Carl Loder- CEO, CentralRacingParts.com

"Thrive did a great job building my online store.  I wasn't always sure of some of the decisions that were made in the construction process but Michael has won my trust!  Recently, five suppliers I had lined up to purchase from, visited my site.  Normally they require a "buy-in" for an initial order which can be upwards of $10,000.  When they saw my site, they were calling ME to represent them.  They waived their buy-in and are getting in line to be a supplier."

Solution: E-commerce store and credit-card processing

Dave Mace, First Employee, Maverick Creative Group

"Michael combines several talents to create an incredibly valuable service for his clients. He is part designer, part technician and part business strategist, making him a formidable partner. I've enjoyed working with him, and I've learned a lot from him."

Aaron Davis, Sedgwick County Health Department

"What does it for me when it comes to Thrive is their dedication to detail. Thrive takes the time to really listen to what I want and need and then make sure that they produce exactly what i asked for. I really appreciate their customer service, Michael and the team isn't perfect but when they make a mistake their team jumps on it to make sure any problems are resolved in a timely fashion. If you need an web-application built that works, I recommend Thrive!"

Solution: Emergency Responders Registration Database

Marta Curry, Waddell and Reed

“While Thrive Business Solutions is the company name, Michael personifies integrity in his industry. Thrive is genuine in their approach to listen, offer assistance and solutions to your agendas. Strive is one word as they pledge to help others, but they really thrive at it. I am fortunate to collaborate with them regularly through our Chamber Leads Group #3 - where many strategies and business networking goals are shared - and achieved!”

Pat Knolla- Founder / Owner, Knollas Pizza on 13th

“Thrives customer service has really impressed me. When I call they solve whatever I throw at them right away. I have been processing credit cards and have had my website with them for three years now and the rates have always been fair. Most importantly, they have integrity. I have never had to question if Thrive is doing something with my rates or service that I should be concerned about.”

Solution: Website, Online-Ordering, E-mail Marketing and Credit-card Processing

Mark Oelze, Owner, True Life Marriage and Family Counseling

"Michael is not only a man of great vision, but a man who has the mind and ability to take that vision apart and see it happen one step at a time. He does so with a steadfast spirit about him in a confident but gracious manner. When you are around Michael you are caught up in the same confidence that together what has been set out to do will indeed be accomplished. I can't say enough good about this man!"

Mike Steele, Co-Founder, The Galleon Company

“Michael is a man of high character and competence. He accomplishes what he sets out to do. I recommend his services without reservation.”

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Article reprinted from the Ark Valley News


Mike Cantrell, president of the Kechi Chamber of Commerce, stands at the corner of 61st North and Oliver. Cantrell, who helped revive the chamber, has big plans for Kechi, including the establishment of an economic development district at the intersection.


Small town dreams big
By Chris Hunter
Last Updated: January 29, 2009

Kechi’s new chamber of commerce maps out plan to attract more businesses

The commercial district of what used to be the “Antique Capital of the World” sits mostly barren. Old antique shops and former restaurants welcome visitors with “For Sale” signs and boarded up windows, and now the town’s only gas station sits empty. No cigarettes, no food, no fuel.

This is Kechi.

Besides Geno’s Barbeque, Bierock, Kechi Dollar, Kechi Auto Mall, Kechi Wine and Spirits and a handful of art concerns, not many other businesses remain.

For Kechi, the glass seems half empty. But don’t tell that to Mike Cantrell, president of the newly revived Kechi Chamber of Commerce.
Cantrell sees hope and he’s decided to take matters into his own hands to attract new businesses, even in tough economic times.

Cantrell, owner of Thrive Solutions, helped re-form the Chamber of Commerce after the group had disbanded for a few years and is now leading the fight to bring new things to Kechi.

“In all of my dealings with Wichita Chamber of Commerce, we are known as the ‘Kechi Chamber- Small but Potent,’” Cantrell said. “We are hoping to continue to pick up steam.”

Cantrell recently approached the Kechi City Council to lay out his plans for the future. Unfortunately, Cantrell’s talk followed trash haulers bidding on contract for citywide recycling during a city council meeting on Jan. 8.

