As a business owner, you need to know what your customers are putting into the search engines to find your business and/or products. Then you need to optimize your website and content so that it reflects those keywords. Content is key! Nobody knows your business or products like you do. Write about them. Get your customers to write about their experiences and add it in to your content. The more relevant content that you incorporate to your site, the better off you are going to be when it comes to internet marketing and search engine optimization.

If you have more than one website or blog, don’t use the same content on both. That will actually hurt you in the long run. Repurpose your content for the second site. You can be creative with your words and make it 40-60% different so that it benefits you on both sites. You are a treasure trove of information, once you start writing it will start flowing. Or hire a writer to learn about you and your business and be your voice. Whatever you do, you need to something, because without internet marketing and search engine optimization, you aren’t going to go anywhere online!

I created a BLaST Creative account last week and started adding a few boards and pins, within 1 hour I had over 50 spam emails and continue to receive between 50 to 100 spam emails a day. It is absolutely ridiculous! Is Pinterest selling our email addresses?

We use Facebook and Twitter and don’t have anywhere near the spamming problem. Pinterest is a nightmare and yet it is a good marketing tool! So what do you do?

1. Don’t use Pinterest!
2. Set up a second email address that you use only for Pinterest so that the spam emails go there and you don’t have to deal with them.
3. Block the spam emails as they roll in-which is what I did.
4. Continue to complain to Pinterest, but that doesn’t seem to be doing much good.

Because of the popularity of the site, Pinterest seems to be attacked by spammers and doesn’t have the appropriate safeguards in place. So enter at your own risk, for the moment, spammers control Pinterest!

Z & R Venture, Inc. in some ways appears to be a typical real estate development business venture.  Two guys with different talents get together and begin a real estate development.  Each brings a different skill set to the table.  One is the money, the other the expertise.   Doesn’t seem all that novel.  In fact there is probably a “For Dummies” book out there to show you how to put together a real estate deal.  The difference with Z & R Ventures is what they have achieved in a relatively short time frame can’t be learned in a book.  It takes years of experience and a true sense of what can and cannot be done to achieve what Z & R duo have done.

I recall the first meeting with the Curt and Gary over a cup of coffee where they shared their passion for their project in Watford City, North Dakota.  A little south of the Bakken epicenter (Williston, North Dakota) it seemed little more than a wide spot in the road.  A couple of years ago, you would have blinked and missed it.  But, with the proliferation of oil development throughout the state, and more specifically  in McKenzie County, North Dakota, Watford City has turned into a hot bed of exploration and production, and thus commercial and residential development.

Z & R’s Dakota Landing project in the the Amber Hills is conveniently located in the heart of North Dakota’s thriving oil boom, and offers investors a variety of lucrative income opportunities ranging from land development to current tenant housing. This property is positioned less than one mile south of Watford City (the County Seat of McKenzie County) and is in the heart of the most prolific drilling county in North Dakota. There are very few pieces of prime real estate in North Dakota that offer the abundant income potential found in Amber Hill Properties sitting on an aquifer and a stones throw from the truck bypass route.

Taking 50 acres of what appeared to be junk land and having the vision and capacity to develop it makes Z & R a standout in the Bakken.  To learn more about Z & R Ventures, Inc., connect with them on their website or through their Synergy Station virtual business directory listing.

Amber Hills Properties  Z & R Ventures, Inc. Watford City, ND

For those who don’t live in and around the Bakken, it’s difficult to understand what it’s like here in the Williston Basin.  A few years ago, Watford City and Williston were like a lot of North Dakota towns:  quiet. 

There were a few stores on Main Street, a Walmart and a some family-friendly restaurants that you didn’t need reservations for. Some people were still oilfield workers, others farmed and ranched.  Back then, you could buy a house for less than $100,000.  If you wanted to rent an apartment in Williston, you could get it for $300-$500 a month.

Thanks to the exploration of the Bakken shale, fracking and the high-paying oilfield jobs that followed, however, those days are behind us.  Fast food businesses are paying employees $15/hour and Walmart is paying $17/hour and still having a tough time hiring. Rent an apartment in Watford City or Williston now and you’ll pay $2,000 or more.  Hotel rooms are non-existent.  Home prices are skyrocketing.  Oilfield workers are living in their cars despite earning six figures a year. 

Big money is being made in “man camps”, which offer full-service lodging for oifield workers. These man camps provide a room for sleeping and up to three meals a day for those staying there.  With laundry facilities, game rooms, televisions and other basic amenities, man camps are a popular option for these workers.  For the people who purchase land around the Bakken and put up these man camps, the money to be made is significant. Rooms rent for an average of $150 to $200 per night, and empty rooms are rare.  

 But that’s not the whole story. Somewhat more “traditional” rentals in Williston, Watford City and surrounding North Dakota towns are bringing huge returns on investment. Manufactured homes built to suit 8 people rent out for over $13,000 every month. Put a 2-bedroom trailer house on a property with utilities and you can receive tenant income of $4,000 a month or more from oilfield workers who value having a little more privacy than man camps offer.  People who invest their money in Bakken housing now can make it back quickly and then start earning straight profit within a few months. 

Unfortunately, at both the corporate and personal level, probably very few, yet it is no secret, that productive two way communication is the single most fundamental component of prosperous and lasting relationships.  Conversely the absence of productive communication is an almost certain guarantee of dysfunctional and ineffective interaction.  Left unchecked the breaches created by the lack of communication at the corporate and community level could suppress every facet of productivity including continued growth and prosperity. In a world where communication occurs at the speed of bits and bytes the absence of productive communication is amplified.

Why does that matter?  But more importantly how does this topic of productive, relatable communication translate to the Bakken?

For most of us we frequently hear the replays of parent tapes in the recesses of our memories.  For me, of all the things my father told me, “People won’t listen unless they asked to be told” is probably the one that has made the most difference in my world.  My dad, with his quiet wisdom, offered both the problem and the solution in that nine word utterance.  People won’t listen, a problem that plagues us all.  And upon review of the Bakken microcosm, a dilemma magnified by the shear level of economic activity. Raising your voice, pounding your fist or spitting sentences of venom in a blog won’t fix the problem either. 

Getting folks to ask to be told is the solution, and it is the one the TRAC Team decided to tackle when designing the 2013 Convergence Session at the upcoming TRAC Regional Energy Convergence and Trade Show in Billings, MT.  Imagine if you will community members, business representatives, and civic leaders each as a stream of people, with problems and solutions, ideas and beliefs, all flowing into the Billings Hotel and Convention Center August 1^st.   Many of them, the ones who want to listen, the ones who want to be heard, will join together for four hours of conversation.  The kind of conversation that makes people ask to be told.  The kind of conversation that shapes community.  We call this coming together Convergence.

An initiative inspired by Synergy Station co-founder Kendall McRae, keynoted by Dr. Lydia Pugh, and facilitated by Karen Grosz CPC, and a team of willing volunteers the Convergence is a different way to hear and to be heard.  Utilizing the latest in technology, the best trends in communication and the energy that only a crowd can bring, Convergence is designed with unique interactions, powerful conversations, and new opportunities to shape an amazing future as we harvest these vast energy resources.

Convergence at TRAC, is not a PR campaign or retrofitted marketing ploy.  It is   a rare opportunity to come together with individuals from all areas of community, business and the energy industry to build rapport, establish relationships, and lay the groundwork for solving tough industry challenges. Together, these efforts will be used to take deliberate action in the development of pragmatic strategies for success. 

Convergence offers the solution dad’s statement begged for, people listening because they have asked to be told and people who have something to say because they listened.

George Santayana (1863-1952)

While most of us can recall this quote, few know who said it and why.  More importantly few see daily application.

Case in Point:  New York based hedge fund, the Clinton Group, has taken active steps to replace the current board of directors and is calling for the retirement of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank McAllister at the Stillwater Mining Co., Montana’s largest publicly owned mining company, due to questionable foreign expansion activity.  On the surface this seems little more than the tail wagging the dog with the Clinton Group holding @ 1.3 million shares or a meger 1% stake in the company.  Former Democratic Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, who personally owns 25,000 shares of the Billings-based company; which operates the only platinum and palladium mines in the U.S. (Montana’s Beartooth Mountains) contends the situation is much more significant.  It’s Schweitzer’s believe that the hostile intervention launched by The Clinton Group could help save 1,500 Montana jobs in jeopardy and revive the economic prospects of one of the state’s high profile companies.

If the Clinton Group is persuasive enough, fellow investors could oust the current board of directors at Stillwater, leaving former Governor Schweitzer with a seat at the table.  While directors on the Stillwater board generally earn $200,000 per year; it is more than a self serving money motivator for Schweitzer.

Stillwaters two major acquitions in recent years were designed to diversify the company’s commodity holdings.  However, puchase of palladium and gold reserves in Canada, initially valued at $118 million were over estimated and mining is not set to commense until 2017.  Copper and gold reserves acquired in the Andes of  Argentina, initially valued at $450 million, could cost upward of $2.5 billion to develop.  An ify pursuit in a country with political unrest.

Schweitzer’s “blast from the past” warning stems from the deep extraction roots of Montana’s history with the Anaconda Mining Company, as he seeks to derail the torjectory Stillwater appears to be on.  The former copper industry giant took a fatal nose dive after the Chilean government seized the majority of Anaconda’s foreign assets in country during the 1970′s.  The end result was massive layoffs of Montana miners and the end of the copper king’s operations throughout state.

Another echo reverberting from the past is that of diversification.  The acquistion in Argentina takes Stillwater from it’s core compentencies, in their core operating environment; mining platinum and palladium deployed primarily in the manufacturing process of catalytic converters in the automotive industry.  Another Montana company which left many in the state with the “been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and worthless stock certificates” – The Montana Power Company.  Few will forget “The Power’s” redirection of business interest prematurely into the fiber optics industry.  Montana’s today still feel the consequences of the divestiture of energy industry within the state by the Montana Power Company in their monthly utility bills.

The recent crude oil production decline in the Bakken has given some cause to worry that the “Good Times” are ending.  The failure to hit oil production targets in October and November 2012, have caused some initial concern.  This decrease in production, the first in 19 months, was blamed on weather conditions, as well as efficiency measures of many producers.

We understand that Minot now has over 3,400 hotel rooms, with occupancy rates around 50%.  Some hoteliers are concerned.  The Bank of North Dakota is no longer making loans on hospitality properties.  The rig count is down from a record high of 218 rigs in May 2012.  In December 2012, the rig count was 184 rigs in the Baaken.

What does this mean to you and your business?  Well………….. go slow, the end of the world is not in sight!  That is the first thing that you must know.  Remember, for everything that goes up, it also must come back down—a simple law of physics.  OK, now, my business—what am I to do to address these concerns?

The first consideration is not to panic. Carefully look at where you are and where you are going.  Perhaps you may need to get out of some long term contracts.  Reducing inventory that is not selling and “trimming” lines that are no longer profitable are ways to reduce costs.  Look at employee expenses—if everyone is not busy, consider either realigning skill and tasks, or reducing staff.

Now is the time that when professional business consultation really makes money.  Yes, there are fees involved, however, those fees will normally save you many times the value of the fee with the results attained by the consultants’ recommendations.  Remember, do not panic, however, carefully review where you are in your business cycle and make prudent adjustments to continue forward.

A case in point is Manti Te’O's Twitter hoax!He convinced the world that he had a girlfriend, unfortunately this bad press about Manti Te’O is true and he will have a lot to overcome and it won’t be easy. Once it’s on the net, it’s on there for good.

But unlike Manti Te’O there is bad press on Facebook for brands that is not true and uncalled for, some from misguided souls, enemies and bullies. Some bullies never grow up.

Bullies are mean and don’t think twice of ruining the reputation of a brand online. They don’t think and don’t care about consequences, they let their anger and hatred fuel them and drive them.

But what does this mean for the Brand? It means you need to stay on top of all information put on the web about you. You need to share so much positive information, truth about your brand on the web. When you respond to the negativity, never attack, always respond positively. Don’t get in a pissing match on the web with your bully or hater. It will only hurt you in the end.

To find out what is being said about your brand on the web, signup for Google Alerts! This will enable you to stay on top of things.

If someone comments or posts negativity about your brand, remember to only come back with positive comments.

Coal fuels over 40 percent of worldwide energy generation, though it also finds significant use in steel production, cement manufacturing, and as a liquid fuel. With large proven coal reserves, the United States is in a favorable position to supply much of the demand – and smart coalmine developers like John Baugues and others are investing now to be a part of that supply chain.

John Baugues initial investments in the Bull Mountain mine in Montana effectively kickstarted a trend to pursue untapped coal reserves in the “Treasure State” after little new mining activity in the state for several decades. Similarly, John Baugues development of a new coal mine in West Kentucky underscored the region’s significant resources and their ability to meet rising demand for fuel used in pollution-cutting utilities. Domestic energy needs rely heavily on domestic coal production, and John Baugues Jr’s shows that investing in local coal reserves to meet those needs is a winning strategy. Not only will John Baugues Jr’s projects supply a needed resource, but they’ll also generate new jobs and increased tax revenues for local communities.

The lesson: with domestic and international coal demand on the rise, the time to invest in coal development is now.

These are all sayings we’ve heard, but it seems few people really embrace change. So how can we address this within a team or a group? People may resist it, ignore it, talk around it, but rarely want to address is directly, much less embrace it. If you’re facing any type of change, consider introducing it subtly and simply, using a team meeting.

Consider a change in the time, the place or the space. Small changes will more than likely throw people off who are resistant to change, but may help in introducing change. Just a simple change in time may generate discussion. If changing the time is not feasible, schedule to meet in a different space. Take the team to a coffee shop, another area in the building or outside. Be creative.

If introducing a new venue is not an option, change the area. Move the table out of the room. This removes the physical barrier between the team members and also addresses the blackberry bobs, the iphone inclines, and the droid drops that seem to permeate so many meetings. Eliminating the table can also naturally open up the team. If you cannot remove the table, change the seating in some way. Sit in a different seat. Encourage others to move to a different spot.

A simple change in the meeting can generate a discussion surrounding change. Be prepared though, as this small difference may in itself produce resistance. How your team members respond, may help you gauge their attitude toward change. If a person complains, they may have difficulty with change. If a person seems excited about the change, they may embrace and actually thrive on change. If a person seems non-ruffled yet accepting, they may be someone who adapts well to change, and who in turn can help others feel calm about it.

As the leader, use this simple tool to generate discussion about a change that may have already occurred or about a future change. Use it more than once. Making small changes on a regular basis may help your team make the necessary adjustments more seamlessly when facing larger changes. Equally important, be aware of your own attitude toward change, as this may greatly affect the team’s attitude toward change.

Finally, if the change seems too much for you to tackle on your own, enlist the assistance of outside support. Canvas Creek Team Building helps teams address difficult and challenging issues, including change. Free consultation and team evaluation available. www.canvascreekteambuilding.com

In fact, the oil and natural gas industry in Illinois supports what would be the most comprehensive regulatory package for hydraulic fracturing in the nation.

Just like everyone else in Illinois, the oil and natural gas industry wants safe and responsible development. That means not only operating under incredibly high standards, but also establishing operational baselines through state regulation.

Here are a few of the key provisions that the industry supports:

* Disclosure of additives used during hydraulic fracturing.

* Pre-notification of hydraulic fracturing to affected surface owners.

* Access to trade secret information by health care providers.

* Conducting baseline water testing prior to hydraulic fracturing activities.

* Identification of existing wells in close proximity to planned hydraulic fracturing activity.

* Reporting of the type of base fluid used.

* Reporting of the volume of flowback at job completion.

* Disclosure and reporting of disposal methods of flowback.

* Notification of public of planned operations in local newspaper of record for the area.

If enacted, these provisions would establish a regulatory framework that promotes responsible development, public awareness and the opportunity for strong economic growth.

In fact, a report issued this past July by the Natural Resources Defense Council outlined policy recommendations for regulating hydraulic fracturing. What becomes evident from reading that report is that the industry’s proposal in Illinois would be the most comprehensive in the nation.

This is just one of many examples of how the industry in Illinois is engaging in a good-faith dialogue with the public, environmental organizations and government officials.

One would think that industry’s willingness to proactively address concerns would lead to swift consensus on a common sense regulatory framework proposal. Yet the NRDC wrote on its blog recently: “The oil and gas industry would recommend, well, quite frankly, that nothing be done — as demonstrated by industry representatives’ most recent actions.”

This is a classic case of moving the goalposts. Now that the industry has met (and even exceeded) the benchmarks established by environmental organizations, those same groups are trying to change the rules of the game. They even falsely suggest the industry does not support regulation at all, and that Illinois needs a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until adequate regulations are in place.

But if the industry is proposing the same regulations that opponents said are necessary, then what’s the justification for a moratorium? How can we ever reasonably define what is “adequate”?

Exploration and production activities are capital-intensive, with costs in the millions of dollars for each project. Decisions on where to invest are often made as many as 18 months in advance. Once those investments are made, they cannot cost-effectively be uprooted and moved into Illinois if the state later decides to allow development.

A recent report from the Illinois Chamber of Commerce found that responsible shale development could create more than 47,000 jobs in Illinois and generate up to $9.5 billion in economic activity. A moratorium, however, would be a signal to the industry to take these jobs and investments somewhere else.

The oil and natural gas industry in Illinois is committed to strong regulations that provide our state with economic opportunities and environmental safeguards, a commitment we look forward to keeping well into the future.

Source:  The State Journal Register www.sj-r.com by guest contributors:  Brad Richards, Executive Vice President of the Illinois Oil & Gas Association and Dan Eichholz, Associate Director of the Illinois Petroleum Council.

How does this apply to team building in general? Statistics would say that in any given team, similar issues exist. Look at the first number of lines of this article. Given these times, finances are tight. Jobs may be tenuous. Illness may not be visible. Stress of the season may be taking its toll. The people you come in contact with through team building, management or leadership may be dealing with difficult issues. Unless they let you in to their struggles, you may never know it. Being aware and reminding ourselves that we may be dealing with hurting people can help us be compassionate and understanding. Providing a venue for creativity and expression not only allows an outlet, but also brings a camaraderie and togetherness to a group. It can bind them together, giving them a place of belonging. It can help them find light and positivity where darkness may want to overtake. Look for the light, the color and brightness of members. If they can’t see it, help them find it. Encourage it. Set the tone. Being positive and upbeat, welcoming and warm will go a long way in keeping a group in that same positive aura. But don’t be surprised when they set the tone themselves or among themselves. If they are anything like the group of young people I met today, they will make your heart grow, cause hope to spring within and leave you grateful for the lessons learned. And then it’s your turn to pass it on.

Collaborative painting is an extraordinary experience, meeting people where they are and allowing them to express themselves in that moment. Visit our website to explore further on how to bring collaborate art to your team, your clients or your family. www.canvascreekteambuilding.com

Do you know how most leaks are found on oil and gas pipelines?

They get a shrill complaint over the phone from one of the landowners where the pipeline crosses.

It’s true, says Dr. David Shaw, one of the authors of a draft “Leak Detection Study” prepared for the U.S. Department of Transportation, for a report that will go to the US Congress early in 2013. Dr. Shaw is a project engineer with independent consulting firm Kiefner & Associates, Inc., a high-end, Ohio-based consulting firm that specializes in pipeline engineering.

It’s true, says Dr. David Shaw, one of the authors of a draft “Leak Detection Study” prepared for the U.S. Department of Transportation, for a report that will go to the US Congress early in 2013. Dr. Shaw is a project engineer with independent consulting firm Kiefner & Associates, Inc., a high-end, Ohio-based consulting firm that specializes in pipeline engineering.

The Study – commissioned and funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) – analyzed several leak detection systems. What the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is to airlines, for example, PHMSA is to the pipeline industry.

“Very often pipeline operators haven’t known they have a leak until they get a phone call from somebody saying there’s oil in my field,” Dr. Shaw said in a recent interview with the Oil and Gas Investments Bulletin.

The PHMSA was first founded in 2001 as a result of several large pipeline spills, and their report only goes to Congress every few years. And now is a time when more pipelines are needed than ever before to transport the huge new supply of shale oil, and Canadian heavy oil, through the continent.

Of course, that has brought more public scrutiny to the industry than ever before—making it a high-stakes report for the industry. Surprisingly, the mainstream media has almost completely ignored the 269-page draft report, which was released in late September.

(And of course, the trade magazines don’t cover this issue because that would bite the hand the feeds them—you can’t annoy your advertisers!)

You can access the draft report here: Leak Detection Study. The public and industry had eight weeks to comment on it. Those comments will now be worked into the final PHMSA report that goes to Congress.

Shaw says there is relatively little market penetration of automated leak detection systems. It’s still being done semi-manually, through periodic monitoring of pressure and flow by operators.

“It’s not sensitive or modern, but that’s where the majority of pipeline leak detection is,” he says. “We rely on controllers to identify something big happening on their instruments. It’s not particularly high-tech. They’re (the pipeline industry) trying to avoid these technologies. The question is why?”

“We called them up and asked them. One primary reason is there’s no systematic guideline for leak detection system deployment. So one of our macro-recommendations (in the study) was to develop standards and certifications for leak detection systems.”

He added: “They (the industry) are particularly worried of regulations that will force them to have specific leak detection procedures.”

He says that pipeline leaks, ruptures, and spills are “systematically causing more and more property damage…in a bad year you can have up to $5 billion in property damages due to pipeline related accidents.”

Given the volume of public property damage, the report comments that pipeline companies would be “probably justified” in spending $490,000 a year for every 400 miles of pipeline.

He adds that the reality is that “right now companies might spend a tenth of that figure (per year for every 400 miles of pipelines). It just needs pushing along here. Somebody has got to move this technology into practise.”

Anthony Swift, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that the report’s findings show that industry talk on leak detection systems doesn’t match the realities of the situation.

“These systems aren’t as effective as many pipeline operators suggest,” said Swift.

He is hopeful that the report will lead to better improvements in leak detection engineering and public transparency.

Industry groups such as the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) said that the report is flawed.

“The report includes an extensive recitation and largely academic description of LDS [leak detection systems], their technologies and potential applications,” said API and AOPL in a joint statement.

“However, this study presents relatively little in-depth data or analysis of the actual experiences of operators using these technologies, their operational experiences, or benefits and costs in practice. The study hints at many of these issues, but never explores them substantively or with any numerical analysis.

“A critical reader is left unable to make any accurate assessment on the technical, operational or economic feasibility of LDS (Leak Detection Systems-ed).”

Enbridge (ENB-NYSE;TSX) is a member of both API and AOPL. They are researching and testing leak detection technologies that are suitable for its pipelines, including Northern Gateway, said Enbridge Spokesperson Graham White.

“[This initiative] includes an evaluation of fibre optic and odour sensing cables to ensure the technology actually performs as vendors claim,” said White.

(Responses to these comments by the pipeline industry from Kiefner and Associates are also available at the public website:   https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/meetings/Mtg80.mtg

Shaw says the leak detection technology industry has been caught in a Catch-22 situation for years—they find it difficult to develop new products because there aren’t any major sales to pipeline operators.

Natural gas pipelines will also get discussed in the report to Congress, though most of it will be on liquids pipelines.

Since the last report, a natural gas pipeline exploded in San Bruno California, just south of San Francisco, killing 8 people. Operator PG&E (PCG-NYSE) was found negligent but regulators also came under scrutiny as being too trusting of the companies operating the pipeline.

In conclusion, leak detection technology around pipelines is not modern, scientific or technical. In today’s age, that will just not fly politically.

The challenge for the industry is to either take the lead, increase their leak detection budgets and adopt new technology, or allow government or regulate them into action. What great PR that would be for them!

Both the US and Canada need thousands of miles of new pipelines to get their fast growing supply of oil to market. This could be a big first step in winning over public opinion with billions of tax dollars and profits on the line.

- Keith

Kinross Gold Corporation runs the Fort Knox Gold Mine near Fairbanks, Alaska. The mine, located 26 miles North of Fairbanks is one of the best producing gold mines in Alaska. The company is run with four (4) core values. Those values are:

Surrounded by a sea of sage, the little black truck veered off the two dirt tracks and came to a stop on the edge of a large basin. Hot air rushed in the cab as the boy opened the door and hesitantly stepped out. A green cooler sat in front of two dog boxes, one made of old scrap wood and the other a tan colored plastic, both of which were equipped with a pair of orange and white Brittanys. A box of shells and two water bottles were placed in the pockets of the weathered vest which had been passed down to him from his grandfather. The vest was a little large, but he knew it would bring him the same luck it brought its previous owner. Adrenaline started to pump a little faster when he heard his father’s voice ring out, “Load your gun on the other side of the fence Son”. As he worked his way through the barbed wires he heard his father once again, “Hurry Brandon, we have a point up ahead.” After loading his gun, he could feel the touch of a hand on his back guiding him to the motionless outline partially blocked by sagebrush. During the walk most things became a blur to the boy, until a large male sage grouse exploded in the air, just twenty feet in front of him. With one quick shot the bird came tumbling down to the ground, and within seconds the process repeated itself and two sage hens lay at his feet.

This was my first introduction to upland bird hunting with my father at the age of twelve. It’s not clear what we said to each other after it was all done, but I do remember the smile on my father’s face, and the first of many handshakes I have received from him. What I didn’t realize at the time was I had just joined four generations of sage grouse hunting in the Moss family. All of us became acquainted to bird hunting in a different way, but we all started with sage grouse.

During the time my father first started to pursue the uplands, Utah had a draw system for sage grouse in which he was successful. He received four leg bands, one for each bird he could harvest that year. Early fall marked the opening of bird season. The land was unique and sat at a rather high elevation for typical sage grouse habitat. On one side sat a large lake, and on the other a mountain covered with timber and scattered aspen, with a sage flat running between them. A dirt road separated the mountain from the large valley and had several streams crossing it over the five-mile stretch it took up. As he thundered through the sage he armed himself with an old J.C. Higgins bolt action 12-gauge which he’d never shot before. Frustration built as each bird sailed off into the distance untouched. The last one revealed itself and once again flew off, but did not follow his predecessors. It landed just short of the edge of the timber where my grandfather sat by the camper waiting. By the time he got back to the truck, my father’s prize lay on the tailgate of the 1959 Chevy. They glanced over the bird together then made one more trip to produce the other three birds to complete the fourteen-year-old’s first season of hunting sage grouse.

In 1909 Eugene Moss (my grandfather), who was nine at the time, traveled three days by horse and wagon for his introduction to this feathered quarry. Not a lot of details were passed down of these hunts but it’s my understanding they used a Winchester Model 97 shotgun. Sometimes they shot from the wagon and the little boy would run out to gather up what they harvested. I can’t imagine they would travel this far for food alone. I think there was some sort of recreation in these trips as well. Eugene hunted up until two years before his death. His last sage hen was shot at the age of eighty-seven in Montana with a light 20-gauge automatic. The gun he used ended up being my first shotgun, and claimed all my birds for the beginning nine years of my hunting endeavors.

Over the years I have come to love all the prairie birds. Although most of my time is spent chasing Huns and sharptails, sage hens still hold a special place in my heart. A big reason is due to the fact that I represent four generations of hunting this giant of the sage. Many memories of hunting sage grouse touch me as I reminisce of my early years following a pointing dog into the field, and I realize that I am still upholding the family tradition to this day.

Sage grouse hunting has changed a lot since my first trip chasing them twenty years ago. Most days would provide birds walking the roads to and from food and water sources in the early mornings and late evenings. During the high temperatures of the midday sun it was normal to find a group of birds under places such as hay bales or old tractors which would provide enough shade to hold these large wings of the prairies. The sight of a gray and black blended bird rising as your truck roared down a dirt country road was not uncommon. Days of thirty to fifty bird flushes would spark the heart of many upland enthusiasts. Now these times are more of a rarity than not, but given the right circumstances can still exist in this present day. Many of the spots I would frequent no longer house birds, but new places where I have not seen them in previous years are producing a good point or two today. During this past year I found some promising signs of increased numbers both on the leks and during the hunting season.

Likewise in the many days I have spent in the field chasing birds and working dogs I have seen sage grouse numbers drop. The time I noticed the most extreme decline was when the West Nile Virus came into play. They dropped at a high rate during this time period. Also the quantity and quality of sagebrush has greatly diminished over the past fifty years. Only 56% of their original habitat exists today. The survival of sage grouse is entirely linked to sagebrush and sagebrush habitat as this is 100% of their diet during the long winter months. Sage grouse are still at huntable populations in many western states. Just this year, Montana transplanted a group of sage grouse to Alberta to help boost their dwindling population.

This majestic bird of the prairies has become a major topic for many groups around the country. Environmentalists use them as a tool to stop energy development in the western states. Anti-hunting groups use the population concern as a tool to place them on the endangered species list as they have already done in Canada.

Through all the controversy many hunters have found the need to “place” a sage grouse in their game bag for fear that one day they will not be able to hunt them. Although they have not been placed on the Endangered Species list, they have been declared a candidate for it. If they did get placed this will have a rippling effect not only to hunters, but will greatly impact the farming and ranching communities. Organizations such as Sage Grouse Initiative are working in partnership to ensure our next generations will be able to enjoy the same way of life as we have. Through conservation work, land easements, and reduction of invasive plants, much land has been improved not only for sage grouse but all animal life living within the sage.

Today, in order to successfully harvest sage grouse a hunter will need a good pair of boots, dogs that can cover some ground, and a lot of determination. The will to walk far and cover many miles of desolate land the bird inhabits, will only increase your chances of encountering this king of the prairies. Heat, snakes, four-legged critters, and loss of habitat are a few of the oppositions you will face when hunting them. Is it worth it? Still to this day my heart skips a beat as a seven-pound bird erupts in front of me, just after walking through a brace of pointing dogs only to watch the rhythmic beat of their wings set sail over the horizon. Harvesting sage grouse does not excite me as much these days, but instead I watch them fly into a vast sage-covered valley, or over the crest of a hill, so that one day our greetings can reoccur. The biggest thrill of all is being able to watch a young hunter or huntress take their first sage grouse and know they just had the same amazing feeling I received as that young boy many years ago.

]]> http://synergystation.com/environment/kings-of-the-prairies/feed/ 0 http://synergystation.com/energy/coal/john-baugues-to-give-carbon-county-coal-a-new-lease-on-life/ http://synergystation.com/energy/coal/john-baugues-to-give-carbon-county-coal-a-new-lease-on-life/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2012 02:45:02 +0000 JohnBaugues http://synergystation.com/?p=7543

Coal entrepreneur John P. Baugues Jr. has joined forces with Management Energy, Inc. to open a new mine in coal-rich Montana.

The partnership brings together successful coal mine developer John Baugues  and a nationally recognized team of consultants at Management Energy, an exploration stage company that also specializes in coal extraction and distribution.

The new company, led by John Baugues, is looking to Carbon County for its next venture. Carbon County is known for its high-quality low sulfur coal reserves.

With Baugues at the helm, the coal mine developers have already begun laying the foundation for future mining operations. The company currently has agreements to purchase and develop two coal fields in

The new coal projects come on the heels of another Baugues coal initiative – the Bull Mountain coal mine, which opened as Signal Peak in 2009. Bull Mountain was the first underground mine to open in Montana in the last three decades and sparked new interest in the development of Montana’s rich coal reserves. John Baugues Jr. led the Bull Mountain coal mine project and sold it to Ohio-based First Energy for over $350 million plus royalties.

With John Baugues’ decades-long experience in the coal mining business, a proven track record in new mine development and intimate knowledge of the intricacies of Montana coal, the Carbon County coal mines are being looked to as models of 21st Century coal development as well as engines of economic growth in the area.

John Baugues, Jr. and Coalmine Development Fundamentals: quality resources John Baugues, Jr., a fourth-generation coalmine developer from West Virginia, knows that in order to have a successful coal mining operation, you first need access to a promising source of coal.

Ever heard the phrase “creative strategic planning”? Surely you have, though it may have simply been thrown around in a business meeting. Or maybe you’ve seen it scattered across the internet, a vague catch phrase get-rich-quick schemes use to lure people in. Either way, this is one thing you definitely need to pay more attention to.

