SIDNEY -- Day 2 of the Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities (CEC) conference started with a panel of local business owners talking about their experiences.

They were questioned by Jaime Bright, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, Rural Prosperity Nebraska, and Sidney E3 Navigator Alisha Juelfs on how they developed their business or in some case businesses.

Juelfs asked the Norgard, Richards and Enevoldsen what resources have been beneficial.

"I think, No. 1, you, Alisha, obviously, our E3 Navigator. Nebraska Business Development Center has always been a really good partner, helping us through writing our business plan and the financials. When we first started we actually purchased the former Sam & Louies because the people who had it were transitioning out of that business because they were looking to retire," Norgard said.

She said Sarah Bennett, University of Nebraska-Kearney, helped with their business plan and financials.

Enevoldsen said family, relationships is what leads to success; not just biological family but the relationships within the community.

Richards said she continues to network within Sidney and even with Enevoldsen when visiting Potter. Richards is the owner of Beans and Steams Coffee House and Enevoldsen owns Chuckaboo Station and Hangar 39 in Potter.

After the conference, Jana Jensen with Nebraska Community Foundation and Juelfs reflected on the Wednesday to Thursday afternoon conference. Jensen said the event offered Sidney an opportunity to showcase how the community is recovering.

"The last two days have been a showcase of Sidney, and a great opportunity for them to show the rest of Nebraska, and others, because we had people from Kansas and Missouri here, and Montana. I may have missed a few, but, we had other states here coming together to learn about entrepreneurship and just the great robust community that we have here in Sidney and their ability to rebound after the Cabela's situation," Jensen said.

Juelfs, the Sidney E3 Navigator, agreed that the workshop offered an opportunity for other people to see Sidney's vision.

"Again, just that showcase piece of when you have a really strong support system and a passionate individual things can really happen. I got some questions outside of a presentation that were 'well, how does this form. This specific community would really benefit from this. How do we get it started there?' which is, again, really great because I said 'Oh, let me introduce you to Jana, you know, with NCF, and have these conversations. From the E3 perspective, we got to show why it works," she said.