Since 2009
Grand Rapids Area Professionals for ExcellenceMore About GRAPE
Our Mission
“To build a community of professionals who inspire others to reach their fullest potential: personally, professionally, and neighborly!”
Connect With Us
CLICK here to get our APP for easy convenient access: user friendly, no downloading necessary!
Sign up for real time text message alerts. Simply text GRAPE to 313131.
Become A Sponsor
We appreciate your support. Click here for more information. We are always looking to promote area venues too!
Meet GRAPE’s Leadership Team
Carolyn Lund
Board President
Co-Founder & Managing Partner with Earnest Apps (A division of Earnest Enterprises)
Lisa Kosak
Social Media Consultant
Horizon Bank
Patty Vanderklok
Board Secretary
Real Estate Investor
John Potter
Executive Director
Academic Librarian
GRAPE Events
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Join our GRAPE Sponsorship program
Support. Recognition. Appreciated.
Please visit our sponsors.
What we do
Creating a Community of Excellence
Connect
Connect events are opportunities for entrepreneurs to meet and build relationships with others in the Grand Rapids area.
Educate
Every quarter, GRAPE hosts special meetings that provide members with relevant and helpful information.
Inspire
Annually, GRAPE highlights an issue or charity that members can learn about and support.
What Drives Us
Our Mission
To build a community of professionals who inspire each other to reach their fullest potential: personally, professionally, and neighborly!
Get Involved
As a non-profit organization, GRAPE always appreciates the support of volunteers!
Our Next Event
Annual Inspire Event October 17, 2019
GRAPE's Annual Inspire Event October 17, 2019 Olivet Nazarene University Ste 111 625 Kenmoor SE 11:15-1:15 "Legalized Marijuana", now what? 11:15 - Sign In, Meet, Greet, and Network 11:45 - Lunch Buffet, Announcements, and Sponsors' Recognition 12:00 - Guest...
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Articles
Michigan Business Law Update Affecting Owners in Closely Held Businesses: Shareholder Oppression Lawsuits
Majority Shareholders with closely held businesses need to be careful that their actions do not violate their partnership agreements, which may in turn violate Michigan law.
If such a violation is found, a Court has broad discretion to provide relief to a harmed minority shareholder.
Space for Diversity in Grand Rapids’s Business Community
An Mlive article this week about the repaving and installation of roundabouts on Monroe Avenue and other upcoming road projects also touched on an issue of interest to the Grand Rapids business community: how West Michigan supports minority businesses.
Patience is the skill of creating now
By Dean Leutscher, PMP (profile)
If you Google the term “business skills,” I guarantee that patience will not be among the skills included in any list. If we think of patience in a business setting at all, it usually comes to mind when someone is not doing something fast enough to suit us.
Immediate action and short-term results seem to drive our business culture, at least in the United States. Technology fosters our need for instant feedback from people and immediate resolution to situations. If we don’t get a quick reply to the voice-mail and e-mail messages we leave, we’ll try to contact people using instant messaging. Maybe they are “just in a meeting” and can respond now.
8 Healthy Habits for the Office (DIY Corporate Wellness)
By Kyle Johnson
The majority of Americans work anywhere from 8-12 hours each day. For most, it’s a sedentary office job sitting behind a desk for the majority of the work day. This is a time where you can choose to take your health in one of two directions. You can either take the steps to improve your well-being during this time or you can slowly let it slip leading to poor future health.
On Knowing Oneself
By Scott Mutchler
Leadership requires many things of us. This often includes foresight and vision, fortitude, a sense for what is ahead, and the skills to prepare, plan, and effectively execute what needs to be done. These are essential skills, of course, but not necessarily sufficient for peak leadership.
Sometimes leadership requires looking not only outside of ourselves, but inside as well. If we’re completely candid with ourselves, this can feel unsettling. Take a deep breath and be grateful for your fortitude. Trust that it will be there for you when you need it.
Ettiquette: A Thing of the Past
Drivers haphazardly change lanes without so much as a flash of… what’s that device called on the steering column? Emails, voice mails go unanswered. Hosts hound those who they’ve invited to RSVP so they know how much food to order. Does it seem like people are less considerate than they used to be? Are there more times when people are downright rude? How about human kindness and politeness? Do those acts balance the scales of human behavior?
Sociologist Jeff Rothstein says people haven’t changed; circumstances have. “Technology speeds everything up. We’re still basically the same people capable of processing information so we may feel overworked and harried.” Rothstein says mankind is still adopting to the new technologies which inundate most of our lives whether it’s mobile devices, Smart Phones or all the apps designed to make our lives easier. Try going to a restaurant without seeing someone engaged with their cell phone; not the person they’re with.
Bernie Kamps, Grand Rapids business veteran, talks 40 years of vision
West Michigan has benefited significantly in both the short and long terms from businessmen with vision, determination, and a strong work ethic. The climate we enjoy today for commerce was built by all those who came before us. I talked to Bernie Kamps, a longtime Grand Rapids businessman who started his hauling venture as a teenager and has built it into a multi-state, multi-location full-service pallet logistics business.
The Importance of Having a Unified Vision
On Vision
Breaking Free of the “Gerbil Syndrome”
By Michelle Steffes Many of us find ourselves extremely busy with more tasks than time every day. We have a list of things that just gets carried over from one day to the next. At times we can get to the end of our day exhausted from our activity but feel as though we...