Success stories

Nebraska Business Owner Finds Her True North, and It’s Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship runs in Renee Sobotka’s family. Her parents owned a successful lumberyard and her father was a builder in West Point, so she grew up knowing the hard work involved in small business...

From Soldier to CEO – Marine Veteran Starts Successful Construction Business in Nebraska

Ask Marine veteran Javier Arias about the hardest thing he’s ever done, and he’ll tell you it wasn’t being a Marine – it was starting his small business! Arias served in the Corps for seven years as a...

From Cattle To Creative Arts – Business Owner in Lincoln Creates Custom Wallpaper Designs

Dan Nelson, owner of Vahallan, Inc., didn’t start out as a luxury wallpaper designer. He didn’t even start out as an artist. He grew up on a cattle ranch in Western Nebraska and always assumed he’d go...

Husband and Wife Team Bring Customers A Taste of the Caribbean

Steve and Heidi Nolan, owners of Lincoln, Nebraska based Spice Isle Sauces, are big fans of the Caribbean – the people, the islands and most importantly, the flavors! They’ve always loved to travel...

Omaha-Based Appsky LLC Owners Recognized as SBA Nebraska Small Business Persons of the Year 2022

After Taylor Korensky graduated from the Information Technology Innovation program at the University of Nebraska Omaha in 2016, it didn’t take him long to realize that the Omaha tech market needed...

Coffee Shop in West Point Keeps Brewing Up Hospitality With PPP Loan from SBA

Back in the olden days, a painted red door on a house meant that inside was a place where you can seek refuge. And that’s exactly what Red Door Coffee owner Lynsi Steed wants her customers to...

From Steel to Salsa - Nebraska Couple Open Mexican Family Restaurant in Gering, Nebraska

When asked why he left a 30+ year career in the steel industry to open Chino’s Mexican Restaurant in Gering, Nebraska, Ed Bartella had a quick answer: “I’d been doing the same thing for an awful long...

International Construction Expert Puts Down Entrepreneurial Roots in Omaha, Nebraska

Mark Santo, owner of Mark VII Enterprises, has been in the construction industry for decades. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Santo lived overseas and travelled the world building American embassies...