Blogger Local Kansas City Issue 1
Check out the first issue of Blogger Local Kansas City. Be sure to visit: https://kansascity.bloggerlocal.com/
Check out the first issue of Blogger Local Kansas City. Be sure to visit:
https://kansascity.bloggerlocal.com/
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s Go-To Magazine for Social Media & Web Savvy Businesses & Consumers!<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> Edition<br />
Author. Entrepreneur. <strong>Blogger</strong><br />
Check out Gary Lezak’s forecasting tech<br />
venture & his popular new children’s book<br />
ALSO IN<br />
THIS ISSUE<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s<br />
Top 50 <strong>Blogger</strong>s<br />
& Social Media<br />
Influencers<br />
CELEBRATING KANSAS CITY’S SMALL, LOCAL & FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong><strong>City</strong>.<strong>Blogger</strong><strong>Local</strong>.com
Save $400 Off any<br />
new full system!<br />
Call 913-888-4470<br />
for a Free Estimate<br />
We’ve used Cates exclusively for almost a decade.<br />
I know they’re never going to push me into something<br />
we don’t need. They’re a company we can always trust.<br />
Joel Goldberg – Professional Sports Broadcaster<br />
Not Valid with any other offers. Limit One per Household. Expires 3/31/19.
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> Edition<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s Top 50<br />
<strong>Blogger</strong>s & Social Media Influencers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3<br />
A Message from the<br />
Team at <strong>Blogger</strong> <strong>Local</strong> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7<br />
Cover Story:<br />
Renaissance Weather Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8<br />
K-Guard Owner on the<br />
Challenges of Small Business Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12<br />
The Marketing Agency Behind Some of<br />
KC’s Fastest Growing Small Businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s<br />
Outdoor Memory Maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16<br />
Helping <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> Make<br />
Better Insurance Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18<br />
A <strong>Local</strong> Law Firm That<br />
Stands Out from the Crowd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20<br />
Enhancing Your Landscape with<br />
European Garden Charm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22<br />
Making Customer Friendships<br />
While Doing What You Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24<br />
No part of this magazine or its content may be reprinted or reproduced in any way without the<br />
permission of <strong>Blogger</strong><strong>Local</strong>.com. "Sponsored Content" is content that resembles editorial content but<br />
is paid for by an advertiser and intended to promote the advertiser's company, products or services.<br />
In this magazine, Sponsored Content is labeled at both the top and the bottom of such content.<br />
5
A Message from the<br />
Team at <strong>Blogger</strong> <strong>Local</strong><br />
HOWDY KANSAS CITY!<br />
Welcome to the very first issue of <strong>Blogger</strong> <strong>Local</strong>!<br />
While you may recognize our name from your Google<br />
searches for local services in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> (seriously, we<br />
crush it on Google), print is a new medium for us.<br />
WHY A PRINT MAGAZINE?<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> has tons of great magazines that support<br />
family, business, fashion and lifestyle, but <strong>Blogger</strong><strong>Local</strong> is<br />
unique in how we feature small, local and family-owned<br />
businesses with a print magazine supported by a podcast,<br />
a web TV show and a high-traffic website.<br />
When given a choice, <strong>Kansas</strong> Citians want to buy from<br />
local companies - from people and companies they know,<br />
like and trust – it’s the <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> way. We’re going to shine<br />
the light on many of the local businesses that power our<br />
local economy and make our city great!<br />
WHAT IS OUR MISSION?<br />
Well, it’s two-fold:<br />
1. Support <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s small, local and family-owned<br />
businesses;<br />
2. Cover <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s social media scene…because<br />
magazines are cool and all, but let’s face it, the Internet<br />
is where all the action is.<br />
HOW WILL WE DO IT?<br />
It’s all about storytelling. You’re going to hear from<br />
business owners, their personal struggles and successes,<br />
what motivates them, how they give back to our<br />
community, and what food, places and services they really<br />
love in this town.<br />
DO YOU KNOW ANYONE<br />
OR WANT TO CONTRIBUTE?<br />
Do you know any great local businesses that you think we<br />
should cover? Do you know of a local business that could<br />
use a break? Send them our way! Sure, we sell advertising<br />
like everyone else, but we also have plenty of free ways to<br />
collaborate with local businesses. We’re also looking for<br />
guest writers and guest post contributors (agencies take<br />
note!). Let us know!<br />
WANT TO LEARN MORE?<br />
Check out the website for more information and content,<br />
and be sure to listen to the podcast interviews.<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong><strong>City</strong>.<strong>Blogger</strong><strong>Local</strong>.com<br />
7
8
Gary Lezak is KC's most<br />
trusted meteorologist, but<br />
did you know he is also an<br />
accomplished children's<br />
book author and technology<br />
startup entrepreneur?<br />
9
Cover Story • Renaissance Weatherman<br />
As chief-meteorologist at<br />
KSHB-TV, Gary Lezak has long<br />
been a household name in<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>. More recently, however,<br />
Lezak’s passion for weather and his<br />
entrepreneurial vision have motivated<br />
him to pursue new projects<br />
- projects driven by a desire to make<br />
a larger contribution to the field of<br />
meteorology – and not just in <strong>Kansas</strong><br />
<strong>City</strong>, but around the world.<br />
Specifically, Lezak founded<br />
Weather2020, LLC ten years ago.<br />
The goal of Weather2020 is to share<br />
Lezak’s breakthrough in weather forecasting:<br />
a way to provide advanced<br />
warning of weather events using an<br />
innovative weather forecast method<br />
that has achieved incredible forecasting<br />
accuracy rates over the past<br />
few years for forecasts 200 days into<br />
the future!<br />
Lezak is also a published author,<br />
having released It’s a Sunny Life: An<br />
Adventure Fit for Rain or Shine! in 2016.<br />
<strong>Blogger</strong> <strong>Local</strong> had the opportunity to<br />
catch up with Lezak and learn more<br />
about his journey as an entrepreneur<br />
and how blogging became a foundational<br />
part of Weather2020 and his<br />
career with KSHB-TV. He also shared<br />
news that his 30 years of research<br />