Strategic planning refers to defining a specific goal and then laying out a necessary strategy to reach that goal. Basically, strategic planning makes sure your short-term decisions work in favor of your long-term goals. To begin, a strategic planner needs to answer these three questions:

1.) Where are we now?

2.) Where do we want to be?

3.) How can we move one step closer?

Sound simple enough? Almost. The first two questions should be answered with as much specifics as possible. Let’s say you own a business. Your goal is to raise profits by 10% by the end of next year. So you might say:

1.) Where are we now?

            – Our current profit margin is ___.

2.) Where do we want to be?

            – We want our profits to be raised by 10% by December 31, 2013. Therefore, we need our profit margin to be ___by December 31,             2013.

Now comes the creative part, which is question #3. There are a number of theories floating around that provide the best way to start the creative process, but we feel Wallas’s creative process makes for a great fit. There are four stages: preparation, incubation, illumination and verification.

Preparation is the stage of gathering all your possible information. After all, you won’t be able to give yourself options if you have no idea of what you’re working with, right? So look at all your sources, all the people you know and all the possible pathways to reach your goal.

Next is incubation. So take a break; set the problem aside for a bit to clear your head. A disorganized mind creates a disorganized reality.

Step 3: illumination. Identify potential solutions. This is when working as a team really comes in handy, as everyone will be looking at the problem through a different perspective. Have brainstorming sessions to present as many solutions as possible.

And finally: verification. Refine your ideas. There may be a number of ideas on how to increase profits by 10% within the given time frame, but each idea needs to be refined and clearly laid out before a decision is made.

It’s completely understandable if this still sounds a bit complicated, but that’s why we’re here! Schedule a meeting with Canvas Creek today and we’ll show you how to get on track in your creative strategic planning process. We’ll even be with you every step of the way.

Ness spoke before oil industry officials and wildlife conservation representatives on Tuesday to address some of the concerns.  A spokesman for the state chapter of The Wildlife Society believes that oil development in general is damaging wildlife and its habitat.  While development of the pipeline infrastructure was high on the list of solutions, other voluntary measures included locating oil wells, related facilities and roads in “clustered configurations” outside of wildlife sensitive areas to lessen disturbance to animals and curb the amount of habitat lost to oil exploration.

It’s the director of the state Game and Fish Department, Terry Steinwand’s belief that wildlife and hunting opportunities can coexist with oil production in North Dakota; although some of the conference believed that more stringent regulations in place — that are not voluntary — need to be in place to protect the state’s wildlife and land.  According to Steinwald, “Is it a perfect scenario? No it’s not, but it is a workable scenario.”

North Dakota’s Game and Fish Department has actively been mapping sensitive wildlife habitat areas (mule deer, bighorn sheep, sage grouse, and pronghorn antelope) for over a year in the oil patch.  The North Dakota Petroleum Council, which represents over 400 companies working in te Bakken states that a majority of the employees in the energy industry are sportsmen and that most of their companies would adopt measures to protect wildlife.

Tulsa, Oklahoma based Oneok Partners LP reported this week that their proposed $1.8 billion oil pipeline from North Dakota to Oklahoma, known as the Bakken Crude Express Pipeline, has been derailed due to the company’s inability to secure enough commitments to transport Bakken crude.  While the overall outlook for crude oil supply is healthy from the Bakken Shale in western North Dakota and eastern Montana, Oneok was unable to secure enough long term commitments from producers for the 1,300 mile pipeline.  The Bakken Crude Express would have transported 200,000 barrels per day.

In spite of this, Oneok still has forward movement on $4.8 billion of announced natural gas & natural gas liquids projects; with the majority of those projects in the Bakken.

Look around. A new era is dawning in Montana. If we let it. If we embrace it.

Besides energy, manufacturing in Montana could explode into a rich and vibrant economic base, as well as a source of many new high-paying and challenging jobs.

The 3000 manufacturers in the state, throughout the recession, have held their own, although, it’s been a struggle. In listening to the comments of people attending the Compete Smart Conference, in Missoula, produced by the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, there were upbeat reports, and some down beat reports. But, overall , the big picture for manufacturing in Montana has the potential of reshaping the economic dynamics of the state.

There are many market situations that are aligning to Montana’s advantage, and given the very obvious depth of savvy, talent and knowledge on display at the conference, there’s no doubt the people of this state are fully capable of seizing the opportunities that will emerge. The only question is whether government policies, regulations and taxes will give them the maneuvering room they need to do it.

Rumors flew at the conference about some rather big names in Montana’s manufacturing sector who are having trouble and are laying off, cutting back and even perhaps facing reorganization. But, at the same time, there were remarkable and exciting stories about those who are doing extremely well, and are expanding and making significant capital investments. Including, those who have made the news recently about building new facilities such as Black Hawk, Simms, and West Paw Designs.

There has been a strengthening in emerging food and beverage manufacturers in Montana. An especially robust niche is the increase in the number of breweries, wineries and distillers – due in large part to a backing-off of state regulations that has allowed them to find a toe-hold.

The reasons the struggling companies are struggling, are varied. Some are facing stiff price competition from China. Others have lost their export markets because of the worldwide bad economy. Some have lost their niche and need to quickly innovate. China’s propensity for knock-offs (stealing designs and ideas) forces US companies to constantly be re-innovating and finding other advantages.

And, other Montana manufacturers, because of more stringent regulations, have had to drop certain products, or are having to “re-invent” them.

But, for all the woes, there seemed to be an air of confidence that even these companies will re-emerge as strong as ever. Companies which are listening to their customers, which are being problem-solvers for their customers, and which acquire better tools for production, they are the ones which will thrive, said one observer.

And, there’s other good news that bodes well for manufacturing in Montana.

The explosion of production in all kinds of energy categories creates a great opportunity for manufacturing to meet the escalating needs of all aspects of that industry. That means opportunity for existing manufacturers to find new markets, as well as, to attract manufacturers to move here, and for new ones to start up here. And, there are sure to be lots of new manufacturers as technology advances and new products come into demand.

At the same time, there comes reports that across the border in Alberta, their manufacturing sector is reaching capacity, which prompts companies to look hard at Montana. As these companies do the math and make their choices, we should be concerned about what it is they see and how Montana compares, because they do have other options, although Montana should be the best, given its geographical location.

We should also be concerned about making sure we have the transportation infrastructure to serve Canadian markets, just as one Billings manufacturer has urged.

A theme of conversation at the Compete Smart Conference was that of “re-shoring” — manufacturers returning to the US. That is happening because conditions are changing overseas, as well as, in the US. Reports are that manufacturers of all kinds — machinery, electrical products, transport equipment, furniture, etc. – are coming back to the US.

Some fifty new plants involved in the petrochemical industry are planning $50 billion worth of investments in the US (many in Texas, undoubtedly, due to more rational regulatory environment, as well as being in close proximity to petroleum supplies). Among the reasons for “re-shoring” is that the benefits which drew companies out of the country are changing. Labor costs are increasing, as other countries build their own economies and their laborers becomes better trained and experienced, with many more options. Wages in China have increased 16 percent.

But, also, cheap natural gas is making it possible for manufacturers to compete better when based in the US. In other words, these companies are demonstrating the truth of the fact that cheap and abundant energy is an important foundation for building an economy and creating jobs. Bear in mind, as Jay Timmons, National Association of Manufacturers, pointed out, manufacturing consumes one-third of the energy use in this country.

And, it is more than that, when it comes to energy. Manufacturers are returning home because they can see the day approaching when the US will become, perhaps by the end of the decade, energy independent, because of the shale developments.

The “Telegraph” in the UK reports that because of the shale developments in the US, the country has “acquired a massive and lasting advantage in energy costs over global rivals.”

The report states, “The revival of the chemical industry is a spin-off from the greater drama of America’s energy rebound, though a very big one. . . the US energy department said last week that the country will produce 11.4 million barrels a day of oil, biofuels, and liquid hydrocarbons next year, almost as much as Saudi Arabia.”

The Telegraph went on to say:

“Shale has made the US self-sufficient in gas almost overnight. The new twist of course is shale oil. Output has jumped to 2 million b/d from almost nothing eight years ago. The Bakken field in North Dakota is twice as big as the conventional Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska.

“America produced 81pc (percent) of its total energy needs in the first six months of this year, the highest since 1991. Citigroup thinks US output of crude and equivalents will top 15.6 million b/d by 2020, adding up to 3.6 million jobs through multiplier effects. North America as a whole will reach 27 million b/d – with Canada’s oil sands and Mexico’s deepwater fields – making the region a ‘new Middle East’.”

“The implications are momentous. America will no longer need a single drop of oil from the Islamic world.”

The implications are also “momentous” for Montana, located as it is in the center of energy production of all kinds. It is momentous, not only in terms of energy production, but also in manufacturing. The question is whether the state is going to make the changes in attitude, in regulations and policies to embrace this new era.

Oil drilling in the Bakken and Elm Coulee is a long ways from many Montana cities, but its impact has reverberated statewide, and certainly in Butte at Montana Tech.

While our experience is just one of the ripple effects of the increased Bakken activity, it has proven to be a good one for a growing number of young Montana men and women.

It was about 2002 that Montana Tech began to see a spike in interest in its petroleum engineering program. Drilling activity in the Elm Coulee was a spark for it. In 2002, the department had an enrollment of 130 students. By 2011, Montana Tech had grown to be eighth in size out of 19 U.S. undergraduate petroleum engineering schools. This fall, we’re at an all-time high enrollment of 350 students.

That increased awareness of opportunities in the oil and gas industry is something we can attribute to the heightened oil and gas activity, especially in the Bakken and Williston Basin.

Even with the growth Montana Tech has seen, today it still has close to a 100 percent job placement rate for petroleum engineering graduates. We get about 40 companies from the oil and gas industry that come each year to recruit. We hear from them that they see many of our grads as the kind of people who like field operations.

It says something about the young people we are fortunate to attract. They’ve grown up outdoors. They have a background of doing hard work outside, an appreciation of the land and they are comfortable around machinery. And they know if they do the work, they can find a good job somewhere.

Right now, the average annual starting salary for our graduates is close to $85,000, and most of the larger companies pay cash bonuses of from $10,000 to $25,000 to help students get relocated. That’s pretty good for someone in their early 20s and just out of college.

Many jobs are based at national and regional company offices that tend to be in cities like Denver and Houston. So while we may not add a lot of people to the work force here, we have been able to create great opportunities for a lot of young people born and raised here.

The challenge will be to sustain and grow the Montana opportunity. There are three cycles for an oil field: primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary is when the oil flows from natural pressures. We know that even the best fields yield only 20-25 percent of their oil in that cycle.

The secondary is when you inject water to sweep the oil off the rock. That costs more, so the price of oil needs to be high enough for it to be economical. You might get another 25 percent with that effort.

The tertiary cycle is when you inject something else to get the oil flowing: steam or carbon dioxide or a surfactant. The tertiary cycle is very expensive, but I think that is what the future opportunity looks like in Montana. The state has areas not only over towards the Williston Basin but in central and north-central Montana, where there are fields that were depleted in the primary and secondary phases, and there never has been enough economic incentive to do more. The potential is there, though, with today’s higher oil prices, for companies to go back and rejuvenate these older fields.

That’s where we hope to help. With funding through the Montana Board of Oil and Gas, and support from the major operators, we are engaged in a three-year study over at Elm Coulee to determine that tertiary opportunity. We’re looking not just at the engineering but also whether it’s economically feasible. If it is, we would expect it to last much longer than the primary cycle.

Ideally, we hope it is a catalyst for another spike in activity – for more jobs, more production, more revenues and taxes for the state of Montana.

Leo A. Heath has almost 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. He currently heads the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Montana Tech at the University of Montana in Butte.

1.) Your family. This doesn’t necessarily have to mean your biological family. There are many other people from various walks of life that can be considered family. Maybe you have a group of coworkers that make your job more pleasant than it really should be, or perhaps you have a close-knit group of friends that have been with you through thick and thin. Either way, there is surely at least one person that you are grateful to know.

2.) Your health. If you’re in generally good health, be thankful for it. There are countless afflictions you could have. If you’re ailing, be thankful for modern medicine and all the advances modern science has made in the medical field. And if you’re confused about your health, be thankful that   there are resources to help you get back on your feet. Counseling centers and   rehab facilities are right at your fingertips.

3.) Technology. Just think back to a few years ago and you should find yourself deeply impressed with what you have now. Even if you don’t have the newest television or the latest iPhone, there are still some amazing things happening in the technological world. Be thankful you can have a face to face conversation with someone completely across the planet or that your phone has an app that will let you find your car keys should you ever lose them again. Now c’mon…that’s pretty amazing.

4.) Opportunity. No matter what your situation is, you have the opportunity to make it better. Maybe you’re unhappy with the current political climate; be thankful that you have the ability to vote and to run for a government position. Even if you feel you’ve missed opportunities in the past, chances will still come along to allow you to better yourself. Be thankful you live in a place with abundant opportunities.

5.) Holidays. Think about it, what other days are you allowed to hang out with your best friends and family members, eat way too much food all while skipping out on work and (probably) still getting paid? Not a lot. Definitely be thankful for the holidays.

Networking tends to be one of those terms that is often thrown around in various business conversations. “We need to network more” or “How are doing on networking?” are just a few phrases you may hear. However, when you actually get down to brass tacks, what exactly is networking? And how do you do it?

Well, here you go. Listed below are some of the best networking tips successful business men and women have to offer.

1.) Know the purpose of networking. The entire point of networking is to have various contacts in other areas that might be of use to you later. Perhaps you are a journalist; knowing someone at your local news station might be a huge benefit to you because they may be able to give you specific leads or sources to various stories.

2.) Do as much as you can on your own. Contacting someone for information that you could easily get yourself is just plain lazy. Do your own homework and research before seeking out others to help you.

3.) Be courteous. That means you shouldn’t be calling them while they’re in the middle of dinner or tracking them down on their lunch break if they haven’t returned your calls. And if they decline your request, for whatever reason, don’t push it. Everyone has their reasons for not being able to help someone out once in a while.

4.) Be professional. Whining, groveling or being overly aggressive isn’t going to get you anywhere. As a matter of fact, it could be very damaging to your relationship. No one wants to work with someone else that can’t keep it together. In addition, if you’re going to approach a third party contact make sure your original source has given you permission to use their name.

5.) Listen. If you need information from this person then you have to be ready to receive it. Having a pen and a notepad handy, or even a recording device will let them know that you aren’t taking their services lightly.

6.) Understand it’s a two-way street. Continuing with our journalist example, if your “source” from the news station has provided you with vital information, it’s only common courtesy to return the favor when the time is needed. Otherwise, you’re just taking advantage of people to get information. Do this enough times and no one will want to work with you.

A recent story that ran in the Daily Interlake, “Oil boom has downside for towns in the Bakken Shale,” had me wondering which TV fantasies the reporter had been watching—the towns and the people he described could have been easily lifted from “Deadwood” or “Gunsmoke” or any of the many shows that perpetuated myths about the Wild West and its lawless citizens.

In his travels to Williston and Sidney, the reporter met (horrors!) gamblers, fast women, whiskey drinkers and lawmen complaining about too much crime. It is entirely possible you could meet the same kinds of folks in New Jersey or California. But since they happened to be in North Dakota and Montana, these citizens were burnished with the mystique of the untamed West and presented as truly sinister byproducts of oil and gas drilling.

It’s almost funny to read the pulp fiction produced recently by urban journalists who fancy themselves as modern Alexis de Tocquevilles observing what to them is a strange and foreign culture in the oil patches. It would be amusing if such depictions did not do such a huge disservice to the many Montanans and North Dakotans who get up early and go to work every day. These men and women aren’t gun-slinging outlaws. They are hardworking Americans who are doing what they can do to support their families.

It is downright mean-spirited to characterize oil workers as “young men paid handsome sums” who have nothing to do but get hammered and frequent strip bars.

What about the many employees of oil and gas companies whose children are in public schools that benefit from the oil and gas revenues going directly to Montana’s school system? What about the people who work in the area’s grocery stores, doctors’ offices, libraries and, yes, the oil fields, who pay taxes just like people in every state?

It would be naïve to deny that growth can bring its own set of problems. Some communities, long-time residents and public officials are grappling with new challenges.

It is important to keep in mind that before the increased oil and gas development, main streets were struggling and storefronts were boarded up. Students were graduating high school and leaving to find work. The population was aging, and there were not many opportunities on the horizon.

Then the Bakken play changed things. An analysis of the state’s economy, Montana’s Hesitant Economic Recovery by Patrick M. Barkey of the University of Montana, January 2012, says that although the state is slowly recovering from the recession, the oil boom impacting Eastern Montana is a definite bright spot, with the energy industry making up 14 percent of the state’s economy. Dr. Scott Rickard, Montana State University Billings Center for Applied Economic Research, reports in The Montana Petroleum Association Treasure State Journal that Montana’s oil and gas industry supports nearly $10.5 billion in direct and indirect economic output. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics, a job in Montana’s oil and gas industry paid an average of $56,581 per worker or 75 percent above the state average in 2011.

Another University of Montana report released in June 2012, The National and State Economic Outlook, also by Barkey, says energy investment is robust. According to Montana’s Minerals Management Bureau, the state’s oil and gas lease sales on school trust lands for 2011 generated $22.1 million. The September 2011 sale produced $7.9 million in lease sales — the fourth largest auction since the 1970s.

Leases were sold in 20 counties across the state, an indication that interest in duplicating recent successes in oil production in Northeast Montana is spreading to central Montana, according to state and industry officials.

This boom is not an oil-and-gas nirvana by any means. But people in Montana and North Dakota have a knack for figuring things out and working together toward solutions.

Modern-day reporters may be prone to wax poetic about the new frontier – oil patch towns populated by reckless roughnecks who fill up the jails, but it’s how our West has been described inaccurately for more than 100 years. Whether writing about Tombstone, Dodge City or the Yukon Territory, journalists then and now have always found it irresistible to stereotype certain western “boom towns” as wild, lawless and deadly.

In the midst of the cattle boom in the 1800s, the New York Tribune described Abilene, Kansas, as a place where “there is no law, no restraint in this seething cauldron of vice and depravity.”

A report in the Washington, D.C., Evening Star on another cow town in 1878 trumpeted: “Dodge City is a wicked little town. Indeed, its character is so clearly and egregiously bad that one might conclude that it was marked for special Providential punishment.”

The reality is that back then, a majority of workers in the Western boomtowns were honest, hard-working, rather boring family men and women. They weren’t all Doc Holliday, Jesse James or Calamity Jane. Today, it’s the same: most oil workers are trying to make a living in a tough economy, trying to save money for their families and, in that process, strengthening our energy independence. Not an easy job. They deserve respect, not ridicule.

Editor’s Intro:  As I frantically grabbed for the television remote to switch the channel to programing  that doesn’t invade my viewing space with yet one more politician peddling more snake oil, I released that with only five more days to “E” Day, it was an exercise in futility.  All the marketing experts tell us that we all want to buy, we just don’t want to be sold.  So when I read one of Dr. Michel’s latest business blogs I was captured with the simplicity and logic as he states the obvious that seems to regularly elude us.  Enjoy !

Laura McRae

Having lunch the other day in a little cafe, one of our consultants heard this response that is our blog title today to a vendor having a business lunch with a prospective client.

The prospective client had asked for some video monitoring equipment for his business. As the vendor was beginning his presentation, the prospective client said, “I know that you are going to try and sell me everything that you have!” The vendor calmly replied, “No, I am only going to sell you what you need!”

Now, because the little cafe was real small, there was no way not to hear the conversation. Here is what was interesting. The prospective client was convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that he was going to be “taken to the cleaners” by the vendor. The vendor, possibly anticipating some client rejection, calmly pointed out that all he was going to sell was what the client needs really were.

As professional business consultants, we were impressed with the response of the vendor. “I am only going to sell you what you need!” How many times do you give that response when a prospective client seems to object to a presentation? We suspect not as many as you should!

Remember, no matter what business we are in, we are all in sales. In some form or fashion, we are all in sales. This vendor clearly recognized that the client thought that he was going to “get hooked” on some deal. Well, the vendor disarmed that position right away. Interestingly, as our consultant finished his lunch, the prospective client paid close attention to the vendor and how he proposed to solve the clients’ need.

Interestingly, how do you respond when a client appears to believe that you are going to “Sell me Everything that you have?” Our consultants are trained to respond as this vendor did– never allow the client to think that he/she is being taken advantage of in a sales situation. Often times, the client will end up buying more product than he normally anticipated. Not because he was “pressured” by the vendor, but because he/she understood the products that the vendor was selling. Think about this the next time you are in a tough sales environment. The response “I am only going to sell you what you need” are critical words!

Nonetheless, with so many essential business moves being made over the internet, one might think we were living in a world where human to human interaction was not the preferable option. However, relationships in business are more important than ever. And no matter how much work is done online, there are a few things you need to know:

1.) Nothing can replace excellent customer service. Ever get to a website and find that you can’t find a phone number? Anywhere? It’s frustrating to have to sit at a computer and try to decipher what someone else has already deemed the appropriate response to your problem. Maybe that solution isn’t working, maybe that’s not your problem, and maybe you just have no idea what the words in front of you mean.

Having a relationship with your clients means being there for them in a time of need, and refusing to have a help number on your website is not being there (neither is requiring them to go through 46 steps to reach a human being on the other end, contrary to the opinion of Verizon, but who’s counting).

2.) Do what you say you are going to do. When a customer has contacted you with an issue, it is up to you to resolve it. Relying on them to remind you of the problem or giving them a list of things they should try and then call you back is lazy. Sure you can teach a man to fish, but in the business world it’s appreciated if you give that same man a fish or two while he is still learning. Don’t leave your customers out on a limb; once they’ve contacted you take the problem off their hands.

Oh yeah, and fix it.

3.) Facilitate connections. I work with a local photographer here in town, and one day I asked her how much money she spends on advertising for her business. Her answer: $0.00. All of her clients are from colleague recommendations, word of mouth, and social media. Folks all these client sources are facilitated through favorable relationships. If no other photographers in town respect her, if her clients aren’t happy with her work or she ignores the growing trend of social media, her business dies. It’s as simple as that.

If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation to ask your roommate to move out, you know just how awkward it can be. Even in a good situation where both of you are on great terms and there’s a happy occasion for the change (say you and your significant other want to move in together, for example), it can still be a tough subject to bring up. So before you do, here are a few things you need to know first:

1.) Know what you can legally ask of them. If you and your roommate have signed a lease and that lease isn’t up for another three months, you and your hubby might just have to wait until then to call the place your own. Until that lease is up, your roommate has just as much right to be there as you do.

Having said that, there is often nothing wrong with just asking. Who knows, maybe your roomie has a friend that needs a place and this could be the perfect time for her to start apartment hunting with someone else. Communicate! 

2.) Be open about the situation. If there is a problem, and that’s why you feel your roommate needs to go, they deserve to have a chance to solve the problem first. They may be completely clueless to the issues you’re dealing with, so make sure you’re open with them from the beginning. Don’t ask them to move out and say it’s due to “allergies”, just ask them to stop burning incense all the freakin’ time and the problem could be solved right then and there.

3.) Do it at the right time. This is not a discussion that should be put off, of course, but it’s also not a discussion that can happen at any time. Make sure both of you don’t have to be somewhere right away and limit the distractions. And try to be sensitive to what is going on in their lives. Asking them to move out as soon as they get back from their grandma’s funeral isn’t a very good idea.

4.) Give them a realistic time to move out. Unless they’ve been absolutely unbearable (and by unbearable we mean they lit all your clothes on fire last night, or something of a similar significance), you need to give them a reasonable time to move out. They not only need to find another place, but possibly another roommate, as well as figure out how and when they are going to move all of their stuff. And don’t forget they probably have school and or a job or kids and other commitments they’re juggling too. A month is typically a respectable time period.

5.) Be compassionate. If they come to you saying they’ve found a place but they won’t be able to move in until five days after the 30 day period you’ve given them, let them stay for the extra five days. Finding a place to live can be a real pain in the neck and in the end five days is really nothing to get upset about.

President of Bay Limited’s parent company, Berry Y & V, Ken Luhan, was in Billings last week to observe “what is almost a test case,” to demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing in Montana for the oil sand producers in northern Alberta. A lot of prospective clients are watching, said Luhan, about a project which has taken almost three years to implement.

After considerable coordination with the Montana Department of Transportation (MDOT), Bay Limited has received permits from the state to move nine large loads, and expect to get permitted for 20 more. Three loads were well on their way to Canada, at the time of the Big Sky Business Journal’s interview with Luhan. The loads are modularized pre-assembled components for a refinery for a secondary upgrader project in Ft. McMurray, Alberta.

It will take two to three days for each load to reach the Sweetgrass-Coutts Canadian border crossing, with each successive load improving in the efficiency of modifying barriers along the route. Each load can reach maximum sizes of 24 feet by 120 feet, and weighing a maximum of 280,000 pounds. Some, not all, will require the lifting of aerial power lines along the route. Once they get to Canada, it will be much easier transporting, as they hit a corridor which has been cleared of all barriers for large loads.

Bay Limited hopes to see a similar corridor developed in Montana. Luhan said that doing so holds great economic prospects for the state. “What we are doing is shifting manufacturing jobs from Canada to Montana.”

Bay Limited in Billings is poised to take advantage of what they expect to be growing demand for pre-built components, as manufacturing capacity in Alberta, Canada is forecast to reach a saturation point in 2013 or 2014.

Bay Limited has been working with state officials, and hope to see the 2013 State Legislature assist, in developing a clear corridor in Montana. Many of the improvements and changes in the route have already been made and paid for by Bay Limited.

“It is quite a burden because we have to pay the utility companies to permanently move the lines,” said Luhan. Bay Limited has paid to clear about a third of the corridor. The company has spent “several millions to date and forecast for many more millions,” said Luhan. Utility companies are not allowed to incorporate the cost of modifying the route for such a purpose in their utility rates.

It is hoped that some kind of process can be established in which the burden of that cost can be shared by other companies using the route in the future, and as they apply for permits to do so.

Moving large loads is not all that unusual, in the state, said Luhan. Some 1500 permits are issued by MDOT, every year. Other companies move materials like wind turbine components, boilers or houses. A system that spreads the cost of establishing a clear corridor would be a cost savings for all of them, as well as encouraging the development of a whole new manufacturing sector in Montana.

“We have not received any kind of assistance,” said Luhan, “We are working with all the economic development agencies, and we have been in contact with the federal representatives and senators and government officials looking for some assistance because we have to spend a lot of money on clearing a route in the interest of public safety and convenience, and in order to bring jobs from Canada, into Montana, Yellowstone County and Billings.”

The clear corridor through Montana is necessary to remain competitive with Canadian manufacturers. Luhan explained that to be competitive they must be able to build components of the same size as those built in Canada. Smaller units entail more costs for Canadian oil producers. In an area where labor is scarce and the work environment is very harsh, they “try to minimize the man hours on site and maximize man hours of work in shops and yards.”

“We are getting a lot of cooperation from counties along the routes, sheriffs, mayors and MDOT, as we are trying to enable this job creation to occur and to do it in a safe manner that does not disrupt the public,” said Luhan.

This inaugural project for Bay Limited is a very small contract, compared to the future contracts that Bay Limited plans to acquire, according to Luhan. But even at that, the company is currently employing 259 people in Billings, most of which are welding jobs.

Following the completion of the project, there may be a layoff, while the company lines up more contracts. But, given the prospects for growth in the oil industry in Canada and in the region, “bigger opportunities will follow, and we will be hiring back in great numbers,” predicted Luhan, “We are actively talking to other clients about similar work.”

“We had such an aggressive schedule on this project,” said Luhan, “we hired every local qualified person we could find, and still had to bring workers from out of state. That costs more and is not in our best interests. The more longevity we can build and to build up a local workforce of qualified, skilled workers, the better for us.”

Bay Limited is a subsidiary of Berry Y & V headquartered in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The driver for most of this outstanding performance comes from three things:  interest rate, and jobs & population growth.   First let’s talk about interest rates, the Federal Reserve through their “operation twist”, selling short term bonds and buying mortgages and a new commitment to buy 40 billion of mortgages a month and is now buying about two thirds of all new mortgages in the United States, has managed to drive interest rates to historical lows, 15.6% below 2011 and 44.4% below where they were in 2008. From to August 2011 to this august we added 1747 payroll jobs and population has increased approximately 1450 people. Lots of positives in the economy.

Yet with all these positives, pricing structure has only changed by 2.5% to 3% year over year when you take size and price into the actual formulation. Thus when all the positives are taken into consideration, on first blush, that would seem a more than modest price increase. So the question becomes why, a question I have asked before. I believe that the underlying reason is the same, caution on both the buyers and sellers within the market place. Yes sellers do want the highest price that they can achieve yet, they do want to sell, so while you might assume sellers interest are not aligned with the buyer at this point in the market place the assumption is most probably wrong. Just as you reverse the process and look from the buyer’s side and assume that the lowest value would be most wanted yet with a lower inventory being able to purchase the home and location wanted becomes more paramount. So with interest rates favorable buyers will move some in pricing of purchase yet not as much as positives would lead us to believe. As always it’s fascinating to me to watch the market and how it operates with all the different forces involved. This year has been a stunning example of how it responds.

To read more, click to Howard Sumner Real Estate “Market At A Glance – September 2012″

If you have spent much time in the outdoors of Montana, chances are you have run into a sage grouse or two. Talk to any “old timer” and he will be able to tell you how many they saw growing up and how very abundant they use to be. Also that same person will be able to tell you why they don’t see as many as they did so many years ago. While some of these reasons might be true, I have learned not to argue with someone who is more than twice your age. You never win !

Over the past 30 or 40 years, sage grouse populations have declined  an estimated 33 %, and currently dwell in 56 % of their original habitat.  These statistics have caused many to become concerned. While these figures may seem significant, there still exists a large population of sage grouse.

Much research and time has been and is being devoted to the grouse population, in an effort to determine why their numbers have dropped.  It concerns me to see so much emphasis placed on stopping ranching and energy development, rather then improving what we have to work with. Certain groups of people have latched on to the idea if these two subjects where eliminated, the sage grouse populations would increase on their own, and mother nature would be able to take control of the situation. As appealing as this sounds to let her do the work, it’s just not feasible today. It is important to know even though numbers are down they are still thriving in a lot of places.

With the looming threat of placing the sage grouse on the endangered species list (Endangered Species Act (ESA) many are fearful.  The result of such an action would have a far reaching, ripple effect.  With a current unemployment rate hovering @ 8% nationally, we cannot afford to lose the thousands of jobs associated with domestic energy development. The adverse impact to ranching and rural communities would also be profound. Not only will it lead to the loss of a family farming/raching operations it would circle back to you and I and our bank accounts. 

In general, sage grouse have a few major obstacles affecting them today. For example:  invasive species of plant life, like conifers, cheat grass, and other noxious weeds.   Over grassing, lose of habitat, fire, and accidental mortality also play a role.

In 2010, in large part due to the farm bill and partnerships, the Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) was developed. It trickles down through the Department of Agriculture; utilizing various partnerships with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Mule Deer Foundation, the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, as well as many others.  Conoco Phillips has been a great supporter and partner for SGI.

The main goal of SGI is to keep sage grouse off the Endangered Species Act, and by doing so shore up the best private, and public land habitat for sage grouse. This is achieved by helping landowners make improvements so their livelihood will be healthy, and give them stability in their future. The Sage Grouse Initiative does this by improving grazing systems, removing encroaching conifers, and adding conservation easements to ranchers. The good part of this not only benefits the sage grouse, but positively impacts all habitat wildlife;  including upland birds, antelope, mule deer, elk, and many more. It is a great program for land owners, sage grouse, and is a tremendous opportunity for oil and gas industry to protect their investments, to insure the economic future of rural western communities being impacted by energy development.

