Fox Cities Economic Development Partnership Newsletter
January 2011
While political candidates, elected leaders, and business experts have been discussing ways to get Wisconsin back to work, the Fox Valley Technical College’s Venture Center has been creating an economic revolution through programs targeting entrepreneurs and small businesses. In late September, the program celebrated the five-year anniversary of E-Seed, the highly successful program for training entrepreneurs and launching new businesses.
The Fox Cities Economic Development Partnership (FCEDP) recognizes the role that business start-ups play in economic development and has funded E-Seed sponsorships over the last five years as part of their annual Program of Work.
During 2009, the FCEDP provided partial tuition payments to six Fox Cities’
individuals who went on to successfully complete the entrepreneurship-training program. At the end of 2010, the FCEDP will have again provided funding
for six E-Seed participants.
In the last five years, the recession has forced many out of work as companies closed and existing businesses were challenged to do more with less. The resulting exodus from traditional jobs caused hundreds of area residents to explore entrepreneurial opportunities. The Venture Center has provided programs including training, one-on-one coaching, and networking designed to make business launches more successful.
“A decade ago, few business leaders talked about the power entrepreneurs could have within our economy,” said Amy Pietsch, director of the Venture Center. “Today, small business and entrepreneurs have been acknowledged as saviors for our economy.”
Pietsch credits support from FVTC and partnerships with regional businesses for creating strong programs, resources and infrastructure for entrepreneurs. Today,
hundreds of regional professionals serve as adjunct faculty and guest speakers in Venture Center instructional programs. Programs such as E-Seed and Pro-Seed teach entrepreneurs how to plan and open a business, then how to take their business to a higher level of productivity.
Dave Lindenstruth is a graduate of the E-Seed and Pro-Seed programs and is currently the president of Hu Hot restaurants. He credits the Venture Center with his success. “E-Seed helped us evolve our business plan and gave us the confidence we needed,” Lindenstruth said. “The Pro-Seed revolution gave us the planning assistance we needed to become strategic and take our business to the next level.”
For Lori Thiel, starting a Harley Davidson dealership in Fond du Lac was a calculated risk the Venture Center helped her tackle. “Amy Pietsch always talks about the courage and fortitude it requires to take a business risk,” Thiel said. “But through the Venture Center, I knew we had the plan needed and I could lean on quality people.”
“These professionals have willingly invested their time and talents to create our entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Pietsch said. “People from fields as diverse as advertising, accounting, IT and manufacturing have contributed thousands of dollars of their time over the last five years to help entrepreneurs maintain successful businesses.”
In the last 5 years, here’s how the Venture Center has helped the area’s economy evolve:
ŸMore than 200 business start-ups created 500+ jobs. ŸMore than 1,000 entrepreneurs reached at monthly networking events. Ÿ2,600 hours of instruction, one on one coaching, and technical assistance for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Ÿ13,600 residents served through entrepreneur programs in the Fox Cities, Waupaca and Oshkosh program sites.
More than 300 people attended the five year celebration held at FVTC’s Appleton campus. For more information on the Venture Center programs, visit www.venturecenterwi.biz.
HuHot Mongolian Grill will continue to donate a percentage of the restaurant’s total sales to one Appleton area non-profit organization every month.
The program, Making Community Impacts, will be available in five Wisconsin cities including Appleton.
The program initially kicked off at HuHot owner and operator David Lindenstruth’s first HuHot Mongolian Grill in Appleton. The program has given back more than $90,000 to five Wisconsin communities in the first eleven months.
The program also allows the selected non-profit groups to “run the show” and take command of the store for one evening during the month. The non-profit’s staff and volunteers are invited to help work the floor and assist the staff of HuHot Mongolian Grill, which Lindenstruth hopes will give the organization members a chance to showcase their organization to HuHot patrons.
The first three groups selected to participate in the Making Community Impacts program for 2011 are Life! Promotions in January, Fox Cities Warming Shelter in February, and Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes in March.
Non-profit groups wishing to be chosen for the Making Community Impacts program and individuals interested in being a part of the volunteer selection committee can apply online at www.MakingImpacts.com.