was recently published in a peer-reviewed<br />
scientific journal.<br />
The Path to Meteorology<br />
Lezak was always on the path to<br />
meteorology. His love of the weather<br />
began as early as five years old and<br />
continued throughout his childhood.<br />
“I learned about the upper level<br />
winds of the atmosphere while I<br />
was growing up and kept a weather<br />
calendar,” he tells <strong>Blogger</strong> <strong>Local</strong>. “The<br />
Star Wars Calendar of 1978, I believe it<br />
was the first calendar I began writing<br />
my weather entries.”<br />
After graduating from the University<br />
of Oklahoma in 1985, Lezak began<br />
his television career. Even though<br />
studying and working on meteorology<br />
were things he was interested<br />
in from a very young age, being<br />
on TV came as a surprise to him. It<br />
was never something he thought he<br />
would do, but after a break here and<br />
I learned about the upper level<br />
winds of the atmosphere<br />
while I was growing up and kept<br />
a weather calendar. The Star<br />
Wars Calendar of 1978.<br />
a break there, suddenly he became a<br />
popular weatherman.<br />
“In 1992, I moved on to <strong>Kansas</strong><br />
<strong>City</strong> and I’ve been the Chief Meteorologist<br />
at KSHB-TV since 1999,” he adds.<br />
Passion Drives Discovery<br />
While Lezak’s TV career was thriving, his<br />
love for studying weather was playing<br />
out in other ways. For as long as he can<br />
remember, tracking the weather has<br />
been his passion, and it eventually led<br />
him to make the discovery that would<br />
become the basis of Weather2020.<br />
“Thirty years ago, the 1987-1988<br />
winter, I noticed something incredible<br />
happening in the upper levels of the<br />
atmosphere,” he tells <strong>Blogger</strong> <strong>Local</strong>.<br />
“There was actually ‘organization’ to<br />
the chaos in the atmosphere. So I<br />
started learning about it, studying it,<br />
and 30 years later...we have now developed<br />
a new weather forecasting<br />
method and system.”<br />
That system is the LRC, coined by<br />
weather bloggers of the early 2000s<br />
after his name (Lezak’s Recurring<br />
Cycle). Weather2020 uses cycling<br />
weather patterns to make amazingly<br />
accurate weather forecasts from the<br />
next day to many months into the future.<br />
Their predictions have become<br />
so accurate, in fact, that it’s become<br />
Weather2020’s mission to share this<br />
methodology with the world to help<br />
save lives and mitigate losses from<br />
weather sensitive companies.<br />
Although Weather2020 was founded<br />
nearly a decade ago, Lezak and his<br />
company are ready for growth - and<br />
their recent accurate predictions of<br />
major weather events are making people<br />
and major corporations take notice.<br />
“We just made a weather forecast<br />
of major hurricane, Harvey,” he<br />
says. “The major disaster Harvey was<br />
predicted 55 days before it even had<br />
a cloud, and then we predicted it<br />
would become a major hurricane in<br />
front of a large insurance company<br />
three weeks before it happened.<br />
We had already made high profile<br />
forecasts in the past...So, we’ve been<br />
making these accurate forecasts<br />
for years with our knowledge of the<br />
cycling weather pattern.”<br />
As grateful as Lezak is for his<br />
successful, three-decade television<br />
10
career, he passionately believes he<br />
has something bigger to share with<br />
the world and that passion has driven<br />
his hard work on Weather2020.<br />
“That’s what my entrepreneurial<br />
effort is all about,” he says. “Getting<br />
this technology in the hands of meteorologists<br />
around the world so they<br />
can improve their weather forecasting<br />
for not just the next few days, but<br />
up to 300 days in the future.”<br />
A Sunny Life<br />
In addition to his work at KSHB-TV<br />
and his entrepreneurial endeavors<br />
with Weather2020, Lezak released<br />
a children’s book in the summer of<br />
2016 called It’s A Sunny Life: An Adventure<br />
Fit for Rain or Shine!, which<br />
combines his passion for weather<br />
and his love for dogs.<br />
“I love my dogs and Sunny is now<br />
3 years old. All of the dogs in my life<br />
make appearances in this beautiful<br />
children’s story. I’ve had weather<br />
dogs Windy, Storm, and Breezy before<br />
Sunny, and the book’s about Windy,<br />
Stormy, and Breezy adopting this<br />
dog in...and Sunny becoming part of<br />
the family. Of course, there is a big<br />
weather element to the book.”<br />
Lezak is also a published author,<br />
having released It’s a Sunny<br />
Life: An Adventure Fit for<br />
Rain or Shine! in 2016.<br />
A Love of <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong><br />
When Lezak isn’t caught up in his<br />
many professional aspirations, he<br />
loves to be involved in our city. He is<br />
a big supporter of <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> sports<br />
teams. His favorite restaurant is Thai<br />
Orchid, where he regularly orders<br />
their Peanut Butter Chicken.<br />
Lezak also makes his health a priority,<br />
working out regularly with his personal<br />
trainer David Schlossman, owner<br />
of Results Personal Fitness. “He helps<br />
me stay in top condition,” says Lezak.<br />
Lessons in Entrepreneurship<br />
and Blogging<br />
As Lezak works diligently to get his<br />
forecasting methods and systems<br />
out into the world, he has had the<br />
chance to learn a lot about being<br />
an entrepreneur. This biggest lesson,<br />
perhaps, has been the importance<br />
of surrounding yourself with the right<br />
team that can help you take your<br />
idea and transform it into a successful<br />
business.<br />
When it comes to marketing,<br />
Lezak has been pleasantly surprised<br />
by blogging, it’s early start on the<br />
digital landscape, and how it has<br />
continued to be a major way to get<br />
your message out into the world -<br />
even with the rise of social media.<br />
“We started the Action Weather<br />
Blog at KSHB back in 2002 or 2003,<br />
before the social media explosion,”<br />
he says. “Yet blogging has survived to<br />
this day. Blogging thrives if you have<br />
something that you are passionate<br />
about, to blog about, and you connect<br />
with your audience every single day.”<br />
Between the KSHB-TV Action<br />
Weather Blog and the Weather2020<br />
blog, Lezak and his team blog 365 days<br />
a year, sometimes more than once a<br />
day. “My childhood weather calendars<br />
were likely the seeds for blogging,” says<br />
Lezak. He personally does much of the<br />
blogging with help from KSHB-TV Meteorologist<br />
Jeff Penner when he takes<br />
time off. From his blogging success, he<br />
offers advice for beginners and local<br />
businesses hoping to make their mark<br />
in the blogging world — be passionate<br />
about your subject matter, keep connecting<br />
with your audience, and make<br />
sure what you are sharing with your<br />
audience is unique.<br />
“It’s fascinating to see how<br />
blogging has continued to grow...I<br />