By 2015, Fish and Wildlife Services must make the decision to place or not to place the Sage Grouse on the endangered species list (ESA).   If they are not listed, the Sage Grouse Initiative efforts must continue.  Even though SGI has been around a relatively short period of time, the initiative has proven to have a strong, positive impact on the conservation of sage grouse.  Additionally, by securing the future viability of the species the adverse economic ripple effects can be avoided.

To learn more about the Sage Grouse Initiate visit their website.  

We’ve all been there; that moment when things have gotten so bad that it becomes difficult to see how they could ever get better again. Maybe you’ve lost your job and bills are piling up, maybe you’ve just ended a long term relationship and thoughts of eternal loneliness are flooding your mind; either way, there has to be something you can do to get back on track. And as a matter of fact, there is.

1.) Take one day. When it feels like your world is ending it can be tough to think about anything else, so do what you need to do to clear your mind. However, you need to put a time limit on your groveling or you could end up wallowing forever. If that means sleeping in bed for an entire day, do it. Maybe it means going for a run or watching your favorite movie on repeat. Whatever it is that you need to do, take a day to completely absorb yourself in whatever situation you’re in, then wake up tomorrow, and begin to move on.

2.) Comprehend your new reality. Constantly saying “If only this hadn’t happened…” to yourself won’t get you anywhere. This did happen. If you lost your job, you need to stop and look at your current situation without your mind getting carried away. So sit down and take a look at your finances. What are your necessities and what will it take to pay for them (and no, cable television is not a “necessity”)? Exactly how much money do you need to make to keep a roof over your head and food in your belly? 

3.) Make a plan, in writing. And don’t generalize. Saying, “I’ll find another job,” isn’t going to help you right now. Of course you will, but how? Writing down a serious of steps leading to a job would be much more constructive. Something like: 1.) Talk to everyone I know to see if they know if their current job is hiring, 2.) Search the want ads, 3.) Update my resume, 4.) Go down to the job center to check current openings, etc.

4.) Find the reason (if there is one) and learn from it. Sometimes things happen for no reason, and there really is no lesson involved. Some things, however, do have a reason for occurring. Is there a reason you were laid off instead of your coworker? It may be that you were simply at the company for less time. Finding the reason allows you to either prevent this situation from happening again or absolve yourself from feeling guilty over something you had no control over in the first place.

5.) Appreciate the things you do have. No matter what, you still have some things to be grateful for. A divorce is rough, of course, but you still have you children, right? Try to focus on other aspects of your life that are going well. Maybe this whole situation has made you realize that you have some seriously amazing friends who would do anything for you.

It’s fairly common to be unsatisfied with your current situation in life. Maybe you are happy with your relationship but your job is making you miserable. Maybe you just keep going in circles and you can’t seem to break out of your rut. Either way, change often takes time. However, it all begins with that first step, and here are a few first steps that will show a little bit of improvement immediately. 

1.) Let go of the past. As wise Rafiki says in The Lion King, “Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the from way I see it, you can either run from it, or… learn from it.” And even though our lives are not lived through animation, the lesson holds up just the same. The past is the past, and dwelling on it isn’t going to solve anything. Learn what you can from it and then let it go.  

2.) Cut out people that hurt you. If you have a relationship that is causing you grief, end it. Just because someone was your best friend in 4th grade or is related to you by blood does not mean you have to keep them in your life. The only people you should have time for are the ones that treat you with respect and dignity and support you when you need it.  

3.) Stand up for yourself. If you don’t stand up for yourself, who will? If you feel you are being disrespected in some way, say something. Allowing yourself to be a doormat certainly doesn’t feel good, and the second you stop being one you’ll realize how amazing it feels to be treated with respect.

4.) De-clutter your mind. Have something that’s weighing on your mind? Take care of it! Maybe it’s a huge presentation you feel unprepared for; stop putting it off and prepare for it! Maybe you are avoiding talking to your child’s math teacher for whatever reason; get over it and stop by the school after work! All of those tiny little to-do tasks add up, and it can cause you some serious stress. Bear down and take care of as many of them as you can and you’d be surprised at how amazing you feel knowing all of those little tasks are completed.

5.) Appreciate how far you’ve come. Goals we set for ourselves often take a long time to achieve, so it’s completely understandable to feel frustrated about halfway through when you feel like you haven’t made any progress. Chances are though, you have made some progress, you just haven’t stopped to realize it yet. Do you have a goal to lose 20 pounds and you’ve lost 12 so far? Good for you, that’s a big deal! So take a second and think about what you’re trying to accomplish and how far you’ve come toward that particular goal.

A recent study by the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency reflects the state’s already rapidly growing population is expected to grow to almost 842,000 people by the year 2025.  Until the momentum of the Bakken boom, North Dakota’s population had peaked in 1930 at 680,845.  Over the past decade population had declined by almost 6% due to a subsequent farm depression, epitomized by the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.

Responding to a potential 25% increase over the next 13 year, Governor Jack Dalrymple has advocated boosting state subsidies for public works projects and low income housing.  It’s anticipated that statewide demand for new apartments and homes will rise by 30% with the most acute demand in western North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields.  The Housing Finance Agency’s impact study predicts that three key counties in the heart of the Bakken could grow from a current population level of 32,000 to more than 73,000.

All of this grow translates to the construction of more than 6,000 housing units per year for the next 15 years in order to keep pace with an average growth rate of 4,300 people per year.  From 2000 to 2010, North Dakota housing stock grew at an average rate of @ 2,300 homes.

The North Dakota Legislature last year approved $15 million in state income tax credits to subsidize construction of low-income housing.  It’s the governors intention to request the state’s legislature to raise the current allotment to $20 million as well as set aside $30 million from the state owned Bank of North Dakota for affordable housing incentives.  Many residence in the Oil Patch have seen their rents rise dramatically as competition for housing intensifies.  Dalrymple anticiaptes a separate initiative to provides grants to growing counties and cities for equipment and construction of public works (water and sewer lines) from current levels of $135 million to $150 million.

Today there is a common misconception stating sage grouse are at a dangerous population and should be placed on the Endangered Species List. I don’t think it’s a secret that their numbers are down from what they were twenty, or thirty years ago.  It’s also no secret everyone has a explanation why their numbers are down. Theories range from over grazing, predators, hunting, drought, and even energy development. Many speculate with the numbers dropping we will one day see a massive change in the western states they inhabit. It is also said we will never see them like  they were  so many years ago.

Late one September evening I received a call from my father asking if I wanted to get together the next morning to run out for a quick bird  hunt before I had to head into work, which I agreed to. The next morning I loaded the dogs and headed over to pick him up around day break. The drive to the area we wanted to hunt took about a half an hour. Along the way my father told a few stories about hunting birds which took place in 60′s, 70′s, and 80′s, most I had heard but a few I were new to me. One thing they all had in common was how many birds they saw and how they seemed to be very plentiful then. To be honest it set the presentence of “The good old days” in my mind.

Soon we found ourselves  turning of the pavement to hear the sound of the tires hitting the gravel, only to see a mail box about three quarters of a mile down the road. I pointed it out and as this is where we needed to turn to get to the ranchers place. Half way down the drive way we were greeted by and entourage of cow dogs, not one looking alike. When we pulled up to the house the sound of a wooden screen door slamming rang out followed by a stout old man hobbling down the stairs. “Lee” I called out. “Last I knew that was me. You must be Brandon and Larry.” Hand shakes where exchanged and a little small talk. After a bit I could hear my dogs wrestling in their kennels and could relate to their shortage of patience while listening a conversation only two older men could have. I learned about the economy for the last 40 years, old trucks  and how much power they had, harvests and weather for every decade, and even got a little education of when Regan was president.

Being very confident the two could talk well into the day I gracefully pulled out the map and asked “Where do you think we should go to find some birds? We’re looking for huns, sharptail, or sage hens”. “Sage hens, haven’t seen them for a while. Only a few here and there.” His weathered hands, traced roads from the house to different areas where we might see some birds. One thing stood out, which caused me to interrupt him. “Alfalfa field, can we hunt there”? “Sure, it’s all yours.” Again handshakes were in order and we were on our way.

Upon arriving, the field proved to be enough for us to handle for the whole day, so we had to figure where our best chance to encounter birds would be. Both of us agreed the far west corner looked the best. We drove in as far as we could then unloaded the dogs. I remarked how nice it was to see my young dog having so much fun and enjoying herself, and how it was starting to heat up. The last quarter mile I could feel the sun starting to cut on my arms a little, but It all went away when I called out “Point’, which meant one of the dogs found a bird. I distinctly remember my father saying “Which dog are you talking about” as all three dogs were pointing in different directions. Just as I passed the first dog, one sage grouse rose, followed by another, and then another, and then my mouth dropped. We literally had birds all around us. I’m not brave enough to spit out a number for fear of the wrath from the unbelievers. On the walk back one of my fathers remarks stuck with me. “I haven’t seen anything like that since the 70′s”.

It’s no secret that Bakken boom town Sidney, Montana is facing millions of dollars in infrastructure demands as the oil field development continues to spill over the North Dakota border.  What is somewhat of a secret, or more accurately a general lack of understanding, is that Sidney doesn’t have access to the necessary revenues to mitigate those energy impacts.  According to Sidney Mayor Bret Smelser, “Our problem is the impacts in the next two to five years are going to be way past our revenue stream”.

High priced projects in Sidney’s immediate future:

1. $15 million to upgrade Sidney’s lagoon to get in compliance with Montana Department of Environmental Quality standards, increase storage and create a planned land-apply wastewater system.
2. $1.2 million to expand water service to east Sidney, across the railroad tracks, where future businesses, a man camps (a projected 200-300 additional occupants) and proposed subdivision would be.
3. $1 million to replace a rapidly deteriorating 30-year-old sewer pipeline that connects to the sewer lagoon east of Sidney.
4. $600,000 for the north trunk sewer line designed to service two subdivisions and a hotel north of Holly Street. Once completed, a new lift station to handle the volume of waste will need to be required.
5. $200,000 budgetary excesses incurred to replace an aging 100 year old sewer main.

While the city of Sidney has @ $1.75 million annual cash flow, it would need to be $4 million annually in order to adequately address currently identified impact needs.  Along with infrastructure updates and expansions, demands on city services will grow significantly once housing subdivisions increase Sidney’s workforce population.  Within the past two weeks, at least three developers have made inquiries regarding new developments.

Oil began flowing early in the Bakken with the first wells drilled in Richland County back in 2000.  By 2004, nearly 3 ½ years after the first Bakken wells were drilled, the cities and towns in oil & gas counties realized that they would need to develop a revenue stream to offset the impacts of the booming Bakken; since they had been effectively written out of the oil & gas revenue stream in the early 1980’s.

As early as the 2005 legislation, impacted eastern Montana communities joined with the Montana Oil and Gas Counties executive director Willie Duffield to lobby and support HB 758, sponsored by Rep. Walt McNutt. For the city of Sidney, Montana the passage of that single piece of legislation has produced over $6.5 million, for the town of Fairview is has netted $1.065 million, and for Richland County it has produced an extra $3.8 million over the past seven years. (Richland County receives 23% of the royalty tax and the 6.25% royalty holdings on properties foreclosed or abandoned.

Uses for impact fees are limiting, the revenues can only be used for capital improvements, land, and buildings and equipment that can be used for 10 years or more.  Exempt uses are personnel or operation & maintenance costs. The proposed impact fees will cover only about 25 to 50% of what’s needed for the next two to five years, leaving the community a $50 million deficit according to Sidney’s mayor.

Impact fees must be reviewed every two years with a recommendation from the advisory committee, a public hearing and council’s vote. With that, the council voted to put the recommendation in resolution form to take action on at its next meeting, Oct. 1.

Not knowing that if anything will be derived from the 2013 Montana Legislature to address eastern Montana energy impacts, Sidney is just trying to be one small step ahead of projected impacts.

Not that long ago (although admittedly longer for some than others), most of us in this part of the world believed in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. As children it was culturally acceptable to operate in “a world of make-believe”.  Simply put, truth is limited by one’s ability to reason. Broken down a bit further, reason is systematically built on experience and understanding both of which develop with age. Beliefs, which were unquestioned as children, are measured with a much greater level of scrutiny as we move into adulthood.

Yet, somewhere along the line, we all reach a point wherein we are confronted with new tales of wonder that stir something deep in our hearts. Suddenly, a challenge is put to our minds in a way that stirs a childlike excitement and tests the limits of our ability to reason for ourselves. Amazingly, if a story is told with a full measure of passion, a half-cup of restorative justice and a mere 1/4 teaspoon of truth all to many of us return again to the same childish ways that we once abandoned.

Each and every day we draw conclusions from a collection of information, which lead us to action based exclusively on our ability to reason. This is life.

If this is life, why then is there so much written, spoken, and taught based on an understanding that is absent of reason. One area where this pattern of reaching conclusions apart from reason is becoming increasingly evident is in the global discussion regarding energy.

This article is not a scholarly argument based on carefully conducted studies or tenable scientific positions. Rather, it simply seeks to challenge those involved in the discussion at the local level to allow reason to be our guide.

Far too many times in the past few months I have listened to arguments that have no basis in reason whatsoever. This is not a blanket statement, decrying any and all positions that differ from my own thoughts on the need for conventional energy. Nor am I arguing that a global shift to less conventional or currently unknown forms of energy will one day become necessary. My point is simple, for discussion on any complex issue to be productive it must be based on reason rather than emotion and supported by specifics rather than sweeping statements.

Over the past few months I have had the privilege to be part of numerous discussions on several topics regarding the impact of energy development in the region. Several of those conversations have centered on the impact of coal development in Montana. Although I could produce a long laundry list of arguments supporting my position to do so would fall outside the scope of this article. The point I want to make is this, discussions about future of coal as viable resource are well worth having. However, the value of the conversation is immediately diminished when unsupportable assertions are the basis of the conversation.

One example of this is the ongoing discussion on coal trains expected to pass through the state. As a long time resident of Montana I am convinced that this is a must have discussion. Yet, for the discussion to produce a sustainable solution the conversation must be based on foundation of factual information.

For the purpose of this article I will speak only to the issue of the specific number of coal trains required to ship Montana coal to out of state domestic and overseas markets. If a solution is to be reached doesn’t it make sense to know the parameters of the problem?

If someone asked me to cook a meal for a large banquet one of the first questions I would ask would be how large is large? In other words how many do you want me to prepare for? Should I plan the meal for 50 or 500? The meal plan, the supplies needed, and preparation details would vary greatly depending on how many people were expected to attend.

Thus, developing appropriate solutions for each challenge that might arise would be dependent on the attendance expectations. In the same manner, meeting the challenges presented by an increase in coal train traffic would depend heavily on the number of coal trains actually expected to be put into service.

I have seen numbers in print that range from 30 to 60 additional trains a day moving through Billings. At a recent State Oil and Gas Board hearing, it was purported that 90 additional trains would soon be running through the state. In reality, the numbers will be determined by rail capacity. As such, organizations like BNSF and MRL are far more accurate sources of information than studies, which reach conclusions based on speculation without any input from the companies responsible for rail operation through the state. According to MRL, total capacity through Montana could be increased by 16 trains a day if a significant investment was made in the additional infrastructure.

A prosperous future is only possible when productive conversations lead to productive solutions. Productive conversations are only possible when reason prevails.

People who look for adventure often go hang gliding, parachuting, deep sea fishing, deep sea diving or they ride bucking horses; which are a lot of dull pursuits compared to darting up Oil Patch Lane, better known as Highway 85, north of Belfield these days.

Stupidity reigns on that fast track and I know because I’ve seen every form of automotive stupidity that exists, having negotiated southern California freeways during a 20-year hiatus in the City of Angels and beyond.

Back there they drive 85 mph an inch from your bumper and think nothing of it, scurrying from one lane to the next and back, overworking to gain an additional second of time as if it was worth more than a hill of beans, a lost crescent wrench or a wife who dates the postman.

I was rear-ended twice, passed by a truck tire, spun out across six lanes, slammed into a retainer wall, had two cars spin out in front of me and, as if it was the grand prize, had a plane land on the freeway in front of me.

It is deadly, deranged, dramatic, depressing and a daily ordeal that drags you down, digs deep, robs time and gives birth to varying levels of a dementia known as road rage, a disease now afflicting even Oil Patch Lane, the nation’s latest fast track, surpassed in danger only by Talladega, Daytona Beach, Martinsville and a few other NASCAR venues.

On Oil Patch Lane, young dudes in giant pickup trucks, raised up as high as a forest ranger’s lookout tower, drive so close that they are nearly hooked to your bumper, hoisting an occasional beer or energy drink and gliding over the centerline to see if they might have an inch or two to pass, especially uphill, putting pedal to the metal, shooting dark dungy diesel in thunderous clouds out of their tailpipe.

Or it is a company truck from Texas, Louisiana, Colorado or Oklahoma, full of tools and fools, dipping in and out from one lane to the next, playing a glorious game of chicken while putting everyone at risk for a two-second gain that results in a lot pain and a small-town newspaper headline worth of fame.

It’s a rush, a high, a desire to fly, or something crazy that motivates these few who’ll ultimately find that their time is due.

I saw it this past weekend as part of a pack of 10 vehicles in a row with two white ones in back. They were fighting for position, a pickup and truck, until one passed the other and the other passed back, on the right, on the shoulder, half in the ditch.

Crazy it is, insane if not worse, a game played on asphalt that makes no sense and reminds me of a quote I once heard that said, “It takes 8,460 bolts to assemble an automobile, and one nut to scatter it all over the road.”

That’s twice in two trips that I’ve seen some moron pass on the right, too much in a hurry with too much at stake. What’s the rush and the hurry you want to say, take your time and live another day.

Meanwhile the U.S. Transportation Department announced that, in the rest of the country, highway deaths fell to 32,885, the lowest level since 1949, even though American’s increased their driving by 1.6 percent.

Of that number, 5,474 were “distraction-related” fatalities caused by texting or talking on a cellphone and 10,228 deaths were caused by drunk drivers.

Still, it is especially alarming to note that drug-related deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the U.S. by almost 5,000 people per year and these deaths are due largely to the growing popularity of powerful prescription pain and anxiety drugs, which are often highly addictive and dangerous when combined with other drugs or alcohol.

Which reminds me of another quote that went something like this: “To all my friends I bid adieu, a more sudden death you never knew. As I was leading the old mare to drink, she kicked and killed me quicker’ n a wink.”

So look out for the old mare. She comes in many forms these days.

Holten is a freelance columnist and cartoonist from Dickinson. To Follow The Dickinson Press click here.

By Kevin G. Hall

McClatchy Newspapers

SIDNEY, Mont — Politicians are quick to extol the virtues of domestic oil drilling while ignoring the trade-offs. Here in this fast-developing Western oil patch, the gritty side of America’s new oil boom is on display with rising crime, a slain schoolteacher, rents that have tripled and public resources stretched thin. Some area high schools are at historic low attendance levels, as students drop out to work the oilfields, and most everyone worries that the boom is transforming small-town values into something new and unpredictable.

“It’s just happened so fast, and many small communities just didn’t have time to plan,” said Mike Coryell, executive director of the Area Economic Development Council of Miles City, located just south of the oil boom but feeling its effects. “The impacts hit but you don’t have the resources to attack it.”

The Bakken Shale, some 200,000 square miles of it, stretches across North Dakota, Montana, Native American reservations and parts of Canada’s Saskatchewan province. The area saw a short-lived boom in the 1980s, but technology back then allowed only vertical drilling. Breakthroughs in horizontal drilling, and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” have unleashed a drilling boom that many expect to last for decades.

Signs of the times abound. Natural gas is flared in the middle of sugar-beet farms and on prairie ranches that look like the set of old TV Westerns. Just across the North Dakota line, oil rigs dot a landscape where President Theodore Roosevelt lived out his final years, and where explorers Lewis and Clark famously rendezvoused at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers.

“We’re glad we have an area that’s booming . . . but it has totally ruined the quality of life around here,” said Kerry Finsaas, 60, walking her land, which abuts an expanded rail terminal near Trenton, N.D. “I’d say life as we knew it here is gone.”

After 34 years on her land, Finsaas and her husband, Darrell, look out the kitchen window at a natural gas flare a few hundred feet away. Crude oil is pumped into rail tank cars that stretch in front of their house almost as far as the eye can see. Nearby irrigation ditches adjacent to a new open-air disposal pond reek of sewage.

“We don’t need a night light,” Finsaas said sarcastically.

From Miles City, where Coryell struggles to keep pace with growth, it’s almost 50 miles to Sidney, Montana’s oil hub, and roughly 120 miles to Williston, N.D., the heart of the region’s oil boom. Rents have risen so high in both places that workers now commute there from Miles City.

Coryell’s office is helping to secure funding for a new jail. That’s not the traditional work of economic development officials, but Miles City, like other area small towns, is burdened by rising crime. Parts of its current jail date to 1904.

“We need them to find oil in Custer County, that’s what we need,” said Coryell, referring to the revenues such a strike would bring to towns in the region. “I don’t think people understand the impacts on a rural area, the small towns that are used to having a quiet lifestyle.”

These impacts include sugar-beet farmers on tractors competing for space on tight two-lane highways with rumbling rigs that rush sand, water and heavy machinery to drill sites. Drunken driving arrests are way up, and police report seizures of uncommon illicit drugs.

“Heroin is starting to come back. The drug activity has really changed in this region,” said Doug Colombik, the Miles City police chief.

Crime increases

Cops on the beat feel a difference, too.

“The level of aggression that we’re met with when we’re responding (to a call) has really increased,” Mark Kraft, 33, a night officer for the Sidney Police Department, said during a ride-along with a McClatchy reporter. “It makes our job a little more dangerous than it was a couple of years ago.”

The big wakeup call came in early January, when schoolteacher Sherry Arnold went for a morning jog in Sidney and never returned.

Her remains were found months later across the state line near Williston. Police said the 43-year-old cancer survivor was kidnapped and killed. Two Colorado men who came to the area in search of work in the oilfields are charged in her gruesome death.

Arnold’s slaying brought soul searching over the costs of a transformative oil boom. Almost to a person, everyone interviewed in the region complained they no longer recognize people in the grocery store, and that they now must lock their doors. A large town here is home to fewer than 6,000 people, and leaving doors unlocked and keys in the car is the very definition of small-town life.

“I think whenever you don’t know people, you become suspicious of them. You just have to remember that not all strangers are bad,” said Maj. Robert Burnison, Sidney’s assistant police chief. “I tell people that, and to be aware of their surroundings . . . just be cautious. You don’t have to be afraid.”

Burnison recently counted 17 out-of-state license plates in the local grocer’s parking lot. This flood of new American workers, dubbed “patch rats” by locals, is also clogging up the criminal justice system in eastern Montana, he and others said.

“We average about a DUI a day now,” said Judge Gregory P. Mohr, a city judge in Sidney, whose office is strained by mounting demands and no comparable increase in revenues. “All of the oil money goes west (to the state capital), but we need it here.”

Montana has a “three strikes” policy, meaning a fourth drunken driving arrest is treated as a felony charge and conviction results in a 13-month prison sentence. Many of the arrested have strikes in other states, and Montana’s policy counts them.

“We’re up in felonies all over the place here. What we’re seeing is a lot of out-of-state (resident) felonies. These are extraordinarily taxing to our system,” said Sheila M. Newman, the deputy public defender in Miles City, who now spends much of her time researching the laws of other states. “I’d like to have another full-time employee, but the legislature says the public defender system is maxed out.”

It all explains concern that eastern Montana will inevitably resemble Williston, which earlier this year was named by the Census Bureau as the fastest-growing micro area of the nation between April 2010 and July 2011. Roadside businesses tied to the industry dot both sides of the highway for seven miles out of town.

Oil workers are young men paid handsome sums. There’s little to do in small rural towns with those sums but frivol it away on alcohol and electronic casinos. Some workers dispose of their earnings at Whispers, one of Williston’s two seedy strip bars.

There, young men slug down liquor, drop loud F-bombs and jostle over billiards. Some disappear with dancers into rooms guarded by burly, tattooed, pierced men who work in the club.

For many workers coming to the Bakken region, they quickly find they can’t afford to live here.

“The city is being terribly saturated with individuals looking for work,” said Cal Westerhof, a missionary from Dallas whose Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney offers free showers, food donations and low-cost rentals for displaced workers.

Skyrocketing rents

Rents have more than doubled all over the oil region. People rent out basements, rooms and even their front yards for trailers. Makeshift RV parks have cropped up everywhere and charge $400 a week or more. That’s about what an apartment rented for monthly before the boom began.

“Even with a good-paying job, how do you afford to pay the rent? Groceries have gone horribly high . . . living on a daily basis here is high,” said Candy Markwald, who helps run the Richland County Food Bank in Sidney.

For Brant Powell, 23, rent isn’t an option. He came up from Bozeman earlier this year and landed a job driving a truck that hauls sand used in the oil drilling process. He’s forced to live in his truck, unable to afford the high rent.

In between attempts to woo a barmaid at the Cattle-Ac, known to Sidney police for its oil-worker brawls, Powell scarfed down dinner and admitted that he’s had about enough of the oil patch.

“It’s just rough. You don’t know anybody here, you don’t feel at home,” he said. “It’s dirty. But people do a lot for money.”

Building boom

Apartments and condos are under rush construction on the outskirts of Sidney, but they’ll rent for $2,000 a month and upward, a price tag for supervisors and managers. It means workers like Powell coming to the oil patch are likely to keep improvising.

“Holy smokes, if you want it bad enough, you’ll find a ranch, a basement, a backyard,” said Wally Jungels, a roofer from Miles City whose company paid for three workers to share a small trailer next to Sidney’s Pizza Hut. “If you’re not making $15 an hour, you can’t live here.”

It’s so bad that an area manager for a major national fast-food chain confides he’s forced to bring in foreigners on student visas just to man the cash registers.

“I advertised at $10 an hour and got no response,” said the manager, who demanded anonymity because his well-known chain doesn’t want to broadcast that it brings in college kids on student visas for three-month stints.

September marks the start of his staffing problems. Summer has ended north of equator, and the Russian, Ukrainian and Macedonian students have returned to their universities. It won’t be until December that summer vacation begins south of the equator. At that point, the manager can bring in students from Brazil, Peru and elsewhere.

With so few rental options, the fast-food chain bought three trailers to house its visiting guest workers.

Kim Trangmoe, executive director of the Glendive Chamber of Commerce, points to a 10-acre parcel of land that just a few years ago sold for $10,000. It’s up for sale again, listed at over $300,000.

“It really hurts our essential workers — firefighters, teachers and the like. Their paychecks are not going up with the rent,” said Trangmoe, noting that the local sheriff had to purchase a home for use as temporary living quarters for patrol officers. “I think our biggest struggle is housing for renters.”

The town’s mayor agrees.

“We’re seeing landlords increasing rent to the point that a lot of local people who’ve lived here all their lives are feeling the pinch,” said Jerry Jimison, adding that new construction hasn’t kept pace. “We’ve never had homeless people in Glendive . . . there are some of them living in tents, sleeping in parks. It’s not hundreds and hundreds, but there are more stragglers showing up with no place to live.”

Ah yes, our passion. At times it can be so elusive, and vague comments from others (“Well, just pick something you like and do that.”) are virtually useless. So here are a few inspirational points that might help you get on the right path.

1.) Often people attempt to live their lives backwards.  They try to acquire more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier.  The way it actually works is the reverse.  You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.

2.) Don’t be normal.  Sadly, normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you financed, in order to get to the job that you don’t really like, but that you need, to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.

3.) If you are passionate about it, pursue it, no matter what anyone else thinks.  That’s how dreams are achieved.

4.) Live by choice, not by chance.  Make changes, not excuses.  Be motivated, not manipulated.  Work to excel, not compete.  Choose to listen to your inner voice, not the jumbled opinions of everyone else.

5.) When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin.  It works not because it settles the question for you, but because in that brief moment when the coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you are hoping for.

6.) It’s not about getting a chance; it’s about taking a chance.  You’ll rarely be 100% sure it will work, but you can always be 100% sure doing nothing won’t work.  Sometimes you just have to go for it.  

7.) Nothing you have that much passion for is ever a waste of time, no matter how it turns out in the long-term.

8.) Life is short.  If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

9.) A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.  This concept can be universally applied.

10.) There are people who live in a dream world and there are people who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.

11.) If you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.

12.) When we focus on leading a passionate, meaningful life, we are also inadvertently creating a spectacular ripple effect of inspiration in the lives around us.  When one person follows a dream, tries something new, or takes a daring leap, everyone nearby feels their passionate energy; and before too long, they are making their own daring leaps while simultaneously inspiring others.

This is what would happen if we were to lose tourism in Fergus County.  According to the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana, tourists spent over $24.5 million dollars in Fergus County in 2011.  Think about it, the gas stations would have lost over $10.6 million dollars in sales.  Retail would have to survive with almost $2.9 million dollars in sales taken from their tills.  The grocery stores and snacks would lose over $4.1 million in sales.  Need I go on? 

You see, tourism IS a BIG PLAYER in the lives of our community and families.  And by the way, for all bar owners and restaurant owners, you would have lost almost 4.3 million dollars in sales.  I did not want to leave you out because you are about 17% of the tourist’s money that comes to Fergus County. 

Can you imagine, if we had larger facility to hold bigger events and/or more events at one time, how much more money would come to Fergus County?  If our community held 12 more conventions then it did last year and offered 12 more meetings and trade shows, not to mention local activities, how much more money comes to Fergus County?  This is just one more event each month then we have now.  Do you think the community would like to have that money to use also?

People love to come to Central Montana.  As I have traveled around the state everyone asks me where I am from, and when I say Lewistown they get a look in their eye and a smile on their face because Lewistown has a soft spot in everyone’s heart that has ever been here before.  Something causes them to remember a happy time when they were here and how they would like to come back.  Let’s make that thought a reality.  Invite your family and friends back to Lewistown and let’s all get involved in promoting “The Greatest Spot in the World to Get Lost in.”  Lewistown. 

You see if we all work together and set our minds on growing our communities (not just Lewistown, but all Central Montana) and sharing the beauty and splendor of our little piece of heaven, we all will prosper.  Remember, for every dollar spent by the tourists it turns 6 to 7 times before it leaves our community.  WOW, $24.5 million turned 6 to 7 times……  That’s a lot of money for everyone. 

Okay, let’s sum it up…….I do not believe anyone wants the $24.5 million dollars to shrink.  I truly believe that we would all like to see more coming our way.  Well, we have to not sit around and just wish for it to grow we need to do something to make it grow.  As I said, invite your friends and families, invite people on Facebook.  Just be active, don’t just sit there and wait….  And remember, if Lewistown had a larger facility to hold bigger functions and a larger facility to hold more function at one time…. The $24.5 million dollars would really grow…….

 The effects of pending Environmental Protection Agency regulations combined with economic factors have resulted in a decision announced Wednesday (9/19) by PPL Montana to place the J.E. Corette power plant in Billings into long-term reserve status beginning in April 2015.

“Our detailed analysis has shown that to meet the emission reductions required by EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, we would need to invest $38 million in the Corette plant. We simply cannot justify that level of spending in the current wholesale power market in the Northwest,” said Pete Simonich, PPL Montana vice president and chief operating officer.

Wholesale power prices have been depressed in the Northwest because of declining electricity use and an abundance of new wind energy projects subsidized by federal production tax credits.

PPL Montana plans to operate the Corette plant until requirements of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard take effect in April 2015. The plant will then be placed in reserve status, commonly called “mothballing.”

Mothballing the Corette plant, rather than shutting it down permanently, gives PPL Montana the opportunity to resume operations at some point if conditions change.

The 154-megawatt power plant, which uses low-sulfur coal from the Powder River Basin, has 35 full-time employees. The plant began operation in 1968.

“We respect and appreciate the skills and dedication of the plant’s employees in meeting the many operational, environmental and economic challenges they have faced. We expect no immediate change in the number of jobs at the plant, and we pledge to work with plant employees to ensure that the transition period over the next two and a half years is as smooth as possible,” Simonich said.