THERE’S NO DOUBT SMALL businesses drive job growth. A new report looks to measure and track entrepreneurial activity across the New North.
New North, Inc. came together with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Small Business Development Center to develop and maintain the Northeast Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Activity Index.
While work began on the index a few years ago – it’s based on an index first developed by the University of Michigan-Dearborn – the first index was released this fall. Quarterly updates are expected.
The index is designed to measure entrepreneurial activity in the region and to track its growth (or decline) over time, says Bob O’Donnell, director of UW-Oshkosh’s Small Business Development Center.
This is the first time a regional index like this is being done. On the state and national level, the Kaufman Foundation for Entrepreneurship runs numbers, but New North had no idea of what the regional picture looked like, says Amy Pietsch, director of the Venture Center at Fox Valley Technical College and chair of the New North Small Business and Entrepreneurial Taskforce.
“It’s always good to have a starting measure so we can benchmark and track our success,” she says. “This one is specific to the New North so we will be able to compare how we’re doing on both state and national levels.”
O’Donnell says the index showed about 10 base points increase in entrepreneurial activity between 2005 when New North, Inc. was created and 2009. At the same time, however, the level of intellectual property creation declined, as did access to capital.
The index will help identify areas where strategies may be modified or services need to be changed to create a better entrepreneurial environment in the New North, Pietsch says.
“One area where we know we struggle with is the number of patents from this area so we will look at things we can do to drive more innovation in that area,” she says.
The small business taskforce will also be able to look at the index and align what they’re doing to help move the numbers upward, Pietsch says.
The index will be released once a quarter to local media and policymakers to show the return on investment that supporting entrepreneurship brings, O’Donnell says.
At the Venture Center, Pietsch says they’ll be able to look at the data collected and help provide guidance to the entrepreneurs and small business owners they work with. “We’re going to share what we learn from this index with our participants and it will help us provide a better experience,” she says.
While the taskforce is excited about the index, Pietsch says the group will continue to build on the strong networking and educational work already completed. “There’s been a lot of sharing and learning done and we will continue that and use the index to help us take it to the next level,” she says.
"They teach you what you don't know," said Autumn Hill of her experience at the Fox Valley Technical College's Venture Center,
which trains entrepreneurs to launch new businesses.
Hill and some of her fellow entrepreneurs were on hand recently to celebrate five years of economic leadership for the center.
The Venture Center provides programs including training, one-on-one coaching and networking, designed to make business
launches more successful.
In the last five years, the Venture Center has seen the area's economy evolve.
More than 200 business startups, which created more than 500 jobs.
More than 1,000 entrepreneurs reaached monthly through networking events.
26,000 hours of instruction, one-on-one coaching and technical assistance for entrpreneurss and small businesses.
4,400 people rached through events and national speakers.
13,000 residents served through entrepreneur programs in teh Fox Cities, Waupaca and Oshkosh program sites.
Through the E-Seed program potential entrepreneurs learn all aspects of starting a small business, culminating in writing
a business plan, which is essential for banks to loan money.
Hill found the program tailored for her needs. She had always wanted to start her own business and when her mother was
downsized out of her job, it felt like the right time to do it. She and her mother took the E-Seed program in 2004 and
immediately started their business, Autumn Hill Creative, out of their Kimberly home, providing marketing, communication,
advertising and web design services.
Two years ago, they also started Viva Alverde, which provides ecologically friendly products such as stainless steel water
bottle, tote bags,and pens and "other products that use recyclabel materials." The businesses, which have grown every year,
now employ a staff of five.
Hill is especially appreciative of the added opportunities the Venture Center offers their graduates to stay connected
with a network of resouces
through monthly networking meetings and resources for help, which are on call.
Event planner, Joey Reader planned and coordinated the Venture Center celebration through the services of her business,
Amazing Events. She had heard about the Venture Center and while working as human resources manager for Appleton Lathing,
took the E-Seed class.
