IN THIS ISSUE:
CELEBRATING 15 YEARS INDUSTRY NEWS Take
a
look
at
exciting
news
and
announcements our clients have to share as well as industry related topics. The photo above was taken by KQED News and captures Oroville Dam’s damaged emergency
spillway.
nationwide
attention
Oroville this
caught
February
as
extensive flood warnings were in place, causing many concerns for our neighbors and the industry.
My first business got its start in 1964 when I
My pastor introduced me to Geoff Chinnock in
talked someone with a truck into taking me to
2006, who became Employee #001 in 2007.
a local egg operation that was closing to see if
Geoff got his training by osmosis, working by
they might cut me a deal on a few laying cages.
my side on every project. I began rudimentary
Instead they gave them to me, along with as
marketing and after a year we needed more
many hens as I could catch in an old poultry barn
help. Today, having learned all I could teach
in which they had simply been turned loose.
him and more, Geoff oversees the CPAs in our
I began selling eggs to family and friends and at the age of nine usually had $50 or so in my pocket. In high school I switched to yard work and then fence building after I learned
Interim/Outsource
practice,
serving
clients
with accounting, financial, and management assistance. In January, he assumed day-to-day firm management as Managing Principal.
how to build barbed wire fences. While still a
In 2002 I attended a conference where Karen
newlywed, I sold Kirby vacuums door-to-door on
Rich of USDA Rural Development described a
a straight commission for a year and a half (an
grant for agricultural producers and related
extraordinarily useful experience and an article
organizations. I’d never written a grant but two
in itself).
clients let me try and each received $500,000 in funding. I learned that makes people really happy and the service took off.
MORRISON SNAPSHOTS Catch up with the Morrison team on what we’ve been involved with.
First logo, 2002.
A client was once informed they were the largest
So after over 20 years with great companies like
inception-to-date recipient of funding from a
Deloitte, Butte County Rice Growers Association,
well-known USDA program, competing against
and Sunsweet, the idea of starting my own
giants and employing just an Executive Director,
business back in 2002 wasn’t entirely foreign.
a part-time assistant, and us. Before the recession
Working alone had its plusses—I really liked the
required cutbacks in outside grant services, the
dress code—but after a few years of relying on
University of California came within $5,000 of
subcontractors for help the inspiration to build a
being our largest client. Today, Principal Toni Scott
“real company” came in an odd form: a heart
and her fulltime team are dedicated to writing
attack. That might motivate some to slow down
and administering agricultural grant proposals
but for me it was a signal to get serious about
that bring our clients millions of dollars.
where I was going.
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NEWSLETTER | SPRING 2017