Yesterday, our guest speaker in the Midwest Entrepreneur’s class was local entrepreneur and philanthropist John Twomey. While all our guest speakers could accurately be referred to as “role models,” John Twomey–now 91 years young–stands out as the quintessential example of a positive role model for the students; not only as an entrepreneur but as a passionate, caring, community-minded person living a long and meaningful life.

Today’s blog entry for this very special guest speaker is Midwest Entrepreneurs student Adam Parr.

I sometimes worry that a 20-something year old student may not fully appreciate the entrepreneurial–and life–lessons shared by someone of Mr. Twomey’s generation. That is certainly not the case below; Adam Parr has done an outstanding job of capturing and here communicating the essence of what was shared by John Twomey–and learned–in class yesterday.  Enjoy…

Prof. Gabel

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Growing up, we have all heard about the idea of the “American Dream.”  However, very rarely do you find someone who actually has lived out the American Dream.  John Twomey has done it all from serving in World War II, being a star athlete, raising a family, starting an extremely successful business, and everything in between. John Twomey has lived the American Dream.

John Twomey was born 1923. By the age of six he was working on his father’s farm milking the cows with his sister.  Mr. Twomey’s father was an extremely hard worker who dropped out of school to take over the family farm at the age of fifteen after his father had passed away.  Mr. Twomey said that he developed his work ethic from watching his dad at a young age and over time he became a “product of his environment.”  John continued milking the cows until he was in high school where he began a new chapter in his amazing life.

As he told the class yesterday, Mr. Twomey had a strong interest in running track in high school.  However, the coach thought that he was two small and would not let him be a part of the team.  The track team got a new coach during John’s junior year of high school, and the coach let Mr. Twomey onto the team.  He instantly became a key part of the team.

After high school Mr. Twomey went to Western Illinois University where he also ran track for two years.  During this time, the United States was involved in World War II, and “Uncle Sam came calling” for Mr. Twomey.  The next two and half years for Mr. Twomey were spent on a B-24 bomber fighting for his country which was something that he took great pride in doing at the time.  I enjoyed briefly hearing about Mr. Twomey’s experience in the war because it is hard to find living WWII veterans today.  After his time in the war, Mr. Twomey spent the next two years running track at the University of Illinois.

After his college days, Mr. Twomey then spent the next three years running in the Pan American Games and AAU track meets all around the world where he became a champion by beating former collegiate national champions and other world-class athletes.  As a current collegiate track and field athlete, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing his track and field stories. I also greatly respected what he achieved in college and on the global circuit because that takes tremendous talent, dedication, and hard work to achieve which are all traits he gained at a young age and used to his advantage to start a successful business.

Once his track career was over, Mr. Twomey went back to his roots and began working on the farm again.  While spending time on the farm, Mr. Twomey discovered a problem with the way that the grain was being stored inside the grain bins and discovered a better way to store the grain.  Because of this, Mr. Twomey entered the grain elevator business and began implementing his ideas into the industry.  Mr. Twomey recognized a need in the industry and that was that the farmers needed a cheaper and more efficient way to store their grain without it getting spoiled like it would in the standard grain bins at that time.  Mr. Twomey addressed these issues and began building warehouses that would spread the grain out evenly from top to bottom without having peaks at the top of the stored grain.  By spreading the grain out evenly in these warehouses, the grain stays fresh and does not spoil like it would in a grain bin.  This innovative new way of storing grain is one of the many things that turned Mr. Twomey into a very successful entrepreneur.

As time went on, Mr. Twomey eventually had the cheapest storage rate for grain in the United States.  Because he had the cheapest storage rates, demand was high for his services.  To keep up with the high demand, the Twomey Company began building more warehouses and expanding to new locations including a location along the Mississippi River which helped the business succeed immensely.  Mr. Twomey’s business was able to expand quickly because of the extremely low costs for building warehouses.  Mr. Twomey did everything that he could to make his business succeed to its fullest potential and that included taking care of his employees. He said that he would always try to be “one of the guys” while working with his employees and usually that meant doing the same work that they were doing during the day.  Mr. Twomey also made sure to take of his employees financially by paying them high wages and giving them pension plans as well.  When Mr. Twomey retired, the company had seven locations.  Before the business was sold, the company had expanded to eight locations.  The Twomey Company was sold in 2011 because the Twomey family could “see the writing on the wall.”  Mr. Twomey said that bigger companies were beginning to surface and it was just a matter of time before the Twomey Company started losing customers.

