| Mark Your Calendar |
Discover Web 2.0
Millikin University
May 21, 2009
How to Start a Business Class
May 18th in Mattoon
June 15th in Paris
Effingham 6/8-10/09
EIU 6/14-17/09
Lumpkin Downstate Nonprofit Conference
Champaign
8/26-27/09
Prarie Spark Investment Forum
9/3/09
TBA
7:30 am
BSC/SCORE Annual Breakfast
10/15/09
EIU - Tarble Arts
7 am
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| Platinum & Gold Partners |
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Charleston Area Charitable Foundation
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| Silver Partners |
| Agracel
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City of Charleston
City of Paris
East Central Illinois Development Corporation
Effingham County Board
First Neighbor Bank
Forysthe Family Farms
Journal Gazette/Times Courier
Moultrie County Board
Paris Community Foundation
Paris First
U.S. Bank |
| Other Partners |
| Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce
Eastern Illinois Education for Employment Systems |
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Greater Effingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Frank and Cathy Brummer
Lake Land College Tech Prep
Lorenz Supply Company
PEDCO
Schultz Investment Company
State Bank of Arthur
Terwilliger Agency | |
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Entrepreneurial Endeavors |
| Greetings!
"Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless" - Tim Blixseth
There was no shortage of ideas at our first BSC advisory board meeting held is March and we're executing the partnership's mission with more than 118 counseled and 1240 trained since July. Click here to see more details of the BSC impacts.
In this newsletter, you will see how regional efforts are working together to "grow our own" entrepreneurs. From the new Prairie Spark initiatives that focus on bringing money to the ideas, to the great accomplishments of the Effingham County CEO class, the new 1/2 day Leadership Marshall e-training, education is the key. Read on to see what is happening in entrepreneurship, check out our highlighted tools and research and see the testimonials from clients who have benefited from the BSC and SCORE counseling.
Camp e3 is just around the corner, so sign up your teens today for a great summer camp experience.
Jeanne
Jeanne Dau
Director
Business Solutions Center
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| Premiere of BSC Video for new Web-site Click Here then click on BSC video in I-tunes
Check out our short video that instructs clients on how to receive services from the BSC. Thanks so much to all of the "stars" in videos - clients who have given us permission to use their testimonials (Darin Bower - Pro Mow Lawn Care, Debby Cook and Lynette Ashmore - Lifelinks, Brian Titus - Lorenz Supply Company and Ann Beck - Flesor's Candy Kitchen). A special thanks to the talented EIU student, Mike Meddick, who created the video.
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Prairie Spark Investment Forum Date Set for Sept. 3rd
Wanted: Investors, Inventors, Start-ups & Expanding Businesses
How are you investing your money in these uncertain times? The Business Solutions Center will be hosting the first Prairie Spark Investment Forum on Thursday, September 3rd that will highlight local growth companies looking for local investment dollars to grow their businesss.
Contact me at 217-581-2913 or jcdau@eiu.edu if you are interested in investing in regional companies or if you are a business that would like to present your idea to local investors.
Area Revolving Loan Funds Available
Can't wait until September for possible funding? Then check out the revolving loan funds available in cities and counties across the region to help with gap financing. To view already established revolving loan funds in the region, Click Here.
The BSC is working with both the Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation and the Rural Conservation District to write two grants trying to establish a revolving loan fund specifically targeted to start-ups and entrepreneurial endeavors and will be used as gap financing along with conventional bank loans to capitalize new projects. Keep your fingers crossed, we should have something to report soon. |
Sign your child or grandchild for  Camp e3
We are pleased to offer two Camp e3- energizing emerging entrepreneurs events this year - a day camp in Effingham and an overnight camp in Charleston. Please help spread the word and consider sponsoring a few youths from your community to plant the seeds of entrepreneurship in your own backyard. See the newsbroadcast from last years camp here.
Both camps will provide the tools to become an entrepreneurial thinker, using creativity to build a business venture through community enhancement. Campers are divided into teams of four where they create, organize, and pitch a business idea. Successful entrepreneurs will present on topics such as business concept development, creativity and innovation, marketing and advertising and business budgeting. 
This year's Effingham camp is sponsored by Midland States Bank and will be held Monday, June 8 -10, 2009 and the registration fee is $129.
