Northern Lights - Issue 39 - November 2025
BUSINESS SUCCESS FUELED BY FIREFIGHTERS
by AMY LANE
As firefighters, they’ve helped people on some of the worst days of their lives.
As entrepreneurs, they’ve served the public another way, building successful businesses.
And as they’ve balanced the two paths, Tyler Vandemark, Dave Sicotte and Steve Ball have all seen an assist from Venture North Funding & Development, which has stepped in with loans that have helped make business opportunities or dreams, a reality.
Take Vandemark, who first became a firefighter and paramedic downstate and then moved to Traverse City, joining the Traverse City Fire Department. It was a pursuit he knew was a fit from the time he started at Lansing Community College’s Fire Science Academy.
“I loved everything about it,” Vandemark said. “I’ve always kind of been an adrenaline junkie. Being part of a team, I always liked that setting.”
Tyler Vandemark, owner of TC Golf Carts, shown at right during his tenure with the Traverse City Fire Department, “loved everything about” being a firefighter.
An Idea Was Born
Working 24-hour shifts at the Traverse City department, in some of his free time he customized a few golf carts he’d gotten from a cousin. Putting them up for sale, “they sold immediately,” Vandemark said. A business idea was born.
“I started doing some research because they sold so fast, and at the time, there weren’t any other golf cart companies in Traverse City,” he said. “We have a lot of festivals up here, a lot of campgrounds, a lot of wedding venues. I just started digging in.”
He got in touch with wholesalers and started getting more used carts, building a small rental fleet that he managed on his days off from firefighter duty. It could be a grueling combination: Long hours, lack of sleep and missed birthdays and holidays as a firefighter, then the demands of a growing side business that might find Vandemark ending a 7 a.m.-7 a.m. shift only to hit the road and deliver rentals.
He formed TC Golf Carts in 2018, and at the fire department had a friend and mentor in captain Steve Ball, an entrepreneur in his own right. Vandemark said Ball talked with him about putting together a business plan, research and other matters, and at the start, gave Vandemark space to operate at the location of one of Ball’s businesses, Michigan Gutters Inc.
Firefighter Mentor
“He was definitely a mentor on how to set things up for success,” Vandemark said. “I really look up to Steve. He’s a go-getter; he’s amazing what he has done.”
Referral led Vandemark to Venture North, where in late 2021 he received a $50,000 loan that enabled him to add about 20 carts to his rental fleet – help that that he said “changed the whole course of my business, 100 percent.”
A Win for All
Retiring from firefighting in March 2022 after about five and a half years with the department, Vandemark soon had another big opportunity — supplying 70 rental golf carts to Interlochen Center for the Arts. Inking a three-year contract, he needed to purchase carts and approached Venture North, which along with Traverse Bay Area Credit Union lent money to support TC Golf Carts’ growth.
Venture North’s $303,000 loan was also a win for the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, which through impact investing had lent $500,000 to Venture North to redeploy in the foundation’s five-county region, in alignment with the economic, societal and environmental goals of the Northwest Michigan Community Development Coalition. The coalition is an alliance of business, governmental and nonprofit partners that has set collective priorities for the region and established a scorecard that tracks progress of economic, societal and environmental objectives.
Venture North President Laura Galbraith said the TC Golf Cart’s expansion aligned well with the scorecard’s job-creation and environmental goals, the latter including reduced carbon emissions as with electric golf carts.
A True Definition of Entrepreneur
Vandemark, she said, “is a hard worker and a true definition of an entrepreneur. He saw a gap in the marketplace and quickly created TC Golf Carts to meet the market’s needs.”
The son of business owners, Vandemark has built a company that does sales, service and rentals, with a 130-count rental fleet that includes two, four, six and eight seat carts. Serving customers that include businesses, events, festivals and weddings, his territory spans Traverse City, Petoskey, Northport, Frankfort and Gaylord and has reached as far north as the Mackinac Bridge.
Located on Traverse City’s outskirts, TC Golf Carts has six employees including Vandemark and he is looking at expanding farther north. He’s also obtained his real estate license and is an agent with the NOMI Realtors team at The Mitten Group in Traverse City. He’ll divide his time, knowing that he has systems and employees in place at TC Golf Carts that will keep it running well.
Vandemark said “people skills” as a firefighter have played into his approach to business, and beyond. “Being a good human being, and take care of people, is how I run my life,” he said. “I’m very outgoing, and I believe in taking care of people, and helping people in need.
“We have a five-star review because we want to help people…give good customer service. That’s what you do every day at the fire department, you give your best.”
He’s achieved success that he never envisioned when he was a firefighter eyeing a fledgling business idea, and said “there’s definitely more growth to come. You don’t want to grow too fast, because that can be dangerous as well. I didn’t think I’d ever be where I’m at now. It’s been a fun journey.”
