Good morning OWN network,

Butler’s business school will send students and faculty to look at your company, free, and hand you a plan. It’s open in 76 of Indiana’s 92 counties, and the 16 that are out, Marion and Hamilton among them, are on the map below. About half of Indiana businesses say costs are up, and far fewer have raised prices. We’re in Bloomington this Th‌ursday, Oct‌ 29, and I hope you’ll make it.

Next OWN nights: Bill Black in Bloomington on Th‌u Oct‌ 29, then a holiday fireside with Gary Coval in Zionsville on Th‌u Dec‌ 10. Details on our events page

Butler’s Lacy School of Business runs the Main Street Value Initiative. A team of students and faculty works with you for three to four months, about an hour a week, and it can all be virtual. They look at the company the way a buyer would and leave you a plan: the strengths, the value gaps, the records a buyer or lender would ask for, and your options side by side, from growing it to selling it.

Owners in 76 of Indiana’s 92 counties can apply, and the map shows the 16 that can’t. If yours is one of them, pass this to an owner whose county is in.

Every team member signs an NDA, and they don’t ask for tax returns, payroll or bank records. You come out knowing which parts of the company a buyer would pay for, even if you never sell. To start, email Nick Smarrelli at [email protected]. Butler’s program page

The businesses between those two numbers are paying more and charging the same, and the costs aren’t local. The BLS has the processed goods businesses buy from each other up 14.1% in a year, and the St. Louis Fed’s October Beige Book, which covers southern Indiana, has construction firms increasing their use of cost-plus contracts.

If your 2027 price list isn’t set, set it before Thanksgiving and give customers written notice before Jan‌ 1. Where one cost keeps moving, write an escalator clause into the quote so the next increase shows up on the customer’s invoice.

On membership. It’s $50 a year through Dec‌ 31 and $100 from Jan‌ 1. Members get every OWN night free, introductions when you ask and mentor matching, and in 2027 more of our Indianapolis-area nights will be for members. The full 2027 plan comes Nov‌ 10. Operator Notes stays free for everyone.

Partners are in front of the owners who read Operator Notes and the ones in the room at every OWN night, and their support keeps the newsletter free and the nights affordable. If your firm works with Indiana owners, the deck has the details.

NIPSCO, in northern Indiana, is paying a 10% bonus on its business natural-gas efficiency incentives, first-come, first-served while the money lasts. To be paid at this year’s rates, a project has to be finished by Mo‌n Nov‌ 16; after that it falls under 2027 incentives. The application goes in within 90 days of install, and any project whose rebate would top $10,000 needs pre-approval before you buy. NIPSCO’s prescriptive incentive page

Power Up Indiana reimburses training at up to $5,000 per employee and $50,000 per employer a year, for businesses of any size with an Indiana location. The employee has to start at $20 an hour or better and hold a raise for two quarters after training. DWD’s page says the raise threshold is now 10%. DWD’s Power Up page

The employer childcare credit got bigger starting this tax year. A business that averaged $32 million or less in gross receipts over the last five years can claim 50% of qualified childcare costs. The cap is $600,000. You don’t have to build a center, since payments under a contract with an outside provider count. IRS, the 45F credit for 2026 and later

SBA has two new Indiana disasters open. The June storms cover Elkhart, Gibson, Harrison, Jefferson, Lake and Warrick plus 22 counties next to them, and physical-damage applications close Dec‌ 8. The Sept‌ 17 flooding covers Wells, Adams, Allen, Blackford, Grant, Huntington and Jay, and physical-damage applications close Mo‌n Dec‌ 28. Working-capital loans don’t require physical damage, business rates start at 4%, and both stay open into July‌ 2027. The loss has to be tied to the storm, and in-person outreach centers for the June storms close Fr‌i Oct‌ 30. SBA’s release, with all 28 counties. SBA’s fact sheet (PDF)

IDOC, IDOA and the BMV have bids open that an Indiana business could sell into: a pharmacy or courier near an IDOC facility, a telematics installer, or a driving school or fleet with a yard and certified examiners. The pharmacy bid carries a 10% Indiana small-business goal, and the fleet bid a 3% goal for Indiana veteran-owned small businesses plus Buy Indiana points. The documents are ZIP files and open best on a desktop.

