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Give to BSC in Campaign | |
Please consider making a charitable donation to the Business Solutions Center as part of the EI&U Expect Greatness campaign.
Your gift will help:
- send a student to Camp e3
- provide free and confidential counseling to start-ups, existing businesses and nonprofits
- offer low-cost training to help organizations succeed
- support Junior Achievement and other youth e-education
- grow our own entrepreneurs that will create jobs and sustain the economic vitality in the region
For employees who wish to have their support deducted through payroll deduction, please click here for the form. If you are not an employee of EIU, but would like to have the convenience of electronic funds transfer (EFT), please download this form. Please make sure that you specify the Business Solutions Center as your gift's designated recipient on these forms.
Of course there is the option of online giving at our donation website. Regardless of which way you wish to support the Business Solutions Center, we thank all of our current and future Partners. |
| Platinum Partners |
Charleston Area Charitable Foundation
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| Silver Partners | |
Agracel
City of Charleston
City of Paris
East Central Illinois Development Corporation
Effingham County Board
First Bank of Paris
First Neighbor Bank
Journal Gazette/Times Courier
Karen Wolters, Ignite, USA
U.S. Bank |
| Other Partners | |
Annie Hernandez
Bob and Nancy Williams
Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce
Citizens National Bank
Consolidated Communications
Eastern Illinois Education for Employment Systems
Fifth Third Bank
First National Bank of Dieterich
Flesor Family Confectionary, Inc.
Frank and Cathy Brummer
Gary Henigman
Gilbert, Metzger & Madigan LLP
Greater Effingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry
In Memory of Jack Clifford
McDonalds of Coles County
Paul Ruff
SCH Consulting
Schultz Investment Company
State Bank of Arthur
Tuscola National Bank
Vantage Outsourcing
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Entrepreneurial Endeavors
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Greetings!
Shark Tank is "must see TV" for entrepreneurs wanting to perfect their business pitch. Every Friday night at 7 p.m. on ABC, (or anytime at abc.com), five multi-millionaire business tycoons hear brief investment proposals from entrepreneurs and consider whether to invest in the businesses. The tycoons discern if they are interested in a deal based on a few probing business questions and a quick summing up of the entrepreneur's character. I enjoyed watching last Friday and tried to guess which lucky entrepreneurs would get funded and why. Shark Tank adds some drama which is to be expected in a reality television show, but the sharks accurately point out the strengths and weaknesses of the deals in an entertaining and educational way. If you are an entrepreneur, Click here to find out how to appear on Shark Tank. If you are a teacher, the Business Solutions Center has created a Shark Tank handout you can use to engage your students while watching the show. Sincerely,
Jeanne
Director
Business Solutions Center |
Success Story - American Obstacle, Inc.
American Obstacle, Inc. is an outdoor adventure park near Kimundy on Route 37 that young and old alike can enjoy. It was built to provide a place for everyone to get out in the great outdoors and have the opportunity to be a little extreme. Everyone deserves to do something a little crazy from time to time and you deserve a day of fun. That is why American Obstacle owners and BSC clients Curt & Lisa Clough assembled a team that has been trained and certified according to the Association of Challenge Course Technology standards. They will not only provide a safe experience but also a memorable one.
To see why Curt & Lisa Clough exemplify the all-important entrepreneurial quality of perseverance, read the full article here. For contact & reservation information on this exciting new enterprise visit their website. |
Upcoming Training 
The Business Solutions Center has created a Social Media Training series that will walk you through creating a Facebook page, electronic newsletters, and other social media marketing tips.
Facebook 101 Series - 21 Ways to Use Facebook for Business - Join us for the last two sessions - EIU students assist you in creating pages!
Monday, April 4th, 11th and 18th
Series Fee - $35
5:30 - 7 pm Rm 1120 Lumpkin Hall, Eastern Illinois University
Click here for flyer
Social Media Marketing Made Simple /Getting Started with Constant Contact
Thursday, April 7th, 10 am -2 pm
Two Flowers Cafe Meeting Rooms, Charleston
Registration Fee - $25 (lunch is included)
Click here for flyer
How to Start a Business - Sullivan
Thursday, April 14th, 6 pm - 9 pm
First Christian Church
1357 CR1200E, Sullivan
Materials Fee - $25/person and $35/couple
Click here for flyer
Please click here to register for the preceding listed trainings.
Modernizing Your Business PC - April 14th, Charleston
Please contact the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce for more information at 217-345-7041. Click on the link Business PC for an article on this course.
