# Cannonball Company to present at Marketplace of Ideas in GF



## SiouxperDave25 (Oct 6, 2002)

Cannonball Company is scheduled to present at 10:30AM on Thursday, 1/15, in the Bluebird room at the Alerus Center. The title of their presentation is "A Successful Nature-Based Business Model For Others To Consider".

www.marketplaceofideas.org


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## Fetch (Mar 1, 2002)

Give the link to the specific stuff about their seminar ???


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## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

What a joke! How many full time jobs in the Canon ball Co.(one).Large fee operations will hurt small towns in ND. not help. Call Conrad and Johnson and let them know we do not need to promote Fee hunting, I already did.


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## Scraper (Apr 1, 2002)

I have to relay this story. I know a guy whose father-in-law is part of the Cannonball Co. Apparently they get paid per bird shot off of their land. He was telling me last year about all of the money that his father-in-law made. this year they hardly hunted his land and therefore he didn't make any money. He said that it really hurt, not getting that big pheasant check.

Duh! This is a microcosm of what will happen out there if they ever see a harsh winter. I suppose that the state will be on the hook for some type of economic support because their "business" all died.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Who suffers from that business model? Everyone but the Cannonball Corp. But yet they're a feature for ND's Marketplace of Ideas. If that's the best idea we've got than we need to reconsider our leadership.

What I don't understand, is why the state isn't pushing for Ecommerce for our rural areas? We're limited in business because of our geographic location, but in the world of Ecommerce geographic location is pretty much meaningless. And the business itself has a chance to grow, instead of scratching to make a couple bucks while the guy running the show is making a killing.

Oh ya, and it would create jobs (and I do mean plural).


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

As I've said in the past...what have small towns done to make free-lancers welcome...both res. and non-res...nothing.

As Dick pointed out on an earlier thread...Chambers in a number of small towns were notified they could get free "Hunters Welcome sings from the GNF.Not one did.

You put nothing in...why should you expect to get anything out.


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

I've also said the same thing in the past.....If you're a samll town put something together and I'll bet you that you would be suprised how many people you can get to spend money in your town.

I was thinking just the other day....what about a group of say 25 - 50 guys, resident and NR that wanted to hunt in the Mott ND area for just one week, for instance. Let's say a couple of these guys get all the information together with the help of a hotel owner, a couple of restaurants, a gas station, the local bakery, etc. that WANTS business during their slow times.

Now you get those businesses together and put some pressure on the local landowners (the one who said he didn't get a check this year from Cannonball comes to mind) to allow that group of hunters who are willing to spend say a minimum of 4-5 days each during that week, in Mott, using the businesses that are involved. Landowners? I'd bet they don't really mind who they get the $15.00 per bird from during the hunt. (Yes to experience world class pheasant hunting $25.00 to 45.00 per day might be necessary. - I think that would be reasonable for most guys. The farmers would have to have some stake in this as well.)

This would really make it a win-win situation...the ranchers would make money for providing a place for the resource to flourish, the local businesses would be guaranteed a good week of dollars, and the hunters would have a great time. If this worked, I'd bet that there would be other businesses and ranchers jumping on board. It wouldn't tie up the land to others in the future as others who have tried this model, have tried to do. It wouldn't matter if the land was only available for one week at a time.

This group of hunters could also have some type of accountability imposed on them. Coupons could be printed with each hunters name that would be turned in to the participating businesses to verify that the hunters were sticking to the bargain. ie. breakfast and dinner at the restaurant (if the participating restaurant knew they would have 25 - 50 hunters every morning for breakfast, they might open at 6:00am), Fueling up at the participating gas station, the number of nights at the local hotel would also be verified. To tie the agreement together between landowners and businesses some type of coupon or discount might be used to help each other out some. I'd bet you could get the local chamber of commerce involved also, especially after it worked the first couple of times.

I can see 25 - 50 Nodak Outdoors members visiting a small town later in the season (after their are no more bookings for the local Outfitter) and helping small town America survive. It would take a tremedous amount of work to get this going but I bet it would be well worth the effort. (local chambers - any ideas?)

Money Generated in 4 days and 4 nights by just 24 Hunters who otherwise would not be visiting this community.
____________________________________________________________

Hotel $2400.00
Restaurant $1500.00
Gas $1000.00
Bar Tab $2800.00
Landowners $2400.00 at $25.00/day
$4800.00 at $50.00/day
Thats about $400.00 / hunter for a week of pheasant hunting that would be about as good as it gets.

