BLOG

Northern Initiatives and Our Customers are On the Move

What is Marketing Success?

The first step in determining whether your marketing efforts have been effective is to define your measures of success. For some businesses, success might come…

Data That We Track, October 2017

Musings from the Month When NI President Dennis West first arrived 20 years ago, he says, "I had a couple of meetings…

Making Sense of Financial Statements

Reviewing financial statements on a regular basis can help you accurately gauge your business’ performance, guide strategic decisions and identify opportunities for growth. Practice will…

The Big Picture Conversation

Every day, our entire team here at Northern Initiatives talks to many people. Our lending staff talks with customers, that often times might not qualify…

Data That We Track, September 2017

New Data and New Information We added six counties to our target market. When you look at the September data, we are now…

Brand Audit

Branding is critical to the success of any business. It represents the unique qualities that set you apart from the competition, influences consumer perceptions and…

Data That We Track, August 2017

New Data and New Information The August numbers showed the reaches of seasonal employment into Northern Michigan. Five of the 51 counties in…

Celebrating 1,000 Loans Strong, and Growing!

Northern Initiatives itself once a startup, made its 1,000th loan, demonstrating a strong entrepreneurial culture in the Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan. Northern…