PLATINUM PARTNERS
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Charleston Area
Charitable Foundation
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SILVER PARTNERS
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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
Schultz Investment Company
U.S. Bank
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OTHER PARTNERS |
Annie Hernandez
Bob and Nancy Williams
Bob Webb
Carol Jo Fritts
Cathy and Larry Ashmore
Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce
Citizens National Bank
Dennis and Kathleen Klaeser
Eastern Illinois Education for Employment Systems
Effingham County Chamber of Commerce
Fifth Third Bank
First National Bank of Dieterich
Flesor Family Confectionary, Inc.
Frank and Cathy Brummer
Gary Henigman
Gilbert, Metzger & Madigan LLP
In Memory of Debbie Dunagan
In Memory of Jack Clifford
In Memory of John Dively
Jasper County Economic Development Cooperative
McDonalds of Coles County
Paul Ruff
SCH Consulting
State Bank of Arthur
Todd Vilardo
Tuscola National Bank
Vantage Outsourcing
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Entrepreneurial Endeavors
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Dear Greetings!,
Did your eyes well up with tears while watching the Super Bowl commercials featuring farmers this year? The reunion between the farmer and his Clydesdale and Paul Harvey's tribute to a farmer in a two-minute truck commercial were very touching.
Well here is another tearjerker, but it has to do with a young entrepreneur and videographer and how they helped each other out to realize their dreams. Thanks to Chris Egleson for telling me about this wonderful video, Caine's Arcade.
| Caine's Arcade |
We have so many entrepreneurial learning opportunities this Spring geared for all ages. Please help spread the word about these events. More information about all of these activities are listed below.
Feb. 19, Mar. 21, April 23 and May 14 - How to Start Your Own Business
March 1 - Edgar Co. Youth Entrepreneurship Workshop
Aprill 11 - Entrepreneurship: Bright Ideas Workshop
April 12 - Effingham Junior High School Entrepreneurship Club Dance
May 1 - CEO Tradeshow
May 7 - ClassE Tradeshow
June 23-26 - Camp e3 - Energizing Emerging Entrepreneurs
Jeanne C. Dau
Director, Business Solutions Center
Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Eastern Illinois University
217-581-2913 |
Entrepreneurship Bright Ideas Training |
Attention all teachers, youth educators, entrepreneurs, librarians and economic developers! Enroll now for the Entrepreneurship: Bright Ideas Workshop and learn how to use our soon to be launched PrairieSpark E-Hub, a virtual resource center for entrepreneurship education and business development.
The workshop will take place on Thursday, April 11, 2013 from Noon - 4 p.m. at the LifeSpan Center, at 11021 E County Road 800 N in Charleston, IL. This workshop registration and lunch is funded by the Broadband Illiniois Innovation Grant, so there is no charge to attend. It will offer various breakout sessions that focus in on different aspects of the Hub, including teacher resources, geographic information system (GIS) data, E-Club development, youth mentoring information and business resources.
Click here to view the flyer
Click Here Register Online for the April 11th Train the Trainer Workshop
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The Business Solutions Center's staff working hard on the Broadband Innovation Grant project!
(from left) Nike, Tiffany, Taylor and Halee |
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ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS STORIES |
In this issue we have two new businesses that will make you feel beautiful! Hop online and visit Best Dollar Jewelry and find a necklace and earrings to compliment a new dress from Prilla Apparel! Read on to learn more about these two new businesses!
Sherry Watson officially opened her online jewelry store, Best Dollar Jewelry on January 21, 2013. The online store offers fashion-trendy, reasonably priced jewelry. At this time, she is offering earrings and necklaces and plans to offer more in the near future as she continually updates her website and adds a Facebook page. She stated that business coaches Tiffany Kline and Ned Lunt "gave me confidence, guidance and encouragement." Sherry said she would recommend the services of the Business Solutions Center to anyone in her previous position: laid off work and needing to restart their life.
Click HERE to read more about Sherry's story and her new business.
Michala McWhirter and Connie Mulligan who both have a love for clothes and fashion opened Prilla Apparel, a formal wear retail shop, in October 2012 in Sullivan, IL. They contacted Tiffany Kline at the Business Solutions Center in December 2012 seeking advice on drafting a business plan and financing. Michala and Connie already extensively researched the area's market for formal wear, their competition, and what customers wanted and needed. Tiffany supplied them with financing information, financial templates, and assisted them with creating a partnership agreement.
