For more information on Western Dairyland's Business Development services, email us at BusinessDevelopment@WesternDairyland.org or call:

Independence Office
(715) 985-2391, Ext. 211 or (800) 782-1063, Ext. 211

Eau Claire Office
(715) 836-7511, Ext. 171

(SBA's financial assistance does not constitute or imply its endorsement of any opinions, products, and/or services. All SBA programs are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Award No. SBAHQ-99-W-0005.)

Sometimes, small calamities and disappointments turn out to be the "Mother of Inventions" when least expected. For Ron Bentley and Bruce Tosenau, that's how it started. Bruce, an avid ice fisherman, had a little problem with losing his fishing pole through the ice holes. "There's gotta be a better way," he thought.

Meantime in Altoona, Ron Bently, his inventive mind racing with nowhere to go, was spending many agonizing hours lying on the floor where he hoped for relief from a serious back injury. When Bruce came to Ron pleading for his help to come up with a clever idea or invention to make a sort of clamp to hold his fishing pole, R & G Designs, Inc. was born.

"We spent 18 months with Western Dairyland's staff developing a business plan, completing the patent process, and searching for the type of financing we needed. Finally, to get our business off the ground, our 'Twist 'n Lock' was licensed to a large company. This provided the much-needed capital to expand our product lines with 'The Quickie', a unique fishing rod holder," Ron explains.