Drive around Albert Lea, and you’ll find a lot of successful homegrown companies, some of which sell their products around the country, if not the world. Places like Mrs. Gerry’s, Lou-Rich, Agilis, Alamco, and many more are examples of what happens when somebody has a vision for a new product or service and makes it happen — and not just the large manufacturing companies, but the small stores and service providers in our community like It’s Worth It Massage and Wellness Studio, Whimzy, CrossFit Innerdrive, Good Steward Consulting and many others that occupy our historic downtown, strip malls and industrial parks.

Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Albert Lea. Jobs, the American dream, and new products and ideas that make our lives better do not just magically appear. They take somebody with a vision, know-how and grit, a community that fosters business development and consumers that will support them. Our community has many of these resources to help those of us who are striving to start a business.

The Albert Lea Economic Development Agency sponsors the Albert Lea Entrepreneurship Advancement Program, which meets monthly to help us learn and network. The Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce is willing to bend over backwards to help chamber members and the community be successful. SCORE is a group of retired professionals who will mentor those starting out in business. The Albert Lea Tribune has been great at helping people and organizations share their stories and successes.

If you have a vision for a new business, don’t just sit back and let life pass you by. Reach out, learn, take risks, let us as a community come together with and for you. Entrepreneurship doesn’t typically happen because somebody inherited a lot of money and found themselves amid free time to start a business without risk. There never is a “right time” to start a business. And for the people who complain that there are not enough good jobs in Albert Lea, I agree. My solution? I want to be responsible for creating those jobs. I see that as a much better option than sitting back and letting some government entity be responsible for enticing jobs to our community that I have no control over.

As we do our Christmas shopping, participate in Small Business Saturday and come together as a community for the holidays, remember to support our local economy and entrepreneurs. Help our neighbors live their dreams and provide jobs, taxes and exciting new products or services in the process for all of us to enjoy.

Brad Kramer

Albert Lea