Prilla Apparel offers formal dresses, mainly for homecoming, prom and pageants, at an affordable price. They also offer tuxedo rentals for weddings and other formal events and an assortment of formal jewelry. Prilla Apparel carries many styles and designers that cannot be found within a 100 mile radius. Michala and Connie will be traveling to Las Vegas this coming week on a fashion buying trip to find apparel that can be sold year around. Their philosophy is to have fun while helping others find their dream attire for their special occasion.
Click HERE to see Prilla Apparel's location, hours and contact information.
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It's that time of year again! Time to start signing up for this year's Camp e3 - energizing emerging entrepreneurs, taking place on June 23-26, 2013 at Eastern Illinois University. Please sign up students age 14-18 and give them the gift of entrepreneurial exploration and innovative thinking while having tons of fun with other teens! First Neighbor Bank is the new camp sponsor and they will provide seven scholarships to attend the camp. See their site for more details.
Click here to fill out an online registration form. The cost of this overnight entrepreneurial experience is $395, however we do have some scholarship opportunities available. If you are interested in making this opportunity available by providing a Camp e3 scholarship please click on the donation link here.
If you have any questions, please contactthe Business Solutions Center at 217-581-2913 or [email protected]. |
After putting a lot of thought and hard work into coming up with a new name and logo for the class, we finally chose ClassE as our new name! Special thanks to our graphic design intern, Taylor Gandolfi, for helping us create the new logo!
For the past couple of months the students have also been working hard on developing marketing plans for their businesses and we have had many excellent guest speakers come in to help the students by focusing on specific important aspects of a marketing plan.
Save the Date
for ClassE's Trade show on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 from 5-7 p.m. at the LifeSpan Center, 11021 E. County Rd 800 N, Charleston, IL. This tradeshow will highlight their student businesses that they have started and have been working so hard on! Jack Schultz and Craig Lindvahl will also speak on youth entrepreneurship. More information will be announced as we get closer to May.
The business community and class investors are always welcome to observe the class. Contact me at [email protected] if you would like to receive weekly updates on the class programming and locations.
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Entrepreneurship: How to Start a Business
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The Business Solutions Center has four upcoming "Entrepreneurship: How To Start A Business" workshops scheduled. These workshops provide essential information for anybody that is considering starting a business, is in the process of starting a business, and even for those that already own a business that may need a refresher course. Many of our success stories begin with aspiring entrepreneurs who took that first step by attending one of our workshops.
The first workshop will be at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston on Tuesday, February 19 from 6 - 9 p.m.
It will be held in Lumpkin Hall Room 1120. Click HERE to register for the Charleston workshop.
The next workshop will be in Paris on Thursday, March 21, 2013 from 6 - 9p.m. It will be held at the Paris Chamber of Commerce located at 105 N. Central Avenue. Click HERE to register for the Charleston workshop.
A third workshop will be in Pana, IL on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 from 6 - 9 p.m. The workshop will be held at People's Bank and Trust, 200 S. Locust Street. Click HERE to register for the Pana workshop.
Another workshop will also be available in Effingham on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 from 6 - 9 p.m. The location will soon be announced. Please call Jennifer Garren at (217) 581-2913 if you are interested in attending the Effingham workshop.
Click HERE to read more about the "Entrepreneurship: How To Start a Business" workshops and other training the Business Solutions Center provides.
If you have any questions please contact Jennifer Garren at (217) 581-2913 or by e-mail at [email protected]. |
SHOULD YOUR BUSINESS START USING A MOBILE CREDIT CARD PROCESSOR?
Establishing the ability to accept credit cards at your place of business, especially a small start-up business, can be pricey, confusing and difficult. As technology becomes smaller and more efficient by the day, a variety of credit card processing devices and apps for smartphones and tablets have made the process of accepting credit cards easier, cheaper and now even mobile. Many of the new mobile credit card processors only charge between 0.5 - 2.75% per transaction. Some offer no subscription fee, and several will even give you the card reader and mobile application for free!
If you are interested in using this technology for your business please visit Mobile Credit Card Processing Review. This website reviews the top ten mobile credit card processors, including ROAMpay, Intuit GoPayment, Chase Paymentech and Square. It offers a savings calculator that allows you to enter your monthly revenue and shows how much you can save with each of the different mobile processors. This website also allows you to see approximately how much you will pay in fees, what mobile devices each mobile processor is compatible with, and it links directly to each of their websites to make it easy to research which one would work best for your business.
Tiffany Kline
Entrepreneurial Coach
Business Solutions Center
Eastern Illinois University
[email protected]
(217) 549-8416
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REQUEST PROFESSIONAL COACHING |
Click here to fill out an online form or call 217-581-2913 or 217-549-8416. |
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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