GREAT FALLS — At Life in Bloom in Great Falls, business is blooming.
"We've only been in business since May of 2021 and in that time we've gone from a home business into a smaller storefront here in Times Square and then we expanded into the larger one,” said Karen Beeler, who owns the business with her husband.
Beeler said she never expected to grow so quickly.
"I honestly thought we would just dabble from home,” said Beeler.
The floral business now offers classes and a full gift boutique.
"The steps to actually establishing the business were really easy,” Beeler explained.
That doesn't mean there haven't been struggles though.
"One difficulty is finding really great employees. We're really lucky to have an amazing full-time employee, but it's really hard to find supplemental employees to come in and work for us part-time,” Beeler said.
According to Motley Fool, in 2021, Montana was the #1 state for starting a small business. Some of the factors that go into such rankings include a state's tax policies, consumer spending, business survival rate over five years, and labor laws.
Great Falls Development Authority CEO Brett Doney said Montana being considered the best state for small business startups is not new.
"This has been a long-standing tradition. Montana has ranked number one for many years,” said Doney.
He credits that to two main factors.
"I think it's because of the entrepreneurial spirit, the pioneering spirit in Montana, but also it's been out of necessity. Entrepreneurs start businesses when they either have the opportunity or they need to make more money,” Doney said.
To be fair, however, if you Google "best state for small business startups” you'll probably get a variety of results.
For example, according to Forbes, Indiana is the best state in which to start a business in 2023. Montana ranks seventh.
According to Wallethub, the best state for small businesses in 2023 is Utah. Montana comes in at number 12.
CNBC reports that, according to Looka, in a ranking of the top five states in 2022 California was number one and Montana wasn't ranked.
Don't let all of that, though, get you thinking Montana isn't actually a good place for small businesses.
"It's easier and easier for entrepreneurs to locate wherever they want and we have such a fantastic quality of life. Here in the Great Falls region, we also have affordability and a hunger to help those entrepreneurs,” Doney said.
He noted, however, that while the state has a high number of entrepreneurs the state doesn’t have a high number of high-growth businesses from the entrepreneurial startups. He said more assistance needs to be provided to entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies.
Beeler pointed out that in downtown Great Falls specifically the business community is very tight-knit.
"Oh, absolutely,” Beeler responded when asked knowing how tight-knit the community is would help motivate her if she were going to start up another business.
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