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Category Archives: Business
Young Entrepreneurs: Luke and Natalie Lehman
This is part of a series featuring young people who have started selling a product or service. If you know of a young business person, send their email or phone number to [email protected]
Luke and Natalie Lehman are twins. Both are young entrepreneurs.
Luke Lehman,15, started a horseshoe-inspired gifts business in August because of the availability of materials.
“I sell small trinkets, made out of horseshoes, such as pumpkins, napkin holders, and Christmas ornaments,” he said. “I chose this to sell because my grandpa had a lot of horseshoes from auctions, and needed something to do with them. My dad had also made a few things out of them before.”
He calls his business Farmhouse Metalworks.
“I attended the Children’s Business Fair classes and learned about things like marketing, pricing, and target customers,” he said.
Natalie Lehman, 15, is an artist by passion.
“I love to paint, watercolor, and use oil pastels,” she said.
The idea of her business started at Christmas last year.
“I got a box of blank cards and envelopes as well as some supplies to decorate them,” she said. “I made a few cards here and there but never thought it would turn into a business.”
Then Natalie and her brother Luke started attending the Children’s Business Fair seminars.
“When we started attending the business seminars, I was trying to think of what I would do for my business,” she said. “That night at dinner, my Grandma made a comment that she was having a hard time trying to find a card to give for the occasion of a baptism and asked if I would be interested in making her a custom card for that. And that’s where I got the idea to make cards for my business.”
The name of her business is Blessings Abundant (Designs of Devotion).
She creates custom cards and keychains.
She said the Children’s Business Fair gave some valuable information.
“It helped me understand more how to manage my money better, and how to get out of it the profit that I needed to pay for all the work and expenses I put into it,” she said.
Luke and Natalie are the children of Jacob and Amanda Lehman, Girard.
The Children’s Business Fair seminars are made available by the Pittsburg State University Small Business Development Center and the Healthy Bourbon County Action Team, Fort Scott.
Young Entrepreneur: Gunner Keylon
This is part of a series featuring young people who have started selling a product or service. If you know of a young business person, send their email or phone number to [email protected]
Gunner Keylon, 12, owns his own business called The JG Store.
He sells homemade treats: such as rock candy, brownies, rice krispy treats, peanut butter fudge, trail mix, etc.
In addition, he sells his artwork: sketches.
” I like to draw and get requests sometimes, so I thought they might sell well,” he said. “I also thought rock candy sounded fun to make and you can’t buy it just anywhere.”
“I’ve been thinking about starting the business for a long time but I actually put it into action a couple of weeks ago,” he said.
He didn’t attend the Children’s Business Fair classes at the Healthy Bourbon County Action Team in Fort Scott but joined the business fair just before it took place at the Fort Scott Farmers Market on Sept. 30.
“At the fair, I learned that owning your own business is hard work but it’s worth it!” he said.
His parents are Jared and Ashley Keylon
Heartland Creates Solar Farm To Generate Energy For Local Members
Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative, Girard, is a distribution cooperative that has members in Bourbon County.
“What we do is buy wholesale power and distribute it to homes, farms, and businesses over our poles and wires,” said Doug Graham, Communication Specialist for Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. “So we don’t do much in the realm of generating electricity.”
Heartland provides service to around 11,250 meters, with around 1,700 located in Bourbon County, said Graham.
Heartland Adds Solar
“Within the last few years, it became apparent that we could reduce our wholesale power bill by using some locally generated solar energy,” he said. “We worked with our power supplier (KEPCo) to amend our contract so we and other cooperatives would be allowed to generate or otherwise procure up to 15% of our peak power demand, with 5% of that amount specifically allowing for the addition of solar.”
“The way we’ve approached solar has been to work with a company called Today’s Power, Inc. (TPI) to build solar farms on sites very close to our distribution substations,” he said. “We buy the land and lease it to TPI, and then TPI builds, operates, and maintains all the solar equipment.”
“We have long-term agreements with TPI to purchase the electricity generated by the solar farms at a set rate, which reduces how much energy we have to buy off the market,” Graham said. “This is especially beneficial during peak times when electricity is most expensive.”
In May 2021 Heartland built two 1-MW solar farms, one at Greenbush and the other at Urbana.
“The solar farm has a direct benefit to Heartland members in that it helps keep rates stable by reducing our wholesale power cost,” Graham said. “Having it be a clean and locally generated source of energy is a nice bonus.”
After they came online, the solar farms proved very effective at reducing costs, he said.
“We decided to pursue two slightly smaller (750 kW) solar arrays near our Devon and Linn substations,” he said. “The Devon array came online in the spring of 2023, while the Linn array is still in development. We have no other solar projects in development.”
The one in Bourbon County is located at 135th St. and Range Rd., just east of Heartland’s Devon distribution substation.
The 750 kW solar array powers around 130 homes.
These arrays are relatively small in utility terms, with a footprint of around seven acres for each, he said.