Looking back, it was clear that Mr. Twomey had a great passion for business and that he understood what he needed to do for the business to succeed.  The Twomey Company expanded rapidly and succeeded thanks to the innovative ideas that Mr. Twomey had and the amount of hard work and dedication that Mr. Twomey put in every day.

As I watched Mr. Twomey’s presentation in class, I was amazed at the amount of energy and excitement that he had when talking about his life.  Mr. Twomey told us that he likes the idea of “the journey” in life and he feels that his life has indeed been a journey.  It was clear to me that Mr. Twomey cherished every moment in his life and I believe it is important for everyone to cherish “the journey” throughout their lives because one day we will all arrive at “the station.”

Adam Parr

Today’s student blogger is Kelin Malcolm. Below, he nicely tells the captivating, perhaps surprising entrepreneurial success story of local landscaper John “Beefy” Houston.     Prof. Gabel

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John “Beefy” Houston is what some would call an “old fashioned” businessman.  This is due to the fact that he does not own a computer, and does his accounting with ledger books. He is decidedly and purposefully low-tech.

Mr. Houston graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science.  After working on his family farm for a few years, the farm was sold which left John looking for a new job.  He did not want to get stuck at a job he hated and “have a heart-attack at age 40” as he has seen several friends come close to doing over the years.

So… Beefy chose to do what he loved doing, landscaping.

John started the company by himself with 1 truck and 1 trailer; 20 years later he now has 2-3 employees at any given time during the summer, 6 trucks, 5 trailers, as well as a few skid-loaders.  He also owns a building used for storage, and he rents out the space he doesn’t use.

John is an unorthodox businessman in that he does not want to grow his company.  What?? Shouldn’t all businesses want to continually grow?

Not Beefy Houston!… His reasoning:  He is perfectly fine where he is at and any more business would just mean more headaches and, possibly, lower-quality service and customer dissatisfaction. He keeps the level of business where he can personally control the high level of quality he is renowned for in the area.

John is also unorthodox in terms of financing his operations. He has no loans to deal with because he has never been a believer in borrowing money from banks.

Houston is also unorthodox in that he does no advertising, not even decals on his trucks.  He relies a lot on word of mouth advertising but he also is a very active member of the community.  “See and be seen” is a big phrase of John’s, he is always at public events around his community because it generates a substantial amount of business for him.

Ultimately, as he told the class repeatedly, Houston believes what goes around comes around; if you treat others, especially customers, bad then bad things will happen.  It is crucial to always be on time and even a little bit early to meetings and John credits this to earning him a couple customers. He believes that you should speak face to face if at all possible and phone calls need to be answered with phone calls, not text messages.

Bottom line… John’s philosophy of treating customers right and having a great work ethic has given him a good base of customers.  Some may view the way John “Beefy” Houston runs his business as kind of “old fashioned and unorthodox,” but he has been very successful in being an entrepreneur.

Today’s blog entry is authored by Midwest Entrepreneurs Student Blake Little

Yesterday in class, we had the honor of visiting, touring, and further learning more about the funeral home industry by field tripping to the McGuire and Davies Funeral Home in Monmouth (see: http://www.mcguireanddaviesfuneralhome.com/).

Al McGuire, one of the two partners in the business, has been around the funeral business his whole life.  He attended college to receive a secondary education degree and wished to become a high school teacher.  His start in the funerary industry came when he moved into an upstairs apartment in a funeral home to avoid living fees. He also had found himself a place to work.  Little did he know, this field of work would become one of the passions of his life; what he today refers to not as a “job” but rather “his vocation.”

After college, Al went on to work at a funeral home in Chicago for some years. However, Al wanted and needed a lifestyle change for his family, which includes his wife and four children.  Monmouth, or “Mayberry” as he calls it, was just the answer he was looking for.  He moved here in 1991 and started working for a local funeral home. After twenty one years there he and the owner had differences of opinion and the two eventually parted ways. Part of these differing opinions involved Al’s desire to modernize and innovate that the owner was opposed to. This move by his previous employer may have been the worst decision possible; it created an aggressive, eager-to-succeed new competitor.

