Barry Moltz is a funny guy. During his keynote address for the Fox Valley Technical College Venture Center’s fifth anniversary celebration at the end of September, Moltz had the audience of several hundred people laughing out loud with his stories about being an entrepreneur.
Moltz was instrumental in the founding of at least three businesses: The first went bankrupt; he was forced out of the second business by his partners and the third he sold for, well, a lot of money. In essence, he knows failure as well as success, having been an entrepreneur for more than 15 years.
According to his biography, after successfully selling his last operating business, Moltz branched out into a number of entrepreneurship-related activities. He founded an angel investor group, an angel fund, and is a former advisory member of the board of the Angel Capital Education Foundation.
He’s also written three books on running a business. His first, “You Need to Be A Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business,” describes the ups and downs and emotional trials of running a business. His second book, “Bounce! Failure, Resiliency and the Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success,” shows what it takes to comeback and develop true business confidence. His third and most recent book, “BAM! Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World,” shows how customer service is the new marketing. He’s a member of the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame and has taught entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
But for all the expertise and experience Moltz brings to the entrepreneurial table, it’s his humor that can really hammer a lesson home. Some Barry-isms he shared during his speech include:
• “A lot of people come to me and say, ‘Barry, I want to start a business because I want to make a boatload of money.’ And I tell them that if they want to make money in the next couple of years, they should find themselves a job, because you actually make more money the first couple of years working for someone else than working for yourselves. The only reason you should go out there and start your own business is because you have passion, because deep down inside you want to see your ideas succeed and you’re willing to let your ideas fail,” he said.
• “Let’s face it, the No. 1 reason people start a business in the United States is because they hate their boss. I actually started my business when I left IBM because I hated my boss. When you have your own business, you actually have more bosses. You’re vendors become your boss, your customers become your boss and your employees become your boss. And it feels like having your own business is like driving a clown car and all those bosses come with you. You drive along this winding country road, which is the market, banging into guardrails and you hit all the potholes. What’s worse – you’re spouse is in that car with you, except he or she is in the back seat, facing backward and blindfolded. If you don’t know where you’re going, then they have absolutely no idea where you’re going.”
• Ok, this one isn’t so funny, but it sure is poignant: “You have to let go of the failures. There may be something to learn from them, but sometimes failing just sucks. You have to let them go regardless of whether there is something to be learned from it or not. This will give you entrepreneurial confidence and allow you a greater chance at success.”
The Venture Center was launched through FVTC to educate entrepreneurs and provide them with networking opportunities. Since its inception, it has:
• Helped launch or expand more than 200 small businesses.
• Those businesses have created more than 500 jobs.
• The center has provided 2,630 hours of one-on-one technical coaching, instruction and technical assistance.
• It has also hosted 1,615 high school students at its annual Youth Entrepreneurship summits. It is critical that young people be exposed to entrepreneurship as a career option as well as the importance entrepreneurship has to New North’s economy.
Experts say five years is an important milestone in the life of an organization. The five years that the Venture Center has helped educate the region’s entrepreneurs is exciting and one can only hope there are many more to come.
Discover how business start-up training and personalized coaching through The Venture Center at Fox Valley Technical College helped launch an award-winning business.
MADISON, WISCONSIN (11/5/2010) – Wisconsinmade.com, an e-commerce gift store, is pleased to announce that Accent Custom Components, of Appleton, Wisconsin, now offers handmade gourmet wood pizza peels for purchase on Wisconsinmade.com . Wisconsinmade.com carefully selects only the finest-quality products made in Wisconsin and offers them for sale on the Internet. "We are delighted to have Accent Custom Components in our artisan group. These handcrafted pizza peels will be a popular gift for pizza lovers this holiday season," said Linda Remeschatis, owner of Wisconsinmade.com .
About Access Custom Components, Inc.:
Larry Melberg founded Accent Custom Components, Inc. in 1987. He handcrafts a variety of wood products, but his focus is on pizza peels, the wooden tools used by bakers to slide pizzas in and out of hot ovens. Melberg crafts the pizza peels from natural, untreated brass wood here in Wisconsin. "We do everything but grow the tree," said Melberg. Fortunately, the price tag does not reflect the high quality materials and craftsmanship, so at-home pizza makers can enjoy the finest quality pizza baking tools Wisconsin has to offer.