And he said “without that first loan from Venture North, I probably wouldn’t have made a step out of the fire department and go into the business. We’re lucky to have Venture North in the area and willing to help small businesses, because small businesses, a lot of people overlook them as startups.”
Matching Business Services with Talent and Need
Entrepreneurs have come to Venture North’s door from a wide variety of backgrounds – from young high school students to retired professionals pursuing a passion, said Galbraith. Venture North can help clients get started and on a solid business path, assisting them with business planning, cash flow projections, balance sheets and other areas in preparation for a loan.
“Our services are free and we have a team of professionals with a wide range of expertise. We offer low-cost lending tailored to the business’ needs. We can offer flexible terms, such as seasonal repayments or interest-only repayments,” Galbraith said.
“Our interest rates are very affordable, (and) we offer loans to clients that may not yet have access to commercial loans and need a few years to prove their concept to a traditional bank. Or we can partner with a traditional bank and assist the client with a loan for the down payment.”
For Dave Sicotte, co-owner and chocolate maker at Great Lakes Chocolate and Dessert Co., starting a business began small, several years after he and wife Shana moved in 2010 to Traverse City and he joined the Grand Traverse Metro Emergency Services Authority. The authority provides fire and life-safety services to Garfield, Acme and East Bay Townships.
Coming from a family of grandfather, father and brother firefighters – and growing up across from a fire station – “I obviously fell in love with it, from a kid, all the way up,” said Sicotte said, whose firefighting experience includes 10 years in New York and Vermont.
Fueled by Chocolate
When he and Shana – both graduates of the Culinary Institute of America – started Great Lakes Chocolate in 2018 as a wholesale operation in the basement of their house, fueled by their passion for chocolate, Sicotte said he “didn’t have any doubt at the time” about taking on, as do many firefighters, part-time work in the business world.
The couple persevered and adapted through the COVID-19 pandemic and its challenges, committed to making “bean-to-bar” craft chocolate and at one point receiving a $3,500 grant from Venture North’s Regional Resiliency Program. The program provided small grants during the pandemic that were lifelines to small businesses; for Great Lakes Chocolate, it “allowed us to buy a lot of cacao beans, and that’s the heart of our business,” Sicotte said.
In August 2021 the couple realized their dream of opening a retail location, a Traverse City shop for all their chocolate making. Selling their chocolate through retail, online and wholesale channels, Great Lakes Chocolate is “growing every year,” Sicotte said. The company has some 15 to16 employees in peak summer season and about nine to 10 in the winter.
In June 2024 came their next chapter: a second location, in Leland. The café, offering breakfast and lunch selections and Great Lakes’ small-batch chocolate specialties, was a little over $100,000 project aided by a $75,750 Venture North loan that went toward equipment, point of sale system, coolers, dishwashers and other critical items, Sicotte said. “We would not have been able to expand to our Leland location without Venture North,” he said.
“In the fire department…we are trained to have that calm demeanor. I think it just carries over into the business, and allows me to remain very calm, and allows them to remain calm as well. And I think that’s been a positive for the business.”
Dave Sicotte, Great Lakes Chocolate and Dessert Co.
More Impact Investment Success
Like one of Venture North’s loans to TC Golf Carts, the money lent originated from an impact investment in Venture North, this time from Rotary Charities of Traverse City and Northern Trust Corp. Rotary and Northern Trust each invested $500,000 in five-year agreements that began in 2017 and have been renewed.
And now, there’s another business milestone at Great Lakes Chocolate – a move into a production facility that brings together dessert and bakery production carried out at one location, with chocolate making done at the Traverse City shop. A location with nearly triple the production space, there’s room for Great Lakes Chocolates to expand, such as with a new production line or equipment, Sicotte said.
“We’ve been looking for a long time and wanting to do that for a long time,” he said.
A lieutenant and EMT with Grand Traverse Metro, Sicotte said he’s been able to adapt to Great Lakes Chocolate’s steady growth while doing both jobs, adding he and Shana “rely a lot on our employees. Without great employees, I don’t think we could ever make it work like we do. I definitely credit our employees for helping us to run the business on a day-to-day basis, which allows me to do both jobs.”
On Being Fearless
At the business, his fire service background has been a plus. “We deal with a lot in the fire service, and we have to be kind of ready for anything and everything,” Sicotte said. “I know a lot of my employees look at how I go about the day-to-day business, and even when things get stressful…it doesn’t appear that I’m stressed.
“In the fire department…we are trained to have that calm demeanor. I think it just carries over into the business, and allows me to remain very calm, and allows them to remain calm as well. And I think that’s been a positive for the business.”
Galbraith said that “like the vast majority of Venture North’s clients, Dave and Shana have been diligent about building their business from a platform of quality products and great customer service. They have combined the capital we have provided with their own resources and old-fashioned hard work to steadily grow in ways that are smart and effective. That includes consolidating their dessert and baking facility with chocolate production – leveraging operating expenses while freeing up growth opportunities.”