Al brought his long-time friend Trevor Davies, who also had funeral home experience in the area, aboard his plan.  The two leveraged everything they had such as home mortgages, retirement funds, the cemetery Al owned, and the fear of losing everything in order to fund this future business.   The ground was broke for their nest egg on April 23^rd, 2013.  All in all, the two invested approximately 1.2 million dollars to build a funeral home that they consider to be the perfect option for funeral services.  Al McGuire used his resources to find himself an accountant to help manage their finances.  This accountant just so happens to be Trevor’s father.

The first year Al and Trevor owned the business, they received 39 calls.  The second year, 2014, they received 69 calls.  In the year of 2015, they have already received 15 calls related to business.   Here at McGuire and Davies, a unique design is presented in order to accommodate any potential plans that one’s family may have.  Their motto is “It’s not our funeral, it’s yours”.  This unique design gives them the ability to slide down walls to help with multitasking in the building, provide guests with a kitchen for complementary coffee and lemonade or luncheons after a service, offices to discuss plans, a crematory, and a room to browse for supplies.  This crematory, which cost the company about 90,000 dollars, gives McGuire and Davies the competitive edge against other local competitors that cannot do cremations on site.  When speaking of the crematory, Al spoke of it not as a “cost” but rather as an “investment,” one that has paid itself off in roughly one year of operation.

McGuire really stresses gaining close relationships with his customers.  Since it is a small town business, it is key to gain the customers trust and show them signs of reliability.   Here he sells his customers a truly great experience and a grand variety of options.  McGuire and Davies provides great services and very flexible hours to customers mourning their loss. All of this leads to the spread of very positive word-of-mouth communication about the business.

McGuire and Davies has been nothing less than successful in their short time open and have installed some key principles that have boosted them to the top.  They have created a peaceful environment that allows them to accompany the needs of their customers.  Even though this field of work presents much emotional stress on Al and Trevor, they find the strength to overcome and create great environment for their customers.  I think the moral of this story may very well be “Treat your employees—as well as your customers— right”.  We all know the value of treating customers right. But treatment of employees matters too; if not treated well, they could very well be your worst nightmare in the competitive business world.

Well done Blake… In closing, allow me to reiterate one of the key points discussed above. This involves Al McGuire speaking to the class yesterday about his $90,000 outlay for the crematory not as a “cost” but rather as an “investment.” One of the many keys to entrepreneurial success is minimizing necessary costs and then making the right investments (as part of taking the right risks, something we spoke about at length in the first week of the class this semester). Entrepreneurs are faced with risk all the time. It is knowing which ones to take and which ones to not take that matters. Al McGuire took a big risk when paying $90,000 for the crematory; but it was the right risk in that the investment has paid for itself in just one year and is one of the key profit centers of the business.

See you next week for more inspirational local and regional entrepreneurial stories and learning!

Prof. Gabel

By Midwest Entrepreneurs Student Miguel Hernandez

What better way to start of the semester for the Midwest Entrepreneurs class than to talk about alcohol; consumed responsibly and in a comfortable environment. Yesterday afternoon the class welcomed our first speaker of the semester; Susan Schuytema, owner and sole proprietor of Market Alley Wines (http://marketalleywines.com/).

Susan came to class with 3.5 years of experience and a couple of handy dandy index cards to talk about her business and her actions in life that made her bring this luxury to the town of Monmouth.

Her entrepreneurial experience was and is crucial for her business today and she makes sure she uses everything she learned not only to have a successful business, but also to keep it successful in the long run.

Susan has worked since she was 13 years old and has worked in a lot of places before her grand opening of Market Alley Wines. She has worked in retail, as a lifeguard, bartender, freelance writer, a journalist in college, and marketed for a nursing home.

All the jobs and positions that Susan has held in her life got her thinking about what she really wanted to do in life. Of course she wanted to do what she loved most so she spent a lot of time looking back in her life to see what she could make out of her past experiences and memories and turn all of that into reality. On top of that she also utilized some research commissioned by the City of Monmouth. This research had found that one of the products that local residents were going out of town to buy was wine. So, she knew there was demand for what she had in mind. She, along with her husband Paul, had the idea of not just selling wine but making it available for sale and consumption in a very welcoming, comfortable environment. Thus, Market Alley Wines was established.