"It was in May when I knew I wanted to start the business and I felt responsible for telling my employer that I wanted to do
it, but hoped they would keep me on through the end of the year," ahe said.
The fact that she discovered she was pregnant with her third child after giving notice, did not dissuade her and she lauched
the business in October.
"The course was so awesome that I was able to develop a business plan that got approval from three banks," she said.
Her business operated out of her Little Chute home, has expanded to two full time employees and seven to 12 temporary people
who help with various events. She plans 35 to 35 efvents per year for mostly corporate and medical clients, handling events
for anywhere from 20 to 1000 people. She has expanded the business by buying out one of her suppliers who ran Chocolate
Elegance, a supplier of chocolate fountains. She was recently named Planner of the Year by the Wisconsin Meetings and
Conventions Association.
Chad Dorn, Brock Joosten and Carl Thorpe, who worked together in a machine shop, dreamed of owning their own shop too the
step in 2001.
"We were working together part-time, but we didn't have a business plan," Dorn said. "Talking with others at the Tech, I
heard about the Venture Center
and the benefits of the E-Seed program and enrolled."
At the time, the three were accumulating machines and working part-time in a different location. Holland Repair and Machine
now operates on Holland Road in Hollandtown.
In addition to the training and drafting a business plan, Dorn found opportunities to talk to other business people and make
contacts for help of lawyers, bankers and other owners.
"They could answer my questions," he said. "You have to have a game plan. Ninety percent of the bankers ask for a business
plan."
It was on his 30th birthday in 2004 that Dorn finished the E-Seed program, quit his job and became a full-time employee of
Holland Repair and Machine while Joosten and Thorpe remained part-time employees. Today, two of the men are full-time employees
and one remains a part-time employee.
"No one has a specific job. We all work in the shop on whatever needs to be done," Dron said.
He gave praise to Venture Center Executive Director Amy Pietsch, saying, "She has experience with start ups and knows who to
talk to for help. When I needed help getting parts, she found a resource for me."
Amy Pietsch of Fox Valley Technical College’s Venture Center has seen it many times: Women with a great idea but no idea how to turn their brainstorm into a business. “They want to know what they don’t know,” says Pietsch, who creates training and development programs for entrepreneurs as the center’s director. Potential business owners may know a great deal about their product or area of expertise, but not as much about accounting, marketing, and the trademarks.
That’s where continuing education comes in. To help rookie business owners get started, the Venture Center offers a business training seminar and E-Seed Innovative Entrepreneurship Training course. The E-Seed course offers technical information, as well as one-on-one coaching and the opportunity to get to know like-minded individuals. “Women are looking for networking opportunities that allow them to meet with other women just like themselves,“ Pietsch says.
Educational opportunities don’t stop there after the E-Seed course is completed. Business owners can gain more information through the Pro-Seed course, a certificate in entrepreneurship through the technical college or courses with a tie to business and industry. “When you first start your business you are wearing many hats,” Pietsch says.” As the business grows and evolves, your time needs to be spent less on the technical side and more on the leadership and management side of the business.” Courses in how to nurture a young business are often only the beginning for entrepreneurs. As Pietsch notes, “One of the take-aways they get is that to be successful in business it requires a real appetite for lifelong learning.”
Education Helped These Women Start Their Own Businesses Yvonne Kehl: Owner of Autumn Hill Creative, Kimberly, with her daughter Autumn Hill
After Yvonne Kehl was laid off from her job at a local manufacturer, her daughter saw opportunity. Autumn Hill had recently returned to the area after living and working in Colorado for 10 years and was interested in opening her own advertising, website development and graphic design firm. Yvonne Kehl left the manufacturing world to do sales, customer service and content writing with her daughter, and Autumn Hill Creative was born. One of the first things they did after establishing the business was to take the E-Seed course at Fox Valley Technical College. “Your temptation when you’re enthusiastic about starting a business is to just jump in,” Kehl says. “What we wanted to know was, is there a chance we can be successful? Is there an opportunity for us? “We knew we didn’t know everything,” Kehl adds. “We had an advantage there. A lot of people come in and think it can’t be that tough, but it was intense research work, homework and writing.”
