A Jack (or Ben) of all trades, local entrepreneur Ben McMillen and his team of dedicated dreamers have built a network of small businesses that are shaping the dining and outdoor culture of not only Waynesburg, but Greene County and the surrounding areas. Since his teen years, Ben has been proudly self-employed in some capacity all his life. “I’ve been in the wedding business since [I was] 17,” he says, first as a DJ, and eventually developing into a photographer, which he still is today, running McMillen Photography.
But the entrepreneur itch surfaced again in early 2019, when Ben and his two daughters began making backpacks and other hiking gear in the basement of their home. “We saw a need for custom-made packs,” he remembers, and in September 2019, Hilltop Packs was founded just in the nick of time. In 2020, all of us can remember the global pandemic striking, and with the struggles and sadness that stemmed from that time, so too did the opportunity for some extra time outdoors.
“The backpacking business kind of saved us during Covid, being a photographer,” says Ben. In a time where few gatherings could take place, America headed for the great outdoors. “It was a perfect storm for hiking time. But if [my daughters] said no, there would have never been a business,” Ben says gratefully.
As business progressed at Hilltop Packs on Greene Street in Waynesburg, the team started a little coffee shop onsite, originally just for employees. But Ben and the staff took an interest in the hands-on process of roasting, grinding, and brewing coffee, not just for themselves, but for the community. So, RGB Roastery (standing for the three-step coffee-making process of roast-grind-brew) began in the same building to extend the delectable flavor to the rest of the community in 2021.
Ben describes his role as “the dreamer” in each of these ventures. “I’m the risk taker,” he explains. “I wanted to do something different. We want [customers] to know us… it’s about connection,” he states. And in order to fulfill this level of connection in the community, the coffee company needed a full, sit-down experience for its customers. Enter RGB Coffee.
In order to outfit this coffee shop in downtown Waynesburg, however, Ben knew that finding the right employees was vital. “There was a lot of headhunting,” he recalls. “We never put out an application; we look for them,” he says of the employee search. The search process was more of a slow treasure hunt than a mile-a-minute skim through stacks of applications. “A waitress was hustling? Let’s go talk to her!” Ben would say. “It’s hard to find the right people with the same work ethic.” RGB needed people who, for them, it wasn’t just a job, but an opportunity “to be part of something really cool in our town.”
As such a driving force of small business ownership in Greene County, Ben has found himself to be a “lightning rod” of sorts for information and collaboration between other local entrepreneurs. Although Greene County does not have an official “small business liaison,” Ben has unofficially taken on this role for our county. He often walks new businesses through the challenges of start-up, and uses his own experiences to consult with others, helping them to become successful.
Ben says that “a lot of small business owners get stuck in their own head.” He advises these entrepreneurs to “talk with others with similar drives, not just similar interests.” Sharing a work ethic proves to be even more beneficial than sharing surface-level commonalities in so far as working together to provide services to the local region, and keeping individual businesses thriving as well.
Communication, according to Ben, is key. “If you lock yourself in a closet, you’ll eventually think, ‘What’s wrong with me? This isn’t working; I’m different.’ If they put themselves out there, work in the community, they thrive,” he says of local businesses.
Ben finds that the importance of online presence for small businesses is also astronomical. He recommends the use of Google Services and other web-based platforms to gain visibility and a broad spectrum of customers. Ben feels that his role as a small businesses advocate is as rewarding to himself as it is beneficial to others. “I want to help you,” he says, “but I really get inspiration from this… I’ve been self-employed for 34 years,” he says. “I don’t want to stop engaging with the community.”
Ben is highly involved with both the Chamber of Commerce Board and the Greene County Tourism Board, both of which allow him to engage with managers of other businesses and help promote what each offers. Working on the Tourism Board, Ben identifies the greatest challenge is the astigmatism that Greene County has “nothing there.” He and the others in tourism promote the hidden gems in our community to those living outside of our county through advertisement, and all of their work centers around the question, “What can I do to attract people?”
“Small businesses really are the backbone of the community, [and] the entire country,” Ben believes. He compares businesses to a baseball game. “[Many people] think factories are what we need.” And factories, he agrees, are like home runs. “But they’re not realistic. You can’t bank on home runs. We need the circle of life between small businesses and the community. We need base hits. Small businesses are base hits.” And with the local ingredients of local love, Greene County is in the perfect position to score.
