When it comes to recent economic trends, on the one hand there is a migration happening of consumers from urban to rural areas.  On the other, though, consumers are not spending like they have in the past, regardless of where they live.  This creates a unique challenge for owners and leaders of rural-based small businesses.

One company that has emerged as a success story despite the economy is Tastefully Simple, a 2009 finalist for Winning Workplaces' Top Small Workplace award.  The story of how this 15-year-old, 350-employee food and beverage enterprise has thrived carries special meaning for me: the company is based in Alexandria, MN, where I spent many a summer growing up as I have family there.

As Tastefully Simple is now Alexandria's second-largest private sector employer, locals have known for years what Prairie Business Magazine reported earlier this month – that the company recruits and retains the best talent and continues to meet its sales goals because of its innovative workplace culture.

Tastefully Simple Founder & CEO Jill Blashack Strahan – a headlining speaker for our October 27-29 event with Inc. in Denver – is featured prominently in the Prairie Business article.  Writer Dee George does an excellent job of showing how the firm's human capital strategies support Blashack Strahan's claim that "Our principles aren’t just sayings on a wall.  They are a way of life."

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