With her experience with wine and her outstanding customer service skills she started her journey to open Market Alley Wines, even if it meant having to make a video from a mobile phone, she did anything and everything possible to get her business going.

Even though she knew that she would be selling bottles of wine at higher prices than other stores that selling similar bottles of wines, she decided to stick with her gut and keep this business alive. But she sells more than just wine at her establishment; she sells an experience unlike anything else in the area. A person can purchase a bottle or a glass, sit on couches with friends or meet new people, listen to bands or people who perform in her business, and experience the relaxing atmosphere that her business has to offer.

This is why people go back for more of the experience that Market Alley Wines provides. They talk about her business and regulars bring new people to check out her place. Price is never an issue when an establishment offers great service, an amazing experience, and a relaxing atmosphere that just takes the world off your shoulders.

Finally, Susan Schuytema advised the class that if they want to start up their own business, they should “do it in your own way.” It’s your business, your face, and your reputation that will affect your business; but make sure you do something that you love to do. It’s a destination and you’re the only one that can decide where that destination leads.

This hopefully not-too-rambling blog entry is the result of the recently realized convergence of several important issues related to entrepreneurship and our efforts to support entrepreneurial activity here at Monmouth College.

This entry is also partly the product of the convergence of a couple of recent news articles published on the Monmouth College webpage. More on the specific issues and articles shortly…

At the heart of the matter here is the role of entrepreneurs—particularly in the context of their running of small businesses—in “economic growth” and the general welfare of economies and communities (considered at whatever level one desires [i.e., local, regional, national, global, etc.]). In this regard, over the course of just the last couple of months, I have heard pieces of numerous national and regional news stories which all contend or conclude that small—usually entrepreneurial—business is The Key to economic growth and welfare.

Although I never question the importance of entrepreneurship and small businesses in the context of economic growth and welfare, I—as someone extensively trained in many forms of social science research methodology—do frequently question the accuracy of data, the means of data collection, and conclusions featured in these stories.

I am far more swayed toward believing that small—usually entrepreneurial—business is The Key to economic growth and welfare when I see hard evidence of it with my own eyes. Take, for example, the following (18 July 2014) Monmouth College news article.

http://www.monmouthcollege.edu/information/newsEvents/newsDetails.aspx?Channel=%2fChannels%2fCampus+Wide&WorkflowItemID=7f84fc10-9f8f-4041-9b16-2aa96de771c7

The article nicely chronicles how (1) a small, entrepreneurial business—co-founded by 1986 Monmouth College graduate Roger Well—is providing internships to three Monmouth College students this summer, and (2) this is the result of Mr. Well’s interactions with “several business classes throughout the spring semester.” This, in and of itself, is a wonderful example of the potential key role of small, entrepreneurial business in economic growth and welfare. However, this story barely scratches the surface in this regard.

Not featured in the article are the following issues.

1. The internships at ENFOS are extraordinarily good internships. These three positions are providing the students with invaluable exposure to the world of high-tech, big heavy industrial business activity and are paid positions; very well-paid. Many internships today have students doing relatively meaningless tasks that they are not paid to perform. These three internships at ENFOS provide the student interns with valuable experience, social networking, and substantial pay.

2. Mr. Well’s stated interactions with “several business classes throughout the spring semester” consisted primarily of working closely with me and students in two strategic business capstone courses I taught here at Monmouth College in the Spring semester (as well as Mr. Well’s enlightening guest speaker appearances in my Midwest Entrepreneurs and Principles of Marketing classes). In my facilitative capacity, I guided the nearly 40 students through the at first intimidating process of understanding what ENFOS actually is and does down a path toward being able to provide hopefully useful strategic recommendations to ENFOS (addressing key strategic issues faced by the Silicon Valley firm as provided to us by Roger Well). My presence in the picture in the article is due to the fact that I was at the ENFOS office in Naperville, IL to present a summary of the classes’ strategic recommendations to Mr. Well, the interns, and other ENFOS personnel. The semester-long interactions between Well and I and the students in the two capstone classes were the subject of an earlier Monmouth College webpage article.

