Edie Ramstad: Investment in broadband will keep businesses in Minnesota
Since 2012, I have owned and operated a small business in Greater Minnesota called Weave Got Maille. As a supplier of jewelry making components, we started small — traditionally what you would think of as a “mom and pop” shop. When the business opened, I had planned on being part-time and having the store as a hobby. But then, broadband service revolutionized the way we did business. We went from hoping for $40,000 in sales to having $1 million within reach by the end of 2015, and from one part-time employee to 12 full-time employees with the intention of hiring eight more. We do business in 56 countries and are planning to build a new $500,000 facility to accommodate our growth. Like many wholesale retailers, our success is largely due to broadband service. But unlike other businesses, when leaders from major corporations came from all over the world ask to be a partner, we had to hesitate in saying “yes”. Over the years, we’ve had to painfully decline business p...