Jeffrey Mosher welcomes back Adam Clarke, President & Jennifer Jurgens CEO/Founding Partner, co-owners of 1 Bold Step, Grand Rapids, MI, to MBN. The pair shared their story when they were awardees with Michigan Celebrates Small Business.
To listen to Jennifer and Adam's 'Michigan Business Beat' interview about locating and purchasing a new location for their business click on this embedded SoundCloud PodCast shared below:
West Michigan Marketing Agency Purchases Property in North Monroe District Utilizing City of GR Brownfield Redevelopment Program Funding
1 Bold Step worked with the City of Grand Rapids, Small Business Association of Michigan, and the Small Business Association to navigate environmental tests as well as the purchase process for the 3,700 sq ft building
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – 1 Bold Step, a marketing operations agency, purchased the former CK & Co Media Production building at 1255 Front Ave NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504. Founder and CEO Jennifer Jurgens, alongside co-owner Adam Clarke, worked with the City of Grand Rapids Brownfield Redevelopment Authority to acquire the building located at 1255 Front Ave NW. The company was able to purchase the property in collaboration with the Small Business Association (SBA 504 loan program) and Consumers Credit Union. The Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM) was also integral in helping the agency navigate the loan and purchase process.
“This entire process has made me incredibly hopeful for small businesses and the support they can receive,” said Jennifer Jurgens, CEO, and founder of 1 Bold Step. “When you hear about economic development in the news, you always hear about big companies like Amazon and Walmart. But, small businesses employ nearly 50% of the workforce in Michigan. This is where we need to put our resources.”
The 3,700 square foot building will house the company’s 12 employees and includes 2 executive offices, 3 conference rooms, an open kitchen and “family room”, shared working space, and more. The agency was just recognized as one of Michigan’s 50 Companies to Watch and is a Platinum HubSpot Solutions Partner. In the last year, the company has added 4 employees, one intern, and 20 clients.
“We all love the flexibility of being remote but genuinely miss each other and the in-person interactions,” said Adam Clarke, co-owner of 1 Bold Step. “The space will provide quiet places, small group places, and large meeting places to accommodate the different ways in which a marketing team needs to work. We’re looking forward to welcoming our clients and colleagues into the space.”
A portion of the funding was granted to 1 Bold Step through the City of Grand Rapids’ Brownfield Redevelopment Program. This helped cover the costs of environmental testing and assessments required by the State of Michigan. The Brownfield Redevelopment Program helps to offset some of the extraordinary costs associated with the urban development of contaminated or functionally obsolete properties. This program is a partnership between the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).
“As a city that values the contributions of its local businesses, we intentionally designed the Environmental Site Assessment Grant program to be easy to access and to reduce financial risk in the due diligence phase of property purchases,” said Jono Klooster, Assistant Economic Development Director for The City of Grand Rapids. Supporting a small business like 1 Bold Step as they grow in Grand Rapids is exactly what this grant program is meant for. We look forward to the company’s continued success in our City.”
“Jennifer Jurgens adds value to everything she is a part of,” said Brian Calley, President & CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan. “We are delighted to have her so involved and engaged with SBAM and are excited that she is creating such an awesome space for her creative and talented team.”
1 Bold Step is currently renovating the space with help of several other local companies including Kentwood Office Furniture, CS Erikson, DHE, Bouma Construction, Vos Glass, and Architektura. The agency will move into the building in late fall.
“We couldn’t have done it without the support from SBAM, the City of Grand Rapids, and the SBA — having these organizations to lean on at the city and state level was absolutely critical for this next step in our business,” said Jurgens.
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To listen to their full '50 Companies to Watch' interview from this past Spring please click on this embedded SoundCloud PodCast as well!
About 1 Bold Step
An Agency Focused on Helping You Build a Sales & Marketing Machine
Operations Audit
When was the last time you evaluated your sales and marketing operations? Is it optimized to get you more customers? It’s time to take a detailed look at your current roles, people, processes, and systems.
Whether you are launching a new product, creating a new plan, or aligning your organization, sales and marketing should always coordinate with your organization’s strategic goals while getting more customers.
Creating demand is what gets you new customers and more sales. That’s why good marketing is value-add, not overhead. Is your inbound and outbound marketing all that it can be?
Jennifer Jurgens
CEO/Founder
Jen is a catalyst that loves to make everything she touches somehow better, faster, and more efficient. And while her career choices may seem unrelated, the thread that ties them together is that she brought order, process, growth and scale to every organization she’s worked with. From creating some of the first hosted e-commerce solutions at Pandesic (an IntelSAP venture), to working with The HON Company, Konica Minolta, Safety-Kleen, Adtegrity, USXchange, Mindpepper, and others to bring process and prove marketing ROI, to serving as executive director for Susan G. Komen Michigan, and most recently, scaling growth as the president of SalesPad, Jen brings clarity to the complex and builds trust-based teams that keep companies moving forward.
In her current role as CEO and Founding Partner at 1 Bold Step, she is helping companies and organizations organize, optimize, and grow.
Adam Clarke
President
Adam learned early in his career that he has a knack for partnering with people to make their jobs easier and more efficient. At 1 Bold Step he does this through empathic problem-solving, creative idea generation, solid project management skills, and by creating systems and processes that scale.
This passion for helping people, combined with his marketing background, has brought him to partner with companies like Haworth, AOP, Honeywell, Kendall Electric, Cascade Engineering, and Byrne Electrical to help them build and scale some of their most complex software applications. From customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation to e-commerce, inventory management, and proprietary content management systems, he has worked with myriad customers to envision, plan, and deliver. Working with different clients in numerous industries has given him a breadth of business experiences and sharpened his focus on how companies best go-to-market, deliver great user experiences and prove return on investment.
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About Michigan Celebrates Small Businesses
Michigan Celebrates Small Businesses is a non-profit (501c3) organization that is composed of statewide founding organizations that provide small businesses with resources to help their company grow. MCSB has Since 2005, their awards gala has celebrated and honored the impact small businesses have on our communities and state. MCSB makes small businesses their priority and will continue to support, connect, and celebrate small businesses in Michigan.
Michigan Celebrates Small Business is a partnership of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Edward Lowe Foundation, Small Business Association of Michigan, U.S. Small Business Administration, Michigan Business Network, and the Michigan Small Business Development Center.
Kinexus Group is the Managing Partner of the 2022 Michigan Celebrates Small Business gala.
Information about Michigan Celebrates Small Business can be found at www.MichiganCelebrates.org
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