http://www.monmouthcollege.edu/information/newsEvents/newsDetails.aspx?Channel=%2fChannels%2fCampus+Wide&WorkflowItemID=1fe3340e-8d08-455b-8206-2f73e0f4f68e

3. Most exemplary of the notion that small, entrepreneurial business can play a significant role in economic growth and welfare is the fact that ENFOS not only employs three Monmouth College students as well-paid summer interns but also hired a 2014 Monmouth College graduate to fill one of the best full-time, entry level positions I have ever witnessed in my 20 years of teaching business classes at universities and colleges across the country and continent. If you click on the second of the two links provided above, you will see an attentive young man with his hand on a notebook computer sitting in the front row. That young man is George Burnette, a 2014 graduate of Monmouth College. He is now employed at ENFOS as a Software Business Consultant/Analyst. His starting salary is one of the highest I have ever seen an undergraduate business student land (and I believe he is also eligible for bonuses based on his involvement in business development/sales-related activities). This position also provides George with extraordinary potential to gain invaluable, cutting edge experience with a firm growing at a rate of around 30-35 percent per year providing valuable services to some of the largest companies in the world. George was not at the ENFOS office in Naperville—and thus not in the picture in the article accessed via the first link above—due to the fact that he was out on his first client visit—with a major energy firm on the East Coast—the day I was there.

I have so far tried to address the importance of entrepreneurship and small business and our efforts to support entrepreneurial activity here at Monmouth College via the examples and links above. That leaves me with one—related—key issue to cover: Value in Education.

Value is a big topic in the classes I teach here at Monmouth College; and was featured heavily in the two strategy capstone classes mentioned above as well as in the Midwest Entrepreneurs class.

Value is what a customer/client perceives to be receiving from a good or service provider considered in relation to what they have paid; i.e., “what you get for what you pay.” All too often, people erroneously confuse “value” with price and assume that low price correlates with “high value” (and that higher priced goods or services are necessarily of “lesser value”).

A recent Monmouth College webpage article—citing recent Money magazine data—strongly suggests that we here are providing students a “high value” education.

http://www.monmouthcollege.edu/information/newsEvents/newsDetails.aspx?Channel=%2fChannels%2fCampus+Wide&WorkflowItemID=b14718fa-73f7-4e4d-b622-f622dd143202

Quoting from the article:

“Monmouth College appears in the top 15 of two listings on Money magazine’s new college rankings, released earlier this week. The magazine named 665 ‘Best Colleges,’ with Monmouth ranking No. 14 in the Most Affordable Private Colleges category and No. 15 in Colleges That Add the Most Value.

‘Receiving a high ranking in these two categories reflects positively on what we consider two of our areas of strength,’ said Monmouth College president Clarence Wyatt. ‘Through a strong experience in the liberal arts and sciences, we give young people the opportunity to become lifelong learners who are flexible and employable, while also making it possible for students from all economic backgrounds to attain a top-notch private liberal arts education. These rankings, which are based on public data, serve as evidence that we are consistently providing opportunity and accessibility better than almost all other colleges in the nation’.”

I see the case of George Burnette as the perfect example of the high value of a Monmouth College liberal arts education; and I say this based on 18 years of experience teaching within business schools at non-liberal arts institutions prior to arriving here in 2012. George, like other highly motivated Monmouth College students, graduated as an extraordinarily well-rounded person capable of performing important strategic tasks for potential employers.

Being well-rounded—as the liberal arts experience here allows one to be—provides the student not only with the background and perspective needed to land positions like the one he did at ENFOS but also the diverse background and perspective needed to be successful long-term; in both one’s career and in life. Much the same can be said of Roger Well ’86; who majored not in business but in Geology (then later earned an MBA).

In closing, let me try to “bring this back around” to entrepreneurship and our efforts to support entrepreneurial activity here at Monmouth College.

