Hi everyone,

Two things worth acting on before mid-month, and a lot to skim. The state quietly opened a confidential Owner Readiness survey aimed right at owners in your seat, and there is a real cash tool below you can stand up in one afternoon. Everything else is grouped so you can find your region and your lane fast.

Small rooms. Real operators. Practical conversations.

Paul opened Lushin HQ and sat down with Ryan Ketchum in front of a room full of Indiana owners. He has been at it since he was 17, and started Lushin on $54,000 and furniture he bartered for. A few things the room is still chewing on:

1. You are not the CEO. You are the Chief Cashflow Officer. Early on, most of the job is just keeping cash moving. He left coffee cups around the training room so anyone walking past figured the classes were always full.

2. Base hits, not home runs. Twenty-eight years in, he gives almost none of the credit to big swings. It was singles, over and over.

3. When it gets bad, drive into it. Y2K, 2008, COVID. Every time things got scary, Paul spent more on marketing and made more calls, not fewer.

Missed it? The full talk is in the OWN membership community.

Life After the Deal, with the Ace-Pak team

Year one of ownership, up close. Andrew Wahl, Gabrielle Rubenstein, and Max Wahl on what they inherited, what surprised them, and what broke first.

Wed, Aug‌ 26 · The District Tap, Indianapolis · 4:‌30 to 7:‌30 p.m. · $15, free for members

Build It or Buy It, with Matt Truty

Matt co-founded one company, then bought a 60-year-old one. He and Nick Ladig get into the real tradeoffs of building versus buying.

Thu, Sep‌ 17 · Ruoff Mortgage Stadium, Fort Wayne · 4 to 7 p.m. · $15

October · Bloomington. Our first OWN night in Bloomington is coming in October. Details soon, but put it on your radar now.

First Internet Bank is the presenting sponsor of both our August‌ 26 and September‌ 17 nights. We appreciate Jared Johnson and the First Internet team for helping us put these events on across the state.

The members-only online community is up and running, too.

Founding Operator Rate

for the first 50 operators. After that, $100 a year.

Not an operator? Capital Partner is for investors. Advisory Partner is for the advisors and service providers who work with owners, the CPAs, attorneys, lenders, and fractional execs. Founding rate, first 10 each.

In 2027, OWN events go members-only.

$50 a year, first 50 only. Operator Notes stays free for everyone.

The state tax-amnesty window closes Sep‌ 9.

It clears penalties and interest on old balances, and skipping it can double them.

A $1 billion plant opened on the west side of the Louisville metro. CS PowerTech, a Canadian Solar company, switched on the first phase of its solar-cell plant at River Ridge in Jeffersonville on July‌ 24. At full capacity it expects more than 6 gigawatts a year, roughly $1 billion in local investment, and 1,200-plus manufacturing, engineering, and technical jobs. If you run trades, industrial services, staffing, or logistics in southern Indiana, treat River Ridge as a much bigger customer and a new competitor for skilled labor starting now. Learn more →

The state opened a confidential Owner Readiness survey. Under the new Keep IN initiative, Indiana teamed with the Exit Planning Institute on a roughly 15-minute confidential survey for privately held Indiana businesses. Three of four owners regret selling their business within a year of the transaction, usually because they were not ready for the transition. It is open through Aug‌ 31, with the first statewide report in October. Even if you will never sell, filling it out puts your sector into the data that shapes state succession policy.