PPL Montana also operates the Colstrip power plant, which is not affected by the Corette decision and is better positioned to meet the requirements of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

PPL Montana owns more than 1,200 megawatts of coal-fired and hydroelectric generating capacity across Montana and has offices in Billings, Butte and Helena. PPL Montana and its 500 employees support educational, environmental and economic development programs across the state. PPL EnergyPlus operates a trading floor in Butte that markets and sells power for PPL Montana in wholesale and retail energy markets throughout the western United States. PPL Montana and PPL EnergyPlus are subsidiaries of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL). More information about PPL Montana is available at www.pplmontana.com.

Contact:  David Hoffman, 406-431-6783, mdhoffman@pplweb.com

]]> http://synergystation.com/energy/corrette-coal-power-plant-to-be-mothballed/feed/ 0 http://synergystation.com/community/negative-thoughts-holding-you-back/ http://synergystation.com/community/negative-thoughts-holding-you-back/#comments Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:02:42 +0000 kgrosz http://synergystation.com/?p=7188

How many times during the day do you think something to yourself? Probably more than you think. The truth is, you (yes, that person in the mirror) are the biggest influence on howyour life turns out. And if we can’t change our thoughts, we very well can’t change our actions, now can we? So let’s make sure the following thoughts get shut down before they even start.

1.) I can’t/it’s too late/I’m not good enough/it doesn’t matter anyway/what’s the point. Yes, all of these excuses fall under the same category and all of them are collectively number one on this list for a reason. Don’t sell yourself shortbecause your mental guestimate of your abilities is inaccurate. You are just as capable and deserving as anyone else, and it does matter or you wouldn’t be having this conversation with yourself right now. Your body is an amazing thing; if you want it to stand up, walk across the street and talk to the cute guy in the coffee shop it will do it. The only thing stopping you is your mind.

2.) I don’t have time. Everyone thinks they don’t have time, but then something comes up and they end up making time. So make time now! Research has shown that the average person can find an extra six hours (six hours!!) in their day if they were to prioritize their tasks and work more efficiently.

3.) I’ll do it someday. Why someday? Putting it off until “someday” conveys the idea that you aren’t able to do it now, and why? Is there really something standing in your way? Right now, at this very moment, you are the oldest and wisest you have ever been, while at the same time being as young and able as you have ever been. Don’t waste time dedicating part of your life to “someday.” Do what makes you happy now.

4.) I could make a fool of myself. Yes, you could. You could also trip and fall walking through the grocery store, so do you stop going to the store? No! And the reason: because you’ve been to the store and not tripped and fell enough times that your mind doesn’t recognize it as a realistic threat. There are many opportunities to make a fool of yourself (many of them you are enormously overthinking), but if you avoided all of them you would be a hermit. Live a little bit and let yourself make mistakes. The fear of being a fool is not keeping you from being one; it’s keeping you from living, period.

5.) It didn’t work out the last time. Circumstances changeand people learn, including you. If you let your past determine your future, your future is going to be an exact replica of your past.

6.) Well if so-and-so thinks it’s a good idea… Honestly, it doesn’t matter what so-and-so thinks! It matters what you think! Granted, everyone needs a little advice from someone else once in a while, but constantly needing someone else’s opinion causes you to forget to have one of your own. After all, if so-and-so has a different opinion than you, and you always go with their opinion, what’s the point in even having your own?Do what you want to do, regardless of what others may think.

Most people think of tourism as an outside visitor coming to town to see sites.  There are different sections of tourism.  First is the leisure travel, this is the form of tourism that most people think of when someone mentions the word tourism.  For our area 39% of all visitors are here for vacation/recreation/pleasure.  It is the leading reason that people come to Lewistown.  While 30% of our tourism is because people are here to visit friends/relatives/family events.  As you can clearly see, there is a need to draw more visitors to our community. 

The second type of tourism is business.  Salesmen, repairmen and other business related activities draw these people to our area.  Only 4% of those surveyed in the Montana Tourism study say that they come to Lewistown for business.  Just so you know, 22% of those surveyed are “just passing through”.

Now we come to the third type of tourism, are events.  Conventions, meetings, or workshops these are the events that Lewistown needs to pursue.  Groups bring many visitors at a time.  They are here because they need to attend.  Many of those attending are looking for something to do while they are here.  Some shop, some walk on the trails, some take a drive while others do…. Nothing.  They sit in the room and wait until the next event at the convention.  It is hard to create income from groups if they do not come to your business.   As a community, how can we draw them out of the rooms and experience Lewistown?  That is a question I leave to you.

One of the big untruths about our tourism is that everyone assumes that all or a very large part of our tourism comes from the Parks, if we took a survey right now and asked the question, “Where do you think the tourists are visiting when they come to Lewistown?”  My first thought is Glacier or Yellowstone parks.  Boy was I surprised to find out that the number one spot visited was “Little Bighorn Battlefield. “ Last year, 38% came from or went to the Little Bighorn Battlefield.  Yellowstone and Glacier Parks came in at 15%. 

The average age of the tourists coming to Lewistown is 65 to 74.  57% of the 47,495 visitors that came through Lewistown were in this age group.  The next closest group was from the age of 55-64, it came in at 24%.  Most traveled as couples and had an income of less than $50.000.

Where do you think they all came from?  Number One was Colorado, Number Two Washington, and Wyoming came in third.  The activities that these folks participated in while they were here were:  Scenic Driving, Wildlife Watching, and visiting Museums.  These are the things that our tourists see value in for our area.  All of these are great things to do, but I think we might just want to think about things we could add to the list that might get them to come back and be a part of.

Remember, in my last article, the Outdoor Writers Association of America on a seven year survey brought $343,000 to the host town.  This is just one event with 180 to 200 rooms needed.  I’m not sure the amount of money Scenic Driving or Wildlife Watching brings, but I’m sure that is would not be close to this one event.  If we had a facility to house the events, they will come.  When they do come we need to be ready to service and greet these events with the warm welcome that only Central Montana can give.

Like many of my colleagues, I have found myself in awe of the drastically changing energy landscape around me. Both technologically and economically, the world of energy is not what it used to be. Precious resources that allow the modern world to exist are becoming harder to find and much more difficult to extract, but advances in drilling technology, such as directional drilling, are a tribute to humanity’ ability to innovate when needed. Nowhere on Earth is this more prevalent than in the Bakken Formation of North Dakota, where I have spent the last year working, learning, living and observing as the energy world changes.

After finishing my undergrad–‐‑uate work at the University of Wyoming in 2010, I found myself wondering what was next. The U.S. economy was in shambles and the job market was dismal. I was 26 with no job, wife or kids.   All I had was a head full of raw knowledge and a diploma declaring that I knew a thing or two about how the Earth worked. After years of study, I felt confident in my ability to understand the geologic processes shaping the world around me, but I didn’ have the first clue about how to turn this knowledge into a career.

As fate would have it, I was offered a job in my native central Florida investigating sinkholes for insurance companies. But after less than a year back home, I began to catch wind of how many of my college brethren were taking advantage of the oil and gas boom occurring in North Dakota. I heard stories of geologists earning double or triple what I was making, and living a playboy lifestyle with weeks off at a time. A few phone calls later and without even a single application submitted, I found myself driving across the country with dollar signs in my eyes and all of my possessions in the back of my SUV. Just how much my life was about to change was anyone’ guess.

Tough Work for Tough People

Finding work was easier than expected. A simple inquiry on Facebook revealed half a dozen college friends working in the oilfields, all of whom indicated that their companies were seeking young geologists. A week after submitting my résumé, I was interviewing in Billings, Mont., for a well site geologist position. After an hour long interview and a couple of beers over lunch, I was told to report to Williston, N.D., in early December for training.

A few short months later, I found myself sitting in a trailer in the shadow of a multimillion dollar oil rig, staring at a cluster of computer screens that couldn’ have been more confusing had they been in Greek. From the highway, the rig appeared as a beacon of hope for the future of domestic energy and American oil independence. But inside the work trailer it was a bit of a different story.

Diesel soaked clothing, the constant groaning of the rig, heavy equipment to evade and 90 hour work weeks were the immediate hurdles that had to be negotiated while working and living not a hundred meters from the rig for up to two months at a time. This was certainly a far cry from the comfortable 9 to 5 work day I had become accustomed to in Florida, but the promise of quick fortune extinguished any lingering doubts associated with the work conditions. In addition, before long, I found a strong sense of pride in the hard work and long hours I was putting in with my colleagues in the oilfields. The last hurdle I had to pass in becoming comfortable as a well site geologist was safety. This job can be dangerous:  The equipment is enormous. The 10 hour OSHA training required to become a well site geologist quickly became the cornerstone of self preservation.  Thankfully, safety has become the primary goal these days, even above production, and after a short while the scene grew less intimidating.

To read more on Tyler’s perspective in Earth Magazine October 2012 Click Here

]]> http://synergystation.com/economy/the-bakken-boom-and-the-new-wild-west/feed/ 0 http://synergystation.com/energy/vote-for-energy-and-natural-resources-in-montana/ http://synergystation.com/energy/vote-for-energy-and-natural-resources-in-montana/#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:40:38 +0000 Laura McRae http://synergystation.com/?p=7179 By:  Republican Gubenatorial Candidate, Rick Hill

Energy & Natural Resource:

I am not ashamed to call Montana the Treasure State. With an abundance of natural resources that other states can only dream of, Montana has the potential to supply energy and natural resource commodities to our entire nation and the global economy beyond. We should be on the cutting edge of developing new technologies in wind energy, clean coal, oil and gas development. Utilizing our natural resource wealth translates directly into new jobs for Montanans and a more robust tax base.

I was the original driving force behind the push to develop the Otter Creek Coal tracks as part of the New World Mine agreement. And I’m ready to do more. There are many other opportunities for oil, gas, coal, and wind development in our state that have the potential to revolutionize our economy.

Oil & Gas:

Wyoming, with 46 rigs and North Dakota, with 150, have been able to benefit from the extensive development of their oil and gas resources, Montana’s oil and gas development has remained stagnant at a rig count of eight.

We must utilize our oil and gas resources to their full extent and work to minimize frivilous lawsuits and restrictive federal regulations that inhibit development.

The development of Montana’s oil shale is essential to the growth of the industry and to increasing the availability to high-tech, high-wage jobs for Montanans. The use of hydraulic fracturing, known as fraccing, to efficiently gain access to larger amounts of oil in Montana has opened the door to energy supplies that were formerly unavailable.

Amid the beat of bongo drums and a smoky haze of questionable origin, they plan to confront Montanans with a choice about our economic future.  They want our massive coal resources left in the ground forever. The out-of-state environmental groups organizing this protest recognize the same fact that has many Montanans excited—our state has more coal than almost anywhere else in the world, and right now we don’t produce very much of it.

Montana has more coal than any other state; in fact we have twice as much coal as the number two state, Wyoming. And among coal-producing states, Montana produces far less of our reserves annually than anyone else. Add those two facts together, and Montana has by far the most potential in the country to significantly increase coal production.

Montana has historically been a minor coal producer for a number of reasons. One is transportation—other states, Wyoming among them, are closer to big Eastern and Midwestern coal markets. But Montana has also put up significant regulatory barriers that have discouraged coal development. For instance, Montana has an effective coal severance tax rate nearly four times greater than any other state, and Montana has what is considered by many to be the most inefficient legal system in the country.

But now, the landscape seems to be shifting in Montana’s favor. Markets to the west of Montana, including over-seas markets in Asia, are seeing a rapidly-expanding demand for coal. That puts us in a geographic advantage over all other coal-producing states.

These developments have not been lost on environmental groups, and that’s why they’ve made Montana ground zero for their anti-coal campaign.  To go the way of the environmental protesters would be an incredible detriment to our state. The proposed Otter Creek mine would create over 2,000 new jobs and result in $200 million in economic activity each year. Tax revenues from Otter Creek would add $92 million to state and local governments annually—allowing for tax relief for homeowners and new investment in education and infrastructure.

And that’s just one new mine. The potential is so much greater than that. Montana has so much coal that we’ll never be able to use it all. At our current production rate, we’ll be digging coal in Montana for nearly 1,700 years. We have enough coal to supply the entire U.S. electricity demand for over a century.

Since we have more coal than we’ll ever need, it’s in our best interest to sell a tiny fraction of it to foreign markets where the demand is growing.

Increasing coal development in Montana will have a transformative effect on our entire state’s economy. The opportunity is huge, it’s here, and it’s now. To say “no”, as the environmentalists would have us do, would be like tearing up a jackpot lottery ticket.

Yet to turn down this opportunity is not so far-fetched. Already there are elected officials in Montana who have sided with the environmentalists in their war against Montana’s coal.

Most notable is Steve Bullock, who led the opposition on the State Land Board against Otter Creek. Now Bullock is raising a significant portion of his campaign cash from those same environmental groups who will be protesting in Helena this month. They’re organizing on Bullock’s behalf because they know he’s their best chance to keep Montana’s coal in the ground.

The great irony is, though, that if Montana were to take the advice of the out-of-state environmental groups and shut down our coal production, we will have done absolutely nothing to reduce carbon emissions. That’s because emissions are driven by demand, not supply. If Asian markets can’t get Montana coal, then they will continue to buy coal from suppliers in Australia, Indonesia, and South Africa.

Reducing Montana’s coal production hurts our state’s economy, but doesn’t accomplish much else.

The anti-coal protest is aimed at voters in Montana. The environmentalists are making their case that Montana can do without more coal production. What voters really need to recognize is the incredible economic opportunity our state will be giving up if we elect the environmentalists’ anti-coal candidates.

Senator Ed Walker serves on the Montana Senate Energy and Natural Resources committees. He represents Senate District 29 in Yellowstone County.

We’ve all been there. Whether it’s a bad relationship, a new venture or just a lifestyle, there are some things in life that just aren’t working anymore. Now it can be difficult to know when the time is right to walk away and try something new, so we’ve made it a bit easier on you. Here are five signs that it’s time to stop what you’re doing and move on.

1.) You’re going in circles. Have you ever heard Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity? Well here it is: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If you’ve already tried everything you can think of to make it work and are now trying things you’ve already tried, you need to stop. You’re going in circles and it’s time to move on. 

2.) You’ve already learned the lesson. Let’s say you’ve been in a horrible relationship for 2 years. Now let’s say you break up and move on to date an amazing person and you’re happy. You’ve learned your lesson about the bad relationship, right? Now if you had been in that bad relationship for four years instead of two would you have gained anymore wisdom? Probably not. Once you’ve learned the lesson there’s no point in hanging on. Now you’re just wasting time.

3.) You’re crossing lines you originally set for yourself. Whenever you start a new endeavor, there are always lines that are set. Maybe you don’t necessarily write them down, but they’re definitely there. Something like, “Well as long as he doesn’t cheat on me we can still work on things,” or “I’m going to run this business for six years, and if it isn’t gaining a profit by then I’ll be done.” These are good boundaries to have, but as soon as they are crossed, you’re just kidding yourself. If he cheats on you or it’s been seven years and the business still isn’t turning a profit, it’s time to cut your losses.

4.) You’re missing out on other opportunities. Here’s an easy way to look at it. If a chance for something comes along and you consider it a missed opportunity, than it probably is! Let’s say you’re a chef running your own restaurant. It’s not exactly pulling in a huge profit, but you’ve only been in business for a year. A café down the street offers you a great job and you turn it down. You’re happy with your decision. Now let’s say you’ve been a chef for five years at a failing restaurant and you’re offered the same café job. You turn it down again, but this time you wonder if you made the right decision.

In the first scenario, taking the job at the café would have meant you missed out on the opportunity to own your own restaurant. So you turned it down and continued on your path. But in the second scenario, you seeturning down the job at the café was a missed opportunity to have a decent income, and you missed it. If you think you’re missing opportunities, it probably means you know longer see what you’re doing as the right choice.

5.) You’re unhappy. It’s as simple as that. If you’re unhappy in your situation (with your current job or a relationship) and you’ve tried everything to improve it (talked to your boss, been to relationship counseling) but nothing has worked and you’re still unhappy, you need to get out of that situation.

 The industry of tourism also supports almost 48,000 jobs in the state.  These jobs are in the fields of hospitality (hotels and motels), guides and outfitters, transportation.  The myth that the industry is dominated by large hotels, airlines, and large restaurant chains is incorrect.  Actually (98%) of the tourism operators are small “mom and pop” businesses.

The activity of tourism consists of; individuals, couples, family, or groups.  Tourism helps people to relax.  It also helps people to get out and see the world or to even meet new people.  Some travelers use this time to exercise.  From camping to fishing to hiking to hunting, travelers are coming to Central Montana to experience what we see and do every day.

When individuals come to our area, they purchase a variety of goods and services.  Restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, craft stores, local newspapers, hardware stores, sporting goods stores, and many more business will prosper from each of these travelers. 

Some of the challenges that face our community are:  these are seasonal events, and it will alter lives for many residents.  All in all we as a community need to integrate these changes in the way we go about our business.  We may need to stay open an hour longer to meet the need of the seasonal events.  We may need to be more involved in the community, and have an active role in accommodating the travelers that are in the area.   For example:  a bus load of tourist come into town to have dinner at your restaurant.  If they are arriving about the time your closing, do you open your doors or do you send them down the road.  Now you have a decision to make.  Remember, this is the exception not the norm for these activities.

Just this year Lewistown received an opportunity to put in a bid for a large convention.  The Outdoor Writers Association of America.  The average Conference Monetary Benefits for each year is $343,000 for the host community.  This has been the outcome of each conference for 2004 to 2010.  This is the kind of tourism that our community could use.  The big requirement needed was 20,000 to 30,000 square foot meeting space, 150 to 200 rooms and two banquet rooms that could comfortably seat 400 people.   The other big requirement is that all activities need to be within a SHORT walking distance from the headquarters hotel facility.

We could do this….. and this is not the only one out there.  If we had a facility we could bring in venues like this and others that we have lost because we did not have enough meeting space.  Contrary to what people think, many times it is not the number of rooms, it is the lack of meeting space.  For example, the state pool tournament could come back if we had a facility that could house all the players in one building.  The Montana Hotel and Lodging Association would come here if we had the meeting space area.  And there are many more events that have gone to the wayside.  Not because of sleeping rooms… but because of the lack of meeting room size.

Tourism will expand the economic base of our community.  It provides stability and new jobs.  If it is handled correctly it could bring new community services to the residents of our area.  Keep in mind that tourism is not the golden goose.  It is important to understand that there are challenges when it comes to tourism.  Nothing is perfect.  But, as a community we can meet these challenges and we can work hard to strengthen our local economy and build a better community for everyone.

Every day I open the paper or click on a link and read that we had to close this down because of the oil workers.  Now we have to limit who goes into a community center because of an oil worker.  This is starting to sound like an unappreciative sector of America.  What is an oil field worker and how far are you broadening this definition?

My son works in oil and has for over a year.  He spent his hitch as a worm or green horn hat.  I would ask him why they called him a worm.  He would laugh and say mom that means they give me the worst jobs possible like boot camp to see if I can stick it out.  Definition of worm is someone new to oil field that hasn’t worked at least six months in the patch.

Basic work week of the patch worker is about 90 plus hours a week.  That means they get to drive to and from work on limited sleep and live on energy drinks or tons of coffee.  Laundry time means praying to find a laundry that is wash and fold or hoping a friend or family member will want to be paid to do that job.  I had a lady in the hotel ask why they say “Greasers”.  I said well put some clothes in and wash them.  She looked oddly at me and I said it is so the oil guys know which machines they can wash in.

Sometimes I have to chuckle about the things I read.  If the oil guy is working more hours than he is even sleeping how does he have time to get into so much trouble?  Occasionally I have run into a few rough necks that I thought might need soap in their mouths because of the language they used but rarely have I found them to be to obnoxious.  The guy’s usually only want to know where they can find food after 9 p.m. and a hot shower.

This week I had the pleasure of visiting with Gordy Bagnell who is working on a huge RV park in Sidney, Mt to accommodate all types of workers and new people to the area.  He said they told me to build and they would come.  Gordy just didn’t realize how many would come.  He has never had a problem with the oil guys.

When the workers arrive in Wibaux, Montana we try to make it feel like home the best we can because I see how homesick most of the guys get.  I miss my mom’s devil eggs.  We try to make them deviled eggs. I hear stories of we got sat in the back because we worked in oil.  Makes me feel like I am an untrained dog and I have a college degree.

How many reporters have ever really sat down and talked with the oil field worker about their job and back ground?  I have not been surprised by the number of college graduates attempting to pay off college loans.  The numbers of ex-military men trying to catch up on mortgage payments back home and rent expenses here.

The best columns in the paper I saw were applauding the Oil companies for their cleaning up the patch.  Many times the oil guys will buy supper for my staff.  The guys are generally kind hearted hard working people that just want to be able to pay their bills.

The Oil field worker has a dangerous job and they put their lives on the line all the time.  My son had a classmate from Beach that died on the rigs.  They work hard every day and get to come home to Dawn dish soap to attempt to come clean.  Drag their tired bodies off to bed and pray they get up when 3 am duty calls arrive.

I know there are some rough necks that may make you want to sit them down with a dictionary but for the most part there human with feelings too.   Let’s try to remember that and move on in the Bakken to something more interesting to read.

Dickinson, North Dakota is flattening up tons of land to build housing, and commercial sites at the edge of town.  Wibaux has a new Salt Water Refinery that will be operational soon.   Beach is building housing and attempting to keep a yard stick on the cost.  Just because we have an oil boom here doesn’t mean that rent should have went from $300 to $3,000.

Who is the real devil in the patch.

My father and my mother lived in an airstream for many years and as a child I remember spending my summers on the road with my father.  I could see an ordinance limiting the number of inhabited RV living to be more attainable than a complete ban.  There are people making an income off renting RV space while housing is being built.  I also noted comments from someone called Go back home.  That perhaps Go back home should visit parts of America that are hurting for jobs. 

I own a home in Southwestern Minnesota were work is almost impossible to find unless you can climb a wind turbine.  Father’s don’t go hundreds of miles away from their families to send money home unless they have exhausted all other options.  I am a transplant to North Dakota and Montana but my first experience here was in Golva, North Dakota back in 1997 with farming.  I moved back in 2008 to work on scenic art and my writing.  Go back home you need to expand your horizons on what the rest of America is going through. 

I attended the inauguration of President Obama and drove through some very impoverished Area’s of America.  My full time day job has me interacting with the public and area workers on a daily basis.  I watch many of the worker’s count the days until they can go back home to see their son’s Prom or their daughter’s ball games.  Many would love to move their families to North Dakota or Montana but the cost of housing has tripled or gone beyond that since May 2008.

It is a sad but true factor in life that were there is a boom you will find that snake trying to make a fast buck off someone less fortunate.  North Dakota and Montana are beautiful states and there is plenty of open range left to build housing.  Go back in time and look at all the booms this country has experienced and be thankful you can say you were a part of the great opportunities available in the Bakken.

The people involved and the discussions pursued at Energy Day at MontanaFair were indicative of the broad range of businesses and organizations that are engaged, as they unveil a new source of economic opportunity, stemming from energy development. Sometimes it was surprising to discover just who is involved and how they connect, but then comes the realization that for all the discussions of economics and technology, it is just life, and those involved need all the same services, commodities and support as any other community – so, opportunity abounds.

To find Sanjel, ExxonMobil or Schlumberger tucked in along the rows of vendors of the classic Heritage Building at Metra Park in Billings, Montana was not surprising, but to also find the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, COSTCO, and the Montana Farmers Union was somewhat of a surprise, until they explained.

The Montana Farmers Union is concerned about keeping their members informed, many of whom are the landowners who are leasing mineral rights to oil companies. “We want to be able to help them protect their mineral rights and their property rights,” said Aeric Reilly, membership developer, who was manning the booth on Thursday ,”We had members calling in about leases, so we held meetings to try to help inform them.” When 250 members turned out for a meeting at Lewistown, they knew they had struck a chord. Having a booth at MontanaFair’s Energy Day is a continued part of that out-reach.

Interest in the oil patch by Montana Farmers Union, which has been representing agriculture producers since 1915, shouldn’t be surprising since there is emerging an understanding that while there are issues of contention between the two industries there are also corresponding interests. For example, it was recently reported in North Dakota that a railroad grain terminal facing the stark prospect of having to lay off employees, due to a decline in business, found it could augment business by also operating the loading terminal for oil. They in fact hired more employees. So while oil development is having a significant impact on their way of life, agriculture is embracing energy development, more than willing to work out their differences for the shared opportunities.

Interest of the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch (YBGR) is two-fold. The communities in the midst of the tempest are being impacted by a significant jump in school enrollment, often with students who have had turmoil in their lives because of economic stresses and displacement brought on by the recession and their parents’ job searches.

The small schools lack the mental health services and expertise that are offered by YBGR. Gary Flohr of YBGR said that YBGR wants to inform the companies, whose employees are the families that will be in need of their services, about their therapies and behavior specialists – that they offer residential treatment and preventive care. Extending their services to outlying communities is not new for YBGR; they already provide services in a number of smaller communities.

Also, YBGR has “kids who are growing out of the system,” in need of jobs and careers. Connecting with oil field companies with job opportunities is important for those students, Flohr said, noting that there are as many as 15,000 jobs in Montana and North Dakota that employers are having trouble filling.

Huntington Learning Center in Billings had very much the same idea for providing teaching services to help students keep up in the classroom. Jennifer Quinn said that theirs is the only franchise in the state, and they are already extending services from Plentywood, Montana, to Cody and Sheridan Wyoming.

COSTCO played a very active role at Energy Day, as they made the effort to find out what is needed in the oil fields and to let the companies know they can deliver – by the truckload if necessary – which has often been the case as most of the supplies needed by everyone in eastern Montana and western North Dakota are coming to Billings to supply. Saturday morning, visitors at Energy Day, were greeted by a table full of Costco pies, which were served up later in the day by COSCTO representatives, who talked about the challenge that is probably being encountered by all retailers. Building stores in the Williston Basin and staffing them in competition with all the other building and staffing needs is, almost, an impossiblity, so how else can they meet the needs of prospective customers? The company is exploring for those answers.

Searching for ways to reach markets in the Bakken was also the purpose of the involvement of Beetle’s Auto Body, Inc., in Billings. Hearing that it takes at least a two-month wait for people to get body work and mechanical repairs for their vehicles, in the Bakken, owner, “Beetle” Bailey, is offering transport services from Williston to Billings. To be able to haul several vehicles at once would make the service more affordable, he said, but the service provides faster turn-around and saves people the time of having to come to Billings, themselves.

Of course, while oil and gas seemed to steal the limelight, Energy Day is about all kinds of energy development. Representing Cloud Peak Energy was Senior Manager, Government Affairs, Todd O’Hair who talked about what his company is doing and about the future of coal. He said he was pleased to see that Billings is so supportive of energy development.

Big Sky Linen, a Billings commercial laundry, also had a presence at Energy Day, because they are more than a laundry. The company sells and cleans flame resistant work clothes. “It’s the biggest thing coming down the pike, for oil and gas as well as other industries,” said the owner Rob Cline. The federal government is mandating that workers wear the special clothing in all kinds of venues. His business has already felt the impact of the oil fields, and they are searching for more ways to tap into it.

Airgas Intermountain, too, sells flame retardant clothng, as well as all kinds of other safety equipment. Airgas is the largest US distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and hard goods, such as welding equipment and supplies. Billings has emerged as such an important market that they built a new store at 6785 Trade Center Avenue in Billings. It is the first store the company has that provides both the retail outlet and the service aspects of their business. Lacey Williams, safety trainer, and Jacob Anderson, safety supervisor, are two of the six employees who now work for Airgas in Billings. They provide everything in the realm of personal protection equipment, including the training needed to “keep industry safe”.

Of course, big names in the oil business were present at Energy Day. ExxonMobil, which one might think needs no introduction, was there to make sure people know the role of the refinery in the future. Spokeswoman, Pam Malek, said that they answered a lot of questions about what kinds of occupations are available and how to apply for jobs. Contractors, too, were interested in pipeline projects.

Schlumberger is an equally big name, but it may be new to many people, locally. It’s a name recognized around the world, as the world’s largest oil and gas field service company; delivery technical solutions – high pressure pumps, generators, hydraulic and pneumatic systems, electrical systems, engines, transmission and fuel systems – to their customers.

Schlumberger recently built a huge new facility in Williston, North Dakota; significantly increasing their capacity. The company has had a presence in the area for years, but over the past three years they have tripled the number of crews operating in the area, according to Tom Papiernik, technical sales support engineer. Besides wanting to provide information to the public about what they do, Schlumberger was in serious recruiting mode for employees as they greeted visitors to their booth.

Schlumberger and others brought equipment to Energy Day so the public could see, up close, the technology that is making shale oil production possible. Papiernik and others spoke to audiences during Energy Day about what they do and how the technology works, countering much misinformation and attempting to alleviate concerns about risks, and the industry’s commitment to mitigating risks.

For example, hysteria about fracking contaminating underground water sources, is usually brought into check as soon as people understand that all the action is happening two miles below underground water reservoirs.

While anti-industry activists are well programmed and fully focused on agitating against hydrocarbon production, defending themselves is not the focus of the industry, nor are engineers usually as adept at public relations, but they are recognizing the need to inform the public so as to promote more common sense regulations. Energy Day is an opportunity to get the message out to the audience that will likely be greatly impacted by any policies which are imposed. It’s all about communications.

For all of these businesses – for all the businesses in the oil fields – other than housing and transportation the next biggest issue is one of communications. Businessess need to connect with other businesses in a growing and vital economy. Many of the avenues and resources commonly used to do that haven’t been available in the Bakken area, so companies are pursuing every idea that presents itself, and devising more new and creative ways of reaching each other and to recruit for prospective employees – hence their presence at Energy Days.

Such is also the reason for the creation of synergystation.com by Laura and Kendall McRae, who helped to pull Energy Day together. Theirs, too, is a business that has emerged solely because of the oil boom, and solely in an attempt to provide a new means to facilitate connections within the industry.

It is because of the need to communicate that Energy Day is so dynamic and is poised to be even more successful in the future, according to Laura McRae. She pointed out that the oil companies and support businesses viewed Energy Day as so important that they pulled vital people and equipment from the fields, at considerable cost, to spend the three days at Montana Fair.

Interestingly, during one of the seminars, one of the audience members asked, “Is it true that the US has the capability of being 90 percent energy independent?” There was a pause, as the numerous industry representatives in the room waited to see who would answer, and then all answered at once, giving a resounding, “yes!”

No one was more enthused about the potential for natural resource development in Montana than was Ed Walker, who was on hand to represent his employer, Loenbro, a pipeline company, which installs pipelines and provides services to companies using pipelines. The company will lay some 500 miles of pipeline this year in the Williston Basin, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

Loenbro provides a unique technology, devised by the welder-trained brothers, to test welds on site. Called NDT (non-destructive testing), it uses an ultrasound process which is safer and more accurate and faster than previous x-ray technology. The process can follow right behind a pipeline layer or it can be taken to any site. It reduces turn-around time for a refinery by one-third to one-half and can pin point to the micrometer a defect. “That is real dollars,” said Walker.

“Montana is poised to be the energy epicenter of the US, if we get our energy policies right,” Walker said, “There is opportunity and prosperity on the horizon.” No state has the carbon resources that Montana has, said Walker. “No one state has it all the way we do, but we are at a decision point in our economy.”

Walker, who is also a state legislator, was just as enthused about the story of Loenbro, a company founded by two brothers from Sun River, Montana, three years ago, who today employ 250 people. Walker is, in general, enthused about the entrepreneurship that is bursting forth because of the energy boom. There were several exhibitors who had similar entrepreneurship success stories.

For example, Rig Mats of America which has devised portable high-strength, lightweight rig mats, to put over the ground to preserve it from heavy equipment traffic or to create a platform when the soil is unstable. Another emerging entrepreneurial effort comes from Sivert and Richard Mysse, under the business name, Hot Fracking Water, Inc. Recognizing an industry need to be able to heat water during winter’s freezing temperatures they designed and manufactured a semi-trailer that is more energy efficient and five times larger than the traditional 45-year-old hot oiler truck that is commonly used. One of their colorful trucks was on display at the show.

