesses will find huge value in what we're prepared to offer. Just this week we got two calls from people wondering what they can do to contribute and participate in the Small Business Forum, which we'll be hosting again this year at the end of May/beginning of June. Keep an eye out for more information on that!

Lastly, we continue work on getting our Local Flavor Guides completed and out into the community to raise awareness of where local businesses are and what great things they provide. We could always use more ideas on neighborhoods new sponsors to make them better than ever. Contact us if you are interested in talking with us about a Local Flavor Guide.

We just finished our 2011 Annual Report and while looking at it realized that we did some pretty impressive things last year, which we are very proud of and so excited to be able to share those things with the world.

The report covers our programs, accomplishments, financials, what kind of members we represent (hint, they're 100% local), our awesome staff, and how a regular (or not so regular) Joe like you might get involved with our organization's mission to create a more healthy, connected, resilient local economy.

We're also thrilled with how amazing the report looks! Thanks to Anne Richardson of Local Flavor Marketing Group for making it so unbelievably beautiful.

But don't let us tell you, check it out for yourself...

2012 is off to a great start!

We're continuing work on our strategy and refinements for this year to provide more value for our members and community.

This week we convened the beginnings of our policy committee, which will work with the board of directors and our members to further our goals in advocating for small & local business owners to local government.

We hope to form a fully functional policy committee in the next few months and to have some policy updates on this blog very soon. First up - Benefit Corporation pending legislation - find out more here!

We're gearing up for our Annual Members Meeting (and Soiree!) where we'll be celebrating a great 2011 together, presenting plans and new membership structure for 2012, giving away member awards, and voting in a few new board members. Also, as always, we'll be eating, drinking, and having tons of fun.

Our staff is also hard at work creating an all new membership structure and new member materials including designing a fun window cling for all our members  (see image)! Stay tuned for more info about what we're working on. Have a great weekend members and supporters!

As we wrap up 2011, we're reflecting on one of the biggest Buy Local Week campaigns we've seen yet. The "Buy Local" message really permeated the air this holiday season, and we're thrilled to have started such a movement towards local businesses.

The Mile High Business Alliance was founded on the idea that local businesses are the key to a healthy local economy. Therefore, we like showing people the impact that can be made with even just a small shift to buying local during the holidays, and all year round. 

9 News recently ran a story (with video) on 9 Ways to Buy Local, featuring the MHBA, referencing one of our favorite stats: that if you move just 10% of your shopping to local businesses, a potential $3 billion could be generated for our state.

Mickki Langston, MHBA's Executive Director and Valerie Miller, MHBA's Program Director were on KDVR talking to Colorado Best's host about why "Buying Local" matters. 

On November 22nd, we hosted the Buy Local Week Kickoff event with 75 community members, Tennyson St. business owners, and local government representatives at Big Hoss Bar-B-Q. Mayor Michael Hancock, Councilwoman-At-large Robin Kniech, Councilwoman Susan Shepherd, and City Auditor Dennis Gallagher spoke of their favorite things about Denver. See Denver Green Streets coverage of the event.

On December 2nd, we hosted the Buy Local Week celebration event at Swallow Hill Music with 150 people who ate and drank great local food, beer, and wine, and enjoyed musical stylings from Danielle Ate the Sandwich and The Big Little. We had a blast with our auctioneers from Buckhorn and loved showcasing our local businesses through the silent auction as well. People went home with some amazing gifts from local businesses all over Colorado! See the pictures here.

Overall, we consider Buy Local Week an incredible success because people are buying locally this year, more than ever. Hopefully the success of the campaign will grow even more in upcoming years, until buying locally is the best, most convenient, obvious, and highest quality option out there. 

Thanks to our members for supporting this work we're doing and for working so hard to make local business in Denver really fantastic.

See all of our press for Buy Local Week.

Kismet was opened in May 2006 in the Highlands when owner Shana Colbin Dunn decided she wanted to challenge herself.

She has discovered that owning her own business creates freedom, inspires creativity, and allows her to meet wonderful people along the way. What makes her happy every day at work are the people she works with and the customers she gets to serve.

Shana thinks that Kismet represents the best in her--the part she always wants to be yet (she says) "I'm only human, right?" It's a happy, peaceful, beautiful yet imperfect store.

Check out their Manifesto on the website.