think it’s because you get your niche<br />
audience. You get your audience that<br />
loves your topic, that wants to hear<br />
what you have to say...If you have<br />
something that you have to share,<br />
whether it’s some kind of culinary<br />
effort of yours or some kind of other<br />
interest or business, you can start a<br />
blog and be successful at it.”<br />
You can share in Gary’s blogging<br />
experience by reading the Action<br />
Weather Blog at KSHB.com and share<br />
in the comments section on Weather2020.com’s<br />
daily blog posts. The<br />
new weather pattern has just set<br />
up and Gary will share the accurate<br />
forecasts and discussion as we move<br />
through 2019.<br />
11
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
K-Guard Owner on<br />
the Challenges of Small<br />
Business Ownership<br />
One of <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s Highest Rated Gutter Cover<br />
Companies Shares Its Story<br />
Co-owners of K-Guard Heartland,<br />
Travis Burch and Carter<br />
Clond, serve a territory that<br />
spans from St. Louis to Manhattan, KS,<br />
and everything in between - with their<br />
primary market being <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>.<br />
Travis and Carter were bitten by the<br />
entrepreneurial bug after working with<br />
a competitor in the same industry.<br />
K-Guard solves problems for<br />
homeowners by eliminating the dangers<br />
of climbing a ladder for gutter<br />
maintenance, and solving drainage<br />
issues caused by gutters that don’t<br />
evacuate water properly. K-Guard’s<br />
leaf-free gutters are complete systems,<br />
as opposed to a hoods, filters or<br />
screens offered by many competitors.<br />
<strong>Blogger</strong> <strong>Local</strong> talked to Carter and<br />
discussed his path to entrepreneurship,<br />
what he has learned from owning<br />
a business, and what advice he’d like<br />
to offer to other small business owners.<br />
The Perks of<br />
Small Business<br />
For Clond, one of the biggest perks of<br />
running a small business is one that<br />
many entrepreneurs can relate to —<br />
owning your own business isn’t boring!<br />
He isn’t a fan of the day-to-day<br />
monotony of a 9-to-5 job. Running<br />
his own business gives him the<br />
chance to learn new things, keep<br />
busy, and avoid growing bored with<br />
what he does.<br />
“Some days you’re doing stuff<br />
on the sales side, and some days<br />
it’s on the installation side, and<br />
some days it’s in the office,” he says.<br />
“Other days involve working with<br />
insurance or advertising. There are<br />
12 | Sponsored Content
just so many different avenues that<br />
challenge you.”<br />
Running a small business is all<br />
about problem solving. Clond enjoys<br />
connecting with customers and educating<br />
them about the problems that<br />
K-Guard products solve.<br />
Using the Internet<br />
to Drive Consumer<br />
Education<br />
There is no doubt that the Internet<br />
has changed the way consumers<br />
buy products and services. In<br />
Clond’s mind, one of the most notable<br />
changes is how consumers are<br />
able to self-learn about products<br />
online, how they solve the specific<br />
problems they’re facing, and which<br />
brand or service provider can best<br />
meet their needs.<br />
“We’ve found that a lot of people<br />
will call and say, ‘Hey. I’ve already<br />
read your reviews online. I’ve decided<br />
that you’re the company that I want<br />
to go with,’” he says.<br />
“I think it really separates the top<br />
businesses from weaker players because<br />
the top guys are going to stand<br />
out. They’re going to have all sorts of<br />
reviews. You can read them. People<br />
are going to say great things. I think<br />
that people are now more educated<br />
about who they want to work with.”<br />
Making the Leap<br />
For many, taking the leap into small<br />
business ownership feels intimidating<br />
and risky. Clond hopes that more<br />
would-be entrepreneurs will not get<br />
caught up in the fear, but prepare<br />
We’ve found that a<br />
lot of people will call<br />
and say, “Hey. I’ve<br />
already read your<br />
reviews online. I’ve<br />
decided that you’re<br />
the company that I<br />
want to go with,”<br />
off. The business is more profitable<br />
and they’ve been able to delegate responsibility<br />
to focus their time “on” the<br />
business rather than “in” the business.<br />
“I think people watch a show like<br />
Shark Tank and be like, ‘Oh my gosh.<br />
They did $10 million in sales and this<br />
guy’s rich. That must be so easy.’ It’s<br />
not. That person put a lot of time, a<br />
lot of effort. He spent a lot of time<br />
educating himself on how to grow<br />
his business. But the payoff is there,<br />
as long as you’re willing to put in the<br />
hard work.”<br />
Travis’ & Carter’s<br />
KANSAS CITY FAVES<br />
Slaps BBQ<br />
Joe’s KC BBQ<br />
National WWI Museum<br />
Truman Library<br />
Boulevard Brewery<br />
themselves for the inevitable challenges<br />
by focusing on hard work and<br />
looking ahead to the future payoff.<br />
“You’ve got to be prepared to put<br />
in a ton of work, especially in the very<br />
beginning,” he says. “I remember we<br />
walked away from our previous jobs<br />
and my income got cut by 75% of<br />
what I was making before, and working<br />
twice the hours.”<br />
At the time, Clond and Burch<br />
knew they were making an investment<br />
in the future. Three years later, they<br />
are now seeing the hard work pay<br />
Learn more about K-Guard Heartland at<br />
www.kguardheartland.com or call (913) 735-1407<br />
Listen to the full interview!<br />
Listen to Carter on the Small Business<br />
SuperHeroes Podcast, available on<br />
the following link and on iTunes:<br />
www.kansascity.bloggerlocal.com/podcast/<br />
Listen on<br />
iTunes<br />
Sponsored Content |<br />
13
Meet One of <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s Leadin<br />
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
The Marketing Agency<br />
Behind Some of KC’s Fastest<br />
Growing Small Businesses<br />
How a Computer Science Flunky Built a Thriving Digital Agency<br />
and Became a Nationally Recognized Google Marketing Expert.<br />
Phil Singleton is a web designer,<br />
a search engine marketing<br />
expert and an award-winning<br />
author. Since 2005, he has owned<br />
and operated a digital marketing<br />
agency based in Overland Park.<br />
Phil co-wrote a book on Google<br />
search engine optimization called<br />
SEO for Growth: The Ultimate Guide<br />
for Marketers, Web Designers &<br />
Entrepreneurs. The book has been<br />
on the Amazon bestsellers list for<br />
three years in a row and has been<br />
featured on MSNBC, Entrepreneur<br />
and Inc. Magazine. SEO for Growth<br />
was also named by Forbes as the #1<br />
SEO book on its list of “Essential SEO<br />
Books for Every Startup to Read”.<br />
Phil lives in Overland Park with<br />
his wife Vivian and twin sons Ostyn<br />
& Ely, both students at Timber Creek<br />
Elementary. He enjoys fishing, road<br />