Sanjel – a name that is probably more readily recognized for their expansion into Billings with a regional maintenance and training center—is a Canadian-based company that does business worldwide providing systems and services that maximize production at the well. “We want to educate and inform the public about what we do,” said Alan Olson, Senior Field Sales Representative. “Billings has been good to us. Montana has been good to us,” said Olson, because of that Sanjel felt it was obligated “to be involved” in Energy Day. Olsen said that Sanjel is a “small, quiet company, family-owned and family oriented.” Thirty people work in Billings for Sanjel, which also has a location in Miles City. Throughout the state they employ some 250 people, and 300 in Williston.

Other representatives of the oil industry included Shale Exploration, which was founded in 2011 in Ft. Worth, Texas, and is opening an office in Crowne Plaza. The company, also has offices in Shelby and another in Scobey. Shale Exploration does exactly what its name implies, they explore for shale oil for themselves or for other operators – and said company spokesman, “there is lots of exploring to do in Montana.”

“After over 12 months of leasing and multiple large acquisitions, from numerous companies, Shale is positioned to begin development of the Bakken-Three Forks Jayhawk Prospect.” Shale Exploration and JV Partners hold more fee Leaseholds and State of Montana Leaseholds in Daniels County than any other company. The company employs about 70 people company-wide, of which 20 are located in Montana.

Nabors Well Services, the world’s largest onshore drilling contractor, has had an office in Billings since 1948, prior to the 80s it was known as Pool Company. Forty percent of the rigs in operation in the Bakken belong to Nabors. They joined Energy Day because they are in search of employees. Russ Burch, District Human Resources Manager for Nabors said they are looking for rig supervisors, crew chiefs, derrick workers, crew workers mechanics and CDL Class A Drivers. The company has yards in Baker, Glendive, Plentywood, and Sidney and in North Dakota, Belfield, Fairfield, and Williston, also in Rock Springs, Wyoming and Roosevelt, Utah.

MacTech based in Red Wing, Minnesota was also part of the show, seeking to connect with prospective customers for its wide range of on-site machining and heat treating services and equipment. Employing some 75 people, the company rents and sells, and has design engineers to solve problems, explained company representative Quentin Luff. Their clients are typically refineries, power plants and manufacturers. “We are a small company that values good service,” said Luff, who sees his role as establishing trust and confidence with the businesses involved in the rapidly growing energy industry in Montana. If they can gain the business necessary, to open an office in Billings is a very real possibility.

Prudential Floberg Real Estate wanted to interact with the companies who are moving here and bringing in new people. “We have specialist who understand the whole relocation process,” said Patty Connelley. They have already represented some workers who are relocating to Billings. The impact of people in search of energy-related jobs and companies doing business in the oil fields is already being felt in the Billings real estate market, said Connelly, announcing that as of last March the demand for housing in Billings switched from being a buyer’s market to a seller’s market.

Clay Schreder, owner C’s Exterior Design, a construction business of some 18 years, has an idea for a mobile cabin to replace “man camps.” He has launched a new business Signature Cabins, LLC, and had a prototype on display for visitors, feeling out the prospects for production. The first thing everyone says when they see it is “Wow!” said Schreder. There are more applications for the comfy-looking living units than just to relieve the housing pressure in the Bakken. Schreder suggests recreational cabins or mother-in-law suites. They are built to last as a home-away from home.

The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association, a trade association based in Washington DC, wanted people to know what the four refinery members of the association do. Spokesperson Steve Higley pointed out that their members employ two million people in the US in the process of producing refined petroleum products.

The American Energy Alliance played a major role in Energy Day, likewise, wanting to provide information to the public about the need for the AUS to become more energy self-reliant. The organization is in the process of traveling from state to state in a bus, on which they ask people sign their names in support of domestic energy production. Upon hearing about Energy Day, they turned the bus around and headed back for Billings, to take advantage of the public exposure and gather more signatures to petition the White House, by parking the bus outside at the end of their tour. Spokespeople pointed out that the US uses 20 million of petroleum based products a day, of which just under half is imported. Producing our own or importing it from friendly countries like Canada can “keep us edging towards zero imports.”

Understanding that there will be many business start ups, as well as expansion of existing business because of the energy boom, SCORE was on hand to let entrepreneurs know that they are available to provide business advice and counseling from retired business people. SCORE (Service Core of Retired Executives) is a volunteer program under the US Small Business Administration dedicated to assisting small business owners to succeed and grow.

On the private front there was also a consultant whose business does much the same thing. Dr. Joe Michels, founder of Solomon Bruce Consulting, said he as “invited to participate to be able to help clients and prospective clients improve their business operations. Formerly of Billings, Michels now has his company located in Ft. Worth, Texas. He pointed out that being located in Ft. Worth is little different than being located in Missoula, as far as proximity to potential clients. It’s only a five hour trip, he said, and “we have much greater collaborative power than was available in the Rocky Mountain region.

And, then there are the basics of services that every business needs, but many of those involved in the Bakken have little time or opportunity to pursue. Kinetic Marketing and Creative wanted companies to know that they are fully prepared to fill the gap. They stepped up to help promote Energy Day giving it a professional flare and helping to market it. Also, offering services, especially in the realm of social media marketing was BLaST creative, a full-service marketing studio providing custom print and Web design.

Part of marketing involves promotion through the use of specialty items emblazoned with logos and company names. Marilyn Roen with her company, MGR Marketing Tools, was introducing prospective clients to the broad range of promotional products, printing services and E-commerce solutions she has to offer.

People are making money in the energy boon and often need help in handling it and planning for the future. Denise Bouscher was one of several representatives of Primerica offering their expertise in planning for the future and for the unexpected. ‘My mission is to make sure that they set themselves up so there will be something there for them in the future.” Bouscher serves clients throughout Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and New Mexico. “I go where people are looking for me,” she said.

AFLAC offers benefits to employees, explained Susan Kahn. Working through the employers or with individuals, AFLAC has products that pay cash when people are most in need of it.

And, the time could hardly be better for the Petroleum Club, to seek new members. Kayla Piatkowski, banquet manager for the restaurant located on the 22^nd floor of Crowne Plaza, said they wanted to let people know that they are available to serve entertainment needs for members and non-members.

And, just to show that there is no limit to the prospects for local entrepreneurs, Body by Vi, a business owned by Karen Gosz, was introducing people to good nutrition. For people on the go in an area where food services are often not very convenient, they offer products that are nutritious, filling and affordable.

Slumps…we all have them. They’re those little sections of life when things just don’t seem to be going right. Maybe you haven’t been to the gym in a month and no matter what you do just don’t feel like going. Maybe you’ve been behind at work lately and you just can’t seem to catch up. Or maybe it’s your mood; maybe no matter what is going on in your life right now you just feel kind of…blah. These are slumps, people, and once you’re in one it can be hard to snap out of it, but it’s definitely not impossible. Here are some of the best ways to get yourself back on track.

1.) Stop. More specifically, stop thinking. Stop thinking about what you have to do tomorrow, what you forgot to do today, how your mother-in-law is driving you crazy, how you’ve gained 6 pounds since June when you promised yourself you’d lose 10: just stop. Whatever you’ve been doing lately hasn’t been working (you are in fact, in a slump), right? Right, so stop and take a deep breath; you are about to change gears.

2.) Focus. Find a place where you can sit, with pen and paper, undisturbed for a few minutes and think clearly. That means you step away from any electronic distractions (the television, the computer, your cell phone, etc.) and go somewhere comfortable. And don’t let yourself make excuses; the world is not going to explode if dinner is 30 minutes later than it usually is for the love of God. 

3.) Write it down. Our minds are constantly running (as you probably already know). Research has shown that when we write down what we are thinking about on paper (how upset we are with a loved one or what we need at the store, for example), our mind can relax a bit knowing it doesn’t need to keep thinking about that information. It’s the same thing that happens when someone gives you their phone number; you repeat it to yourself until you enter it in your phone or write it down. And as soon as you do, you stop thinking about it, right? Problems you are dwelling on work the same way. So take a second and write down what is bothering you.

4.) Refine. After you write down what is bothering you (don’t worry if it’s an insanely long list, chances are you’ve needed to get some things out), take a look at what you’ve written. Did you write “Dan won’t fix those shelves I’ve asked him to fix for 2 weeks” and “Dan didn’t pack the kids’ lunches” and “Dan made work plans on our anniversary night” the problem might not be all of those little things. Instead, the problem might be “Dan and I need to communicate better.”

5.) Determine a resolution. If the problem is that you and Dan need to communicate better. Write down a time that the two of you need to talk, undisturbed. Not while both of you are running to your cars in the morning, not the second he gets home from work. Pick a time when you can both talk. The same goes for other issues. If the problem is that you’re completely overwhelmed at work, think of a way you can take off some of your workload. Is there a fellow employee that can help you out for a bit (they could be in charge of the phone lines for the day while you work, for example)? Can you speak to your boss about getting caught up on your current assignments before taking on any more projects? If you’ve been feeling unmotivated, think of a way to get motivated. Haven’t gone to the gym in a while? Maybe you need a new pair of running shoes.

6.) Move on. Once you’ve addressed these issues and understand what you need to do, move on. Get up, make the dinner you’ve been postponing for 30 minutes, and stop thinking about it. Enjoy your dinner, watch some television with Dan, and get some sleep. Tomorrow your slump ends.

“Sexually-transmitted diseases have risen to a record high in the area,” said Deborah Thompson-Hall, a registered nurse at the health center on the Fort Berthold Reservation in New Town, less than 100 miles North of Williston.

And because of long waits for emergency care, doctor’s offices and health care clinics, people have to wait literally months to be seen. So clinics in Billings, Miles City and Sidney are also seeing an increase in immediate care visits for STDs.

“We see over a couple dozen cases a week,” said a Billings Nurse who wishes to remain anonymous. “It’s not just STDS, but HIV testing too!”

A modern day Sodom and Gomorrah! Drinking, drugs, STDs, HIV, OH MY! Where is Abraham where you need him? So what can be done? Well we all know that cities like Billings, Miles City and Sidney are seeing a number of these cases and education has to be the starting point!

We need to be proactive here and quit turning a blind eye and hope that it will all go away. It’s not going to go away, it’s just going to spread like wildfire. And if we don’t start preparing for it, we could be facing the same uphill battle.

Strippers are being paid astronomical wages, even the owners of Strip Clubs in Sin City are complaining! Now that is bad! This is an ongoing epidemic with the getting more money mentality and the thousands of job openings that still remain in the Bakken.

Man camps run rampant with single guys living in the Bakken for a few weeks at a time and then going home for a couple weeks off. And it’s not just oil field workers, grocery stores, doctors, nurses, lab techs, are doing it as well. Some are being hired and paid incredibly well to do shifts similar to some of the oil workers and live in man camps.

Companies like Schlumberger and Sanjel are working hard at getting families into homes in Williston to clear up the man camp style living. With families moving in that should slow the STDs and HIV, but is there another solution?  What can be done if anything?

I don’t have answers, but something needs to be done or at the very least education available to employees in the Bakken. It’s the wife’s at home, the innocent victims that bother me the most. Something definitely needs to be done about the STD boom in the Bakken!

No matter what group of people you’re working with (your family, your coworkers, your intramural teammates, your church group), an open and effective line of communication is key. But that phrase, “effective communication”, tends to get thrown around a lot doesn’t it. As it turns out, there’s a whole lot to effective communication. There’s listening, using the appropriate tone and hand gestures, and various other things we do while talking. However, in most groups of people there are bound to be one or two shy folks, so how exactly do you get them talking? Well here you go; three ways to get someone engaged in a conversation:

1.) Say statements instead of questions. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it works. Asking someone a question demands a response. And not just any response, but one that is on subject and within a socially acceptable time frame. You’re putting pressure on someone without even knowing it. Statements, on the other hand, demand no response, allowing the other person to answer when and if they feel comfortable or not. A question also provides you the opportunity to judge them depending on their answer, while a statement simply says something about yourself.

For example, say you sit down next to a co-worker during lunch break and they are eating something that looks very spicy. The question, “Wow, whatis that? Is it really spicy?” can seem innocent, but it’s more difficult that you might think. The statement, “Wow, you must be pretty brave, that looks spicy!” is much easier to handle. The listener is required to do nothing, you were simply making a statement that their food looks spicy.

2.) Compliment them. Just as the above example indicates, the listener appeared to be “brave” when eating spicy food, not “crazy”. In addition, a compliment can open the door to letting them feel comfortable in their own skin. A simple, “Wow, you have beautiful handwriting!” can give someone that tiny boost of self-confidence they need to open up a bit more.

3.) Say something about yourself. People don’t, in general, willingly open up to strangers. Therefore, if you want someone to open up to you, you’ve got to make yourself seem a little less like a stranger, and a great way to do that is to say a little bit about yourself.

Take the above example in the break room. You can continue the conversation to say something like, “Wow, you must be pretty brave, that looks spicy! I never could eat spicy food, though I do keep trying!” In just one sentence, you have gone from “Stacy, the lady who sits at the west desk,” to “Stacy who wants to like spicy food.” It’s a small change, but a significant one.

Morale tends to be one of those tricky words thrown around meetings. Every company wants good morale around the office but very few companies actually go through the trouble of determining how to achieve it.

But really quick, before we get into how to destroy morale (and why this would be a horrible thing to happen), what exactly is morale?

Morale can be loosely defined as the level of confidence or optimism felt by an individual or a group. It’s the feeling a person gets that they can make a difference in their environment; that they matter, and that they are valued. A high morale gives you employees that are committed and motivated to their task. Low morale gives you apathetic, uncaring employees that are probably searching for other jobs during their breaks. Which would you rather have? Exactly.

So if you’re looking to have the most productive environment possible, here are the top five things you should avoid:

1.) Embracing ignorance. The old phrase, “What they don’t know won’t hurt them” has no place in a workplace environment. Essentially, it means you’re rewarding poor communication and giving them an excuse for a low level of motivation. Don’t just explain the project to your employees, explain the reason for the project, allowing them to become invested in it as well.

2.) Assuming. How’s it go? Oh that’s right; assuming just makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’. It all comes back to communication. How many movies have there been made based on a simple plot of miscommunication and assumption? Too many to count. Don’t let your workplace turn into a shenanigan-stuffed Hollywood comedy. 

3.) Fault-finding. There’s a difference between giving out constructive criticism and finding faults in every little thing. Believe it or not, sometimes someone just does a good job and they should be recognized and awarded appropriately. Everything does not need to be a learning experience.

4.) One-Upping. Everyone has been guilty of this at one point or another, and most of the time we probably don’t even realize we’re doing it. But when an employee comes to you describing a certain success they’ve had (maybe they finished that 12 page report in only three days), explaining how you once finished a 50 page report in only four days isn’t going to be an amusing story, it’s going to downplay their success.

5.) Not caring. As much as people want to keep work and personal life separate, the fact is the two tend to mix at least a little bit. Things are going to happen at home that affect a person’s performance at work (perhaps a loved one has just passed away) and things are going to happen at work that certainly affect a person’s home life. Plus, most people spend even more time at work than they do with their own families. Remembering little things, like birthdays, or asking how someone is doing after they have suffered a loss or tragedy can give a much needed boost to a low morale environment.

As much as we would all like it to, the concept of teamwork does not simply “happen.” Instead, it takes a great deal of time working through details to make sure a team works together effectively. But some businesses and families are one step ahead of the game; by creating a culture that facilitates teamwork, constantly, a groups’ members are already comfortable with the idea of working together. So how can you achieve this in your home or place of business? Read on!

1.) Reward and value efforts of teamwork. The lone employee has their place, but placing a large amount of reward on something an individual employee does on their own can often give the impression that an individual can be valued more than the group. There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of personal recognition, of course, but try to keep larger rewards (bonuses, compensation, etc.) distributed to groups of people as a display of a team working together successfully.

2.) Build teams to solve issues. If you are constantly forming teams to resolve issues that arise, people are going to start doing it on their own. If you typically ask for a group of volunteers to solve a problem, the first time a problem comes up while you are out of town group members will follow the protocol; which is to form a team and work through the issue together.

3.) List a teamwork culture as an identifiable value. The concept of teamwork shouldn’t be inferred, it should be openly accepted. Make sure the idea of teamwork is added to employee handbooks or written agreements so group members understand that it is a priority.

4.) Bring up topics that were solved by teamwork. I used to work at Billings Clinic, and I remember when they were given a Magnet rating (the top rating for nursing in the country; very few hospitals have achieved this), credit was given to the committee that worked tirelessly to make sure the hospital met specific qualifications. No single individual was acknowledged; it was considered a group effort.

5.) Exemplify teamwork at the executive level as well. As parents, it’s tough to expect your family to run as a team if you and your spouse do not act as a team as well. The same goes with a business. If Mom is asked a question, saying “I’ll run that by your father” shows that teamwork happens at even the highest level. Make this a practice in your business as well.

After the old compressor was put on the truck, I visited with crew leader, Randy Farrar from RushCo Energy Specialists in Euless, Texas. Randy told me that the new compressor was hand built in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He told me that the old one would be sent back for rebuild, if the unit was in such condition that it could be rebuilt.

As we talked, Randy told me about a new business line his firm had developed regarding microprocessor controls for air conditioning systems. He said that there are major firms that make controls for air conditioning systems. Once you have one of those systems, you are normally beholden to the manufacturer for repair and service. In this particular case, his firm was able to design and engineer a new system, using common parts that were no more expensive than the company proprietary system that was initially installed when the air conditioning system was new.

Another point that Randy made was that the biggest source of energy usage in a building is lighting. Lighting–UMMM. This looks like an area where an analysis can be done by the power company to identify new types of lighting that will be less costly and much more efficient! With new microprocessor controls for air conditioning systems and more efficient lighting in your facility, there is money to be captured that you may not have previously considered.

Call Randy at RushCo Energy Specialists at 817-267-5155 to discuss how he can help you improve your air conditioning needs. His expertise and that of his team will help you save money and increase your corporate profitability in areas where you did not realize savings existed.

I was touring the new Hilton Garden Inn Fort Worth Medical Center property the other morning with manager Jim Rickards. A guest got on the elevator and told Mr. Rickards, “This is a really nice place! I’d Like to Stay Here!”  Thus the title of this blog! The guest mentioned  she’d had some medical procedures being performed at the nearby hospital and liked the new hotel. Mr. Rickards beamed like a new daddy with pride and joy!

How did this happen, you might wonder? Well, Mr. Rickards tells me that even though his hotel has only been open 3 months, it is ranked as the top Hilton Garden Inn in the franchise system. However, the pride, the enthusiasm and the excitement were evident in everyone of the staff members we encountered on our tour! All of the people were excited to be part of a winning operation– from the janitor to the chef, as well as everyone in between.

Engaged, excited employees who “make the brand POP” do so because they enjoy their job, enjoy their leadership and enjoy the place where they work.   Our team at Solomon Bruce has written previously about work force environment, culture and position.  The tour of the Fort Worth Hilton Garden Inn gave us the opportunity yet again to see it in action.  The staff was genuinely friendly, was empowered and wanted to insure that each guest has a positive guest experience. Obviously, from the lady on the elevator, the staff was achieving their objective.

Does this happen in your business? Are your staff excited about their organization and willing to have clients, customers or guests share that same enthusiasm with you? If not, perhaps there is a challenge that you may wish to investigate! Look hard to see what changes may be necessary so that your customers and clients tell you how they enjoy your business and the products or service which you provide. In most cases, the changes that are needed are minor, but the results of the changes turn out to be major! Check out your operation– you want to hear the same things that Mr. Rickards heard on the elevator!

When one of our consultants visited with a business owner the other day, he said that he had increased his business 33% in the past year, had to add additional staff and it appeared that adding additional staff was imminent. What business  is he in and what is he doing?

This business owner is in the printing business.  That’s right “is”….not “was”.  The printing business – a industry that been in decline over the past 5 years due to the advent of laser digital printers at home.  The printing industry has actually declined 45%…Okay, what was this printing business doing different to increase sales by 33% in the past 12 months?

He added “Value Added Services” to his list of goods and services.  In this particular case, the print shop prints the mailers, places address labels on the mailers, and then takes them to the post office!  A fee is charged for transporting the mailers to the postal service for bulk mail and a fee is charged to print the labels and attach them to the mailers.  And, the orders keep coming in !  The print shop has not only streamlined the process for the customer, he has made it more effiecient and cost effective for the cleint.

OK, what can you do in your business to add additional value for your client?   Who is doing something that your client needs that your company could do? How can you make the client experience “less painful”, or in other words, how can you increase your value to your client?  By providing these value added services you are providing solutions that address your customers’ needs.

By asking these basic questions you are on your way to uncovering the value added needs of your customers and increasing your own company’s over all profitability.  Look at what you do for your clients.  See how you can add increased value. It’s money in the bank….just ask the print shop owner with a 33% increase in annual revenue.

In a perfect world, all teams would work perfectly together; meetings would run smoothly, problems would be easily ironed out and everyone would be happy. However, as we all probably already know, we don’t live in a perfect world. And while one person may believe a team is functioning as well as it could be, another member may have a different opinion. The fact is, just as every other aspect of a business needs to be evaluated, and so does the collaboration process of the actual team.

So gather your team members together, provide a few snacks (a few cookies work wonders for cutting tension) and explain that a simple evaluation needs to be done. Make sure all evaluations are anonymous, and have each member rate the team against the following criteria:

1.) Clarity of team goals. Is it clear what the team is actually trying to accomplish? Is it clear who exactly is benefitting the most from the accomplishment of the team’s goals? If a member from one department feels accomplishing the stated goals only benefits members from another department, it could mean that some of the team’s goals are too narrow or that they aren’t being explained properly.

2.) Clarity of individual roles and responsibilities. A friend of mine works as a coach for a university softball team. When the university was hiring new athletic trainers, they informed her she had been nominated as the chair of the committee. However, no one explained her responsibilities. People would just call her office asking if she turned in “that review” or had completed her “recommendation rundown” and she had no idea what they were talking about. Encourage your team members to describe times they have felt like this.

3.) Efficiency of time and resources. Ever been to a meeting that was a complete waste of time? One that was simply a gathering of people so your supervisor could hear herself talk? Hopefully your team meetings aren’t like this, but if they are it’s an incredible waste of resources. Have team members list ideas to make meetings more efficient. Maybe a memo could be sent out before hand with a list of required paperwork or the itinerary could be emailed out letting people know exactly what part of the meeting will be relevant to them.

4.) Facilitation of ideas. Do your team members have a voice? If they suggest something, do you get defensive or hear their ideas? Are they constantly interrupted by other teammates? Is the environment conducive to a productive meeting or is it absolutely freezing and they can’t wait to get out of there (don’t scoff; a comfortable room temperature is actually very relevant to productivity)?

5.) Rewards and general concerns. While accomplishing a specific goal sounds like it should be enough, more often than not, it isn’t. Encourage team members to list possible incentives or ways productivity could be increased. In addition, have them list any general concerns they may have about how the meetings are run. This could be scheduling or even fairness. I worked nightshifts at a previous job, and until someone mentioned it all meetings were held at 3:00 in the afternoon. That’s great if you work day shift, but it’s an awful time for nightshift. Everyone was much happier when meetings were changed to 8:00 in the morning, right between shift changes.

Steve Wahrlick, principal of the Best Western Clocktower Inn, in Billings, Montana recently spoke to a group of college business students about the key successes he has learned in the hospitality. I have copied his list here:

• People are very complex
• Dollars are the common measurement
• Relationships rule, “communication” drools (communication isn’t what it’s cracked up to be)
• It is not about me (successful business people are not focused on themselves)
• Leaders lead (leading is not the same thing as managing)
• Follow your passion, don’t worry about the money
• Have fun
• Work for a large organization before a small organization
• Ask for the business
• Embrace change
• Don’t be afraid of “smarter” people
• Ask yourself, “how much better could can we do” (don’t settle for mediocrity)
  What is important here is that these traits apply to any business and any industry. If you are the owner of the business or General Manager, you really need to see how these traits apply to you. If you are not embracing these traits, then probably, you are doing something wrong!

While these traits may seem simple; the principles behind them are more complex.   Look beyond the simplicity of the words and discover how to apply them in your business.  In doing so, you’ll begin to see an increase in business as well as become a more fulfilled business leader amongst your peers and in your community.

One of the clerks asked me how the road closure impacted me. I told her that I had no impact because I was just visiting some relatives and did not live in the community where the grocery store is located. As I was going back to my relatives house, I began to think about the discussion in the store.

Obviously, as human beings, we are all creatures of habit. Most of the folks that shopped at the store appeared to be impacted by the road detour to some extent. If you were the owner of the store, what actions, if any, would you take to help alleviate the challenges of the customers?

There are no right answers to this question. However, as I reviewed this matter, here are some ideas that I came up with. Perhaps having some sales either later in the day or earlier in the day may be beneficial to your customers. Maybe rearranging some of the products in the store may be beneficial, allowing folks to get in and get out more rapidly, especially if the road detour impacted their way home. How do you know what to do? ASK the customers! Go out on the floor and ask the customers what may help them shop in your store but also get around the challenge of the road detour. Make some road detour specials– the ideas are unlimited, however, trying something that may be “Out of Box” is one way in which to help generate more traffic for the store while having to cope with the road construction. Give it a shot– you want the customers to have a buzz about your actions to address the road detour. Again, you may be surprised at the results of your actions.

The Department of Transportation office in Williston sent Gary Skarphol to visit North Dakota Highway 23 by New Town after a series of vehicles had been severely damaged by the deteriorating road.

In the Spring of 2012, I was heading up to Minot for the Sportsmen show and encountered the worst roads I had encountered in the years I have been driving. The signage for the bad roads was not visible and the truck traffic was flying past at very high rate of speed. After about 2 miles of the bad road my car was rendered disabled by a combination of road and semi vs guard rail.

I count myself lucky for making it to Eagles Landing and having Lyle the taxi guy bring me to Minot. The cost of the tow to Stanley and Taxi was enough to make me think I need four jobs to live in oil country. If you break down in New Town there are no open hotels and Rensch’s Chevrolet dealership won’t tow or work on your car if it is a Ford. I would assume it is because of the lack of available employees to work on vehicles, but you would think they would at least help remove disabled vehicles.

This section of Hwy 23 was finished the end of November 2011 but looks in worse shape then the section of old Hwy 10 by Medora that have not been touched in years. Bemas Construction out of Englewood, Colo., did the work but they had no comment on the condition of the roadway.

There is a bond that they had to have for doing the road so anyone that has lost a wheel or u joint or oil and transmission pan might want to take photos to ensure they get those forms to their insurance carrier.

In visiting with the DOT office in Williston, Ron Skarphol said that he has never seen roads this bad in the 39 years he has worked for the state. He stated that contributing factors included, but were not limited to pavement, climate, patching over patches and the frost coming out of the ground. One other thing that shocked me is that a huge oil company called to complain on 911 that they needed to remove the highway workers from the roads because they were impeding production on the highway.

I am shocked that production to some companies is more important than safe roads. There are some great oil companies that seem to really care about the communities that they work in. I would count those as Key Energy, Bull Dog Energy, Custom Carbon and Western Pump and Dredge.

Now, if the other companies would pull together to stop production for a day or two to fix these messed up highways perhaps the locals and travelers could get from point A to B with out losing their wheels beneath them.

Fast forward to 2012 and we have the reverse taking place.   A whole new vitalization of a forgotten frontier, that is now expanding its waist line fast enough to get stretch marks.

I often listen to what the workers tell me they love about the area.  They love the fact that we have jobs and a booming economy.  When asked what I loved so much about Southwestern North Dakota, I tell them it was my ability to recapture my grandmother’s lifestyle on the farm.  My kids reminded me in 1997 that you could only get a decent am station on the radio and that you couldn’t find a Mc Donald’s for miles.  I remind my daughter today that it’s probably the reason she knows how to cook from scratch.  My boys appreciate the fact that they had to learn plumbing and wiring in order to get that hot water heater the landlord said was unnecessary back in 1997.  I had a stove and a pot for water.  The basement of the farm house had a water tank filled with rocks to pump fresh water upstairs.  I can’t remember the reason it needed rocks.

My adventures in writing include true stories about this city girl moving to rural Golva, North Dakota. Once I purchased ten ducks and two swans to have on the farm.  The kids were delighted about this new zoo.  The first thing we spotted in the yard was the cow watering bin.  It couldn’t be helped.  The kids and I placed all the new ducks into that pond for the cows to share in the new family members.   My spouse was less than impressed after 12 hours in a milking parlor to have to drain the watering bin to keep the livestock from falling ill.

But, I learned soon enough know how to pull calves and brand animals.  What is the importance of this all today?  Well, I see all the new people arriving learning about the wonders of the region and the hidden exotic places like Marmarth, ND that has a hidden road were you can actually drive through a river that has no bridge.  There are many reasons to love this area.

Of course we do have an oil boom taking place but we still have those hidden treasures along the highway like the actual covered wagon trails south of Wibaux, MT and the sod post office in Grassy Butte, ND.  My favorite place is Olson’s gas station in Sentinel Butte, ND were some people are given on the honor keys to the station.

The boom is here to stay for a while and let’s enjoy the people who visit or join our communities by embracing their skills and thanking them for their hard work.  Where would North Dakota be without this economic boom?  Why did we implement such exotic changes to our oil and gas industry starting April 1, 2012?

I think someone in North Dakota should be asking themselves are they hurting the state or helping it.  I didn’t like stretch marks but I love my kids.  I think some dislike the boom, but let’s all remember we love the money.

]]> http://synergystation.com/community/no-more-ghost-towns/feed/ 0 http://synergystation.com/community/why-art-is-more-important-than-you-think/ http://synergystation.com/community/why-art-is-more-important-than-you-think/#comments Fri, 27 Jul 2012 08:02:41 +0000 kgrosz http://synergystation.com/?p=6889

For many people, art is considered just a hobby. Painting is something you do on a lazy Sunday afternoon while drinking a delicious cup of espresso and calmly looking back on your workweek (which is almost a myth in itself, as very few people have ever had the time to do this). The fact is though, art is so much more than previously thought, and here are just a few examples why:

1.) Art facilitates communication. Art is not a math problem, meaning there is no right or wrong answer. No one argues with you if you prefer one painting to another. Sure, they may ask why, and then voice their own opinion, but yours is not discounted in the process. Because of this, people are naturally more apt to openly communicate in an artistic forum.

What’s more, the act of communicating itself is like a flood gate, meaning open communication about one thing often leads to open communication about another.

2.) Art facilitates self-expression. Ever heard the phrase, “A picture is worth 1,000 words,”? Of course you have, and for good reason. Some things are just too difficult to explain, but a picture can make it all seem clear. Here’s a great example:

If you’ve ever seen the music video for Foo Fighter’s song “Best of You”, you can see there is an incredible mashup of emotion. The video shows pictures and words symbolizing such emotions and concepts as fear, anger, hopelessness, sorrow, innocence, regret and beauty. What you might not know, however, is that the director, Mark Pellington, was allowed complete creative freedom by the band as a way of coping with his wife’s death. The resulting video is basically a blueprint of his grief, set to the soundtrack of the band’s song “Best of You.” It’s riveting, and you can see it here.

3.) Art encourages tolerance. It is impossible to judge in a roomful of art. You may not like a particular sculpture, but you have no idea as to who made it. A beautiful painting can be made by anyone, whether they are black, white, gay, straight, developmentally impaired, old, young, republican, or democrat. In the world of art, we are all equals.

4.) Art facilitates team building. Working on a group project at work can often be deceptive. If each member of the group breaks off into individual jobs, they may not actually feel like they are part of a collaborative effort. A group painting, however, is instantly collaborative. Just by looking at it, you can see the individual brush strokes, and if the people in the group had been changed, the brush strokes (and the entire painting itself) would be a different final result. Collaborative art projects team members to work together in an environment where their contribution is noticeable and immediate.

5.) Art is fun. Not often enough are we able to do something that we actually enjoy, and especially something that is crucial to the development of specific skill sets. Add a little art in your life and see how it will most certainly change you for the better.

