Entrepreneurs & Inventors Club Meets Terry Whipple

Our June 22, 2006 meeting was great! Terry Whipple, Executive Director from the Juneau County Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation was the guest speaker. Terry gave us some great tips and ideas on how to keep our club alive and well in Northwest Illinois. We are very excited to take Terry’s ideas and run with them.

To recap some of Terry’s tips, suggestions, ideas:

• There is a fine degree of separation (we at the SBDC call that the six {6} degrees of separation, meaning there are no more then six {6} people standing before you or are part of achieving your goal) How to make that happen? Talk to people! Don’t let who you don’t know stand in your way of not reaching out and sharing your idea or concept. The person that you are talking to may be just the person to connect you to a new customer, vendor, partner, etc. Start talking!

• Resources are all around you, use them! There are experts in your community, including, members of our club that are here to help. None of use can do anything alone. It takes all of us to make things happen. Seek your resources!

• Everything is adventure! Learn for those around you and from your own experiences. Yes, do your research and investigation to make sure you are headed in the right direction, but…try it! Get excited!

• Anyone has the ability to be an Entrepreneur. There are no age limits, culture, background, or other requirements to hold you back. Let your imagination be the beginning to a lifetime of abilities. Start today!

We thank Terry for making the long trip from Juneau to Freeport. If you weren’t able to make the June meeting, don’t miss our next Club meeting. It will be at Sauk Valley Community College from 6:00pm to?? on Thursday, July 27, 2006. Don’t miss the excitement!

Designed, Selected and Screened - T-Shirts???

I just received my monthly copy of Entrepreneur over the weekend and was looking through it just minutes ago when I stumbled upon this tech spotlight - two young entrepreneurs from Chicago are making millions off of t-shirts. They are projected to make $26 million in 2006 - from t-shirts.

Yeah, right I said. I even spoke with a colleague whose initial thought was the same as mine - people don't make a lot of money from t-shirts, but these guys do. Jake Nickell, 25 and Jacob DeHart, 24 discovered that if they harnessed the creative juices from their market, they would in turn guarantee their market. They created www.threadless.com in 2000, where they design and allowed outside people to design t-shirt logos. Anyone can sign up to be a member at this site and even submit their own design. Designs are then voted on by the members. They currently have 300,000 members and that will probably triple now with the fact that they were focused in Entrepreneur this month. Each month, the votes are tallied and the winner is announced. The winning t-shirt design is then inventoried where you can buy them.

To me, this is such a great business model. They have advertised by word-of-mouth and I'm sure the local email world. Their membership database grew, and also grew their market. Their market in return designed logos that they thought were cool (there are also financial incentives driving this), and then that same market told threadless which t-shirts they would buy. Threadless in return made the t-shirts that would sell. Wow, that is so simple and so LOGICAL.

So, here I am thinking, how can I capitalize from this idea. What about corporate ads? Have the market design ads for major corporations, vote on them, and then sell them to the corporate giants... check out www.threadless.com and design a t-shirt, or at the very least, vote on one.

Midwest Entrepreneurial Spirit - Speaker Bio

Speech

Terry Whipple has a passion for creating a contagious environment for entrepreneurship! He is also adamant that the Midwest needs to foster a culture of entrepreneurism in order to compete economically in the 21^st century. He will speak from his experience facilitating and nurturing the growth of a successful entrepreneurial program in west central Wisconsin called the Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club. Terry will share his perspective on the Midwest’s entrepreneurial environment and culture; the characteristics of inventors and the constraints they face; what it's like to work with an inventor; how clubs provide a safe place to gather, explore ideas and gain education from peers; why a mix of inventors and entrepreneurs is important for critical networking to occur, what resources are available to assist inventors and entrepreneurs; and how to start a club in your region. Economic developers will take home ideas, strategies and lessons you can use to spur entrepreneurship.

Bio

Terry Whipple is the Executive Director of Juneau County Economic Development Corporation (JCEDC) and has an extensive background in business development. Terry received the SBA’s Region V and Wisconsin 2005 Home-Based Business Champion of the Year Award. He also received the Wisconsin 2005 Innovation Champion Award for the development of innovative new programs. He has served as an independent business consultant specializing in work with distressed small businesses and currently maintains his own private consulting business to connect investors with businesses.

Network with Regional Entrepreneurs

Are you well on your way to establishing a business? Or perhaps you simply have an idea you’d like to pursue further. If your heart is set on chasing the American Dream your best networking opportunity may be the next Blackhawk Hills Entrepreneur and Inventor’s Club meeting.

“Our purpose is to bring entrepreneurs together to share their ideas, problems and startup challenges with each other as well as potential advisors, mentors, and support agencies” said Steve Haring, Director of the Blackhawk Hills Economic Development District and key organizer of the club. “We present a non-threatening environment featuring a network of people with experience and expertise that can help take your dream to reality.”

The Blackhawk Hills Entrepreneur and Inventor’s Club was formed in response to a 2004-2005 Northwest Illinois Economic Distress Study indicating the region needed to enhance its entrepreneurial culture. The first meeting, held during November, 2005, was modeled after the large and successful 300 member Juneau County, Wisconsin club. The local group has grown to 75 members, and sponsors now include the Northwest Region Entrepreneurship Center, the Rock River Valley Entrepreneurship Center, and the Northwest Illinois Small Business Development Center, in addition to the Blackhawk Hills Economic District.

E & I Club meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at either Highland or Sauk Valley Community College. The format includes a power networking session, a speaker, and an opportunity for each participant to introduce themselves and highlight their idea, product or service, and any needed support or expertise. After the formal agenda participants are encouraged to take advantage of refreshments and mingle.

With an average of over 50 participants, each meeting offers a very active networking environment. “The meetings are high-energy and very productive”, said Michele Miller, Director of the Northwest IL Small Business Development Center Director. “We help coordinate and attend all of them because it gives us a chance to offer our services directly to those who are aspiring to be successful.”

Greg Longbons of Lake Carroll, founder of Coffee Bean Design, has attended all but one of the local meetings. He credits the E & I experience for helping his business mature. “It’s such a great place to bring can-do people together to share ideas and to give each other support. These folks are adventurers and trail blazers in the truest sense of the word.”

The next Entrepreneur and Inventor’s Club meeting is scheduled for 6pm on Thursday, June 22 at the Highland Community College Student Conference Center, Room H-201. The speaker will be Terry Whipple, Economic Development Director for Juneau County Wisconsin and founder of the very large Juneau County E & I Club. Terry will share his Juneau club experiences and provide tips for enhancing local club activity and involvement. All entrepreneurs are welcome to attend. For more information about this meeting or the Blackhawk Hills E & I Club contact Russ Simpson at the Highland SBDC office, (815) 599-3654, or visit www.businessblender.org