About Wisconsinmade.com:
The web-store showcases over 2500 products made with pride and passion by more than 250 Wisconsin artisans. Visitors to Wisconsinmade.com find hand-crafted art for the home and office created in multiple media by Wisconsin artisans. Also featured are books written by Wisconsin authors; CD's produced by Wisconsin musicians; Wisconsin-sports apparel; gift baskets, and gourmet foods. Wisconsinmade.com receives national attention for the regional-specialty foods it delivers, such as the championship Wisconsin cheeses, high-quality meats, sweetened cranberries, pure maple syrup, and the gourmet pastries identified with Wisconsin's ethnic heritage. Wisconsinmade.com delivers the best of Wisconsin to the rest of the U.S.A.
Robert Ripley has a pretty confident boast for potential clients who have never set foot in his Carved Stone Creations showroom in Kaukauna. “We never lose them once they’re here.”
Ripley, owner and president, is likely not exaggerating. Those who drive by the business, located off Hwy. 41, often marvel at the massive monoliths of animals, angels, arches and all things stone surrounding the building. Entering the massive showroom is not unlike ascending a stairway to heaven – into worlds that exist in the creative minds and imaginations of Ripley’s customers.
“Our true client is the person building his dream home,” says Ripley, “or where you think home is.”
Ripley’s 12,000-square-foot showroom features millions of dollars of everything from hand-carved elliptical stone bathtubs and a winding travertine staircase to castle-quality pillars, columns and water fountains, all carved to precise custom specifications with the highest quality, often imported, stone.
“Our client already knows what good stuff is,” Ripley says. “They want their homes to be like five-star resorts.”
Ripley is no stranger to building dreams. With a degree in structural architecture, he previously worked as a homebuilder, and that knowledge helped him launch Carved Stone Creations six years ago.
“I know what the builders are up against,” he says.
His knowledge of weight and structural considerations is paramount, especially when a house must be created to accommodate an Amazon-sized fireplace or when walls and floors must be designed to bear the weight of pillars or other structural additions. To that end, Carved Stone Creations works with builders, engineers and architects – in addition to homeowners and corporate clients – to meticulously plan for such sizable stone amenities.
HuHot Mongolian Grills, LLC held their annual Franchise Meeting in Denver, Colorado on October 4-5th and recognized four of their franchisees for their outstanding performance over the past year.
Restaurant of the Year – Rochester, Minnesota (TRICOR Enterprises, LLC)
Based on sales growth, consistency in operations and guest satisfaction.
Double digit sales growth from January through August 2010
Consistent Ecosure® and SRC mystery shop scores
Marketing Committee member – elected by peers
Franchise Owner of the Year – David Lindenstruth of Appetize Inc.
Based on sales and company growth, consistency in operations, marketing and operations innovation, and guest satisfaction.
50% growth in new unit openings this year
Developed a strong team to execute openings, operations and marketing
Innovation with online ordering, catering, "taste of" events and mobile marketing
Hospitality Award – Topeka, Kansas (Restaurants, Inc.)
–Based on highest overall SRC mystery shop scores: 98.15%
Sales Award - Rochester, Minnesota (TRICOR Enterprises, LLC)
Based on sales increases brought about through innovation, creativity, drive and a commitment to excellence.
Sales growth as high as +31.13%
Aggressive marketing with a local sponsorship of 25 youth soccer teams
Staff incentives – excites healthy competition amongst restaurant staff
Campaign for Consistency Leader – Mona and Leron Wagner of L&M Family Restaurants, Inc. and W&W Ventures
Based on operations and marketing consistency and excellence.
Collaborative effort on the development of local marketing materials
Partners with franchisor on new operations initiatives
Works hand-in-hand with restaurant management and staff
Franchisees received a set of HuHot engraved beverage glasses from Simon Pearce as a symbol of the recognition.
HuHot plans to host a Franchise Meeting every 18 months at a different location to bring all franchisees together to present corporate initiatives, invoke franchisee interaction and present awards to top franchisees.
About HuHot Mongolian Grill, LLC
HuHot is a create-your-own stir fry concept that offers a wide variety of meats, seafood, noodles, fresh veggies, and signature sauces to suit your tastes. Select your favorite ingredients then have it cooked to perfection before your eyes on a 6-foot Mongolian grill that puts out 950,000 BTUs. With unlimited trips to the grill, you can create a different meal every time.
HuHot Mongolian Grills, LLC opened its first restaurant in Missoula, Montana in 1999 focusing on fresh food, signature sauces and great service. Over the past 11 years, the concept has grown to 33 locations in 12 states and that focus has remained unchanged.
This year, HuHot Mongolian Grill, LLC was ranked in the 2010 Franchise 500 by Entrepreneur and in 2007 through 2009 was named on the Future 50 list of fastest growing restaurant chains by Restaurant Business magazine.