‘If you don’t pay attention to the provisions of the lease, you may end up with pennies instead of Benjamins.’

Source:  “Tappin the Bakken”, Spring 2012, Sidney Herald, Steve Hamel

Mineral rights are valuable commodities for landowners in the MonDak region, but a thorough understanding of the leasing process is the key to maximizing the value of those mineral rights, said Timothy Fitzgerald, assistant professor of agricultural economics at Montana State University. “If you don’t pay attention to the provisions of the lease, you may end up with pennies instead of Benajmins,” Fitzgerald said during an April webinar on the subject.

The leasing process begins when a mineral owner begins negotiations with a landman. Landmen, who may work for developers or as independent contractors, are paid to obtain signed mineral leases from mineral owners. They are usually very familiar with the details of mineral leases and recent trends. “You want to try to understand your options beforehand and minimize any informational advantage the landman may have over you in the process,” Fitzgerald said.

Before beginning negotiations, Fitzgerald said it is important for mineral owners to consider both their short-term and long-term priorities since mineral leases may last 40 or more years. There is no standard lease form and everything in an oil and gas lease is negotiable, so consulting with an attorney may be advisable, Fitzgerald said.  Typically, a lease includes an upfront payment, usually on a per acre basis, and a royalty clause, which specifies the percentage of the production value entitled to the mineral owner. A lease may also include a rental agreement in which an annual payment is received by the mineral owner between signing and production if the lessee waits to develop the minerals.

The main provisions of a lease mineral owners should be aware of are the granting clause, duration, royalty, surface damage and assignment clause, Fitzgerald said. When negotiating the granting clause, which specifies what is being leased, the mineral owner needs to be specific about what rights the lessee does and does not have. For example, a landman may want a landowner to include water rights in the lease, which would allow the developer to use the mineral owner’s water for hydraulic fracturing. Fitzgerald advised against including water rights in a mineral lease. “Hydraulic fracturing takes a lot of water, so if you want to lease water, you might want to lease it separately,” he said.  The duration clause specifies the primary and secondary terms of the lease. The primary term is the amount of time the lease is set in stone, while the secondary term may include an option for additional years.

One provision Fitzgerald recommends mineral owners include in the duration clause is a “shut-in” payment, which the developer would pay the mineral owner in the absence of royalties if the developer choses not to market the oil produced by the well.  “You want to make sure you have a shut-in payment, so you receive a little income for having those minerals, even if the producer chooses not to market it,” Fitzgerald said.  When negotiating the royalty clause, Fitzgerald said the most important thing is to know the amount of the royalty interest. “You should not be shy about asking for more if that’s what you want,” he said. Fitzgerald said developers may try to reduce royalties to cover their post-production costs, but this can be avoided if the landowner includes an overriding royalty in the lease, which keeps the landowner from being held responsible for post-production costs incurred by the developer.

“The landman is trying to get you to sign, so you can try to ask for stuff (to be included in the lease),” Fitzgerald said.  When negotiating the surface damage terms of the lease, the mineral owner has the ability to specify the terms of suface use, which could include weed control, fences, roads and water development among other things, and the terms for compensation should the developer violate the terms of surface use.  The final provision mineral owners should pay attention to is the assignment clause, which requires the lessee to give the mineral owner written notification if the lease is transferred to someone else.  “You want to know who is holding the lease at any given time”, Fitzgerald said.

Source: “Tappin the Bakken” – Spring 2012 Sidney Herald:  Louisa Barber

Take a drive through the Williston Basin anytime, and one will see thousands of wellheads flaring to be rid of the tremendous amount of natural gas locked deep within the shale oil formations of the Bakken and Three Forks.  There’s an opportunity there, to capture the liquids in those gases, to clean the air and generate revenue for producers and royalty owners. G2G Solutions, an oil and gas service company based in Billings and operating near Sidney, will install and operate mobile flare gas treatment technology for oil well sites. “The main reason we have flaring is that gas pipelines cannot be constructed quickly enough to keep up with the current drilling and completion pace in the Basin,” co-founder Brian Cebull said. So G2G Solutions has set a goal: to get to the well site as soon as the completion has finished.  The equipment is hooked up to the gas flare line and treated utilizing G2G’s mobile equipment. The captured natural gas liquids, like propane and butane, are stored in a tank on location and are turned over to the operator for marketing.  G2G’s innovative technology is scalable so systems can be combined to treat higher flow rates and taken away as the production rates decline. The mobile systems are self-contained and can be moved and set up within one day. Recovery systems are powered by treated gas residue allowing G2G to operate at the most remote sites.

Because of the rapid pace of oil drilling and production, pipelines and meter runs can’t be constructed quickly enough to collect all natural gas associated with oil production. G2G’s operation reduces flare carbon emissions, NO2 emissions and flared gas volumes. The company even recycles some of the gas for itself to power its own generators.  “We’re really a standalone service. We are self-contained, we can generate our own power,” Cebull said. G2G, a relatively new company, currently has nine people on staff but has established an aggressive growth pattern, he said.  “We see the Bakken as a great opportunity. There are many other active shale oil plays in the nation, but the Bakken was among the most active and is located right in our backyard.  We see growth potential in other areas around the Rocky Mountains and the rest of the U.S. Flaring gas is a problem in search of a solution – and we are part of the solution.” In April, G2G conducted its first major commercial deployment, the first in what the owners hope will be a long list of commercial opportunities.  “This is a big problem in need of a solution, but we are confident that our business, knowledge and technology will work well,” Cebull said.  For more information, contact Brian Cebull by calling 406-867-6700 or emailing bcebull@ g2g-solutions.com. Also, visit the G2G Solutions website at www.g2g-solutions.com.

Focusing some attention, at Montana Fair, on what is fast becoming a significant base of the local economy, seemed like an idea whose time had come to Montana Fair planners. Forming a collaboration with Metra Park, the Billings Chamber of Commerce, Big Sky EDA, Montana Energy, and synergystation.com, Energy Day mushroomed so quickly that planners realized that more than timely, it is something that is long past due, and could prove to be one of the Fair’s most popular features.

While Energy Day at the Fair is August 16, once open, it will remain open for the duration of the Fair through August 18. While it will be an unprecedented kind of exhibit, it will be more than just an exhibit; each day will be full of educational and fun events, and many opportunities for business people to connect with each other, and for job seekers to connect with potential employers and training.

The venue for Energy Day is the Heritage Building, which initially seemed more than adequate, but demand for space quickly filled it and spilled out into the front of the building and the Rodeo Arena. Some 45 exhibits will be housed inside while outside will be a number of amazing static equipment displays. Oil field companies are putting together the displays which will allow visitors to see things like: a work over rig, frack truck, wire line truck, etc.

Each day will have an agenda of events which can be tracked through a special website that is being developed – www.montanaenergyday.com. On that agenda will be information about a job fair, workforce development and training opportunities, and “speed dating” for businesses. There will be numerous opportunities for businesses to network and compare notes, including an apple/cherry pie social. Special attention will also be given to Veterans, with one sponsor having committed to providing rodeo tickets for Veterans.

Sponsoring businesses (those acquiring booths) will be interviewed and featured on synergystation.com and a business showcase. Montana Energy Forum will host a special event that will further add opportunity to meet and mingle for business people.

Attention will also be focused on what community impacts might be from all the energy development that is happening in the region. What might some solutions be? How to fund them?

For information on Energy Day contact Event Coordinator Melody Dobson, 405 256-2400 or 800 366-8538. Or synergy station. com at 696-5433 or laura@ synergystation. com

]]> http://synergystation.com/news-feed-for-bakken-information/energy-days-at-montana-fair/feed/ 0 http://synergystation.com/news-feed-for-bakken-information/getting-advice-once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity/ http://synergystation.com/news-feed-for-bakken-information/getting-advice-once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity/#comments Tue, 24 Jul 2012 01:09:44 +0000 Big Sky Business Journal http://synergystation.com/?p=6840 “Think big and bold. If not, you are selling yourself short.”

Such is the advice for would-be entrepreneurs in the Bakken, from Steve Slocum of First National Bank and Trust of Williston, ND. Slocum was one of several business people comprising a panel discussion about how Billings area businesses can get a foothold in the fast-paced, booming oil business of the Sidney, Montana and Williston, North Dakota areas. The panel was moderated by Steve Arveschoug, Billings, Director of Big Sky Economic Development, the agency which recently hosted two tours of the area.

The movement of western Montana businesses and laborers eastward is the beginning of a new era in the state. It’s a watershed moment in the history of both Montana and North Dakota – nothing will ever be quite the same.

It’s a “once in a lifetime opportunity,” claim most observers, one that is already reaching deep into the economic foundation of Billings. “It is critical that Billings take advantage of it. It will have a large impact on Billings,” said Kevin Heaney, another member of the panel. To find a way to “take advantage of it,” is just what many members of the tour group were interested in doing.

Having a presence to develop personal relationships, and being able to overcome the housing hurdle were two reoccurring themes in the conversation among panelists, which also included Kevin Heaney, a partner in the Commercial Department of Crowley Fleck, PLLP, Billings; Garth Sjue, Williston, also with Crowley Fleck; and Rick Leuthold, Director of Business Development for Sanderson Stewart, Billings.

To introduce prospective business developers to the phenomenon that is the Bakken oil fields and to see firsthand the economic impacts on surrounding communities was the primary purpose of the tours. Billings is a primary support center for the oil field activities and for the infrastructure building that is going on in Williston, Sidney and other eastern Montana communities. Billings is “strategic to energy” of all kinds, pointed out Arveschoug, in introducing the panel.

Besides being a store-house of all fossil fuels, Montana is considered second in its potential for wind energy, said Arveschoug. Billings is central to the development of those energy resources, as well as the infrastructure to serve them.

In fact, looming in its potential, for that infrastructure and to create more jobs and business opportunities, is the building of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which Arveschoug said he has been assured by Keystone representatives, will happen. President Barak Obama currently has a regulatory hold on federal permitting of the project, which would help get Bakken oil to market.

In his advice to the group, Heaney said, “You want to assimilate how to take advantage of what is happening.” Figuring out how to capture that business is much of what Heaney does for his law firm, which has had offices in the region since 1995. “We are uniquely situated to take advantage of all this,” he said. The firm today has offices in Williston and Bismarck, North Dakota, and Casper and Sheridan, Wyoming, as well as in six Montana cities. “We are strategically situated to be one of the players in the energy development boom. We have a very large market share of the region.”

“It is difficult to recruit into these areas, because it is expensive to live here,” said Heaney. It is also expensive for his company to add a new lawyer to the firm – “It takes a lot of training to bring a new lawyer on line.”

“In Billings, we are working with lenders in making some unique loans,” said Heaney. For example, they are working with the Highland Projects, a Sundre, Alberta-based company, which is building storage tanks in Billings. “They are looking to make a substantial investment,” in either buying or building a manufacturing center.” His firm has also been “talking to a company in Canada that provides equipment to deal with the flaring – “something that requires a lot of heavy equipment.”

“The residential real estate market in Billings is making somewhat of a recovery,” said Heaney, “and I think that is being impacted by the activity in this region.”

There is a lot of commercial real estate and industrial properties that are being “gobbled up,” as well.

Health care providers are also being impacted in Billings, and there is opportunity for them to expand into the Williston Basin area.

Because of all the spin-off businesses that oil development is spurring, “there is a tremendous amount of wealth being generated,” said Heaney, which creates a need for legal services regarding taxes and tax planning, which Heaney’s firm is poised to address for clients.

What about the historical nature of the oil industry, of the “boom and bust,” cycle?

“It is important to come to grips with the issue,” said Heaney, “All of us wanting to invest were worried that oil prices may drop.” But Heaney came to the conclusion that “this is a once in a life time opportunity to invest in what is probably the epicenter in the world.”

“If you look at it in its totality, this has some legs – no guarantees, in life but this is a good place to invest – a good bet,” said Heaney.

In doing business in the Bakken, “relationships and partnerships are important,” Heaney continued, “If you know businesses already here, tap into some of those resources for information and networking. You need to be here. You need a presence – it doesn’t have to be large, but it’s important for people to get to know one another.”

“You can do the work elsewhere, where things are slower paced. With email and other communications, there aren’t many things that can’t get done.”

Heaney’s cohort with Crowley Fleck, Garth Sjue, told the attendees, “A rising tide lifts all boats” and those boats include Billings, Minot, Bismarck and Dickenson – all are communities benefiting from the activity in the oil patch. Crowley Fleck represents “most of the oil companies doing business here,” said Sjue.

“We hear from companies that there is going to be two or three phases in development,” said Sjue, “Right now it is almost like a gold rush because people are trying to buy up the leases” – paying $1000 to $1500 per mineral acre. “It’s a big investment.”

There are layoffs in the landman segment of the industry, “that tells us that the companies have all the lease positions they want,” said Sjue, “They are now going like bats out of hell trying to develop the leases.” That will take another two to three years.

What this activity impacts the most is the service industry, “then the bean counters will come and there will be a contraction of rig count,” said Sjue.

Among the businesses providing the support services, “there are obscene amounts of money being made, right now,” said Sjue, “which will continue until the oil companies get back in control” – perhaps in three to five years.

Fracking companies are being drawn from all over the country.

Sjue said that Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources, believes the number of service providers has stabilized. But it is still a vendors markets. “It is what it is,” said Sjue, “The oil companies do not ask ‘How much?’ but ‘How soon can you be here?’”

“I have bankers who are always asking for referrals,” said Sjue, “If you want to be part of the community it helps to have a presence. If you are working with local leaders, you need to have relationships because they want to work with people they know and trust.”

Sjue said that Williston is “missing a lower middle class” from whence service workers usually come – “they run off and go to work in the oil fields.” That leaves many needs for services unmet.

Since most of the workers are young, with young families, besides housing, the next greatest needs are for day care and education. Sjue said that there are 2400 kids in Williston that need daycare.

Steve Slocum, with First National Bank & Trust in Williston, said that Williston banks are stressed. People are always bringing in checks thinking that a mistake has been made – they have too many zeroes.

“You are all here to make money and this is a good place,” he said.

Slocum explained how the Willliston Basin is a different kind of oil play. It is a stratigraphic column with layer upon layer. At the middle of the basin, the layers are deeper and thicker, and as it nears the edge of the basin, they taper closer to the surface and become thinner. Sort of like a bowl. The Bakken is just one of 19 known oil and gas zones in the Williston Basin.

“Hydraulic fracking is not the problem here like it is in the Marcellus (shale gas formation) in Pennsylvania,” said Slocum.

The major oil companies have the best engineers in the world. They figured out how to drill 600 feet (horizontally in a geological layer) and make it pay, explain Slocum. “Now they are opening up 10,000 feet of pay zone. It is a total game changer.”

When it comes to wondering if the industry will figure out how to get more of the resource extracted – “to think they won’t figure out a way – you are crazy,” said Slocum.

It’s been recommended that there will need to be $1 billion spent on infrastructure needs in western North Dakota, for each of the next five years. “That is huge,” exclaimed Slocum.

He went on to say, “The top ten oil companies are here. They have made huge investments.”

“There would be 400 rigs drilling if they had the full infrastructure needed.”

“Warren Buffet, Haliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes — all think this is a good investment, “I’m going with that, said Slocum.

Slocum said that he would like to get the oil companies in charge of building the needed infrastructure – “these guys get it done. When it takes the highway department two years to get it done, these guys have it done by lunch tomorrow.”

Rick Leuthold, Billings, lamented that more people, nationally, don’t know what is happening in the Bakken – “People don’t know it exists.” But, he went on, oil development of the Bakken began 42 years ago and “it will be going on when I’m dead and cold in the ground. My grandkids will be benefitting from this.”

“There will be a population shift,” predicted Leuthold, about the future of the Bakken. Leuthold’s firm, Sanderson Stewart, eased into the oil fields with the beginning of the recession in 2008, when they began looking for new opportunities. His experience in the Bakken has led to the conclusion that “It is not business as usual. If you are set in your way it is not going to perform very well.”

As a consequence of the activity in the oil industry, “things are ramping up in Billings,” said Leuthold, “The last six month I have seen our Billings business ramp up. We could put another 6 to 12 people to work and keep them busy in the Bakken, and another 6-12 people in Billings.”

“You would think hiring in this economy would be an easy thing,” said Leuthold, “but it is not. It is hard to find the right people. You could go to Arizona or Los Angles to hire but you are in a constant revolving door.” The issue is other than money – it’s a matter of “the first zero degree day they head south again.”

Again, Leuthold underscored that relationships are important working in the Bakken. “That’s why I’m here, two to three days a week. Face to face relationships are needed. North Dakota is old school, when it comes to doing business.”

The benefit of the relationships is that “development agreements get put together next week. You don’t have all that overhead process. If they have confidence in you, you are golden.”

“That is great. They are not jaded.”

Sjue said that there is “a world of difference” in the business environment in North Dakota.

“Send your best people over or do it yourself,” advised Leuthold.

Finding people to work in the Bakken is hard. “It is a tough environment for housing and to get people to live in the heat, humidity, cold, and mosquitos,” said Leuthold, but “there are the beautiful sunrises.” Their best luck has been in finding people who have family members who moved away and want to come back.

Leuthold said that his company has bedrooms, and a couple of mobile homes to provide to people who “come and go,” — people who come to perform inspections, etc.

When it comes to providing services, “there are a tremendous amount of needs – “think bold and out of the box,” he said. “Things that wouldn’t be a service in other areas are needed here. They have unique needs.”

Large national firms don’t understand what is happening in the Bakken, either. Part of Leuthold’s efforts on the part of clients has been to help educate lenders – lenders whose “eyes glaze over when you tell them how quickly a motel can pay back.”

When it comes to accommodations – “we are behind the curve by 6000 units over the next 8 to 10 years. It is hard to communicate that to lenders.”

“Bottom line is, this is the real deal,” said Leuthold.

Montana has more potential for diverse energy development – both existing and untapped – than any other state in the nation. Oil, as one of these resources, provides the state with tremendous economic opportunity, creates good jobs here at home, and increases energy security for the nation.

Eastern Montana is seeing the beginnings of one of the nation’s largest energy plays – the Bakken. In Richland County, the Elm Coulee field has already been one of the most productive onshore oil fields in the lower 48 states, and could end up being the largest in history. Some 20 percent of the field is found in Montana, while the rest underlies western North Dakota and southern Saskatchewan.

Knowledgeable folks in the industry tell me that, above all, drilling takes place where the shale formation is most accessible. The formation is thicker, and is also under more natural pressure in North Dakota. So the lion’s share of wells are being drilled across the border, but as those wells drop in production, more and more activity will be moving west. Based upon the aggressive leasing now going on in Montana, we are starting to see that shift, with some 20 drilling rigs already present in eastern Montana.

“Landmen” have been storming courthouses and buying up leases. Why? Because setting aside the geology, Montana is a great place to do business. The industry is poised to take advantage of our competitive tax rate. According to the conservative Tax Foundation’s state rankings, Montana has the eighth best tax climate in the nation, and much lower than that of our neighbors.

Making Montana even more attractive, we have a lower tax burden. On paper, our taxes are about 20 percent lower than North Dakota’s – 9.75 percent to 11.5 percent. But when Montana’s 18-month tax holiday on wells is applied over the life of a productive oil well, our taxes are a full 40 percent lower than North Dakota’s. It didn’t surprise me to hear Continental Resources CEO and Chairman Harold Hamm tell folks in Billings that the reason his company started drilling in Montana was because of our business-friendly regulatory and tax environment.

State regulators do a professional job in a short timeframe to keep rigs operating in the field. One permit application in Montana takes about 60 days,  which is under the 75 days allowed by law, while a permit in North Dakota takes, on average, the legal limit of 365 days.

In more good news, the Keystone XL pipeline proposed to run across eastern Montana will include a $100 million onramp for Bakken oil producers near Baker. I insisted on this addition in order to provide relief from the shipping bottleneck that has restricted market access in both Montana and North Dakota; producers will no longer be forced to accept steeply discounted prices for their oil. The state of Nebraska has been a bit of a roadblock to the Keystone XL, but I am confident that once Nebraska reworks its pipeline route, federal approval will follow.

All of Montana is benefitting from the recent reforms to our Workers’ Compensation Insurance system. Businesses now save an average of 20 percent on this expense. In addition, I signed legislation that yet again reduced the business equipment tax. Both actions should have a positive effect on job growth and business development in the state.

Rapid development often changes a community. Growing pains can strain local governments’ capacity to meet new demands. Last month I met with oil patch leaders to again offer continued assistance in the region. I have instructed several state agencies to double down on efforts to lend a hand with the impacts of oil development.

From the Department of Transportation to the Department of Commerce, these agencies can help with roads, water treatment plants and other essential services.

We’re lucky. Our beautiful state lies within the most important energy corridor in the world. Our resources include wind, natural gas, coal, biofuels, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and, of course, oil. The future is shaping up to be a very productive one for oil and gas in Montana, and I will continue to encourage good public policy so we get it right.

If you have ideas about how we can get it right with oil production, energy development, or anything else in Montana, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can reach me at governor@mt.gov or by phone at 406-444-3111.

Are you a procrastinator? Go ahead, you can answer honestly…

That’s what I thought.

The truth is, procrastinating is an extremely common habit. The stress of something easily makes it seem like putting it off until later is a good idea, but we all know how that ends up. So let’s examine a few ways to get rid of that procrastinating bug. Not forever, mind you, we are realists, after all. But these tips should get you going in the right direction when you desperately need to focus.

1.) Really prioritize. Believe it or not, we all have a limited supply of willpower that gradually drains throughout the day. That’s why you see so many more fast food advertisements at the end of the day than the beginning; because that’s when they’ve been found to be the most effective at convincing people to call the number at the bottom of the screen. Focusing on tasks that need to be completed is no different. Therefore, it’s important to start with the toughest stuff first, while your willpower is at its maximum.

Plus, then you get to enjoy the wash of relief you often feel after your most stressful task is completed, making the weight on your shoulders feel just a tad bit lighter.

2.) Get rid of distractions. Distractions are everywhere (as a writer that works from home on a computer hooked up to the internet 24/7, I whole-heartedly understand), but that doesn’t mean you have to give into them. Instead of checking your email every 10 minutes, vow to check it once every 2 hours. Turn your phone on silent, keep the television off and for the love of God stay off the internet.

If you have to be on the internet or your phone has to be on, you can still screen what you’re looking at. Facebook is not essential, it can wait, just like that text from your friend wondering if she should wear the black or the red pumps tonight. Those issues aren’t important right now; you have work to do.

3.) Find what motivates you. It doesn’t have to be much. For example, when I am writing an article and feel myself draining, I’ll suddenly notice that I’m a bit thirsty. Instead of getting up and getting a glass of water, I’ll tell myself I can have one after I write one more paragraph. It’s a tiny thing, but it always works.

4.) Time yourself. Looking at your workload and thinking, “This will take hours!” will not help you reach your goals. Instead, set a timer for only 10 minutes, and vow to work feverishly straight through those 10 minutes. No excuses whatsoever. Anyone can handle 10 minutes of work, and you’ll often be surprised at how much you can get done.

5.) Break apart your work. Tackling one giant task all at once is sure to make anyone shy away, so instead think about what you could realistically do in the next 10, 30, or 60 minutes, then start there. Breaking larger tasks into smaller ones is a clever little way to tricking to the brain into thinking the workload just got a whole lot lighter.

While 97 percent of consumers go online to look for local products and services; a large majority of small businesses in Montana lack an online presence, according to Google. Free web hosting and a domain name could save a sole proprietor $84 or more a year. But the free is only for one year.

Montana businesses can go to http://www.montanagetonline.com get the free website as well as free tools, training and resources to help their business succeed online. But before you click through to Montana Get Online, please finish reading this article.

The belief that getting online is complex, costly and time-consuming has prevented many small businesses from taking the first step. This program makes it fast, easy and free for businesses to get online.

About 95 percent of the businesses in Montana are considered a small business, which can be up to 500 employees. Google is targeting business with 25 or fewer employees for the offer.

As part of the program, Google is providing free workshops to small businesses across the US.  Still, the free website is a basic, three-page model. It doesn’t give small businesses the ability to do transactions online.

To do transactions, businesses needed a more sophisticated website that can safely house data. Anything that helps small businesses leverage technology is a good thing. Free is beautiful, but what is the “free” and what does it really cost you in the end?

Is a free 3 page website for your business and will it cost you and your business in the end? I happen to agree that a website should be part of a small-business owner’s marketing, but lets face it, a three-page website isn’t going to provide the professional presentation most businesses want.

When was the last time you visited a website that had only three pages? That’s a project that kids do in grade school. Small business owners first need to consider whether they really need a website and whether they can generate business online. That’s nice of Google, but Google is in business of collecting data and doing things with that data, after all that’s how they make their money.

But what is the real cost you ask? Offering a high-perceived value freebie in exchange for visitor information, that’s right!  Then your free website is simply an upsell site for Google. What will Google upsell you may ask, Adwords and Adwords Express!

It also gives Google some good PR with the business community. If you have a Google website for free, wouldn’t you feel compelled to use their search engine just based on the law of reciprocity?

Again, searchers will click on an ad inevitably. Don’t get me wrong, Google provides the best Search Engine results… that’s why 2 out of every 3 people use Google for search. It also provides a platform for inclusion in the new Google Plus platform AND the Google Plus business profiles that were recently released.

The timing works well with their new (old) Adwords Express. Intuit and Google are going to take over a huge market share of web hosting. They will have all of the websites on their server and track who uses that small business and where. Then send more ads about that subject to that area.

If you chose to take Google up on their free website, there are some things you might want to think about down the road, if not much sooner, for improving your “free” Google website.

Unlike a brochure that’s printed and can’t change, one of the greatest things about a website is that it can. The plain truth is, that the majority of the people who set up their site through this Google program will never touch it again once it’s live. And just like having a brick and mortar store, no one will come back if things don’t change from time to time. Additional products and improvements incentivize people to return to your site.

You need a plan for your site and beyond. Your site needs to have a clear strategy so someone coming to your site knows exactly what to do when they get there.

Speaking of getting there, how will anyone know you exist on the web? Google is not promising to highly rank your site just for using their service.

Taking the free route

If you do decide to take the free route, even for now, here is some advice: Think about your audience, your client, your customer, your competition!

The typical business does not spend enough time thinking from the perspective of their customers. You start this process by asking who your customers are. How does your website (and other marketing materials while you’re at it) help turn members of those specific groups into leads and sales?

The program’s advice that “getting online is now easy, free, and fast” is great for now, but when you’re ready to step up your online presence with proven results, let the experts at Blast Creative help.

Unfortunately the sales staff at these traditional media marketing companies are now forced to sell social media and online marketing packages that they have no training in and know very little about! But sales people they are and they can sell anything, so they do and unsuspecting business owners shell out the bucks for substandard online marketing!

Here’s the 411, if you are a business owner you absolutely need online marketing and social media marketing in 2012 or you absolutely do risk extinction! But do your homework. If a television, radio or newspaper is offering you a great deal on social media check it out first. Is their form of marketing simply plugging an RSS feed into your social media pages? A twitter feed into your facebook page? If so they may be doing more harm than good for your business and actually turning people away.

Nobody wants to talk to an automated voice. You hate calling any business and getting a recording and that is basically what you are doing with an rss feed. You want interaction, you want engagement and a business should only use RSS feeds as the cherry on top or icing on the cake! RSS feeds are an enhancement, not your entire platform!

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is! If someone is offering you something free or at a lower cost than everyone else or locks you into a long term contract, that should be a red flag to you! Shop around, ask questions and be careful!

Your website is still the front door of your business in 2012! Your online presence is necessary and your social media presence is the new word of mouth! Be careful how you let someone represent you!

When you are running a business, it’s perfectly natural to want to do everything on your own. You’re looking to cut as many costs as possible, so doing your own books, taxes, advertising and anything else seems like a reasonable decision.

Let’s read that again, this time with the correct emphasis.

Doing your own books, taxes, advertising and anything else seems like a reasonable decision. See where I’m going here? The fact is, you can’t do everything yourself, nor should you. Here is a list of people you should consider hiring if you want your business to have the best chance of success.

1.) Professional Accountant. Taxes are nothing to joke about. One slip-up could cost thousands of dollars in fees and wasted time, not to mention legal issues and a damaged company reputation. Get your taxes done right by someone how knows what they’re doing.

2.) Lawyer. And speaking of legal issues, a decent lawyer is essential. Your company may be held liable for a number of things, and in the unfortunate instance that a problem should arise, every contract or written agreement is going to be gone over with the most intense of scrutiny. It would be wise to do this while drafting up the contracts. You’ll want to make sure any potential issues are discussed long before you find yourself in hot water. And if you do find yourself in hot water, you’re going to want a good business lawyer on your side, especially one that already knows your business inside and out.

3.) Professional Web Designer. If you don’t have a website, you’re already behind, plain and simple. Did you know over 64% of adults under 25 years old don’t even own a phonebook? And why would they, they can find everything they need on the internet! You need a website, but a site that is messy and difficult to navigate won’t do you any good. A professional web designer will give your business the web presence it needs to be successful.

4.) Social Media Expert. The phrase, “adapt or die” hasn’t been around for nothing, and in this day and age social media is an essential part of business. Not only does it provide free marketing to a constantly growing and evolving audience (it costs nothing to have your own Facebook page or Twitter account), but it also gives your customers additional ways of interacting with you. Hiring someone who is proficient in the ways of social media helps give your business the identity and presence you want it to have.

Lawsuits filed to stop projects on federal lands have become as common as down days for the Dow. Last week, we noted with interest that timber producers under siege by environmental groups were proposing that a “loser pays” approach to lawsuits might put a halt to some of the frivolous litigation and get more Americans back to work.

The newsletter prompted a lot of feedback. Many felt a “loser pays” approach was right on target. And just as many said it would never work. The “loser pays” concept, which carries its own set of unintended consequences, is certainly worthy of thoughtful review and perhaps some tailoring. But in a lawsuit-crazed culture, trying to settle on which set of rules is most likely to reduce frivolous litigation can also be like playing an endless game of “whack a mole.”

And it should not detract from the real issue: how best to responsibly and efficiently manage federal land resources. Too much is at stake. It is no consolation for those who lost homes and businesses to the massive fires in Colorado to know that the timber industry there had recommended for years a more aggressive approach to diverse forest regeneration to mitigate the problems of wildfires and pine beetle kill-off. And yet, through the 1990s and beyond, they got pushback at every turn from environmentalists and little support from the U.S. Forest Service. Today, professional foresters would tell you the same volatile mix of fire risk and environmental pushback is at play in Montana.

The volume of feedback from our last message underscores the concern Montanans have across the State that our natural resources are being wasted by obstructionist lawsuits ultimately paid for with their tax dollars. Our forests are burning when they could be salvaged. Montanans are without jobs or under employed while needed forest projects are halted.

These lawsuits don’t just affect the timber industry. They hurt oil and gas developers, miners, ranchers and others who put federal lands to responsible use. These industries provide jobs for our families, give our children employment opportunities at home and provide royalties and taxes to fund schools and government. But too often, responsible land use plans, even after they have acquired all of the required regulatory approvals, still are undermined by eleventh hour litigation.

One third of the State of Montana is owned and managed by the federal government. A quarter of those lands are permanently off limits now, but the rest are intended to accommodate multiple uses. The time for better, more litigation-resistant solutions is now. We need to put our federal lands, and our people, back to work —and not let our future go up in flames.

Some forty business people from Billings and other areas of the state, from as far away as Whitefish, joined the Big Sky Economic Development Authority (EDA) tour of the Bakken. About a third of them said that they went to explore the possibility of launching some kind of business enterprise in what has become the hottest oil play in the nation, and perhaps the world.

Most returned undaunted by the challenges which they discovered exist for anyone trying to do business in the Sidney, Montana and Williston, North Dakota area. The two-day trip in early June was filled with site visits, speakers and panel discussions, conveying a wealth of information. Another tour of the Sidney-Glendive area is planned for July 10-11.