I'd have to say this would all be "NEW MONEY" for that town.


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## Rangers (Dec 13, 2003)

Field Hunter, that is as good an idea as I have heard on this page. It has tremendous merit and I honestly believe you could generate a great deal of interest from everyone. $25.00 aday to hunt would be a drop in the bucket for most, especially for an almost guarantee of birds, and probably lots of them. Would take the load off the first time visitor for finding a place to hunt, and at an affordable price.


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## equinox (Oct 31, 2003)

How do you think ecommerce would effect rural businesses in these particular areas of intrest? Its not a bad idea, but what will a rural community thrive for if it is based on a 70/30 percentile in favor of ecommerce? Is the idea to be able to balance between that and a steady job market? Just curious.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

When I refer to Ecommerce, I'm referring to selling basically anything (hardware, clothing, arts & crafts, sporting goods, you name it). Ecommerce can be a supplementary income (like a hardware store selling their surplus) or a full-blown business. There's a market out there on the web for everything.

Starting up a web business is pretty painless, and not very expensive. If done right they can be quite profitable.

I did a presentation at the Marketplace of Ideas last year on this, and there was a full room. But the amount of people who moved on it was quite slim, maybe ND isn't ready for it yet?


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## Field Hunter (Mar 4, 2002)

Equinox,
I remember back in college....long ago....some professor said that "there are no bad questions" I just would request that you restate this so that I and others understand it. I don't think I'm talking about the creation of jobs. I'm simply trying to find ways to bring the rural areas some much needed dollars in times when there may not be much of an influx and at the same time find ways to bring hunters and landowners together.

I for one would love to re-visit the SW if there is some way to guarantee an enjoyable visit at an affordable price. As it stands right now they have priced me and my family and many others out of being able to enjoy what they're offering.

After experiencing what eastern ND has to once again offer in terms of pheasant hunting, something we haven't had for a while and won't have again after the next big series of blizzards, I really think someone out west has to take a lead and be able to offer something to get the resident and freelance NR to patronize their area of the state once again.


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## stevepike (Sep 14, 2002)

I think ND is ready and prime for it (E-Commerce), it is like everything, getting in front of the right people. You need to have someone with the urge and passion to make it succeed, to take the ball and run with it.

E-commerce can be a very viable solution for rural areas. A manufacturing or assembly business can employee a few to several employees in the old brick and mortar store doing the actual work. It can keep people in the small towns. The benefits just need to either be shown to existing companies or business people need to make it happen.

Look at buying a house and building for your business in the following cities, how much would it cost you for each?
Lankin, ND
Linton, ND
Bismarck, ND
Minneapolis, MN
Los Angeles, CA

I think the whole E-Commerce debate gets kicked too far to either side and is never looked at honestly. Can it work in ND? Absolutely. Will it make your business overnight? More than likely not. Not without a good business plan and carrying out your plan will it work.

I think you are on the right track Chris, it is just a matter of getting people to follow through.


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## equinox (Oct 31, 2003)

Fieldhunter,
I wasn't at all intrested in the commercial status of the SW region of the state, I was merely curious as to what Chris Hustad thought about the effects of ecommerce on rural businesses. I already know that ecommerce deals with the purchasing of goods electronically, that is what ecommerce is!! I just wanted to see where you were coming from on this subject. When you talk about businesses making supplementary income now which in businesses are you talking about in particular? Its just a simple question guys :lost:


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

> When you talk about businesses making supplementary income now which in businesses are you talking about in particular?


Any business that exists in rural ND. Think of an example, type it in google and I'm sure you'll find others doing the same.

The Internet has no real physical bounds, it's an arena ND can compete neck in neck with any other state.


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## stevepike (Sep 14, 2002)

Don't forget services when talking E-Commerce.

Data Transcription
Tech Support
Remote Training
Sales demonstrations of products via the Internet
The list goes on...


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

I've been out of the loop for a few days (got a new pup, black lab, ma is FC/AFC and pa is AFC, this little guy should be dynomite!). But, if this deal with the Cannonball Co. and Conrad/Johnson isn't a perfect example of why I support term limits, I don't know what would be. Conrad comes out with this lame federal funding idea for public access (which wouldn't amount to peanuts for us) and Johnson merely talks the talk for us resident hunters. But, this deal with the Cannonball Co. makes you wonder who their bigtime contributers really are. But the Republican option is Hoeven....... So..., where's Ross Perot when you need him?


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