tripping, and hanging out in the man<br />
cave with his sons.<br />
In the following Q&A format, Phil<br />
provides insight on his background, his<br />
entrepreneurial journey, and how his<br />
agency helps small businesses grow.<br />
Are you from <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>?<br />
Phil Singleton: I spent a good chunk of<br />
my childhood in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>. I went to<br />
grade school through 5 th grade at Cure<br />
of Ars, and from 6 th grade through high<br />
school, I lived in Clearwater, Florida.<br />
After living and working abroad for ten<br />
years in Asia, my Taiwanese wife and<br />
I moved back to <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> in 2005,<br />
where my family has its roots. My wife<br />
Vivian really loves <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>.<br />
You run a web design agency, is<br />
that what you studied in college?<br />
Funny story. I have an undergraduate<br />
degree in Finance and an MBA in international<br />
business. I almost flunked out<br />
of computer science in college, which<br />
is ironic because I make a good living<br />
on computers today. I was a true industry<br />
outsider and learned this business<br />
from the outside in, but I think my<br />
background in business and finance is<br />
unique in the web design industry and<br />
has been a big advantage.<br />
How did you get into web design?<br />
Long story short, I learned about search<br />
engine optimization (“SEO”) in the early<br />
2000’s. I was fascinated with how much<br />
power Google had, and has even more<br />
so today, over the consumer purchase<br />
process. At one point in 2005, I convinced<br />
a local business owner to let me<br />
build my first website on barter. His new<br />
website popped up on Google quickly,<br />
generating many new customers and<br />
sales. It was the most professionally<br />
rewarding experience I ever had. At<br />
14<br />
| Sponsored Content
ing Web Design & Online Marketing Companies<br />
that moment, I knew I had a great<br />
business opportunity. Flash forward a<br />
decade and a half later, we now have a<br />
thriving digital agency that has helped<br />
thousands of businesses in <strong>Kansas</strong><br />
<strong>City</strong> and around the country - through<br />
digital marketing services, software<br />
and education - generate substantially<br />
more leads and business online.<br />
What makes you different from<br />
other web designers?<br />
We have a big problem in the web<br />
design industry in that agencies focus<br />
primarily on design and functionality,<br />
but often fall short on marketing strategy<br />
and SEO. So, our industry creates<br />
great looking sites that meet the clients’<br />
technical and creative specs, but<br />
they don’t always have clear messaging<br />
or the other ingredients needed<br />
to show up highly on Google and perform<br />
well on social media. My agency<br />
is different in that we create websites<br />
that are engineered to generate leads<br />
and sales from the ground up, rather<br />
than addressing marketing goals<br />
after a new website is launched. This<br />
is important because websites are the<br />
key to modern marketing. I think our<br />
strategic and consultative approach<br />
to web design is what sets us apart.<br />
Why do you love what you do?<br />
Even though our customer base has<br />
grown nationally, my favorite thing is<br />
working with local businesses right<br />
here in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>. We have many<br />
Phil’s<br />
KANSAS CITY FAVES<br />
Spin! Pizza<br />
Maggiano’s<br />
Red Door Grill<br />
Arthur Bryants BBQ<br />
McClains Bakery<br />
KCTrends<br />
SEO is a long game<br />
for sure, but for<br />
businesses that<br />
have patience and<br />
commit to it long<br />
term, the payback<br />
can be huge.<br />
long-term local clients and it’s been<br />
amazing to watch them grow into larger<br />
businesses and bigger metro area<br />
employers. I love working-by-side with<br />
local business owners and entrepreneurs,<br />
becoming a part of their team,<br />
and playing an active role in their<br />
growth. There is nothing more satisfying<br />
than earning the trust and respect<br />
of a fellow small business owner.<br />
Any advice for local <strong>Kansas</strong><br />
<strong>City</strong> business owners?<br />
Yes! if you don’t have a strong web<br />
presence, make it a priority now. If not,<br />
you risk companies like mine helping<br />
your competitors use the web to<br />
erode your market share. And please<br />
don’t treat your website like a digital<br />
brochure. Start using it as the central<br />
hub for all of your company’s marketing.<br />
Work on your online reputation,<br />
participate on social media, commit<br />
to a weekly blogging routine, and tie<br />
all this back to your website so your<br />
business can popup on the first page<br />
of Google. Finally, consider investing in<br />
SEO. It can help you get a lot more out<br />
of your marketing dollars. SEO is a long<br />
game for sure, but for businesses that<br />
have patience and commit to it long<br />
term, the payback can be huge.<br />
What do you love about <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>?<br />
So many great things! Nice people,<br />
lower cost of living, vibrant downtown…with<br />
pro baseball, soccer and<br />
football, we have all the benefits of a<br />
big city and still manage to keep our<br />
small-town charm and friendliness.<br />
Learn more about Phil Singleton and <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong><br />
Web Design at www.KCWebDesigner.com<br />
or call (913) 735-9105<br />
Listen to Phil’s Podcast<br />
Phil hosts a popular business podcast called<br />
<strong>Local</strong> Business Leaders where he interviews some<br />
of <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s most successful entrepreneurs as<br />
well as marketing experts from around the world.<br />
www.kcwebdesigner.com/<br />
local-business-leaders-podcast/<br />
Listen on<br />
iTunes<br />
Sponsored Content |<br />
15
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s Outdoor<br />
Memory Maker<br />
Growing From a Lawn Mowing Service into<br />
KC’s Top Hardscaping & Pool Company<br />
Hinkle Hardscapes builds<br />
pools, outdoor living spaces,<br />
and patios for homeowners<br />
in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> and the surrounding<br />
areas. They’ve experienced amazing<br />
growth over the last decade<br />
and owner Zach Hinkle spent a few<br />
minutes sharing their story with<br />
us. We talked about how they’ve<br />
navigated a complete change of<br />
strategy, how they’ve adjusted their<br />
marketing, and how they’re serving<br />
families in the metro area.<br />
On Scaling and<br />
Changing Directions<br />
Hinkle first began his journey as an<br />
entrepreneur during the housing<br />
crisis. The company he was working<br />
for was struggling and he knew he<br />
needed to make a change. He decided<br />
to start a lawn mowing and landscaping<br />
business, calling it KC Lawn<br />
