Newcomers finding niche in the valley

Gallatin County is a great place to live, but a tough place to work.

It’s easy enough to find a low-paying service gig here, but much more difficult to find an interesting job that brings in enough cash to pay the mortgage. Opportunities for upward mobility are slim, and trying to build a career here is often an exercise in futility.

By Jacob Goldstein Chronicle Staff Writer

That reality comes as a shock to many of the starry-eyed urbanites who move to town, only to leave a few years later for greener work pastures.

But one group of newcomers is sidestepping this perennial problem. Alicia Bradshaw calls them "lifestyle entrepreneurs."

"They want to come out here, they want to create a job for themselves and live comfortably and enjoy life," says Bradshaw, executive director of the nonprofit Gallatin Development Corporation.

Instead of working for someone else, lifestyle entrepreneurs move in and start their own businesses.

Like other towns that offer "recreational as well as intellectual amenities," Bozeman has attracted growing numbers of lifestyle entrepreneurs in recent years, according to Bradshaw.

And the trend seems likely to continue.

"I think you’re seeing a generation now that in some ways is less focused on a traditional career path," she says. "They want the quality of life rather than the money."

Rather than aspiring to create multimillion-dollar operations that will someday employ hundreds and go public, most lifestyle entrepreneurs have a more modest, but no less elegant dream: building a solid business that will allow them to lead a comfortable life in a beautiful place.

James and Tessa Natherson moved here from Dallas last summer and opened a studio where people can make mosaics and paint designs on pre-made ceramic goods.

They started a similar business in Texas five years ago and built it into a successful operation. But they hated living in Dallas.

"You have to drive two, three, four hours to get out of the city enough that you can get out and walk around," James says, describing the couple’s frustration with city living.

They had never been to Montana, but Tessa’s mother lives in Polson and "when we saw pictures, we knew," James says.

They packed up their belongings and moved to Bozeman. They arrived on the Fourth of July last summer, and a few months later their new business, Arts on Fire, was open.

Getting their store up and running allowed the couple to plant their feet in the community.

"Everybody was extremely friendly," James says, describing interactions with city planners, contractors and neighboring businesses. "People look at you in the eyes here – that is a big difference. We’ve just come from a place where people don’t look at you in the eyes."

For David Wiehler, moving to Bozeman and starting a business meant connecting with a different segment of the Montana community – hog farmers in Logan, cattlemen near Missoula and Flathead Lake fishermen.

Wiehler came to town last summer and

opened the Sourdough Creek Cafe in the building formerly occupied by Ruppert’s Tap House.

He has always tried to use local products in his cooking, and soon after coming here he sought out Montana ranchers and fishermen to work with.

He says he has also spoken with other local chefs about the possibility of making bulk purchases from area farmers next summer.

Making connections with local growers is just part of the process of settling in for Wiehler.

Like the Nathersons, Wiehler moved here because he wanted to start a business and make a life for his family. He bought a house near town and plans to put down roots.

"I’m here for the long term," he says.

Wiehler spent several years as a chef in Vail, Colo., and was eager to start his own business. He wanted to live in the mountains, but real estate prices in Vail were prohibitive.

He had come with his family to visit his wife’s sister in Manhattan, and thought Bozeman would be a good place to build a business and a life.

An investor encouraged Wiehler to open a restaurant in Denver, but the urban scene left him cold.

"I’m from Philadelphia, I’ve seen all that," he says of city life. "I’d rather raise my child here."

Wiehler ate at most of the area’s upscale restaurants before moving here, and decided he could put together a menu that would compete with the existing local offerings.

The Nathersons, too, did research before moving to the area.

They looked at other Montana towns – Missoula, Billings – but neither had Bozeman’s combination of access to mountains, a growing population and a large pool of disposable income.

"With our kind of business we look at demographics," Natherson says. "Whereas Billings had the population, Bozeman had the money. Our business is completely based on disposable income, so we knew we had to be in a place that had lots of that."

The couple put their Dallas studio up for sale last March, and the story they told prospective buyers reads like a manifesto for all the lifestyle entrepreneurs who’ve moved to Bozeman in recent years:

"The business is doing great, but we don’t like living here. We want to live someplace that’s beautiful and we’re moving to Montana."

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2003/01/05/news/03econbzbigs.txt