“The energy generated at each solar farm is used right away by the members on those substations,” he said. “It’s all local. In fact, we’re not allowed to push energy back onto the transmission grid, which is why it’s very important that we size our solar systems just right to match what our members served on those substations can actually use.”
“These solar farms are part of a larger statewide initiative called the Kansas Cooperative Sun Power Program, a partnership between TPI and 11 other Kansas co-ops. Joining forces with the other cooperatives helped everyone secure better pricing,” Graham said.
Solar Has Saved On Wholesale Power Bill
“So far this year, our three solar farms have saved us roughly 2.5% off of our wholesale power bill versus what we would have had to pay if we didn’t have solar in place to reduce the peak demand,” he said. “It’s a small thing we can do to help control costs while staying within the parameters of our contract with our power supplier. In a way, it’s a lot like what we ask our members to do on peak days in the summer: make small adjustments to your usage and save a little bit on your bill, which in turn adds up to significant savings for the co-op as a whole. That helps keep rates from climbing as fast as everything else these days.”
Is There a Sound Issue?
For neighbors the sound of the arrays is minimal.
“There’s a bit of a hum from the inverters that turn the DC power generated by the solar panels into AC power that can be used in homes, but it’s not very loud,” he said. “You could carry on a conversation at normal volume right next to the inverters. We haven’t had any complaints whatsoever.”
Wash Wednesday Starts Nov. 1
Chamber After-Hours and Ribbon Cutting Mill Creek Veterinary Clinic October 19
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Young Entrepreneurs: Prizes and Grants
The Fort Scott Farmers Market showcased some young business people on September 30.
“Most of the children that had booths had attended at least one workshop at Healthy Bourbon County Action Team (office) before Saturday’s event,” said Dacia Clark, Pittsburg State University’s Small Business Development Center.
The SBDC partners with HBCAT in Fort Scott.
“We held two different workshops (for the young entrepreneurs) before Saturday,” she said. “One was about business planning and just introducing business terminology to the kids and the other workshop talked about pricing and expenses.”
“We ended up having 20 kids participate on Saturday and gave out $340 in prize money,” she said.
1st Place received $50, 2nd Place received $25 and 3rd Place received $10.
There were four different age groups: 5-7, 8-10, 11-13, and 14-16 year-olds.
5-7 Age Group
1st Place – Adelaide Bowman
2nd Place – Judah Whitson
3rd Place – Ethan Nilges
8-10 Age Group
1st Place – Jonathon Howard
2nd Place – Camren lamb
3rd Place – Asher Whitson
11-13 Age Group
1st Place – Gunner Keylon
2nd Place – Anabelle Nilges
3rd Place – Isabelle Nilges
14-16 Age Group
1st Place – Natalie Lehman
2nd Place – Luke Lehman
3rd Place – Devlin Cole
There is the possibility of another Children’s Business Fair at Fort Scott Farmers Market next spring, she said.
For more information or to become involved with the Children’s Business Fair, please email Rachel Carpenter at [email protected]
FortScott.Biz Grant Recipients Tell of Plans
Several children received $50 grants from a fortscott.biz reader who wished to remain anonymous.
The subscriber who had been reading the Young Entrepreneur Series on fortscott.biz this summer was touched by the efforts of the children and wanted to support each young entrepreneur’s business.
This is what he wrote:
“I always stop at the local kids’ lemonade stands. When I was growing up in Fort Scott, I remember the postman buying a cup of lemonade from me. For some reason that stayed with me.
“Selling Grit Magazine door to door, making birdhouses and selling them door to door, having a Tribune newspaper route back when you paid for your batch of papers up front, delivered them, and then collected monthly. If anyone stiffed you, you were out the dough. All of those things were great life lessons for me growing up in Fort Scott. That’s why I really like your program of highlighting young entrepreneurs”
The Young Entrepreneur Series features youth under 18 years old who have a business in product or services.
To recommend a young entrepreneur in our community, please send contact info, email, or phone number to [email protected]
The following are the recipient’s comments about how the grant was spent:
“I’m purchasing more supplies for my leather crafts, Devlin Cole said. “I’m very appreciative for the money. Thankfully there is someone wanting to do that for kids wanting to make a name for themselves.”
“I bought different things for my jewelry business,” Malachi Whitson, age 10, said. “It was a big boost. I’m so glad he did it, it helped a lot.”
“The funds went directly to Answers in Genesis 2024 Vacation Bible School Program Kit,” Melanie Lamb, Camren’s mom said. “It will be used over and over. Camren’s first priority is to do it at youth homes and places with children in need. But he also plans to collaborate with kids near his age to do the program here in Fort Scott.”
Camren, 10, also purchased four Samaritan’s Purse and Bible Workbook Kits, his mom said.
Asher Whitson, whose business is Art by Asher, spent his grant money “to help a single mom and the rest towards buying new items for his business,” Maria Whitson, his mom said.
“Judah gave a little to help the single mom (his brother Asher also did this) and he saved the rest to buy a cow,” Maria Whitson, his mom said.