Understanding Financial Statements - April 14th, Mattoon
SCORE is offering Understanding Financial Statements. Call 345-7041 for more information and to make reservations. Click on the link Financial Statements for an article on this course.
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Build a Stand...Spark a Dream!
 | | EIU students Sara Mitchell, Joshua Minnes, Michael Nguyen, Bryan Pulliam. Dr. Karen Drage is supervising the project. |
Four Eastern Illinois University students are working with the Teen Reach afterschool program to participate in Lemonade Day on Sunday, May 1st, 2011. According to their website, "Lemonade Day is a nation-wide event that teaches kids the skills they need to be successful in the future. Youth learn to set goals, develop a business plan, establish a budget, seek investors, provide customer service, and give back to the community. Lemonade Day is the perfect opportunity for a community to show kids they care and train the next generation of entrepreneurs". Click here to learn how to to get your community involved in Lemonade Day.
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Sign up for a Free Classroom Visit
"Do you have what it takes to be an Entrepreneur?"
A great way to let your students know about entreprenuership is by having the BSC present a 45 minute class that defines entrepreneurship in an age appropriate way. Questions are asked with Turning Point to assess their entrepreneurship traits. Students learn to create something of value from nothing with the interactive Junk Table exercise. Prizes are given to the team with
the best business product and pitch! Please contact Jeanne at 581-2913 or at jcdau@eiu.edu if you would like to check available dates for this school year. |
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Let's Get Every Interested Teen to
Camp e3 - July 17-20th at EIU
 | | Last year's winning team - Green Solutions, a glass recycling company. |
It's time to start signing up for this year's Camp e3 - energizing emerging entrepreneurs, to be held July 17-20, 2011 at Eastern Illinois University. Click here for this year's brochure. Please sign up students age 14-18 here and give them the gift of entrepreneurial exploration and innovative thinking while having tons of fun with other teens. The camp is once again generously sponsored by Midlands States Bank, but other banks, business partners and foundations are also helping send students to camp by providing scholarships.
First Neighbor Bank is offering 7 scholarships for one student from each of the following schools within their immediate service area: Cumberland Unit #77, Neoga Unit #3, Casey-Westfield Unit# 4C, Martinsville Unit #3C, Marshall Unit 2C, Charleston Unit #1 and Shiloh Community District #1. Please check out the flier here for details.
Other scholarship providers are:
Frank and Cathy Brummer
Gilbert, Metzger & Madigan, LLP
In Memory of Jack Clifford
State Bank of Arthur
Sullivan Education Foundation
Susan Hanfland/SCH Consulting
Vantage Outsourcing
If you are interested in making this opportunity available by providing a Camp e3 scholarship please click on the donation link here.
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Highlighting Young Entrepreneurs
in Clark County
 | | Vince Higgs answering questions about his business journey. |
Martinsville was the site for the second annual Clark County Entrepreneurship Workshop held March 23rd, 2011. The three high schools in the county (Casey-Westfield, Marshall and Martinsville) enjoyed a morning of games and inspiring talks from young entrepreneurs in their region. What a great way to champion entrepreneurship.
 Speakers highlighted were (L to R): Danielle Cohen - Camp e3 graduate, Jeanne Dau - Business Solutions Center, Rosie Cloud - Rosie's Posies, Paul Brown - Corrie Appraisals and Vince Higgs - Equipment City and Visto. A big thanks to Tiffany Macke and the Clark County Brainpower Team for coordinating and sponsoring this event.
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"Hot Links"
 | | Stan Thurman-BSC Counselor |
Free IRS Calendar http://www.tax.gov/irscalendarconnector/ (This free IRS Calendar Connector makes it easy to remember important tax and deposit deadlines on a daily, weekly or monthly basis). Install the IRS Calendar Connector and access Important Tax Dates for Small Businesses right from your desktop, even when you're offline. As new events are added, they will be automatically updated via the desktop tool. This customizable tool allows you to specify what types of events you wish to view (general, employer, excise, or all) and how you want them displayed (by day, week or month). The IRS Calendar Connector requires AdobeŽ AIRŽ.
The Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/ruralatlas. The Atlas of Rural and Small-town America, developed by USDA's Economic Research Service, provides county-level mapping of over 60 statistical indicators depicting conditions and trends across different types of non-metro regions. This web-based product assembles the latest county-level statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, USDA, and other Federal sources. Of particular note, the Atlas incorporates data from the first full set of county-level data in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). Data from the various agencies are combined in four broad categories that users can select: people, jobs, agriculture and county typologies. |
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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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