Through the course, they created a three-year business plan, which helped them make sure they were heading in the right direction. “We had a road map and we felt like we could check things off as we did them in our plan,” Kehl say. “It gave us confidence and helped us feel like we had more control of our business.” Kehl and Hill knew their strengths were in creativity, marketing and web development, but that they would need assistance with accounting. The solution was to hire Kehl’s husband Michael Chambers, as a financial director.
Since being established in 2004, the business has grown from no clients to more than 200. They’ve brought their printing in-house and added promotional products to their offerings. “Having a plan or dream is one thing, but you have to put numbers to it,” Kehl says. “You really have to stack the deck in your favor and education does that for you.”
Education isn’t something that has an end point, Kehl adds. Women need to continually improve their skills, whether on the job or through volunteer work. “I worked with a nonprofit as marketing director and I’m using all of that experience now,” She says. Being a business owner has also reinforced the value of networking. "When I was working at the manufacturing company, my network was the people I worked with,” she says. “When I was downsized my world got very small. It’s very healthy in this day and age to keep your network vibrant and keep on learning new skills.”
Pam Garman: Owner of CameraPacker, Neenah
A trek to a Mount Everest Base camp two years ago led Pam Garman to establish her own business. Garman needed a way to carry her 35mm SLR camera, but could not find a comfortable strap that kept her camera accessible. She made one herself, and on the trip fielded questions about it from people all over the world. “I would tell them I was going to be manufacturing it even though I didn’t have a plan yet,” says Garman, who used the strap effectively for the 25-day trip.
When she got home she couldn’t stop thinking about starting her camera strap business, and made 20 to sell. She sold a few on a bike trip, got great feedback and decided to see if she could turn her CameraPacker idea into a business by taking the E-Seed course at Fox Valley Technical College.
For Garman, who was retired from Winnebago County Human Services, going into business was like entering a foreign country. “I have friends in business and heard them talk, but I never really knew what you had to think about,” she says. The reality of the financial commitment, risk taking and the emotional investment all surprised her. “This is something from your imagination, and you’re putting it out there and letting people decide if they like it or not. You have to decide if you want to make yourself vulnerable,” she says. “For me it took some courage. It was so outside of my box.” Feedback from around the world keeps her going. A woman on a trek on Mount Blanc in France placed an order after seeing a fellow traveler user one. “I know there’s a market for it, my next step is how to get it out there,” she says. “The education piece was paramount to what I’ve done so far. It gave me the knowledge base, and where to look for more information.”
Sue Leonard: Owner of Leonard’s Designs, Hortonville
After 30 years in corporate America and being downsized for the third time, Sue Leonard said, “This is enough.” She saw a presentation by Amy Pietsch on the E-Seed program, and knew that business ownership would be the next step in her career. The course wasn’t easy, but after 12 tough weeks Leonard had a viable business plan and the connections she needed to help her get started. “The big word is networking,” she says. “What the Venture Center has helped me with is getting to know people and getting people to know me.
“You become totally aware of the other businesses and organizations that are out there.” Leonard, 63, started her business in 2005. Her initial product was going to be custom-made tote bags. She needed something to put in the totes, and turned to her mother’s cookie recipes. “I had this vision that my totes would take off,” she says. “Cookies were a byproduct, something to put in the totes. The cookies took off and totes never did.”
The cookies made by Leonard’s Designs are used by businesses ranging from the Community Blood Center to Consolidated Construction and as fund-raisers by area schools. Customized packaging from Sunset Hill Stonewear sets her brand apart.
“Ninety percent of my business is from businesses,” she says. “People like that we customize the packaging with their logo on it.” Her next idea is to move into a larger facility she shares with other businesses, such as a candy maker or gourmet bread baker.
She continues to attend seminars through the Venture Center and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where she got her bachelor’s degree in liberal studies when she was in her mid-40s. “There’s so much that’s out there. You have to turn around and look,” she says. “Everybody is out there trying to help you. We have some difficult times now, but this is where you’re going to reinvent yourself.”