and Landscaping. As a new<br />
business, they operated<br />
out of the garage at<br />
Hinkle’s home.<br />
A lot has<br />
changed since then.<br />
They no longer offer<br />
mowing or landscaping<br />
services and they’ve<br />
rebranded to reflect this<br />
change. They’re now Hinkle<br />
Hardscapes, a name that better<br />
reflects the services they provide.<br />
They create complete outdoor<br />
living environments including kitchens,<br />
fireplaces & fire pits, custom<br />
patios and swimming pools.<br />
“I’m passionate about building<br />
these things,” says Hinkle. “We’re<br />
building outdoor living areas for<br />
people and families to enjoy. So,<br />
it’s really a pleasure to be able to<br />
do this for a living and design and<br />
work with families and<br />
listen to what their<br />
priorities are for<br />
their backyard…<br />
and just being able<br />
to put that dream<br />
on paper and then<br />
bring it to life when<br />
we build it.”<br />
On Giving Back in<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong><br />
Hinkle and his team have created<br />
a non-profit called Hinkle Cares as<br />
a way to give back to <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>.<br />
Recently, they held a raffle for a full<br />
backyard makeover, with a value of<br />
$60,000 to benefit a special family<br />
in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>. The proceeds of the<br />
fundraiser are being used to help<br />
fund their adoption.<br />
“This local family had tried<br />
in-vitro and they had tried a cou-
ple different options to try to have<br />
kids, and they weren’t successful in<br />
doing that, so we raffled off an outdoor<br />
living area and the proceeds<br />
from the raffle went to help them<br />
with the expenses of adopting.”<br />
On Making the Switch<br />
to Digital Marketing<br />
When Hinkle first started his small<br />
business, marketing was much different.<br />
His business began in 2007<br />
and they were mostly using print<br />
advertising with a little bit online<br />
marketing here and there. They<br />
used print advertising services like<br />
Zach Hinkle’s<br />
KANSAS CITY FAVES<br />
HinkleCares.com<br />
(local charity)<br />
Q39 BBQ<br />
Sporting <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong><br />
Ixtapa Mexican<br />
When it comes<br />
to starting a<br />
local Kanas <strong>City</strong><br />
business, Hinkle<br />
advises wouldbe<br />
entrepreneurs<br />
to focus on<br />
perfecting their<br />
product or service.<br />
Valpak, Home Mag, and RSVP. As the<br />
world of marketing has changed,<br />
so has their approach to reaching<br />
their ideal customers.<br />
“Now, we’re almost all digital,”<br />
he says. “We do a lot of social<br />
media, Facebook, Instagram, You-<br />
Tube...we also do Google AdWords<br />
and work consistently on our SEO<br />
as well.”<br />
As they focus on building their<br />
reputation in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> (with<br />
over 100 five-star Google reviews),<br />
they also make consistency across<br />
social media a major priority,<br />
using tools for Facebook to make<br />
sure they are targeting the right<br />
demographic with their content.<br />
They’ve also created educational<br />
resources, like eBooks and buyer<br />
guides, to establish authority in this<br />
space and position the company<br />
as <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s go-to resource for<br />
outdoor living projects.<br />
When it comes to starting a<br />
local Kanas <strong>City</strong> business, Hinkle<br />
advises would-be entrepreneurs to<br />
focus on perfecting their product<br />
or service. He also emphasizes the<br />
value of learning how to market in<br />
your particular industry. Above all<br />
else, he says to prepare for your<br />
business to take off — be committed<br />
to deliver on promises to your<br />
customers, and keep working hard<br />
day in and day out.<br />
Learn More about Zach Hinkle and Hinkle<br />
Hardscapes at www.hinklehardscapes.com<br />
or call (816) 741-2035.<br />
Listen to the full interview!<br />
Listen to Zach Hinkle on the Small Business<br />
SuperHeroes Podcast, available on<br />
the following link and on iTunes:<br />
kansascity.bloggerlocal.com/podcast/<br />
Listen on<br />
iTunes<br />
Sponsored Content |<br />
17
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
Helping <strong>Kansas</strong><br />
<strong>City</strong> Make Better<br />
Insurance Decisions<br />
Learn How Insurance Pros Prepares<br />
Individuals and Small Business Owners<br />
to Make the Best Insurance Decisions<br />
for Their Needs<br />
Chris Goodwin is the owner of<br />
Insurance Pros, an insurance<br />
broker specializing in helping<br />
individuals and small businesses find<br />
the right insurance options to meet<br />
their needs.<br />
Insurance Pros was founded in<br />
1999. A lot has changed for Goodwin, the<br />
insurance industry, and small business<br />
owners over the last two decades. We<br />
had the opportunity to chat with Goodwin<br />
about his business, how the Internet<br />
has affected how he does business, and<br />
what he loves about <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>.<br />
All About Insurance Pros<br />
Goodwin and his team at Insurance<br />
Pros work with three very specific<br />
markets to provide education and<br />
guidance during their search for the<br />
right insurance plan.<br />
First, they work with small businesses<br />
that want to provide their<br />
employees with insurance benefits.<br />
These businesses have between 2<br />
and 25 employees.<br />
“It’s an underserved market that<br />
typically doesn’t get the same level of<br />
attention, so we take a lot of pride in<br />
helping these companies understand<br />
the differences between all of the<br />
products in the group health insurance<br />
market, the dental, and the vision, and<br />
the short-term disability markets for<br />
smaller businesses,” says Goodwin.<br />
Secondly, Insurance Pros works<br />
with individuals that don’t have access<br />
to group health insurance coverage.<br />
“We regularly help our clients<br />
secure plans on HealthCare.gov,<br />
because that’s such a complicated<br />
market,” he explains. “We have<br />
limited our exposure in this area by<br />
really just helping our existing clients,<br />
but we still do have a presence<br />
in this market.”<br />
The last market Goodwin and<br />
his company work with are individuals<br />
who qualify for Medicare or who<br />
are approaching that season of<br />
their life.<br />
“I teach classes all over our area,<br />
which is mainly Johnson county...<br />
teaching people how Medicare works.”<br />
The Internet and the<br />
Insurance Industry<br />
For Goodwin’s team, and really anyone<br />
working in the insurance industry,<br />
the Internet has really changed the<br />
way they do business. While at times<br />
it’s a double-edged sword - over-<br />
Goodwin has<br />
spent a lot of time<br />
promoting his<br />
company in the<br />
area by providing<br />
education to<br />
businesses and<br />
individuals alike.