Ambition, hard work and an interest in building businesses mark the path of another firefighter client, Steve Ball.
Sad to see them go but happy for the wonderful growth of “graduates” like Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate, Venture North staff plan to keep in touch even if it means having to stop by the shop from time to time.
The Path of a Young Firefighter
Ball, whose uncle was a volunteer fireman, became interested in fire service at a young age and he pursued a fire science degree and paramedic license from Lake Superior State University. A month after graduating, he hired on at the Traverse City Fire Department.
There, “I learned real quick the value of customer service and life in general, really really young,” Ball said. “I was doing things most 22-year-olds aren’t exposed to or doing at that time. It really gave me a foundation for business.”
When a retired firefighter from Detroit came to the station looking for firefighters interested in earning some side money on their days off, helping with his gutter business, Ball was among those signing on.
The experience hanging gutters “really gave me the itch,” Ball said. “And I really wanted to do something in business, I was really intrigued by it. I wanted to be able to control my own destiny.”
From Opportunity to Success
When the business owner died Ball had the opportunity to buy his equipment and suddenly, he had a business, Michigan Gutters. Hanging gutters with a couple other firefighters when they all got off work, Ball prepared customer estimates at night and “Googled everything gutter and tried to learn how to do this trade.” He connected with a Grand Rapids gutter business owner who took Ball “under his wing,” imparting knowledge and helping Ball to get his business established. With a young family, “it was very challenging,” said Ball, who also started to pursue his master’s in business administration from Davenport University, taking night classes when he could fit them in.
Ball’s wife Carrie took on handling phones and office operations and Michigan Gutters, which had $120,000 in sales its first year, grew rapidly to what is now a $5 million company, said CEO Ball. The company sells and installs residential and commercial seamless gutters, gutter covers and systems and provides other services and has about 40 employees between its Traverse City headquarters and a warehouse in Gaylord.
Other business ventures have followed, including: Integrity Property Holdings, a vacation rental business with more than 30 properties and other accommodations in northern Michigan; and the Northport Inn, which Ball and fellow businessman Lynden Johncock purchased in 2021.
Partnering for Success in Northport
Lending partners 4Front Credit Union and Venture North helped finance the purchase of the historic building in downtown Northport – a project attractive for a number of reasons, Galbraith said, including that the inn is “the largest building in the community and with the right ownership, could be a catalyst for additional economic growth.” There was also direct job creation and borrowers who “were strong guarantors,” she said.
Northport Inn renovations have included kitchen and dining area, the inn’s exterior, and room upgrades with further work planned, Ball said.
Galbraith said most loans Venture North deploys are in participation with another lender, and Venture North “is typically filling a gap, such as assistance on the down payment, so the borrower does not have to consume all of its cash savings on the acquisition and will have extra cash for unknowns or additional working capital.” She said Venture North “really appreciates” the partnerships it has developed with lenders including 4Front Credit Union and, as with a TC Golf Carts loan, Traverse Bay Area Credit Union.
“They introduce us to their customers as a trusted partner,” Galbraith said. “These projects align well with our mission of growing the regional economy.”
A Serial Entrepreneur – from Gutters to Doors to Leather…
She said Ball “is a smart businessperson that can balance taking the risk of entrepreneurship so he can benefit from the profitable rewards. His businesses really do benefit the community, as a job creator/retainer and economic driver.”
Ball also owns Precise Door Co., a company purchased during the pandemic that sells, installs and maintains garage doors in the Traverse City area; and GutterParts.com, a company he created that supplies gutter parts to gutter companies.
He’s also a co-owner, with Lake Superior State roommate and friend David Rapson, of 151-year-old Votruba Leather Co., a downtown Traverse City purveyor of luxury luggage and fine leather goods that the two bought in 2022.
A self-described “serial entrepreneur,” Ball said balancing his business and firefighter pursuits is “hard work” accomplished with his wife’s inspiration, organization and support. “She’s what keeps me going,” he said.
Ball keeps firefighter and business focus separate – his employees know that if he’s at a fire he’s not available – but his firefighter background plays into his approach to business. “I try really hard never to leave a customer upset,” he said.
People Skills Win
“Firefighters, it’s the people skills that have made us successful. You’re dealing with people on the very worst day of their life…business to me, was easy.”
In 18 months, after 25 years with the fire department, he’ll be retiring from firefighting. But not from business.
“I’m still definitely going to be involved in businesses,” Ball said. “I do it because I like it. It’s just fun. I like the challenge of it. We’ll see what happens in the next phase, but it’s been a good ride.”
Amy Lane is a veteran Michigan business reporter whose background includes work with Crain Communications Inc., Crain’s Detroit Business and serving as Capitol correspondent for nearly 25 years. Now a freelance reporter and journalist, Lane’s work has appeared in many publications including Traverse City Business News.