Kismet Accesories - Highlands
3640 W. 32nd Ave.
Denver, CO 80211
tel: (303) 477-3378

Kismet Accesories - Streets of Southglenn
2154 E. Commons Ave. Suite 323
Centennial, CO 80122
tel: (720) 335-6496

Email: kismet3640@gmail.com

Pictured here with Emily Marchalonis store manager. Photo credit: Kaitlin Olson

Previous business spotlights

If you're looking to take a leadership role in the Mile High Business Alliance, and want to contribute to an impactful and fulfilling organization, now you have the chance!

The Mile High Business Alliance is looking for nominations for our Board of Directors. We have one vacant seat and two that are coming up for re-election and we're going to vote on these seats at our Annual Meeting on January 16th.

You can download the board nomination form here.

Please have all nominations returned to the Mile High Business Alliance via email or mail by January 5th, 2012.

1045 Acoma St. Suite 3
Denver, CO 80204

Argonaut Liquors is not only one of the many awesome members of the Mile High Business Alliance, they are also a participant in the Denver Energy Challenge (DEC). As a participant in the DEC they made a commitment to improve their energy efficiency. After signing up in September for the Challenge they received a free energy consultation from a City Energy Adviser to find out where they could lower their energy usage.

After their initial consultation, Argonaut Liquors found their energy consumption was pretty efficient at their newly constructed location on East Colfax. They already have new T8 fluorescent lights, programmable thermostats, efficient insulation and more installed throughout the store.

One area Argonaut selected to improve on their energy usage was their cooling motors. They replaced 31 of the inefficient cooling motors with new, high efficiency dual-speed motors along with anti-sweat heater controls. The heater controls now only come on as needed, which is a big improvement from the old controls that ran constantly. ,

With these upgrades, Argonaut Liquors is projected to save roughly 76,342 kWh of energy for the year! That translates to about $7,634 saved on their energy bill for the year, the equivilent of taking 10.6 cars off the road. Not only will they save a ton of money on their bills, they also received a rebate for the completed work. With rebates from the Denver Energy Challenge as well as Xcel energy, Argonaut will have been paid back for their entire energy upgrade within one year.

Kudos to Argonaut Liquors for being a great leader amongst the green business community! Sign up for your free consultation today and find out what support your Denver based business qualifies for while rebates last.

This is the 5th year that the Mile High Business Alliance has hosted Buy Local Week and supported local businesses, and people are really catching on this year! Here are just a few of the stories we've seen.

"Keep Your Dollars Dancing in DENVER" - BUY LOCAL WEEK"on YourHub

Local color: Shop Denver boutiques on Small Business Saturday - with a shout out to our celebration event at Swallow Hill Music THIS FRIDAY NIGHT in the Denver Post

Black Friday Denver: Buy Local Week Presents Unique Offers For Black Friday & Bruised Saturday Shoppers (with video) in the Huffington Post

Energy efficiency measures estimated to save more than 60,000 Kilowatts of energy annually

WHO:                    Energy efficiency staff from Denver’s Department of Environmental Health, (10 people with 5 ladders) with partners the Mile High Business Alliance, Mile High Youth Corps and Denver Public Schools.

WHAT:                  The installation of 426 energy efficient LED lightbulbs at 11 art galleries along Santa Fe Drive.  Replacing the old inefficient bulbs with new LED lamps is estimated to save approximately 60,000 kWh of energy annually—enough to power approximately seven homes each year. Participating galleries include Hanger 41, Access Gallery, Half Moon, Anthology, Buxiejo Gallery, Kanon Collective, Niza Knoll, CC Opiela, Further Frames, Art from Ashes, and Habitat gallery.

In addition to assisting these galleries, city staff will provide workforce training to Mile High Youth Corp’s staff, so they can complete similar projects along Colfax Avenue as part of a Main Street Efficiency Initiative grant from the Governor’s Energy Office.

WHEN:                  12:30-1:30 p.m. Thursday, October 27th

WHERE:                Yellow Feather Coffee, 742 Santa Fe Dr. (this is the team’s meeting point to distribute all the lights along Santa Fe Drive. Call 303-261-6232 for exact location upon arrival)

WHY:                     The Denver Energy Challenge is a citywide effort to help participating homes and businesses save energy and money. This program is managed by the Denver Department of Environmental Health and funded in part by the American Recovery Act (ARRA) through the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings program and the Governor’s Energy Office, as well as the EPA Climate Showcase Communities program. The Denver Energy Challenge for businesses provides energy advising services, education, project support, and cash rebates for energy efficient improvements once projects are complete. Small business participants in the program, like these art galleries, may also be eligible to receive FREE energy efficient lighting installed by city staff. Residents are also able to receive energy advising services by signing up.

For more information, or to sign up for the Denver Energy Challenge, visit www.DenverEnergy.org.

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