Health Insurance<br />
Benefits<br />
For Businesses<br />
Supplemental<br />
Medicare Insurance<br />
For Individuals<br />
whelming individuals with information<br />
or lead services - it is also an<br />
incredible source of education.<br />
“When it comes to Medicare,<br />
we can give people rates and other<br />
market intelligence immediately.<br />
Medicare has an incredible site to<br />
help people find the right prescription<br />
drug plans and the right Medicare<br />
Advantage plans for them,” he says.<br />
“When it comes to groups, small<br />
businesses, we’re just able to get<br />
them information quicker through<br />
quote systems that compare the<br />
various companies’ plans on an apples-to-apples<br />
basis.”<br />
Chris Goodwin’s<br />
KANSAS CITY FAVES<br />
Burnt End BBQ<br />
Prosperity Advisors<br />
Harvesters<br />
Meierotto Jewelers<br />
Lakebrink Dental<br />
Marketing Through<br />
Education and<br />
Relationships<br />
As a small business that has been<br />
operating in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> for nearly<br />
20 years, Goodwin has spent a lot of<br />
time promoting his company in the<br />
area by providing education to businesses<br />
and individuals alike.<br />
“We have regular classes, kind<br />
of in a restaurant environment,” he<br />
explains. “We’ll invite small businesses<br />
to come and learn about employee<br />
benefits, and what’s new in the employee<br />
benefits market.”<br />
Goodwin and his team also offer<br />
Medicare classes to individuals at<br />
YMCAs and other community venues<br />
throughout the <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> area. These<br />
classes not only help provide answers<br />
to the questions people have about<br />
insurance options, but also help Insurance<br />
Pros spread the word about the<br />
services they provide. The company<br />
also relies on Facebook and existing<br />
relationships they have built with<br />
business coaches to connect with new<br />
prospective clients in the area.<br />
What Entrepreneurs<br />
Need to Know<br />
About Insurance<br />
If Goodwin could offer one piece of advice<br />
to entrepreneurs, he would want<br />
them to know that they have options for<br />
insuring themselves and their employees,<br />
and that securing coverage isn’t as<br />
overwhelming as they might think.<br />
“Entrepreneurs should know that<br />
there are quite a few more options in<br />
the group health insurance market than<br />
in the individual market,” he says. “You<br />
can offer a plan in many cases, without<br />
any contribution for employees.”<br />
This means that, as a small business<br />
owner, you can still provide access<br />
to group plans with only a small<br />
amount of administration fees to cover.<br />
“That message isn’t getting to<br />
a lot of smaller businesses because<br />
going through an underwriting<br />
process is a little bit time consuming<br />
and takes more work for the broker<br />
or agent, or whomever you’re using,”<br />
Goodwin explains.<br />
Learn More About Chris Goodwin and the free<br />
classes provided by Insurance Pros at<br />
www.insuranceprosinc.com or call (913) 944-4465.<br />
Listen to the full interview!<br />
Listen to Chris on the Small Business<br />
SuperHeroes Podcast, available on<br />
the following link and on iTunes:<br />
www.kansascity.bloggerlocal.com/podcast/<br />
Listen on<br />
iTunes<br />
Sponsored Content | 19
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
A <strong>Local</strong> Law Firm<br />
That Stands Out<br />
from the Crowd<br />
How Bautista LeRoy Started & Grew an Award-Winning<br />
Personal Injury Law Firm in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong><br />
Bautista LeRoy, established in<br />
2011, is a boutique law firm in<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> that handles personal<br />
injury cases such as vehicle<br />
accidents, as well as specific types<br />
of cases involving train accident<br />
injuries or deaths, and nursing home<br />
negligence cases. The firm also<br />
works with cases that involve the<br />
injury or death of someone who was<br />
incarcerated at the time of the incident<br />
or who was interacting with a<br />
law enforcement officer at the time<br />
of the incident.<br />
José M. Bautista and Andrew LeRoy<br />
began their journey as entrepreneurs<br />
in 2011 when they made the decision<br />
to step away from working with larger<br />
firms and start their own, smaller firm.<br />
“It started with one little room<br />
with a couple of Apple computers<br />
and iPhones,” says Bautista.<br />
“We were able to grow the firm to<br />
what it is today, which is four lawyers,<br />
supporting staff members and<br />
a growing practice where we are<br />
litigating cases in various states, often<br />
highly complex civil litigation. We were<br />
able to buy our own office building<br />
here in Midtown KC, which has been<br />
nice milestone for our firm and a great<br />
way to invest back into <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>.”<br />
Old Fashioned<br />
Networking Still Works!<br />
As a plaintiff’s law firm, Bautista LeRoy<br />
relies on consistent networking to<br />
connect them with new cases.<br />
“We truly believe that old-fashioned<br />
networking is really the way<br />
to initially get some good cases,”<br />
says LeRoy. “We enjoy working with<br />
other attorneys on a lot of co-counseling<br />
type of work, with attorneys<br />
throughout Missouri as well as<br />
Illinois, and Arkansas.”<br />
Using network marketing as<br />
heavily as they do doesn’t negate<br />
their need for strong digital marketing.<br />
In fact, the time and money they<br />
have invested into building a website<br />
with high quality, informative<br />
content supports their networking<br />
efforts. It’s the second touch in their<br />
marketing strategy.<br />
“They meet Jose and I, we have<br />
conversation about some cases,<br />
and then we want to make sure that<br />
we have a fair amount of information<br />
of what we talked about on our<br />
20<br />
| Sponsored Content
website, that the other attorneys,<br />
and other potential clients can<br />
access,” says LeRoy. “Then we also<br />
want to make sure that we have a<br />
very easy way for them to reach<br />
us, whether that be via email or via<br />
chat, or a phone call.”<br />
Getting A Digital<br />
Marketing Boost<br />
Like many entrepreneurs, Bautista<br />
LeRoy had limited funds when<br />
they first began their firm. And like<br />
many entrepreneurs, their budget<br />
required them to do things themselves<br />
that most, larger companies<br />
would hire out.<br />
This meant that, from the start,<br />
Bautista built their first website<br />
himself and wrote the content<br />
based on self-guided research<br />
on search engine optimization. Six<br />
months in, however, they knew their<br />
website wasn’t working for them. It<br />
wasn’t drawing attention to their<br />
firm like they had hoped and that’s<br />
when they made the decision to<br />
invest in hiring a local professional<br />
to take over.<br />
“That’s when we approached<br />
our current digital marketing partner,”<br />
says Bautista. “They put it all<br />
together...SEO, content, social media,<br />
reviews, videos and integrated it into<br />
our web presence. They built us a<br />
new website because they had to get<br />
results – and over time, it worked.”<br />
Like many<br />
