September 24, 2021

9/24/2021

ALUMNI IN THE HOUSE..... September is always a very busy month here in Ponca City. School is back in full swing, football Fridays, Cherokee Strip events (last weekend) Art Festival and Brewfest and PoHi 50th Class Reunion (this weekend) and Octoberfest at the Mansion and Cinderella at the Poncan Theatre next weekend. Whew. It is nice to be back to our "normal" for Ponca City. Because our Ponca City normal is outside; at the lake; on the Mansion grounds and downtown walking around. This is just a small reminder from us to you that you, dear citizen, can create the community YOU want: economically, socially and creatively. And boom, you get all those things in September. And then October.

The economics of building a community others want to be part of is something staff discusses often and brainstorms around in the office. There is no better time than now to ask all these questions: What attracts workforce to a community? What are the needs of those (workforce and businesses) relocating? How to make the "necessities" such as childcare, housing and healthcare "appropriate and accessible". And of course, quality of life which includes all the above mentioned activities like beer tasting, artists, entertainment and reunions. We are excited to hear of the addition of Bird Scooters to the fun things to do in our community. Find out more on the Bird Scooters here.

THE NOVEMBER PITCH-OFF.... is just around the corner for those with a great business idea or an existing business ready to get to the next level. Maybe you are an inventor or product developer ready to launch the next big thing. We want YOU to write that business plan and pitch your idea to our group of judges on Friday, November 12. Business Plans need to be submitted by Monday, November 1st to be considered for this Pitch-off. Not ready? There will be another PItch-off in June of 2022.

Call Kat at 580.761.3028 or Ben Evans at 580.718.4262 to get started on your business plan writing. You will have access to a great online resource called LIvePlan to help you write and refine your plan. What are you waiting for? Your future is just a PITCH away!

Century Products doesn’t just have a new logo but they are offering exciting new agricultural products from their new (to them) building in the Airport Industrial Park! Stay tuned for even more product announcements.

Thank you for making Ponca City your home!

LEADERSHIP

The 35th Ponca City Leadership class participated in history day this week. Thank you Rich Cantillon for the amazing pictures at all our wonderful Ponca City historical sites. This one at Standing Bear was worth repeating.

The Ponca City Leadership program is a wonderful way to learn more about your community. If you or your business is interested, April 2022 is the application time for next year. Get involved in your community. Look at that sky!

As Fall finally hits us with these cooler temperatures, staff are cozying up for some good brainstorming sessions in the office. Conversations we’ve had with employers (You!) is the need for employees but you’re too busy and overwhelmed with the day to day performance metrics and fires to put out that revamping your hiring process or finding ways to fill your pipeline of future employees is not possible. It’s often large corporations who are good at this because, let’s face it, they have an entire recruiting department and extra staff to set up processes.

How can you, the hometown employer, take some of these processes and adapt them to work for you? It’s by doing the little things:

See if your employee(s) who may retire in two years can have an apprentice or intern position to train.
Utilize the internships offered at local schools: PCPS, PTC and NOC all offer internship programs which give students class credit.
Have your employees be a part of mentoring programs at elementary schools.
Train your current employees to take over for more advanced jobs by slowly adding to their skill sets.
Keep your current employees satisfied by offering some depth of care about them as a whole person including opportunities to better themselves, and be creative with benefits for their work/life balance.

If any of these sound like you could accomplish them, but need a little direction – call us! We’d be happy to share our info and connections to help you get started.