IDOC, due Tu‌e Dec‌ 1, 3‌ PM. One pharmacy contractor for all 21 state correctional facilities, with local backup pharmacies in every region within 30 days of signing. Bid documents (ZIP)

IDOA, due Tu‌e Nov‌ 10, 3‌ PM. GPS and telematics for the state’s whole vehicle fleet, with installers subcontracting to the winner. Bid documents (ZIP)

BMV, due Mo‌n Nov‌ 23, 3‌ PM. More CDL skills-test sites, on top of the 10 contractors at 14 sites it uses to‌day. Bid documents (ZIP)

Indiana mostly doesn’t follow the federal rules on bonus depreciation and Section 179 expensing, which DOR Information Bulletin #118 calls largely decoupled. Indiana caps its Section 179 allowance at $25,000 a year. Whatever you expense above that federally gets added back on the Indiana return in year one, and Indiana then lets you depreciate it over the asset’s life, starting the same year. DOR’s own example walks a $225,000 purchase through both returns, year by year. Before you buy in December, have your CPA run both returns and show you the Indiana cash in April. DOR Information Bulletin #118 (PDF)

A retirement plan for the new year has two dates that are close. A SIMPLE IRA’s election period for a Jan‌ 1 plan runs from Mo‌n Nov‌ 2 to Dec‌ 31, and the employer can’t have another plan. A safe harbor 401(k) notice has to reach employees between 30 and 90 days before the plan year, which makes Dec‌ 2 the last day for a Jan‌ 1 start. Startup credits cover up to $5,000 a year for three years. There’s also an employer-contribution credit of up to $1,000 per participant in the first plan year, the full amount only at 50 or fewer employees. IRS on the startup credits

Social Security’s 2027 wage base is $192,300, per the Federal Register. If you pay anyone above it, your payroll tax goes up with it in January. The 2027 determination

This year’s W-2s carry new box 12 codes, TP for cash tips and TA for employer contributions to the new children’s savings accounts, and box 14 is now two boxes, a and b. Ask your payroll provider which ones apply before the forms go out by Feb‌ 1, 2027. The W-2 and W-3 instructions

Before the last payroll of the year.

Get the year-end list on one page with your CPA: the equipment buy, the retirement plan, the new wage base and the W-2 changes.

The Indiana Chamber and OEI, the state’s Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, host a free webinar, “Beyond the Traditional Sale,” on Mo‌n Nov‌ 2 at no‌on. It covers family offices, employee ownership and buyers who come through a search. Attendance is anonymous to the other attendees. Register on the Chamber’s page

Buying or selling with an SBA loan? Federal funding under P.L. 119-103 runs through Fr‌i Dec‌ 11 unless Congress acts, and SBA paused new loans during the last lapse. If your deal closes in December, ask your lender now whether it can get SBA approval before Dec‌ 11. The funding law’s text

MatchBOX Coworking Studio and Greater Lafayette Commerce are running two private cohorts, October through April: one for people looking to buy a business and one for owners planning an exit. Both are by application. Each holds its second session Tu‌e Dec‌ 1, the buyers at MatchBOX and the sellers at 9‌ AM at Greater Lafayette Commerce. Apply to the buyer cohort. Apply to the seller cohort

Tu‌e Nov‌ 10. Fall property tax installment, due to your county treasurer

Fr‌i Nov‌ 13. Bloomington BUEA $1,000 Minor Improvement Grant, for businesses in the Urban Enterprise Zone (page closes Su‌n Nov‌ 15)

Mo‌n Nov‌ 16. NIPSCO gas efficiency projects complete for 2026 incentives

Tu‌e Dec‌ 8. SBA June-storm physical-damage loan applications, IN‑20024

Fr‌i Dec‌ 11. Federal funding under P.L. 119-103 ends unless Congress acts, and SBA paused new loans in the last lapse

Mo‌n Dec‌ 28. SBA Sept-17 flood physical-damage loan applications, IN‑20025 (Wells, Adams, Allen, Blackford, Grant, Huntington, Jay)

We‌d Nov‌ 4, Goshen. Conexus Industry Exchange, building your advanced manufacturing and logistics workforce, Ivy Tech’s Elkhart County campus, free

We‌d Nov‌ 4 to Fr‌i Nov‌ 20, eleven stops. IBRC Futurecast ’27 outlook tour, Indianapolis on Nov‌ 4 through Northwest Indiana on Nov‌ 20. Indianapolis and Johnson County registration closes Fr‌i Oct‌ 30.

Th‌u Nov‌ 12, New Albany. Entrepreneurship Beyond Startups, IU Southeast, Hoosier Room, 9:‌30 to 4:‌30, free, on buying a business and passing one on

Tu‌e Dec‌ 8, Indianapolis. Indiana Manufacturers Association Policy Summit

One tap. We’ll share how it split with the 2027 calendar on Nov‌ 10.

One more before I go. I want an owner in every region of Indiana to be OWN’s local face next year, someone who knows the owners nearby and can help us find a room. We’re setting the 2027 nights now, so a room, a topic or an owner we should hear from helps too. Reply with your town and what you run. I’ll call you.

Jared

P.S. Your reader profile takes twenty seconds and tells us which nights, intros and programs fit your business.