entrepreneurs,<br />
Bautista LeRoy had<br />
limited funds when<br />
they first began<br />
their firm. And like<br />
many entrepreneurs,<br />
their budget<br />
required them to do<br />
things themselves<br />
that most, larger<br />
companies would<br />
hire out.<br />
Helping Others<br />
Succeed & Giving Back<br />
Knowing how challenging starting<br />
out as a new attorney or firm can be,<br />
Bautista LeRoy made it their mission<br />
to help others succeed. Because they<br />
believe so strongly in the value of<br />
networking, they created the Bautista<br />
LeRoy Entrepreneurial Scholarship.<br />
In addition to covering attendance<br />
of the Missouri Solo & Small Firm<br />
Conference, this scholarship covers<br />
membership in the all the specialty<br />
bars here in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>.<br />
“When you’re just starting out after<br />
college, or after law school, a $2000 investment<br />
into the local legal bars and<br />
associations, on what you might see<br />
only in terms of social or recreational<br />
value, may not seem appealing to a<br />
young lawyer just starting out,” says<br />
Bautista. “But we believe, especially<br />
in a place like <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>, where the<br />
bars are very tight knit, it is crucial for<br />
the development of your career to get<br />
out and start meeting people in this<br />
profession. We’ve believed in this for a<br />
long time and we know it works.”<br />
Learn More About Jose Bautista and Andrew<br />
LeRoy at www.bautistaleroy.com<br />
or call (816) 221-0382<br />
Listen to the full interview!<br />
Listen to Jose and Andrew on the Small Business<br />
SuperHeroes Podcast, available on<br />
the following link and on iTunes:<br />
www.kansascity.bloggerlocal.com/podcast/<br />
Listen on<br />
iTunes<br />
Jose & Andrew’s<br />
KANSAS CITY FAVES<br />
KCMBA<br />
Asian Bar Association<br />
Café Europa<br />
Underdog Wine Company<br />
Union Hill<br />
Bier Station<br />
KC Bier Co
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
Enhancing Your<br />
Landscape with European<br />
Garden Charm<br />
High Prairie Landscape Group Specializes in French,<br />
Italian and English Gardens & Landscapes<br />
High Prairie Landscape Group<br />
sets themselves apart in<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> by doing things<br />
differently. They’ve created their own<br />
hardscape construction process,<br />
known as the Legacy Method, using<br />
elements from both European and<br />
American construction processes.<br />
“The result is something that lasts<br />
for decades as opposed to just a few<br />
years,” says Robyn Schmitz, who spent<br />
a few minutes chatting with <strong>Blogger</strong><br />
<strong>Local</strong> about growing their business<br />
and using digital marketing to spread<br />
the word about what they do.<br />
High Prairie Landscape Group<br />
creates European style gardens and<br />
outdoor living spaces in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong><br />
and the surrounding areas. They<br />
place a high emphasis on craftsmanship<br />
and attention to detail,<br />
which allows them to create outdoor<br />
spaces that last for years to come.<br />
On Always Looking Ahead<br />
Schmitz and the entire team at High<br />
Prairie Landscape Group know the<br />
importance of constantly growing<br />
and learning new things about their<br />
craft. They’ve gone above and beyond,<br />
aspiring to be the first to bring<br />
new ideas and cutting-edge landscaping<br />
to the <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> market.<br />
“We tour the country every year<br />
viewing plant trial gardens, and<br />
that’s cool because we’re able to see<br />
what’s cutting edge and coming up<br />
in the market before other people<br />
even know it exists,” says Schmitz. “We<br />
get it to <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> and start growing<br />
it here before anyone else even<br />
knows that it’s a possibility. Our clients<br />
love that because they’re getting the<br />
latest and greatest, which gives them<br />
more bang for the buck.”<br />
22
Empowering<br />
Home Owners<br />
By Educating Them<br />
In September of<br />
2018, Schmitz’s<br />
first book, “Outdoor<br />
Living: A<br />
Guide to Design,<br />
Construction, and<br />
Budgeting” was<br />
published. Within<br />
the pages of her<br />
book, readers will<br />
learn how to prevent costly mistakes,<br />
select a contractor for their outdoor<br />
project, and create a rough budget.<br />
No other book on the market combines<br />
all three factors into a single<br />
guide. Consumers are able to make<br />
the best decisions for their unique<br />
needs when they’ve been provided<br />
with a clear, transparent guide on<br />
reaching their project goals.<br />
Building a <strong>Local</strong><br />
Business Through<br />
Building Relationships<br />
When Schmitz first began her business<br />
in 2010, they were a small startup<br />
running their business with nothing but<br />
an old jeep. In 2013, they hired their first<br />
full-time employee, and in 2016 her husband<br />
joined the business. Today, they<br />
have 25 highly specialized employees.<br />
They’re the first ever full-service landscaping<br />
company to receive the top<br />
25 Under 25 Businesses in <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong><br />
Award and a member of the Helzberg<br />
Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program.<br />
Schmitz attributes a lot of different<br />
factors to their growth. They have<br />
worked hard to set themselves apart<br />
and to establish their reputation as<br />
a contractor who won’t cut corners.<br />
It is building relationships in the local<br />
community that she believes has<br />
helped them create a strong marketing<br />
strategy that continues to generate<br />
leads for their business.<br />
“I think business revolves around<br />
relationships,” she says. “Because of<br />
that, referrals are always going to be<br />
an important part of our marketing.”<br />
In addition to making building<br />
relationships in the local community<br />
their first priority, High Prairie uses<br />
digital marketing to maintain a strong<br />
online presence, allowing them to<br />
diversify their market and reach more<br />
people in the local community.<br />
“Through our marketing partner,<br />
we invest in content marketing and<br />
search engine optimization, as well<br />
as Google pay-per-click advertising.<br />
We’re also creating informational<br />
videos through a local company<br />
called Real Media, and then last and<br />
certainly not least is we’re providing<br />
value to people through free educational<br />
content.”<br />
Lessons Learned<br />
From Entrepreneurship<br />
For Schmitz, being an entrepreneur<br />
and becoming a small business owner<br />
has been a wild ride. She’s learned<br />
Robyn Schmitz’s<br />
KANSAS CITY FAVES<br />
Helzberg Entrepreneurial<br />
Mentoring Program<br />
Stand Down KC<br />
(Charity Event)<br />
Avenue of Life (Charity)<br />
Tom’s Town for cocktails<br />
Char Bar for BBQ<br />
Martin <strong>City</strong> Brewing<br />
Company for pizza<br />
a lot over the years from starting and<br />
growing her business, and these are<br />
the lessons she’d like to pass on to<br />
entrepreneurs who are just beginning<br />
their journey.<br />
“I think first you have to know<br />
