McHenry honors Think Big Go Local

McHenry has long honored businesses for their longevity with plaques and events over the years.

The city’s business recognition program was shuttered when COVID-19 shutdowns ended in-person events, said Dorothy Wolf, McHenry’s economic development coordinator.

On Friday, McHenry brought back the program, recognizing Think Big Go Local for 10 years in business with an event at City Hall, rather than at the online marketing agency’s office, because its owners chose to sell the building and go completely remote during the pandemic, founder Bobbi Baehne said.

The “silver lining” of the pandemic shutdown might be that clients no longer believe a company needs “brick and mortar to be legitimate anymore,” Baehne said. “You can be just as successful and efficient” working remotely.

“It started out of necessity. All of the sudden, we were more legitimate because we had a brick-and-mortar location.”

—  Bobbi Baehne, founder of Think Big Go Local in McHenry

Baehne originally started Think Big Go Local solo as a home-based business in 2013 before hiring a social media manager the following year. Then in May 2015, her business partner, Brian Rugg, invested in the agency “and came on as our vice president and head of website development and related service,” she said.

Rugg, who has a corporate background, wanted a physical office. So, it seemed, did their clients, Baehne said. “It started out of necessity. All of the sudden, we were more legitimate because we had a brick-and-mortar location.”

The office, at Bull Valley and Walkup roads, also gave the marketing company a location for seminars and training, “teaching small businesses how to market themselves,” Baehne said.

Business doubled with the office space, Baehne said, because clients may have decided “that we were really good at what we do.”

When COVID-19 hit, Rugg contracted the virus and they company, like many other businesses, went remote. The agency bought technology – from laptops to headsets – allowing its staff to work from wherever they wanted, Baehne said.

When the economy dips, companies often slash marketing and advertising budgets, Baehne said. Think Big Go Local also experienced that decline.

“We decided we were going to spend our time offering support to the other small businesses” by providing online and training, using video calls to support marketing efforts, she said.

A Paycheck Protection Program loan also kept the company afloat. “Amen to the forgiveness PPP loans,” Baehne said, adding that if the federal loan had not existed, the company may not have made it through the shutdown.

After the pandemic, clients no longer seem to think a business needed to have a physical location to prove success, she added.

“After COVID, they are perfectly happy to get on a Zoom call and not have to physically go anywhere. They don’t need that now like they did prior to COVID.”

Baehne also understands that being completely remote won’t work for all businesses, and there is a concern about empty office buildings paying less in property tax.

“I get the need to fill the office spaces, but at the same time it is a better workplace and a better community” for her staff, several of whom are young mothers, Baehne said. They don’t have to be away from [children] an extra two hours a day” because of a commute.

“Businesses that have the ability to offer working from home will have a better workforce because of it.”