Not a seat was empty when the trash discussion was being waged, but by the time Cantrell spoke, many had left for home because of the late hour.

Cantrell told the council that he had been working with former City Administrator Mac Manning on the chamber’s direction, but was unaware how much Manning had shared with the council.

“Not much,” said council member Robert Jackson.

Cantrell said his desire was to explain the chamber’s goals and get on the same page with the council.

Economics 101

Cantrell told the council that the chamber was also going through what is called Economic Development 101.

“We have talked to Robert Fetke of the Department of Commerce, who came to our last chamber mixer at Geno’s Barbeque,” Cantrell said. “We toured the city (for him) to see all the sites to potentially build on or what we have going on and gave input on what we could do to develop our businesses.”

Cantrell said Economic Development 101’s goal is to create a joint “dream team” about how to develop Kechi to attract businesses. The team would be made of members of the council, chamber, police department and others.

“This is important because statistically you should have eight residential doors for every business door,” Cantrell said. “We are sitting closer to 13 to one and that greatly affects our tax revenue. We need to boost our businesses that are here because we need to boost our tax revenue.”

Cantrell said the “dream team” would paint a picture of the goals for the community and then the Economic Development 101 would hold town meetings.

Cantrell said one of the main suggestions of the Department of Commerce is the need for a business economic development district.

“Mac said he filed for that, which surprised me because we would like to know where that is,” Cantrell said. “If it is not filed, we need to work on that in the future. If it is filed, we need to check on the status of it and see what is going on and if we are all behind the way it got filed.”

Perfect place

Cantrell said he has already found what he believes to be a perfect area for development.

“We are interested in a district that could stretch from 61st and Oliver to two blocks in every direction,” Cantrell said. “Suggestions made were widening the streets, putting in a streetlight and cleaning up the area, which are all of the desires of everyone I have talked to. There is a desire to clean up the city.”

Cantrell said the group from the commerce department was surprised by how nice Kechi was north of 61st and felt the rest needed to be cleaned up.

“These are people who are willing to give money, but don’t know what we have to offer,” Cantrell said.

Other areas being looked at by Cantrell are the locations of the former antique malls and land east of the railroad tracks on 61st North.

“I understand the land east of the railroad tracks could come up for sale,” Cantrell said. “At sometime, in the next few years, the estate is up and both sides of the street will come up for sale. You could turn that area into a development district.”

Cantrell suggested building new offices and renovating old stables to be office buildings.

“We can put in fountains and a pond in from the creek,” Cantrell said. “We should remodel any building that can be saved, affordably. Anything that can’t be saved we should tear down.”

Cantrell asked the council to appoint council representatives to start the “dream team.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jackson said. “We need something like that to move the city forward. We need to really look at attracting some businesses to the city.”

Cantrell said the chamber, which consists of about 15 businesses, would like to work with the council and is willing to spend money to bring businesses in.

Incentives

Cantrell also told the council that businesses are looking for incentives, such as tax abatements and infrastructure improvements.

“All local chambers of commerce and cities are doing this,” Cantrell said. “Abatements, bonds, leins and infrastructure.”

Cantrell said the chamber wants to be able to go to the council and get swift decisions, even in a week there are no council meetings, should a company be interested in Kechi.

“They need to have a decision because they are looking to buy,” Cantrell said. “If they are looking at two other cities at the same time, what are you going to do? We have to be able to respond.”

Cantrell said the chamber wants to be a liaison between council and businesses since they already have leads and regular contacts.

Cantrell said Cisco was still interested in building a warehouse in Kechi.

He said he would like to get a list of businesses that fell through in recent months so he could revisit them.

Other options Cantrell suggested included getting grants and loans for “eminent” or important businesses to a community.

Within two weeks of discussing the process with the council, Cantrell said he had six leads on businesses, including ongoing discussions with Cisco.

Cantrell said he believes the process has already started and is on the move.

“We need to move forward,” Cantrell said. “The chamber has been open for a year. We started out slow to find the pulse of the town and now we have an idea of what we want to do and are going after it.”