Housing remains the primary issue of concern for everyone living and working in the Bakken, but emerging as perhaps the second most critical issue is the need for day care. Quality day care could release a workforce of some 500 people to take jobs in the retail and service businesses, which are vital to support oil field activities.

Tour- goers were also told that the oil field development that is going on in western North Dakota and eastern Montana, really shouldn’t be called “the Bakken.” It more appropriately should be referred to as the Williston Basin, because the Bakken is but one of some 17 regions, deep within the earth, known to have oil reserves, all within the Williston Basin.

One can recognize when a well is tapping into the Bakken, and not one of the other geological layers, by the number of storage tanks located on the site. If there is but one tank, the well isn’t tapping into the Bakken. When drillers plan on drilling into the Bakken, they put up three or four tanks before they even start drilling, attendees were told.

Development in Phases

Development of the Williston Basin will happen in phases, it was explained. The first phase, acquiring and securing leases, is almost over. For that reason, landmen, those who specialize in securing leases, are already moving on to new locations. One business that has specialized in that service in Williston has packed up and moved to Billings – to be more centrally located to other potential development.

While Big Sky Economic Development Director Steve Arveschoug reiterated that Billings is strategic to energy development throughout the region, and the community is focused upon being an “energy hub,” one tour-goer worried that Billings might lose out to other communities in North Dakota.

There’s nothing to worry about in that regard, she was told by Williston’s Director of Economic Development, Tom Rolfstad. There is plenty of business to go around. Both Billings and Bismarck will continue to be centers of support, he said. Bismarck is the seat of North Dakota government and commerce. Bakken businesses seem to focus on Bismarck for the financial services, and Billings seems to be the choice for technical support and corporate headquarters, he said.

“Billings seems like a big hardware store, to me,” said Rolfstad, who hosted a bus tour of Williston, moderated a panel discussion and answered lots of questions.

Numerous times it was said that the Bakken is unique, and people who want to start a business, there, have to “think outside the box” to get things done. But, in doing so, they are challenging code enforcers and regulators, who never envisioned some of the things the innovative thinkers are devising. As a case in point, as the tour bus passed by, Rolfstad pointed out a large white tent in the corner of a parking lot, from which an enterprising entrepreneur is selling tools. It’s been there awhile in total violation of codes, and the city is mulling what to do about it, he said.

In dealing with the conflict between regulations and getting-things-done, officials are giving wide latitude, understanding that they are dealing with an extreme situation, and that they are often dealing with people and situations with few conventional options.

Sidney Mayor Bret Smelser said, “People are looking for jobs. If we have to turn a blind eye, that is what we are going to do.”

Living Where They Can

To this observer, it seemed the RVs and camper trailers aren’t as prevalent as they were a year ago. The building of numerous new motels, apartment buildings, more man camps and single family residences have helped. But, so have stricter laws regarding where such vehicles can park. Whereas, a year ago campers, RVs and makeshift tents could be seen tucked into every available space, in fields, empty lots, the corner of parking lots, alleys, etc., there aren’t as many evident, now. Instead one commonly sees signs that say, “No Camper Parking Here.”

Official population numbers incorporate an estimate of about 2000 people, who are believed to be living in their vehicles or other make-shift accommodations; but, one off- the- record comment came from a woman who deals with many newcomers to town. She said she believed the number is closer to 5000 to 6000 people, who are sleeping in their vehicles every night.

Does it have Legs?

Of course, there was the ubiquitous question, “How long will it last?”

No one who answered that question voiced much doubt that this is a play unlike any in the past, and most expect to see it continue for some time to come. The technology makes all the difference. In the past a vertical well tapped into a pocket of oil and when it was gone, it was gone. Hence, boom and bust.

The horizontal drilling and fracking of geological layers, which extend for hundreds of miles, is not only demonstrating a high rate of success, but once producing, wells are expected to continue to produce for up to 30 years or longer. Economic longevity will come from the fact that once in place, each well will require two to three people to maintain and monitor it. Russ Atkins, Bakken Manager for Continental Resources, projected as many as 48,000 wells in the region. Do the math to calculate the jobs and population potential, and remember, that does not include all the indirect service jobs that accompany any basic industry job.

“I got a grasp of it,” said one commentator, “when I realized that when they were extending horizontal wells out only 600 feet, they were usually getting enough oil to pay for the well, but now they are running lines out for 10,000 feet.”

Once in Lifetime

“This is a once in a life time opportunity to invest in what is the epicenter of the world,” said Kevin Heaney, a partner with Crowley Fleck, PLLP, Commercial Department, Billings, in speaking to the group. “If you look at its totality, this has some legs. There are no guarantees, in life, but this is a good place to invest, a good bet.”

The manager of the Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative, Dale Haugen, Williston, said that when Goldman Sachs came to town to evaluate the possible investment in a proposed power plant, he gave them a tour of Williston. He said that while he thought they would be asking lots of questions about how they planned to pay for the plant, the dapper financiers, instead, gazed in amazement at the activity they saw and asked how they could get in on it.

That every major oil company in the nation has some kind of stake in the Bakken, also speaks volumes as to how they have assessed the staying power of this play.

The Bakken is “a world class oil field and future growth platform,” Russ Atkins, explained to the group during a stop in Sidney. “There is no comparison. You have to go overseas to find a comparison,” he said. Conservatively estimated to have 24 billion barrels of recoverable oil, the Bakken is bigger than Prudhoe Bay which had 14 billion, said Atkins. Iraq has 22 billion. Less conservative projections say it might even be bigger than Saudia Arabia with its 260 billion.

Ninety percent of the work to be done in the Bakken, has still to be done, said Atkins. And, of course, the Bakken is just one of the geological features. The Three Forks Sanish is also “substantial,” said Atkins, “Maybe not as big as the Bakken.” Atkins included the potential production from the Three Forks in his estimate of 48,000 wells eventually being developed, explaining that improving technology is allowing producers to tap into both formations from the same well site.

One Thing?Can Stop It

The only constraints on production in the Bakken, as far as Atkins is concerned, are those placed upon producers by EPA and OSHA (Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Act). Through new, stiffer regulations the federal government has the ability to stop production in the Bakken, he said. “They are doing everything they can to shut it down.” The new regulations are requiring that there be “zero” emissions. “That is impossible,” he said. No one does anything with zero emissions. The rules are not based on science, he said.

It’s been projected that Williston will become a major city of some 100,000 within a couple decades or so. Atkins reinforced that projection for the entire region. “There is going to be a population shift, folks,” he said. People from western Montana are already working and moving eastward, because that’s where the jobs are. “It is what it is,” quipped Atkins, who went on to say that he didn’t think “we should apologize” because other areas of the state are losing welders to the Bakken. “Did anyone worry about eastern Montana’s small towns when they were losing population?” he asked.

Where’s it Going Next?

Which way is the action moving?

Companies seem to be securing their lease positions in Montana in the Chinook, Cut Bank and Havre areas, came one answer. “The Browning area is ‘proving up.’” And, north central Wyoming.

Funding Infrastructure

A reoccurring theme for officials of both cities – Sidney and Williston – is that while they are having to deal with the impacts of oil development in a most intensive way – all the tax money that the oil companies pay – ostensibly meant in part for the building of needed infrastructure – goes to the state with little of it returned.

Both Sidney and Williston report getting only about .01 percent of the millions of dollar in tax monies paid by the oil companies. In Montana, the state gets 52 percent, the county 23 percent and the schools get 20 percent, and the feds get a share.(Oil companies in Montana pay about $450 million in taxes annually.)

“We need that money to build infrastructure,” said Atkins.

Several bills are being proposed for the next state legislature to deal with the issue of disbursement. “If we don’t find a way to support this development where it is happening, it will move across the state line and it will go away,” said Leslie Messer, Economic Development Director for Richland County and the City of Sidney.

Other issues should also be addressed by the Montana State Legislature, contended Messer and others, who see long, drawn out political processes encumbering not only development in Montana, but the ability of local governments’ attempts to deal with its impacts.

For the business people, in making the choice of doing business on the east side rather than the west of the state line, it’s a matter of “getting the best benefit for their investment,” said Messer. “A lot of time we win out because of Montana’s work ethic.

The Mayor of Sidney, Bret Smelser, lamented that the oil companies aren’t being overly generous in charitable contributions to help with situations and problems. But, others contradicted that notion, citing a number of different efforts on the part of specific companies. It was pointed out that the companies often take it upon themselves to build or repair county roads, out of necessity if for no other reason. And, companies dependent upon the electric cooperative, which serves Williston and the surrounding area, have offered to pay for half the cost of building a new power plant.

Another company provides each Sidney school child, each year, with a new backpack full of school supplies. And, several helped fund an emergency services department for the local hospital.

The Need for Electricity

The second day of the tour, started with a visit to the Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative. Nothing underscores the level of economic activity of the community more so than the intense demand for electric power.

The dynamics of the cooperative’s business is changing both in terms of demand and who their customers are. Started as a utility to serve a farm community, its membership was based upon the amount of power purchased. It was never anticipated, nor was the facility designed, to provide the electric supply which is now being demanded by a completely different industry.

“Supplying power to one oil well is the equivalent of supplying electricity to 240 farms,” said Tom Rolfstad, in quantifying the challenge that faces the Cooperative.

Demand for electricity in the basin long ago exceeded the cooperatives capacity. Each month they get an average of 80 requests for service, said Haugen. Mountrail-Williams has new customers going without power for up to 18 months.

If a new residence is going to need power, they have to make the appointment six months out. And, said Haugen, “when we come you better be ready, because we aren’t coming back.”

Generators for Backup

What about other kinds of businesses or commercial needs? They must use generators. Generator sales are strong in Williston.

Just stringing hundreds of miles of more line demands more crew – a trained crew – which, now, at 200 linemen is larger than anything the company ever imagined. And, they have to compete, just like everyone else for those workers – and to find them housing. As was pointed out by several speakers, the only businesses that are really successful in getting employees are those who resolve the housing problem for them.

To keep their employees from having to live in their vehicles, the electric cooperative brought in 14 trailer houses and placed them on their back lot. They quickly filled them up.

“Did you have trouble getting power to them?” someone asked, eliciting broad laughter.

The electric cooperate has to “grow at the equivalent of one coal power plant per county,” said Rolfstad.

Mountrail-Williams expects overall electrical demand to increase to 200 megawatts within five years due to oil activity.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative in Bismarck has started work on a natural gas-fueled plant. The 45 megawatt station will be built about 15 miles northwest of Williston. It will be near a natural gas processing plant that’s also under construction. It will help supply Mountrail-Williams.

Haugen said that there is a lot of low-priced electrical energy available, because of the slow economy; their problem is not having the transmission lines to get it.

Counting on Billings

The cooperative relies a great deal on Montana and Billings for technical support. Haugen noted that Montana has one of only two colleges in the country that “teach power.” They pull employees from Montana State University on a regular basis. “That is really a feather in your cap,” he told the tour group.

Ninety percent of their professional consultants come from Billings.

Haugen said their biggest problem is transportation to Billings. “I wish you had bigger and more frequent flights.”

During the course of the tour others commented also upon the need for improved air transportation and perhaps even buses. It was also suggested that Billings should regain its status as an international airport so oil company officials can make easier connections to Calgary Canada, where often they are also engaged in oil production and have company offices.

The difficulties in finding employees would actually be much worse, for Bakken-based businesses, if this wasn’t happening in the middle of a widespread economic downtown, and if unemployment wasn’t so high, noted Rolfstad. Workers are willing to come to the Bakken, and investors are willing to invest, in large part, because there are few options, elsewhere.

Workers often can’t qualify for low-income housing because the qualifications are written for other areas of the country where the cost of living isn’t so high, and neither are wages. Part of the reason for the high wages is to make it possible for workers to afford to live in high-priced housing, and everything else they need is more expensive.

A facility is in the process of being built in Williston, which will eventually provide housing for those who need special care. In order, to rapidly pay down the mortgage, however, the organization plans to rent apartments out to oil field workers, for a few years.

Building Technology

Rick Leuthold, Billings, whose engineering firm, Sanderson Stewart, has been doing business in Williston for several years now, explained the housing development that has been occurring. He distributed maps of new subdivisions and planned subdivisions – subdivisions providing hundreds of new single family homes.

In explaining the innovative ways builders are meeting the demand, it was apparent that the development of the Bakken is pushing new technology for the building industry, every bit as much as for oil development. For example, builders are bringing in foundations poured elsewhere and installing them on footings, to reduce the need for resources on site.

In some cases, planning has to accommodate fitting an oil well site, inconspicuously, into a neighborhood.

24,000 Trucks

With an estimated 24,000 trucks – many of which are big tractor trailers with pups — traffic on the roads around Williston is 40 percent trucks. According to the Highway Department 12 percent is usually considered high truck traffic, said Rolfstad, “You look like a wimp if you show up in your KIA.”

Mayor Smelser said that one the road between Glendive and Fairview there is a higher traffic count than on the interstate. The Department of Transportation is considering building a truck route to bypass the communities.

Turning Away Money

Banks have so many deposits coming in that they are getting penalized by having to pay for deposit insurance beyond what they can afford. So they are turning depositors away.

The small businesses that are providing all the support services needed in the community, are working long hard hours, but they are also making a lot of money. Their bottom lines are astounding, said one banker. The market currently gives service providers an advantage over the oil companies, and the oil companies know it, he said, but they only ask, “When can you get here?” Over time the market will balance out, and the oil companies will begin to reign in their costs.

A lot of investors are buying up property in downtown Williston, and Rolfstad predicted there would be a lot of changes coming to Main Street, in the near future.

Mailboxes Necessary

A unique sight to Williston are walls of mailboxes, which pop up, occasionally, in the downtown area, which are rented out by various business – and the post office. It seems that for those living in vehicles or RV’s it is still important to have an address to do business, to apply for jobs, to hire, or to keep in touch.

While it may seem strange to those not local to the area, there is a big demand for boats in Williston, and they are often seen parked in driveways. Nearby Sacajawea Lake provides one of the few recreational opportunities for local residents.

Among other highlights mentioned were:

Mini storages businesses are in huge demand. “It’s incredible how many of them there are,” said Rolfstad.

Flying J is cleaning up a former truck stop near Williston and plans to build a major rail hub.

The Haliburton site at Williston, which includes a nine-inch thick concrete pavement to accommodate a $500 million truck fleet, is the company’s largest base of operation.

Billings will “remain a good hub for energy, and a good location for Sanjel” for a considerable time, Alan Olson told a tour group during a visit to the company’s maintenance and training facility. Olson, who might also be recognized as a Montana State Legislator, is manager of the Billings facility for Sanjel Corporation Billings, a service company which fracks oil wells. “We are primarily a high-pressure pumping company,” explained Olson.

Members of the Big Sky Economic Development Authority’s tour in mid-June saw one of the behemoth $3 million trucks which pumps the fracking fluids into the oil wells.

Sanjel’s facility at Cordova Street in Billings is where they train crews to do the hydraulic fracking and maintain the trucks, for fields in Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Texas.

The Billings facility has a counterpart in Huston, Texas. The company’s headquarters in the US are in Denver, and the home office is in Calgary. With a facility also in Miles City, the company employs 500 people in Montana and North Dakota.

Olson explained that in Billings they are usually running two training classes at a time, with about 20 people in each class. “Billings is a good place for this kind of facility,” he said, “There is a good workforce here.” And, there is good access to everything — technical support, parts for diesel motors, transportation, plus land is cheaper than in Williston.

The company runs five truck fleets – two out of Williston and three out of Miles City.

Olson explained that their crews encase the holes that go into the earth in concrete, to depths of 2000 to 4000 feet. Cementing the holes keeps the fluids from migrating, and it is done to protect the ground water and to prevent contamination.

Tour members peppered Olson with questions. He was asked his perspective regarding longevity of the Bakken play. It will remain active at $82 a barrel, he assured, nothing, however that the $82 price equates to $62 a barrel in the Bakken.

But, as oil prices drop so does the cost of doing business, said Olson. Price extremes at either end, stop production and exploration, he said. A good price range is $60 to $80.

“Every time we have a boom we get further ahead with technology. The price differential happens because of a lack of pipeline. Companies have to ship out oil by more costly means. The failure of the Keystone XL Pipeline to get approval increased that differential from $10 to $20 a barrel for the Bakken,” said Olson.

A fracking job costs about $1.2 million The cost of completing a well is about $10 million. And not all wells produce 1000 barrels a day, noted Olson.

Olson was asked about oil activity in central Montana.

He replied that there has long been a lot of interest in the Heath formation, which is what is being explored there. The first oil in Montana was found at Roundup in 1919. But the area has never proved overly productive, but they hope that the new technology “can get it to work.” “We are optimistic,” said Olson. There are currently three major oil companies operating in the area.

News of the permitting failure of the Keystone pipeline pushed the price of oil in central Montana and Musselshell County down to $50 a barrel. The oil from Musselshell is shipped by truck through Billings to Silver Tip, Wyoming.

“We were looking forward to the Keystone XL,” said Olson.

One gentleman asked if the oil sent to the refineries in the south will be sent to other countries, if so, “what benefit is that to us?”

Olson said that some of the oil would undoubtedly go to other countries, after being processed in US refineries. He pointed out though that the oil market is a dynamic one in which some oil is shipped out of the country, while other oil comes into the country, such as from Venezuela, which has no refining capacity and sells oil through Citgo outlets in the eastern US.

The Keystone Pipeline has “a lot of benefits,” said Olson, “most especially in knowing it is a secure pipeline.” He added that if the Canadian crude, which will also be transported by the Keystone, doesn’t come to the US it will go to China. “Where would we rather see that oil go, China or the US?” he asked.

Olson added, “anytime we can manufacture something and export it, that is the best kind of economy we can have.”

Having watched a pipeline being built before, continued the gentleman, it didn’t appear to him that it employed that many people. Olson replied, “It’s not just the guys you see on the right-of-way, on the ground, there are a lot more behind the scenes.” The building of a pipeline employs engineers, suppliers, transporters and a host of other support services.

“The more fracking the more traffic” Leslie Messer, Economic Development Director for the City of Sidney, told members of the Big Sky Economic Development tour group. Sidney is just a few miles from the North Dakota border, but still very much in the heart of the oil field action. Confronted with impossible demands on their infrastructure this much smaller city faces most of the same problems as Williston, North Dakota.

Sidney’s biggest problem at the moment is that its sewer lagoon has failed. They have shut access off to RV’s, and are now studying what is going to have to be done to address the problem.

The city’s garbage output reached 23,000 tons in 2011. The landfill the county built thinking it would last 15 years, is already in need of replacement.

The city’s DUI (driving under the influence) citations are 65 percent higher—an indication of the new demands placed on law enforcement. The schools are going out for voter approval of increased levies to build more classrooms, to deal with a 30 percent increase in enrollment.

There has been a 65 percent increase in emergency room visits at the local hospital.

Use of Sidney’s quiet library has jumped to 190 people a day, as new residents file in to use the computers, in the attempt to get information and keep in touch.

“We have a lot more social issues, we weren’t prepared for,” said Messer.

Messer pointed out that while the wages are high – an average of $82,000 annually in Richland County – people are working very hard to get those wages—16 hour days are typical. “It’s not an eight to five job,” she said.

The opportunity to make such incomes however makes it difficult for businesses like McDonald’s in Sidney. Unable to hire the number of employees they need, they closed their lobby and use only the drive-thru. At times orders are taken by some distant employee working via satellite.

There are three grocery stores in the county, and each reported that their sales have increased 85 percent. “They struggle to keep commodities on the shelves,” said Messer.

Most of the roads in Richland County are basic farm –to-market roads, never built for the kind of traffic that is now using them. Each well site will require 2200 truckloads of material. “The heavy trucks are punching holes in the roads.” Paving needs are greater than the county’s budget allows. Messer said that road conditions go to the extremes from being wet and muddy and almost impassable, to dry and dusty. The oil industry “doesn’t stop,” she said, and they do “step up and fix the roads.”

Continental Resources, as a case in point, builds and repairs the roads they need, and then turn them over to the county for maintenance.

“We continue to nurture our relationship with the companies,” said Messer. Their response is better than that from the state. Simple things take forever from the state government. A year ago, on a similar tour to the Bakken, Sidney officials pointed out how overwhelmed the local motor vehicle department was in attempting to issue CDL licenses to truck drivers. In order to facilitate the process, employers would haul groups to Billings to take the tests and get licensed, consuming greater time and resources.

A representative of the Governor’s office was on that tour and vowed to direct attention to the problem. The DVM finally sent an additional person to staff the local office in March of this year – not as “immediate” as Messer would have hoped.

Another seemingly minor problem, which makes a big difference, is that state employees can’t afford to stay over in Sidney. Their per diem allowance is not high enough. It’s a problem, among many, that Messer hopes the next state legislature will address.

Entrepreneurs come with ideas, that sometimes don’t work out. Messer pointed out that a Billings couple, seeing that truckers had trouble finding places to park, built a truck park in Sidney. But, it turns out that truckers don’t want to have to pay to park their trucks, so business was dismal. They are now trying to redirect their facility into serving RV’s.

Housing is of course the biggest problem. There are essentially no homes available for occupancy in Sidney, neither to rent or buy. The average rental is $1500, but can range as high as $2500, depending on the number of bedrooms. A home that used to sell for $75,000 is now selling for $275,000 – but there are none for sale.

Land that used to sell for $8,000 an acre, now goes for $25,000 to $55,000.

There are 1700 RVs in Sidney. There are seven new subdivisions being planned. Some people spent the winter in tents, only possible because it was a mild winter. “Their life is hanging on by prayer,” said Messer.

Officials discovered that the best way to communicate with these residents regarding health and safety issues, is to attach flyers to canisters of propane available for purchase. Everyone uses propane. They have asked the residents to give their cell phone numbers on an emergency call list, in order to help warn people of pending storms or other issues.

Two new hotels were opened and a third very near to opening. There are no vacancies.

For all their problems, Messer said she agrees with those who say “the best year are ahead of us.” Every well in operation creates three permanent jobs, for the long term.

Every new experience comes with a learning curve. The first time you bake an apple pie, you realize you needed a touch more cinnamon and make a mental note for next time. The first time you drive a new car you realize the brakes are a bit more sensitive, and adjust yourself accordingly. Basically, the first time you have ever taken on a new venture you have learned a few things for yourself.

But running your own business is different. It takes an immense amount of time and effort to open your business, and one mistake may cost you everything; your reputation, future clients and even your entire life savings. So to keep you a few steps ahead of the game, here is a list of the three most common regrets for first time business owners.

1.) Being unprepared for growth. Every owner hopes their business will be an immediate success, but very few are prepared for when it happens. Being prepared means you have the proper personnel needed to handle the increase in work (shipping and manufacturing, for example), the skills and equipment to keep everything organized and the ability to have effective communication and collaboration among your employees. Remember, getting new customers isn’t too tricky; keeping them is.

2.) Failing to keep a database from the start. Many people put the record keeping tasks to the back burner when they open a new business. After all, they only have six consistent customers, so why not just worry about the customers you have and deal with more as they come? No problem, right? Not quite. This might have been a fine business strategy when you were 12 and running a lemonade stand, but not anymore. You need to have an organized and up-to-date database from day one, including your list of customers, their contact information and purchase receipts.  

3.) Hiring friends and family. This tends to be one of the most common business mistakes of all time, so we’re going to reiterate its importance:don’t hire someone because you like them, hire someone because they are the best possible person for that job. When you hire someone based on their likeable personality alone, you are setting yourself up for two major issues: the job won’t be done with the quality you’re expecting and bridges could be burned in the process. Nothing ruins a friendship like having to fire your friend, and you don’t want to put yourself (or a loved one) in that situation.

Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer is siding with the oil and gas industry in its fight against drilling regulations that some would say could devastate Montana’s economy.  The Bureau of Land Management, a bureaucratic subsidiary of the U S Department of the Interior, is eying new regulations for hydraulic fracturing on all federal lands.

Fracturing is the process of pushing a chemical mixture thousands of feet below the earth’s surface to release oil and gas.  Most of the chemical compound returns to the surface, along with the fossil fuels.  The Department of the Interior claims national uniform standards are necessary for safety’s sake, but Schweitzer contends that the states should monitor the activity, saying the federal rules are redundant, onerous, and burdensome.

Dave Galt, executive director of the Montana Petroleum Association, Inc., a trade non profit that represents oil and natural gas producers, said the new rules are designed to regulate oil and gas companies out of business.

Carl Graham, president of the Bozeman based Montana Policy Institute, a free market think tank, said the anti fracking push is simply an effort by environmental radicals to cut off access to cheap energy.  “More than 99 percent of the fluid used is water and sand,” Graham said of the fracking fluid.  Graham is also concerned with the economic slowdown the state would experience, if federal regulations scare off drilling companies.

Environmental groups supporting the federal proposal include Sierra Club, Northern Plains Resource Council, and Montana Environmental Information Center.

With nothing but $600 in his pocket, a 33 year old unemployed construction worker, husband, and father of a 5 year old headed for the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota last summer.  That $600 represented the last of the family savings and it was barely enough to buy the gas and food for the 800 mile trip as well as to tide Kevin McLeod of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho over until he landed an oil patch job.

For some, this may have seemed like a gamble, but one the McLeod’s were willing to make.  With a weakened economy in the Inland Northwest, the family was close to being homeless.  The real estate market had collapsed, Kevin had lost successive construction, welding, and landscaping jobs due to lack of demand. As the family fell further behind on rent, utilities and personal obligations, the bill collectors literally had them on “robo dial”.

Kevin had heard of endless oil field jobs in western North Dakota for people no intimidated by work hard. In Williams County, the epicenter of the Bakken oil play, unemployment was less than 1% in February 2012 versus 10% in Spokane County.  Within two weeks of his arrival Kevin landed a job as a roustabout.  As a laborer in the oil fields with no experience he started at $16 an hour, but the potential for all the overtime he could work, the potential for raises, and bonuses made the job offer doable.

For families who’ve fallen on hard time, the Bakken represents another shot at the American Dream. Lucrative jobs in the oil fields have helped people keep a roof over their heads, forestall home foreclosures, rewrite credit histories and funnel money into retirement savings. “We’ve become one of the last great hopes for people,” said Ward Koeser, Williston’s mayor. “We have people here from all 50 states – I even see license plates from Hawaii. Many of these people were down on their luck or destitute.”

The average wage in North Dakota’s oil and gas industry is $90,225. With overtime and bonuses, some blue-collar workers earn six-figure incomes.  The hours are brutal and so is the weather. Operations run 24 hours a day. Many workers clock 70 to 110 hours each week, relying on cigarettes and Red Bull to stay alert.

In this part of North Dakota, the record low temperature is 50 below zero. Outdoor laborers get ice crystals in their noses, and their eyelashes freeze shut. Humid summers produce clouds of mosquitoes. Even the hardened adventurers of the Lewis and Clark expedition, who camped near present-day Williston, complained in their journals about biting insects.

With raises, Kevin now earns $20 an hour and expects to take home more than $50,000 this year with overtime.  Housing, however, was as scarce as predicted. Kevin paid $10 a night to park his camper at a county park, washing up in a 5-gallon bucket. “For almost three months, a shower was a luxury,” he said.

For eight months, Kevin’s earnings carried two households. But paying rent and utilities on two places made it hard to get ahead. And the separation was difficult. Kevin had spent just 14 days with his wife and young son since July.  In February, they moved to Williston to join Kevin. Their new home is a 40-foot travel trailer in an RV park north of town. Though trailers are the standard of living for most newcomers, Kevin McLeod sometimes has difficulty accepting what he calls “modern shanty” conditions for his wife and son.  “Our goal was to find a house to rent, but our credit was bad and we didn’t have enough cash for a deposit,” Lisa said. “But this is OK; it’s fine. We’re together.”

Their travel trailer sits on a dirt pad. Lisa McLeod fights the dust with twice-daily vacuuming. She’s constantly rearranging furniture, striving to find the perfect configuration for the small living space.  The RV park is full of people making a fresh start.

Next fall, the Williston school district will reopen an elementary school and add portable classrooms to accommodate an anticipated influx of 1,200 new students.  More than 1,000 homes and apartment units are under construction. To alleviate congestion – traffic on Williston’s thoroughfare has tripled since the oil boom – a bypass is being built to route heavy trucks around the city.

Someday, Kevin and Lisa hope to return to Coeur d’Alene. Their retirement dream is to buy a neighborhood pub and enjoy the lake.  “No matter how long we live here,” Kevin said, “Coeur d’Alene will still be home.”

Be sure to follow Kevin & Lisa’s Bakken / American opportunity via a sound slide created by the Spokesman Review:  “The New American Dream”.

A clean driving record and ability to pass a drug test are prerequisites for most oil field jobs. Many positions have minimum age requirements of 18 or 21. For some jobs, applicants must be able to show that any felony convictions are at least five years in the past.

Short-term, pre-employment training can pay off. Local community colleges and private schools offer four- to six-week courses for a commercial driver’s license.  The Sage Truck Driving School in Billings, Montana offers an expedited, two week, 80 hour course based on demand.  Miles Community College in Miles City, Montana offers a CDL course each month and now makes provisions to deliver the course via the Montana State College of Technology in Billings, Montana routinely.   

Check out job opportunities before you go.  North Dakota’s Job Service website has a fairly comprehensive list of job openings, but also take a look at Synergy Station’s own job roller at www.synergystationhiringhall.com.  Our site aggregates openings throughout the oil patch from various websites and employers listing via their company websites.  At any one point in time you can search over 20,000 oil field related positions.  Many employers accept online applications and some will even do interviews by phone or Skype.  Application processing time can take up to two weeks and if a job offer is extended, pre employment evaluations can take another two weeks.  If you prematurely head to the Bakken, you could literally be living out of your car for a month before you start in the oil patch.

If you happen to be a veteran, the North Dakota Job Service has a veteran’s employment team that works exclusively with veterans and their spouses.  For more information, link to the “Veterans” tab at the North Dakota Job Service website.   

Be sure to do your due diligence on prospective employers.  Not all employers in the Bakken oil field are created equal.  If you are successful in the application process, venture to North Dakota and meet your prospective employer before accepting a job. Prepare a list of your own questions for the interview process.  Jobs are plentiful, offers vary, some provide housing, some do not – be selective!

Don’t head to the Bakken with your last thin dime in your pocket – have a cash reserve.  Some folks have chosen to go directly to North Dakota to start their job search.  If that’s your preference – it’s extremely important to have sufficient funds until a job materializes. Don’t think that because jobs are plentiful, that the companies in the patch will hire anyone that can fog a mirror.  At some of the larger companies, the hiring processes can take a couple of weeks to a couple of months.

A common question in the Bakken oil patch, “Do you have a place to live?”  Whether the question is verbal or on the actual job application, you need to think this one through.  Rapid job growth has created an acute housing shortage. Hotels and motels are booked – sometimes for months in advance. RV parks have waiting lists.  Bedrooms in homes can rent for $1,000 per month.  And, Walmart in Williston no longer believes in “free parking” or any time of overnight parking for that matter.

Some companies provide housing for their employees, or offer resources to help people find places to live. MBI Energy, which employs @ 2,000 commercial truck drivers in North Dakota’s oil patch, has four employees dedicated to finding housing.  The Williston, North Dakota has been attempting to open a homeless shelter for temporary / transitional workers but with strong competition for real estate they have been unable to secure a building.

Come to the Bakken with realistic expectations.  Don’t expect to begin anywhere but at the bottom if you have no prior experience and the ink is barely dry on your commercial driver’s license.  Newbie’s are known as “worms” or “green hats”.  The Bakken opportunity is a huge opportunity, but it will only be what you make of it.   Some of the better companies offer lower wages, but provide housing, crew meal allowances, training, and the potential for advancement.  Advancement is not a given – you have to prove yourself!

Many job openings are uncovered literally through word-of-mouth, so talking with folks already actively employed in the Bakken can bear fruit.  Demand for reliable workers is intense. The key word here is “reliable”.  Don’t expect to show up and just collect a pay check.  Show up on time and don’t leave until the job is done; which can sometimes be at the end of a 24 hour day.  A quality work ethic is a hot commodity and at the end of each and every day, all you have is your reputation.