Chamber After-hours Hosted by Union State Bank at Empress Event Center,October 12
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Perry’s Open an RV Campground in Bronson
Thaddeus and Kelly Perry have added another business in Bronson.
Perry’s Park RV & Campground, opened October 1 at 702 Pine Street in Bronson, which is on Hwy. 54 that runs through the small town in western Bourbon County.
“We purchased a big chunk of land here in Bronson from the corner of Pine Street to the city limit signs on the west side of town, it’s a lot,” she said. “We can mow it for the rest of our lives and do nothing; instead, we wanted to do something to use the land.”
So they devised a plan.
“A few RV hookups made sense to us,” she said. “It will hopefully give back to our business for several years and generate tax revenue for the city and county and hopefully more visitors to the area.”
“We can only hope campers will stay here, buy their grocery goods here, and eat at our local Chicken Shak while in town, and for the hunters they can easily get their deer processed a block away at the Bronson Locker! It’s a win for all of us in my opinion.”
“We have a great little community that has good-hearted people,” she said. “Those people have friends and family that often visit the area for hunting, fishing, ATV or rock climbing, and with the new state park announcement in Iola and the construction on Hwy. 7 and of course the Wolfe Creek project, we anticipate the four little spots we have staying full… or at least that’s our hope.”
“We currently have 4 hookups for RV’s,” Kelly said. “Each hook-up has a sewer, water, and electric 30amp/50amp/110v at each site. Wi-Fi within walking distance. Trash pick up. Full grocery, beer, ice, deli, and diner on-site. Pull through parking. We are still in the process of adding the firepits, and picnic tables per site as well. The last portion will be the playground and BBQ Grill area for the campers.”
“We have nightly and monthly rates available,” she said.
The cost is $40 per night, $175 per week, and $475 per month.
“We have an ADA-compliant unisex bathroom inside of our storefront 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday for the visitors to use if needed,” she said. We will eventually have a full coin laundry facility on-site for campers and the community. However, that will be a few years because we simply have a lot on our plate at this time.”
“We specifically worked with small businesses to build the RV Park to feed back into the local economy using Bandara Stone for our rock; Brandon Krebs with Rocking K Construction for groundwork, Matt Kelly with Kelly Electric for the hookups, Eric Stewart with C&S Contracting for our plumbing, and Adam Arnold and Cory Chandra with Deep Roots Lawn Care for all the final touches.”
To reserve a spot, contact the Kelly’s at: 620.939.4300.
New Boutique Comes to Downtown Fort Scott
Susan Townley has been in the boutique business in the Overland Park and Olathe area near Kansas City for over five years.
She and her husband, Ed, own the former Country Cupboard Store at 12 N. Main, which they purchased from the Renard family.
They are been making the space their own since purchasing the building in December 2021 with sanding, painting, new lights, and some new carpet in areas. The antique wooden floors and ceiling tiles are features, along with some glass showcases.
Ed and Susan have done all the work themselves.
The name of the boutique is Be The Light.
“The name Be The Light is based on suicide awareness and on the Bible verse Matthew 5:14-16 which states – 14 ‘You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven,'” Susan said.
Her specialty is Tyler Candles, from Tyler, Texas, her hometown. But they also repurpose furniture and have lots of collectibles and vintage finds for sale.
“Going to Canton, Texas when young, the boutique world is not like anywhere else,” she said. “I wanted to bring it up here.”
“We see Fort Scott being a destination point, and believe the city is heading toward growth,” Susan said.
“We’ve collected three to four years for this move,” she said. They will also sell seasonal items and a little clothing.
“I’m from Texas and we make trips to Texas for markets looking for ideas and inspirations,” she said.
Be The Light will have its’ grand opening on November 2.
Then they will be a part of the Fort Scott Holiday Open House Shopping Event on November 9-11.
Following the Christmas Parade on November 30, they will have a spot for children to visit Santa in the store.
That parade starts the Christmas on the Bricks event weekend, Dec. 1-2.
The boutique will be open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The Townleys also own 11 N. Main, across the street, that they have rented out.
Be The Light has a Facebook page and an Instagram page.
The phone number is 913.406.2998.
SPECIAL Saturday Chamber Coffee hosted by Kansas Rocks Recreation Park Saturday, Sept. 30
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New Cleaning and Organizing Service: Rayma’s Clean Team
Rayma Ridge, 31, opened her new business, Rayma’s Clean Team LLC in June, 2023.
She provides the area between Bronson and Fort Scott with cleaning and organizing services
“Through discussion with other community members, I recognized the need for residential housekeeping services,” Ridge said. “I have been doing some form of housekeeping/ organizing for friends and family members since I was about 14 years old.”
This got her thinking.
“With many years of experience and having recognized the local demand, I decided to get my LLC and start my own business,” she said. “I began with a small amount of clientele, but I was blessed to fill my books quickly! I have the best clients!!”
Currently, she has one employee in training, she said.
Contact info: phone: 620-224-6839
email: [email protected]
Like/ follow on Facebook, where Ridge includes highlights of some of her favorite cleaning products.
She is located in Uniontown.