yourself well enough to capitalize on<br />
your strengths,” she says. “But the other<br />
side of that equation, is to be humble<br />
enough to know your weaknesses<br />
and outsource those weaknesses.<br />
Whether that’s within your organization<br />
or outside, know what you’re not<br />
good at and fill that void.”<br />
Lastly, Schmitz believes there is<br />
power in being able to say no. She<br />
has learned that, as a small business<br />
owner, you have to be able to remain<br />
faithful to your vision, even when that<br />
means turning away opportunities.<br />
She believes that understanding your<br />
vision and knowing you can’t say yes<br />
to everything is essential to success<br />
as an entrepreneur.<br />
Learn More About Robyn & High Prairie<br />
Landscape Group at www.GoHPLG.com or call<br />
(816) 398-2901, and be sure to check out High<br />
Prairie’s special and promotional offers at:<br />
www.gohplg.com/special-offer/<br />
Listen to the full interview!<br />
Listen to Robyn on the Small Business<br />
SuperHeroes Podcast, available on<br />
the following link and on iTunes:<br />
www.kansascity.bloggerlocal.com/podcast/<br />
high-prairie-landscape-group<br />
Listen on<br />
iTunes<br />
Sponsored Content |<br />
23
SPONSORED CONTENT<br />
Making Customer<br />
Friendships While Doing<br />
What You Love<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong>’s Heating and Cooling<br />
Experts Discuss Growing & Giving Back<br />
For Cates Heating and Cooling,<br />
serving the HVAC needs of<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> area home and<br />
business owners has always been<br />
a family affair. In 1974, Jim Kiekel<br />
began Cates Heating and Cooling<br />
with a partner. In 1975, Jim bought<br />
full ownership of the company.<br />
Since then, the company has<br />
been offering both residential and<br />
commercial HVAC services here in<br />
<strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> and has made a name<br />
for their business by offering quality<br />
services paired with excellent customer<br />
service.<br />
Recently, Jim’s son Jeff Kiekel<br />
shared a little about the company, his<br />
role in their growth, and how they’re<br />
using marketing to reach more customers<br />
in the metro area.<br />
A Love for the Business<br />
Jeff Kiekel began working in his family’s<br />
business in 1975 as a part-time<br />
technician while he was in college.<br />
After graduation, he moved into a<br />
full-time role as a service technician.<br />
Since then, he has acted as a<br />
salesman, as operations manager,<br />
and currently acts as the company’s<br />
President.<br />
Over the years, the industry<br />
has changed and Kiekel has found<br />
a lot of enjoyment in exploring new<br />
technology and watching how these<br />
improvements provide better HVAC<br />
options to <strong>Kansas</strong> Citians. One way he<br />
I think the one thing<br />
I love the most<br />
is the people in<br />
general. Midwest<br />
attitude. Everybody<br />
wants to be<br />
friendly, take care<br />
of themselves and<br />
their neighbors.<br />
has watched the industry change is<br />
through the Internet.<br />
“I think it gives people the opportunity<br />
to look at us and see all of<br />
the reviews we have online, and also<br />
an opportunity to do a little self-research<br />
and find out if we are providing<br />
an item that is related to what<br />
their need is at the time, or what their<br />
future need is going to be.”<br />
Above all, Kiekel enjoys the relationships<br />
he builds in his work.<br />
“Most of all, the friendships we<br />
make with our customers. We try to<br />
treat them as if they’re a family member,”<br />
he shares. “We only hire people<br />
that believe in that same concept,<br />
that it’s not just a single service call, it’s<br />
an investment in them as a customer.”<br />
Investing in the<br />
Community<br />
As a company and a family, the<br />
Cates’ team has made a habit of<br />
investing not only in their customers<br />
but in the city as a whole. They<br />
share a love for <strong>Kansas</strong> <strong>City</strong> and for<br />
24<br />
| Sponsored Content
giving back in ways that match with<br />
their interests and passions. This has<br />
included being involved in the sports<br />
programs at UMKC and supporting<br />
the Cars 4 Heroes program.<br />
“We have worked the last couple<br />
years with Rex Hudler in the Up for<br />
Downs Syndrome Charity,” he says.<br />
“We provided tickets to 200 kids for<br />
the baseball game last year.”<br />
Jeff Kiekel’s<br />
KANSAS CITY FAVES<br />
Cars 4 Heroes (Charity)<br />
Up for Downs Syndrome<br />
(Charity)<br />
Aristocrat Motors<br />
Jack Stack for BBQ<br />
Q39 for BBQ<br />
Don Chilitos for Mexican<br />
Jose Peppers for Mexican<br />
vorite things about KC. He loves <strong>Kansas</strong><br />
<strong>City</strong> BBQ — citing Jack Stack and<br />
Q39 as his favorites — and following<br />
Royal’s baseball games. More than<br />
anything, he loves the people and the<br />
sense of community.<br />
“I think the one thing I love the<br />
most is the people in general. Midwest<br />
attitude,” he says. “Everybody<br />
wants to be friendly, take care of<br />
themselves and their neighbors.”<br />
Building a Strong<br />
Company<br />
There is no hesitation when we ask<br />
Kiekel to offer advice to aspiring and<br />
new business owners — he immediately<br />
says that building a strong<br />
business starts with building the<br />
right team.<br />
“You have to put those people<br />
in a job they can succeed in,” he<br />
says. “Then you have to give them<br />
the ability to make decisions, so that<br />
you can concentrate on growing the<br />
business and they can concentrate<br />
on providing the business message<br />
through work and diligence with<br />
their customers.”<br />
Kiekel has also used a combination<br />
of traditional advertising<br />
and digital marketing to grow the<br />
Kiekel also shared some of his fabusiness<br />
and reach new customers<br />
in the metro area. They’ve invested in<br />
pay-per-click campaigns, blog regularly,<br />
and have consistent TV campaigns<br />
featuring Rex Hudler and Joel<br />
Goldberg testimonials, both of whom<br />
are customers.<br />
“We believe that every home<br />
is different and comfort issues are<br />
unique to that individual customer<br />
or family. Having the ability to sell all<br />
major brands gives our technicians<br />
the ability to customize solutions for<br />
each home, which in the end, creates<br />
happier and more loyal customers.”<br />
Learn More About Cates Heating and Cooling<br />
at catesheatingandcooling.com<br />
or call (913) 888-4470.<br />
Listen to the full interview!<br />
Listen to Jeff on the Small Business<br />
SuperHeroes Podcast, available on<br />
the following link and on iTunes:<br />
www.kansascity.bloggerlocal.com/podcast/<br />
Listen on<br />
iTunes<br />
Sponsored Content | 25
THE MOST ADVANCED LEAF-FREE<br />
GUTTER SYSTEM ON THE MARKET!<br />
Eliminate Gutter Maintenance and Drainage <strong>Issue</strong>s Forever<br />
LIFETIME<br />
CLOG-FREE<br />
WARRAN T Y<br />
Call for 80% Off<br />
Installation Plus<br />
No Payments<br />
until 2020!<br />
Before K-Guard<br />
After K-Guard<br />
Leaf-Free Gutter System<br />
From A Family You Can Trust<br />
<strong>Local</strong>ly Owned & Operated<br />
Free Estimates + Financing Available<br />
913-828-3179<br />
KGuardHeartland.com