If working long hours in the oil patch is not your cup of tea – there are multiple opportunities in the services industry.  You can literally stuff a taco at the Taco John’s in Williston, North Dakota for $18 per hour.  The most common sign of the times in the Bakken is the “Now Hiring” sign just about everywhere you look.

Set a financial goal.  Yes – the paychecks are amazing, but there are plenty of bars, casinos and strip clubs to spend your money in.  Oil field work is hard work!  Have something to show for it when you are done.  Remember why you came to the patch.  Working in the oil patch is more than a job – it’s a lifestyle.  You literally don’t have much of a life when you are out there working.  Most workers are so tired coming off a shift that all they want is a hot meal, a hot shower, and a comfy bed.  You literally get up the next day, rinse, wash, and repeat…..one day literally disappears into the next.  Stay focused.  Get the most out of your money; whether it’s getting out of debt, tiding things over until the economy improved back home, saving for college, setting aside money for a major purchase such as a house or a vehicle.  Give your paycheck a purpose.

It may seem like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, but the fact is, the future is now. People are utilizing the internet more than ever, which means if you aren’t involved in the virtual world, you need to be…fast. Otherwise, your company just might be heading down the road to extinction.

However, I do understand the fear involved. The virtual world can be a scary place, and one that is requires different skills. So here are a few tips to ensure your group collaboration will be as successful online as it is in person:

1.) Make sure everyone understands what is going on before the meeting begins. This means if someone doesn’t know how to even turn their computer on, you need to be on the phone with them explaining it or have someone else in their area walk them through what to do. Don’t assume that everyone knows how to just type in a web address and follow instructions. For many people out there, they don’t even know what the term “web address” means, so they certainly aren’t going to understand any of your basic instructions for installing a web cam or unzipping a downloaded file.

2.) Have rules established to make sure everyone gets to speak.Sometimes, when you are dealing in a virtual setting, there can be a bit of a delay. Meaning one person may start answering before another has even heard the entire question. In a situation like this, having the person with the most delay being the first to answer will ensure everyone has heard the question, and everyone will have a chance to speak.

3.) Rotate meeting times. Chances are, you are all in different time zones, so you’re 7:00 a.m. meeting time might be convenient for you, but not so much for the guy getting up to meet at 4:00 in the morning. If you can find a time that works best for everyone, great, but if not, you need to make sure one person isn’t consistently stuck with the crappy time to meet.

Oh and happy Fourth of July, everyone!!
4.) Bring them to you. One way to do this is to begin each meeting asking the remote attendees what is going on in there neck of the woods. It may be sunny and gorgeous where you are, but it might be blizzarding where they are. Giving them a chance to explain what is going on there will help them feel more connected to everyone else in the meeting.

5.) Provide several different forms of communication. The meeting shouldn’t be the only way information is getting passed around. Someone should be in charge of sending all the bullet points of the meeting to each member through an email, for example. Having a variety of forms of communication will keep specific members from feeling left out if they aren’t yet comfortable with the virtual setup.

If you were to identify one of the biggest revolutions in the way we communicate, it would have to be this: email. Long before people were surfing the Net or texting, email was being used within organizations to share information, and it’s still being used today. There are few people over the age of 12 who don’t have some form of email account, and most people have more than one for business or personal use. (One guy in our office has a plethora of accounts addressed to “Bob”. No Bob, Robert or otherwise actually works here.)

The way you utilize email for your energy business can be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. (And can be a thorn in your side if it’s not done right.)

Here are a few rules to remember:

• Have an email address that is professional. “ILoveHugs” or “KeggerDave” isn’t going to capture the attention (at least in a positive way) of most of the clients you’re hoping to connect with. Use an email address that speaks for and about you and your business.
• Start your email off right. Include a greeting to the person to whom you are sending the message. If you know them well, it can be “Hi Jim”; if you don’t, a more formal “Hello Jim” is likely more appropriate.
• Write, don’t text. Texting is a no-no in professional business and marketing communications. When you are writing to a client (or a potential one) you are marketing yourself to them, so let them know that you can spell “you are” instead of the including “U R” in your message.
• Use a professional signature line. You should always have an email signature line at the end of your correspondence so that people know who you are, what you do and how to reach you. Kat Neville’s article in SMASHING Magazine has a few good hints on what to include (and what not to.)
• Read before you send. Whether you’re shooting off a quick message before you run out the door or have just created the next great American novel in digital form (another no-no) you need to proof it. Read it out loud, as you’re not only likely to catch typos, but also pick up on any duplicate statements, negative tones, or other messaging you might not want to convey.
• Verify to whom you’re sending your email. Don’t send it to 50 people if 3 will do because, and this is just being honest, it looks like a major CYA when you do. And if you’re responding to an email, make sure you look at exactly who it’s addressed to. You may think that your hastily typed response calling your customer a nincompoop (or worse) is only going to a colleague when, in fact, it’s destined to land in that very customer’s inbox … and that can cost you more than a sale.

Have any questions? Feel free to email me.

If you just want a laugh, check out these stories of disastrous email mistakes.

The state of Montana is known for a lot of things, including its world-class fly fishing, exceptional beef and grain production and energy development. But in a state whose population just topped one million, you wouldn’t think that it would be a hot bed of politics.

Democrat Brian Schweitzer has been Montana’s governor for almost 8 years. Overall, I’d say that Montanans have liked him (although secretly I believe that we’re all tired of the bolo ties and blue shirts) but in a state in which most elected officials are term limited, his administration will soon come to an end. And boy, there were a lot of people who want to replace him—there were 15 republicans, democrats, independents and libertarians who entered the fray.

Some were able to raise some pretty substantial cash to back their run. Prior to the primary, I was far from making a decision as to who I would vote for, but there was one candidate who captured my attention and demonstrated how some planning, perseverance and creativity can, at the very least, get you noticed in a crowded field.

I saw my first Jim O’Hara sign on a drive from Billings to Bozeman last year. It was a hand-painted plywood cut out of a courthouse with a simple message beneath it. As my travels expanded across the state, so did my sightings of these unique billboards. Although perched on poles in fields, and lacking the traditional “slick” look of campaign boards, there was something about these homemade signs that intrigued me.

I started researching who Jim O’Hara was and learned that this Chouteau County commissioner had been planning a run for the governorship since the mid-2000s. I also learned that it was he who had painted, cut and constructed each of these signs—a total of 70 of them, one for each of the state’s 56 counties and some extras for those with the highest populations.

Energy marketers can learn some valuable lessons from O’Hara, whose fundraising has not been as great as other candidates, but who has garnered national attention for his efforts:

1. Think ahead. Although the energy development industry is fast-moving, you need to plan your efforts today, tomorrow and in the future.
2. Work with what you have. You may not have the deepest pockets in the Bakken, but you can make the most of your marketing budget by using those things that are available to you. The side of your vehicle, our business cards and your website are just a few of the things you can look at maximizing to promote your brand message.
3. Be authentic, and you’ll be unique. O’Hara happened to love the architecture of courthouses, particularly the historic ones across Montana . He used that appreciation as the basis of his brand in his campaign. Allowing your brand—and your corresponding marketing efforts—to authentically reflect who you are will set you apart from your competition.

As for O’Hara, he won’t be our next governor.  But I do know that he’s caught my attention and that of voters across the Treasure State.

UPDATE: See the CBS News story about Jim O’Hara here.

No one wants to end up in court on account of something someone overlooked, especially when that something could turn out to be illegal. No one is perfect though, and even the most innocent of owners will make a mistake now and then, so here are some guidelines to make sure whatever mistakes are made, none of them will land you in hot water with the judge.

1.) Have a No-Tolerance policy for illegal behavior. That means performing random drug tests and following all rules and regulations. Are you handling food? Get licensed. Are your workers working more than 40 hours a week? Pay them overtime. The law is the law for a reason, and you need to follow it.

2.) Have an employee handbook. However, certain rules can be a bit gray, so before you go off expecting your staff to be mind-readers, make sure they all have a copy of all the companies policies; what is or isn’t a violation, what happens should a violation take place, etc. It’s also important to have each employee sign a form acknowledging they’ve read and understood the handbook, ensuring everyone is on the same page.

3.) Pay your taxes and cooperate with government officials. If someone from the IRS stops by your place of business, don’t immediately become defensive. After all, they could just be here to clear up a few things, meaning you haven’t done anything wrong and you won’t be getting in trouble for anything. Just in case though…

4.) Keep records. Tax returns, receipts, signed forms and other paperwork is given to you for a reason; as a written record of your transactions and policies. If you need to prove your innocence, the easiest way to do that is having the paperwork backing it up.

5.) Do background checks. You need to know who you’re hiring, plain and simple. If you run a daycare, you need to be able to promise parents that their children won’t be coming into contact with any registered sexual offenders. If you run a delivery company, you’ll need to make sure your drivers have a clean driving record, which means 16 DUI’s is definitely going to be a deal-breaker. In order to trust your staff implicitly, you need to know who they are.

6.) Investigate complaints. There is no quicker way to find yourself in hot water than to have a list of complaints that you do nothing about. If you receive a complaint, whether it’s from an employee or a customer, it is absolutely essential that you look into the issue. And if it is a serious issue, like allegations of sexual harassment, you need to inform the correct authorities.

We cannot find good people to work for us, but we do have openings !  That comment is something that I hear continually when visiting with business owners.  Well, OK, let’s explore why this appears to be the case.

Do you have a good work environment?  Is it bright, well lit, airy, clean and fresh?  If not, then here is the first place to begin.  Today’s employee wants a good work environment.  Even though you may be satisfied with the environment, does not mean that the new employee will be.

Do you have modern technology?  Are your computers 6 or more years old, operating an operating system or having applications that are 3 or more generations old?  If so, nobody, absolutely nobody will want to come work for you.  Modern technology is the next step to fix if you are having employee attraction/retention issues.

Do you have clear, complete and comprehensive job descriptions?  Do the job descriptions identify, in some detail what the job entails, what the responsibilities are, who/what is responsible for each job and how the incumbent will discharge those duties?  Today’s employee wants to know what he/she is expected to do, how they are to do it and most importantly, why it is important to be done.  Now, this sounds onerous.  It is not.  Detail a good job description– the work you do here will be paid back several times over in having the task completed correctly the first time, without a lot of rework.

People are people.  It makes no difference what kind of job it is that you are trying to fill, people are people.  Respect them and they will do an awesome job for you.

To learn more about Solomon Bruce Consulting LLC, visit their listing in the Synergy Station Directory or the company website.

Particularly in light of the recent USA Today furloughs, there are some who have loudly cried that print is dead. Others have cried that with the advent of Pandora, iTunes and Spotify—not to mention Sirius—radio has bitten the proverbial dust. And nobody, according to these same folks, ever watches TV. It’s all, “they” say, about digital.

Hm.

Let’s talk some realities. Yes, digital is a huge, and ever-growing, part of marketing. I cannot fathom any company in any industry that should not have a functional, content-rich, well-developed website. But I’m here to tell you that there are very few companies out there who couldn’t benefit from some form of so-called “traditional” marketing.

Enter “tradigital”.

As marketers, part of our job is not only to come up with creative ads that catch the attention of your target audience, but also to have a strategy behind them to make sure that every one is maximized. And that means looking at all mediums available to determine which will work best and how they should work together.

That may mean running a series of newspaper ads that incorporate a QR code linking readers to a website. On that website, there may be a video to watch (perhaps the same spot you’re running on TV at the moment), a game to play or a white paper to read. You might also find a link to Facebook where, in turn, a special offer or promotion could be waiting to be found. And maybe that special offer means that you deliver a piece of direct mail right to their door as well as an email to their inbox. What’s on that mailer or in that email? Another online link—and perhaps this one links your customer to a webinar or invites them to a locally based event.

You may think that it sounds like one big circle…and you’d be absolutely correct. In today’s market there are so many options to choose from that using just one is rarely a good idea.

Multi-faceted, integrated marketing consisting of traditional and digital media will likely be far more powerful and extend your reach when compared to executing via a single media alone.

Ask yourself: are you doing tradigital integration in your marketing efforts? And more importantly, are you doing it right?

If the answer is no to either one of these questions, you need to rethink your strategy. Because traditional media isn’t dead, digital media isn’t going away and failing to take advantage of both of them could risk the lifeblood of your business.

A business owner and her husband told me the title to this blog the other day while in the grocery store.  I had asked how the business was doing and the owner said, “So-So.  We are keeping our heads above water.”  The husband said, “We will continue to work a few more years and then sell the business to fund our retirement.”

I asked the business owner how old she and her husband were.  Both were almost 70 years of age– with no thoughts of retirement anytime in the near future.

This is, sadly, quite common with many business owners that we work with today.  Nobody has given any thought to the exit strategy or succession planning they have with their business.  We have addressed this subject before in some detail, however, the reason we come back to it is that exit strategy and succession planning are one of the most important points of business operation.

This particular business owner thought that her son and daughter in law would come and operate the business after they retired from active military service.  Well, something happened and the son and daughter in law did not come operate the business.  Now, what happened is not my business.  However, as an active consultant, we want people to be successful with their business.  Succession planning is part of that program.

If you don’t have a succession plan/exit strategy, today is the day to begin that planning.  Any business or organization needs to have a succession plan for all owners and key individuals.  If this matter is not addressed, the day comes when either the business has failed, has done exceedingly well or is someplace in between and the leadership wants to retire/quit or change positions.  Knowing how change will occur prior to it happening precludes some nasty surprises that may be unforeseen.

If you need help on succession planning, please call our office.  We can help make this challenge less daunting.  Phone-406-672-6387.

To learn more about Solomon Bruce Consulting LLC, visit their listing in the Synergy Station Directory or the company website.

Are you in love with your business partner?  Not just for their love of numbers, the company you have created together, or their customer service skills, but their cute little nose, their manly smell or the way they make your knees go weak with a passionate kiss?

Whoa, back up.  Passionate kiss?  Can entrepreneurs do that sort of thing?

They can and they do!  Even though the U.S. Census Bureau does not provide exact data on the number of businesses own by couples, they do show that approximately 3 million businesses are owned equally by men and women, estimating that the vast majority of these are businesses owned by an “entrepreneurial couple”. It would wrong of us to assume that none of these couples are romantically involved. Out of 3 million…that sure is a lot of lovin’ in the office.

In addition, the phenomenon occurs even more regularly when applied to small businesses with less than 10 employees.  Apparently when people live together, laugh together and decide to build a life together, the imagined life of working side by side through the long hours required of business ownership is a logical next step.  And it is.  They trust each other, they enjoy being together and they are often passionate about the same things.  These couples jump into the business with all of the passion that got them into bed the first time and it is a beautiful, passionate journey; most of the time.

To ensure it is a passionate and wonderful journey all of the time, here are 5 things to consider:

1.  Take a break.  Not from the business, but from each other.  Go for a walk, go on vacation and go out with friends…alone.  You simply have to have moments apart so you have something to talk about when you come back together.  No one wants to be the boring folks ignoring each other over dinner and no one wants to be the bickering couple either.  Spending time in separate locations keeps you both interesting and able to be just a little bit nicer when you are together.

2.  Take care of the couple first.  Someday the kids will be gone, the business will be gone and you will be left staring at the person you decided to build a life with.  Don’t wake up and wonder how you ended up in bed with a stranger.  Be romantic.  Be spontaneous.  Be a flirt.  Step away from everything but each other once in a while.  You deserve it.

3. Set clear goals.  There is nothing worse than working side by side hour after hour only to realize you were both going in different directions.  Knowing where you are going, when you want to get there and who is doing which tasks is essential.  Deciding your direction now, when everyone is calm, is a better plan than waiting till you hit a fork in the road; because that fork could very well be used to stab someone in the leg.

4.  Hire help.  Someone out there likes to clean toilets and I bet it is neither of you.  Someone also knows how to fix a computer, balance the books, and run social media.  Let them.  Make a list of everything that needs to be done- and what has to be done by you – then farm out the rest.  The trick is to use the time you are not doing menial tasks to earn money to pay for the people doing those tasks or to take care of the couple as talked about in point two.

5.  Don’t be the boss.  You can kiss your entrepreneurial partner, but you probably don’t want to kiss the boss.  The boss is a Big Ol’ Stinking Slob.  They think they are always right, use volume and intimidation instead of effective communication and would rather watch others work than participate in work.  If you are acting like the boss and your partner doesn’t like it you can be fired.  That firing usually means the kids and the house are divided and happily ever after is not going to be the end of your story.  Be kind.  Be helpful.  Be a partner.  Don’t be a stinker: don’t be a boss.

Bonus Point: You need other people.  And you have to let them into this crazy project you are doing together.  Enlist the help of a coach, an accountant, a lawyer and probably a therapist (better early on than when it is too late!).  Well-meaning friends and family do not know what you are going through, and truth be told, you probably don’t either.  There are people out there who do, and people who can help you lay out a game plan that will keep you sane, prosperous and most importantly, together.  Let them.

Now go kiss your big ol bundle of entrepreneurial passion- and don’t stop till their knees go weak.  But, do it fast, you have work to do.

Three steps to take if your employees bash you online:

Think no one pays attention to your posts and tweets? Think again.

Irishman Leigh Van Bryan, a 26-year-old bar manager, was looking forward to a holiday in the States. He posted to his Twitter followers “Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America.”

In a BBC story, it was also noted that “In another tweet, Mr. Bryan made reference to comedy show Family Guy saying that he would be in LA in three weeks, annoying people ‘and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up’.”

Friends may have taken it lightly. Homeland Security didn’t. In fact, when he landed at LAX they denied him entry into the country.

Whether you believe that Homeland Security was right or wrong in sending Mr. Bryan packing, I think we can all agree that it underscores the need to use caution in what you—or your employees—are posting on social networking sites. And before you think that it may not be an issue in the energy development industry or that it doesn’t affect your marketing efforts, I’d suggest you consider the following:

• An employee of supermarket chain Price Chopper saw a customer’s tweet which read “Every time I got into a @PriceChopperNY I realize why they are not @Wegmans. Tonight—bare produce areas.” The Price Chopper employee contacted the customer’s employer and requested that he be disciplined. The result? A blog detailing the incident went viral, causing a lot of bad press directed at Price Chopper.

• In March of 2011, @ChryslerAutos posted a tweet which read “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f*****g drive.” Chrysler caught it within a few hours, and it was quickly learned that the tweet came from the car company’s social media agency. The employee, who said he meant to post it on his own account, was fired … as was the agency. A week later, Aflac came under scrutiny due to its “voice” Gilbert Gottfried.

• In 2009, Domino’s faced a huge backlash when two employees not only filmed a prank (think snot on sandwiches) but posted it on Youtube, generating over a million views in faster than you can say “Would you like to super size that?”

People didn’t ignore these tweets—and they don’t ignore the host of others that are hitting the digisphere every day. The fact is, employees are posting every day in virtually every industry—including energy development. They are lashing out at customers, other employees and maybe even you. So should do you do?

1. First, be prepared. Make sure that someone is monitoring your brand online to maximize the chance that you’ll find what’s being said.

2. Second, remember that the best offense is a good defense. Educate your staff about your expectations of social media usage, discuss the use of social media tools with them, talk about your company goals and take steps to encourage them to become advocates of your brand (including doing your best NOT to give them a reason to post something negative.)

3. Third, if something does happen, address it professionally and quickly. Be upfront and honest with the audience; let them know what happened and what you’re going to do about it.

Oh–and most importantly? Don’t tweet that you’re off on holiday to destroy the U.S. Homeland Security doesn’t have a sense of humor.

Let’s face it; everyone has a few personality traits that can be a bit of a…pain in the neck. But for the most part, they’re harmful. So you don’t like it when your green beans touch your pork-chop, or you tend to talk a little too long when you’re on the phone, it’s probably not going to be the downfall of your business or the unraveling of your family. The following personality traits, however, are going to cause some serious difficulties in your life, and it’s recommended that you do something to make some changes, stat.

1.) You focus on the negative. No one wants to be around a Debbie Downer, but have you ever tried working for one? Don’t defend yourself by saying, “Well there’s always room for improvement.” Sometimes a job well done is just a job well done, and it needs to be left at that. Could your employee have turned in that report a day sooner? Would you have done anything with it if it had been turned in a day sooner? No? Then let it go. No one will want to work for you if nothing they do is ever good enough.

2.) You misplace your frustrations. Everyone has a bad day once in a while, but that doesn’t mean you are allowed to scream at your employees when you are really still upset about your alarm not going off this morning. Or maybe you yell at your husband during your late night phone call when in reality you just haven’t seen him in a month and you miss him. If you’re upset about something, address it. Don’t let your receptionist or your spouse take the brunt of your bad mood.

3.) You’re apathetic. An individual who is apathetic appears to not care. You may care a great deal about the goings on in your daily life, but you have to act like it for others to get it. An example would be if a costly mistake occurs and you say, “Oh well, let’s not do it again.” A caring person would want to determine why the mistake was made and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. Remember, if you don’t care about the work being done, why would anyone else?

4.) You nag. A nagging personality is one of the most draining personalities to be around, and why? Because you are never fully alone when you are with a nagger. Everything you do is under constant scrutiny. Are you going to turn that in on time? Are you doing that right? Will they like it? Are you following all the directions? Exhausting, isn’t it? So stop. When you ask someone to do something, let them do it. Their process for completing a task is fully their own; you don’t have a say. Assign a task and then wait until either the task is complete or the deadline arrives before you make your critiques.

5.) You don’t listen. Knowing how to really listen (and I mean really listen, not just sit there quietly waiting for the other person to finish so you can say whatever it is you want to say), is one of the most invaluable traits there is. The fact is, you are not always right and you do not know everything. If you need to make a conscious effort to stop talking, then do it.

The problem with most of these personality traits is that the people that have them don’t realize they have them. Take a second to really examine yourself, every day, to make sure you’re not falling into one of these traps. The most successful teams are happy teams, and you want a happy, successful team!

We say good bye to our Bakken immigrant as he bids farewell to the oil fields and heads back home to be with his family.  Be sure to check out the series of videos he shot and shared on You Tube about coming to the Bakken in search of an economic opportunity and leaving a Las Vegas real estate community that had literally imploded.  Although only in the oil patch a short period of time, his journey from sleeping in his car, doing laundry at Bubba’s in Williston, eating junk food from convenience stores, showering at the rec center, missing home and family, and trying to figure out where to park so he could sleep for the night gave us a glimpse of Williston oil boom life.

The experience gave him an opportunity to learn new skills and meet a diverse group of folks who have headed to the oil fields in western North Dakota and eastern Montana in order to keep the home fires burning.  His videos on You Tube garnered quite a following of family, friends, and others just trying to keep their personal boats afloat during this recession.  While most of the public comments on his videos were positive, some were not.  The stress and strain on Bakken community locals, whose rural lives have been completely disrupted with this world class technology oil play were fairly confrontational and at times offensive.

We wish you well “lasvegascollapse” You Tube guy !

A client gave our firm some gift cards to a prestigious golf resort several years ago.  The gift cards were put in the vault and stored.  We knew the cards were stored in the vault, however, nothing more was thought about it.

Last week, we were cleaning the vault and found the gift cards.  Thinking that we may wish to use them, I called the resort and asked about their validity.  Now, the receipt stated that the gift cards expired after 2 years– something that I did not realize when we received the cards.  I called the golf resort and asked about using the gift cards.  The clerk said that the golf professional would have to address this matter.  I was placed on hold and a minute or so later, the golf professional came on the phone.  I explained that I had 4 gift cards, worth several hundred dollars, however, I recognized that they had expired– was there anything that could be done to use them?

Well, the golf professional stated that all gift cards were valid for 2 years, after which they expired.  OK, we got that figured out– now what?  I pointed out that the resort had booked the revenue from the sale of the cards.  In fact, at this point, the resort, “made money.”  The golf professional again pointed out that the cards had expired.  Politely, I pointed out that I understood all of that, but because of some circumstances, we were unable to use the gift cards until now– was there anything that could be done?  The golf professional said he would call me back in 30 minutes, after which he would visit with his comptroller.

Thirty minutes transpired and the golf professional called me back.  He asked if I was going to buy clubs, food or just wanted to play golf.  I told him that my intent was to play golf– if we needed new clubs, clothes or food, we would pay for that separately.

UMMM– the professional said that “Yes, we can make this deal work!  We will honor the gift cards–even though the price of the card was less than the current price for a round of golf!”  He further stated that although green fees had increased, he wanted us to have the experience of the prestigious course!   Now, the truth of the matter is that prestigious golf courses have struggled in the past 3 to 5 years.  This course said that they had reduced their initiation fee from $5000 to $500–trying to gain more new members.  Interestingly, it has worked!  Less fees mean more members!

Now, that was my way of thinking!!  We got what Covey defines as a “Win–Win” situation.  We got to use the cards to play golf, the professional got 4 folks on the course that will more than likely buy lunch, some balls or maybe even a monogrammed shirt of the prestigious course!  Everyone was happy!

Recall in an earlier blog post I addressed the dirty glass at the watering hole and how that matter was handled.  Although this is different, there are some similarities as well.  In this case, the golf professional wanted recognized that there was business to be had, even with our expired gift cards.  He also recognized that the “bookkeeping” for 4 golf rounds would be less than for merchandise or food, a point that was not lost on me either.

The key point to this post is that the Win-Win situation works for everyone.  I was happy, the Golf Professional was happy and we are looking forward to a great round of golf!

To learn more about Solomon Bruce Consulting LLC, visit their listing in the Synergy Station Directory or the company website.

You’ve heard about marketing, right? I mean, people have told you that you need to market your business, market your products, market your services. They’ve told you it’s crucial—without it you’re sunk.

And technically, they’re right.

But have you every stopped to wonder “What exactly is marketing?”

Okay, let’s start out with a definition of sorts. According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

Let me guess. You just said “blah, blah, blah…” didn’t you? Don’t worry—I did, too. So let’s talk realities.

Marketing is essentially this: everything that makes your target audience want to buy your product or service, and ultimately makes them feel satisfied about what they purchased. Oh—and makes you money along the way.

The next question then is, what makes good marketing, and where do you start when you’re looking to start—or build—your business?

1. Know your audience. If you don’t know what your potential customers want, there’s no way to give it to them. You need to know their problems before you can give them a solution. Is budget a concern? Are time constraints an issue? What do they like (or not like)? Find out what they need and why. Need an example? Check out this article about why you have to think differently when marketing to women, or this one about the unique aspects of marketing to the Amish.

2. Evaluate what you offer. You might think that what you bring to the table is the best thing since sliced bread, but there are a lot of other businesses out there who are thinking exactly the same thing. Part of good marketing is knowing what makes you different, and what makes you better. If you can’t see a difference between you and your competitor, then your customer won’t either.

3. Have a plan. Good marketing requires a good strategy. Where is the right place to sell your product or service? Who is the right person to talk to? What’s the right story to tell? What’s your budget? Who in your company is going to execute which component of your marketing plan? These are all questions you need to be asking yourself. (What shouldn’t your marketing plan be? This article tells you.)

4. Execute well. If you’re asking someone to buy what you’re selling, then you’d better look like you’re worth investing in. Start with basic tools: a decent website with good content and functionality, proper sales materials and a professional email address. And unless you’re in IT, a haircut.

The fact is, marketing is always changing and always evolving, but starting with these four basics will help get you on the right track.

Targeting consumers? Check out this great Fast Company article: Marketing From The Other End of the Funnel.

A business owner told me the title to this post a few days ago when I was in his business.  He was in the sports equipment marketing business and was having a “fire sale” on a wide variety of used types of sporting equipment!  I asked why he had such a “blowout” special on all of his equipment.  He stated that the equipment was used, consignment equipment and the owners wanted their money out of it.  He also said that the store owner did not want to remain in the used equipment consignment business any longer.

When I asked what had happened, here is what he said.  Individuals who had consigned their equipment agreed to sign a consignment form.  Everyone did that.  However, when either the equipment was sold, or the owner can back to claim it, there was always an argument over whether the price was right, all of the guards, covers, etc were included, etc.  The bottom line was that the business owner had a challenge every time he took in a piece of consignment equipment– to the point where he recognized that it was more productive NOT to participate in that marketing line.

As I thought about the comments of the business owner, I realized that perhaps the “rules of engagement” were not clearly defined, some misunderstandings were developed or the folks who were consigning the equipment did not have a clear understanding of how the process worked.  In any case, it seemed like instead of a “Win-Win” situation, this particular matter turned out to a “Loose-Loose” situation for all involved.

No matter what kind of a deal you might think about, make sure that all involved parties clearly understand all of the nuances and circumstances of any particular program.  We recommend that everything be clearly in writing, with simple, but detailed examples, addressing any thing that could possibly be misunderstood.  Simple picture charts, with numbers are best for matters such as these.  Although you may think that this is 3rd grade stuff, it is amazing how much 3rd grade material is actually very real and valuable!

Always try to find the “Win-Win” situation in any business engagement.  It is there– sometimes, however, you have to search long and hard to find it!  However, in a “Win-Win” environment, both parties should leave feeling satisfied and happy with whatever business transaction they elect to engage in.

In case of our business owner here, he told me that everyone walked away unhappy and frustrated.  Not a good deal for anyone!

To learn more about Solomon Bruce Consulting LLC, visit their listing in the Synergy Station Directory or the company website.

Some 40 business people from Billings and from other areas of the state, as far away as Whitefish, joined the Big Sky Economic Development tour of the Bakken.  About a third of them said that they went to explore the possibility of launching some kind of business enterprise in what has become the hottest oil play in the nation, and perhaps the world.  Most returned undaunted by the challenges which they discovered exist for anyone trying to do business in the Sidney, MT and Williston, ND area.

Housing remains the primary issue of concern for everyone living and working in the Bakken, but emerging as perhaps the second most critical issue is the need for daycare.  Quality day care could release a workforce of some 500 people to take jobs in the retail and service businesses, which are vital to support oil field activities.

People wanting to start businesses to provide some of those services will have to “think outside of the box” and be willing to try new things in order to succeed, they were told many times over.

Development of the Williston Basin happens in phases, explained one speaker.  The first phase – acquiring and securing leases – is almost over.  For that reason, land men who specialize in securing leases, are already starting to move on to new locations as their services are no longer required.  BSED plans a second tour to the area of July 11^th.  For details go to:  www.bigskyeda.org

]]> http://synergystation.com/economy/checking-out-the-bakken/feed/ 0 http://synergystation.com/economy/2-and-on-the-move/ http://synergystation.com/economy/2-and-on-the-move/#comments Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:57:02 +0000 Laura McRae http://synergystation.com/?p=6508

The North Dakota momentum continues !  In March, the state surpassed Alaska to become the #2 oil producer, leaving first place Texas the only mountain to top.  Production figures for April released on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, by the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources reflect the pace of Bakken gold:  7,025 wells were producing 18.2 million barrels of crude oil, up from 6,932 wells producing 17.9 million barrels in March.  Alaska’s oil production continues to drop and was down significantly from the previous month, 17.5 million to 16.5 million.

As Bakken shale continues to be a bountiful source of domestic oil, Alaska continue to lose ground.  By September of 2012, Alaska’s Tesoro will begin to refine Bakken light, sweet crude.  Up to this point, Tesoro Alaska, regional branch of the Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO), was mainly responsible for refining Alaska’s own North Slope crude and Cook Inlet oil. But the crude produced in Alaska are more costly to refine, taking more effort to clean than Bakken crude.  Plans are to ship by rail 30,000 barrels per day of Bakken oil to the refinery in Nikiski, Alaska, which has the capacity to refine 120,000 barrels per day.  Rumors that the Bakken supply may replace the North Slope oil, which has locals concerned about the economic impact of replacing state-produced oil with out-of-state oil.

While exciting as the press release from the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources is, the locals throughout western North Dakota continue to weight the risks and benefits that come with the oil boom. Though the unemployment rate, especially in Bakken counties, has significantly lowered, newly employed oil workers are often homeless, living anywhere they can from man camps to trailer parks to the back seat of their cars.