The EIU Camp e3 is a 3 night - 4 day camp that will be held on the Eastern Illinois University campus. The EIU camp is Sunday, June 14 -17, 2009. The cost for the overnight camp is $395.
Davil Orr (picured left), founder of Fruper.com and guest speaker of the camps said, "As a young entrepreneur, I can tell you that the experience provided in Camp e3 gives participants a perfect base for launching their own company at any age."
Jack Schultz, CEO of Agracel and guest speaker at both camps stated, "The millenial generation, aged 12-27, is going to be the most entrepreneurial generation in the history of the United States. Camp e3 is the best way to start the entrepreneurial juices flowing for this young generation."
Please pass this information along to interested teenagers and their parents. Also please consider suggesting that your civic group or economic development agency sponsor a teen's registration fee.
CampCEO - If you can't make it to Camp e3, Millikin and Southern Illinois University both offer a week long CampCEO (Millikin's is June 13-20th and SIU's is July 5-10th. Please check it out at http://www.campceo.biz.
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CEO Class Shows off their business start-ups at their Annual Meeting
  
The Effingham County CEO class proudly displayed their businesses in a trade show at the Rosebud Theatre last month. Hats off to all of the students on their wonderful ideas and our congratulations to teacher Craig Lindvahl, Susan Hanfland of Eastern Illinois for Employment Systems, Karen Wolters and Dan Clasby co-chairs, and the entire committee who put in many years of dedication to make the CEO class a success.
Congratulations to Craig Lindvahl, teacher of the CEO class, who was awarded to Entrepreneur Teacher of the year at the Illinois Institute of Entrepreneurial Education. Kudos also are in order for CEO student Joel Baker and Janae Wolf who won 2nd and 3rd place respectively with their business plans at the conference. |
BSC Presents 1/2 day E-program to Leadership Marshall
Teen entrepreneur David Orr of Fruper.com and I presented a one-half day entrepreneurship mini-workshop to highschoolers involved in the Leadership Marshall program. The winning team at right used their imagination to create four junk pieces into a innovative phone recharger. Thanks to Tiffany Macke of the Univeristy of Illinois Extension Service for collaborating on this program. |
Learn about Social Networking - Discovering Web 2.0
BSC and SCORE offered a Discover Web 2.0 training on April 30th at the Crossroads Workforce Investment Computer Lab in Mattoon. EIU's Antoine Thomas defined what Web 2.0 is and let the group learn about blogs, nings, flickr and Facebook and conducted hands-on exercises to help participants decide what tools might be most helpful to incorporate into their marketing and business efforts. Both businesses and nonprofits attended this event.
We are partnering with Millikin University's Tabor Center of Entrepreneurship for the May event.
Discovering Web 2.0
May 21, 2009
8 am - noon
Millikin University
$35
Call (217) 424-6298 to register
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Employ Youths for Free - Summer Work Experience Program
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has added money to the Children and Family Services Summer Work Experience Program to pay for aprroximately 300 summer jobs in our region specifically to employ low-income youth. The government will pay their wages, all you have to do is provide them with a beneficial work experience in your business or nonprofit organization.
For more information, call Kevin Busher at Chidren and Family Services at 217-342-2193 Ex. 117.
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Entrepreneurs and MBAs Don't Think the Same
from IEN Weekly Connections
"Entrepreneurial thinking" differs significantly from how MBAs think, researchers at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business found. Unlike MBAs who start out with a goal, entrepreneurs use "effectual reasoning," which lets goals emerge over time as they imagine ways to bootstrap, prototype and market their products and services.
Business Legal Entities and Tax Rates
A recent study indicates that the "effective tax rate" varies greatly depending on the legal entity of your business. What exactly is the "effective tax rate?" Which entity pays more? BSC Counselor Stan Thurman has an overview and a link to the report. |
Stan's Links 
www.entrepreneur.com (Entrepreneur Magazine website loaded with top flight articles and more.)
www.nhbic.com (Don't let the name fool you. The National Hispanic Business Information Clearinghouse is a great resource no matter what your ethnic heritage is.)
www.bizinfolibrary.com (Sponsored by the three of the largest supporters of entrepreneurship in the world, the Kauffman Foundation, the Lowe Foundation and the James J. Hill Reference Library, this might very well be one of your greatest on-line business resource sites.) | |
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As always, if you have any questions or suggestions on how the BSC can assist entrepreneurs, please don't hesitate to call us at 581-2913.
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