Two closings put experienced people back in play. Owens Corning filed to close its Walkerton wood window-and-door operation, 130 jobs, effective Sept‌ 19. Forest River is permanently closing Bristol Plant 63, 105 jobs, effective Sept‌ 17. If you hire in the South Bend or Elkhart orbit, plan outreach around those dates and call DWD Rapid Response before the pool scatters. State WARN list →

Two build-outs worth tracking. Parkview broke ground July‌ 27 on a roughly $200 million hospital in West Lafayette, about 250 jobs, opening 2028. In Walkerton, Polygon is putting $4 million into a tenfold jump in medical-device capacity, adding 35 jobs, ribbon cutting Aug‌ 7. Details →

Worth a listen: Tiffany Sauder on delegation. On the 1,000 Stories podcast from Element Three, Sauder gets specific about separating your identity from the CEO chair and using EOS-style planning to build other leaders. The takeaway for anyone whose business still runs on their own judgment: write down what only you can do, then hand off the rest with real authority, a measure, and a follow-up date. Most owners keep the list in their head, which is exactly why it never leaves their plate. Listen

The Playbook: run a Monday 13-week cash forecast.

Your P&L tells you if you made money on paper. A 13-week cash forecast tells you if you can make payroll, buy materials, and survive one late customer. SCORE calls a rolling 8-to-13-week projection a cash best practice because it buys you time to act before a shortage becomes an emergency.

Jason Flora turned a one-man shop into central Indiana’s third-fastest-growing company. He launched Flora Legal Group in 2009, working 60-hour weeks out of what he calls a shack and driving between Chicago’s immigration court and Indianapolis. He bet the whole firm on one underserved community, built a fully bilingual operation around it, and grew revenue about 250% in two years to $12.2 million, now more than 20 attorneys and roughly 120 people. It landed third on IBJ’s Fast 25. The lesson for any service business: aim your whole operation at a specific, underserved customer and you build a moat generalists cannot cross, while your referral network drives down what you spend to win the next client. Learn more →

Want an Owner Spotlight from a room you were in? Reply with a line about a recent guest and we will write it.

Dates worth putting on the calendar this cycle.

Indiana took in about $2 billion less in federal funding in fiscal 2026 than the year before, a 10% drop, per the State Comptroller’s year-end close. The same report showed a $1.86 billion surplus and a $1.14 billion rainy-day fund.

So what: the state balance sheet is strong, but if you sell to government, universities, health systems, or grant-funded customers, stress-test your 2027 pipeline for thinner federal pass-through. Source

Model your power bill by tariff, not by the headline. The IURC approved an AES Indiana rate settlement of about $71 million, well below the roughly $193 million the utility first asked for, and the state consumer counselor filed for a rehearing on July‌ 7, so this is not settled. If you run refrigeration, process heat, a second shift, or heavy demand charges, hand your controller or broker 12 months of bills and ask for a tariff-specific forecast. Details

Free, state-funded AI help is sitting at your chamber. The Community Collaboration Fund put $757,000 into 22 projects, several of them applied-AI cohorts. Amplify Bloomington’s Builder’s Room teaches established owners to build custom tools like automated inventory and back-office dashboards without writing code. Ask your regional economic-development group what is running near you. Details

Clear old tax penalties before Sep‌ 9. Indiana’s tax-amnesty window waives all penalties, interest, and collection fees on eligible unpaid liabilities from before Jan‌ 1, 2024, if you pay or set a payment plan by Sep‌ 9. Ignore it while you are eligible and those balances can face doubled penalties afterward. Have your CPA check the INTIME portal this month. Details

Deadline, Aug‌ 15: the Indiana Farm Bureau women-in-ag grant. Five $1,000 grants for women-owned, agriculture-related Indiana businesses, usable for training, technology, or equipment. Small money, but real and quick. Apply

Worth a smile. Elkhart Brass won the state’s Coolest Thing Made in Indiana for a glow-in-the-dark fire nozzle, engineered so a firefighter can grab the right hose in a dark, smoke-filled room. A 124-year-old Indiana company, still solving a real problem. Story

Skip this if you are just running the business. Market intel, awareness only.

One quick poll: What do you want more of in Operator Notes? Local signals · Operating tactics · Owner stories · Events

Got feedback, an idea, or an intro? Just reply.

We read every one. Or reach us anytime at [email protected].

See you in the next room.

Jared and the OWN Indiana team