The company that hired George Burnette ‘14—and the three summer interns—is an entrepreneurial firm co-founded by a Monmouth College graduate (Roger Well ’86). In my 20 years of teaching business classes at the undergraduate level (in California, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Mexico), I have personally seen but one other company—Arkansas Best Freight/U-Pack—provide students and graduates with a higher volume of meaningful employment and experience than ENFOS. Arkansas Best Freight/U-Pack hired roughly two dozen of my students for full-time positions and internships over the course of a seven year period. ENFOS hired four students—one full-time and three interns—after but one semester of interaction. I am personally aware of no other company of any size matching what ENFOS has done in this regard over any period of time.

Lastly, endless thanks to Roger Well and the others involved at ENFOS for working with me and the students here last semester. Thanks also to Monmouth College’s Steve Bloomer and Marnie Dugan for bringing Roger Well and I together in the first place (as part of the College’s Alumni Distinguished Visitors Program); this would not have happened without you.

I hope to be doing much more of this “win-win” sort of thing—class projects meaningfully benefitting students, alums, and employers—in the near future. I am always open to ideas for entrepreneurial and other firms looking to be involved.

Regards,

Prof. Gabel

Last night I attended a preliminary informational meeting for sponsors of The Shops of Monmouth Retail Business Competition at Market Alley Wines (http://marketalleywines.com/) here in Monmouth.

I went as a result of recently hearing of a few details of this Competition. I was interested in finding out more (and thought that as a professor who teaches an entrepreneurship class here, I might be able to steer a few prospective entrepreneurs toward the Competition).

I was blown away!

I knew the gist of the nature and objectives of the Competition going in… This is a program designed by the City of Monmouth to provide incentives to entrepreneurs to locate—or relocate—their retail businesses to Monmouth, IL.

What blew me away was the level of organization and, most notably, the incentives being offered. Quoting from the Competition’s webpage (http://shopsofmonmouth.com/index.php/retail-awards).

“There will be three competition winners. Each will receive:

– Up to $5,000 in free commercial rent

– $2,000 cash to go toward build out/improvements

– Local broadcast advertising with Prairie communications (value: $500)

– Local print advertising with the Daily Review Atlas (value: $500)

– 1 year free URL, website hosting and Joomla CMS install (value: $250)

– Professional Joomla template and basic site set up (value: $400)

– Professional logo development through DesignCrowd (value: $300)

– Facebook business page setup

– Monmouth Business Council after-hours event at your new business

– Spring ’15 intern from Monmouth College for 10 hours per week

– Frontier will offer free Install on standard Business DSL and up to 2 phone lines, a 50% discount on the 1st 3 months of local phone service & DSL service and a 15% discount on a Mitel or Avaya phones or phone system (value: up to $500).”

WOW!!… That first point is a big one… $5,000 in rent goes farther than you might think here in Monmouth; possibly up to six full months.

And there is even more… Competition participants will attend a Retail Innovation Workshop wherein they will be guided through “the ten important steps to turn that great idea into a business reality.” Further: “This proven program will help you realize your true potential as a retail entrepreneur and help you get the results you want. The Retail Innovation Workshop provides tools to help you define the value proposition, set revenue goals, analyze the market, and identify the competition.” See http://shopsofmonmouth.com/index.php/retail-seminars for further details.

As I said to Paul Schuytema—the Competition’s primary organizer—and several of the sponsors last night: “This a great opportunity for someone ready to start a new business or wondering if they are ready to start a new business.” With the incentives being offered, anyone with any fears of starting a retail business up in Monmouth might just have had their risk significantly reduced.  Of course, as I always stress in Midwest Entrepreneurs (and other classes), entrepreneurial success is predicated first and foremost on (1) having a product that there is sufficient demand for, and (2) focusing on continual customer satisfaction. The incentives do not ensure success; they reduce inevitable start-up risk and enhance the probability of both short- and long-term success.

So… If you are thinking of starting up a retail business or know of someone who is, this Competition may be just the thing you or they need to get up and running and on the path toward entrepreneurial success!!

Further details on the Competition as a whole can be found at its main webpage: http://shopsofmonmouth.com/index.php/retail-business-competition-main.

Finally, thanks to Paul Schuytema and his wife Susan—proprietor of host Market Alley Wines—for a very informational and enjoyable evening!

Regards,

Prof. Gabel

PS: Although school is out for summer here and the Midwest Entrepreneurs class is not offered in the Fall semester, I plan to provide periodic updates to the blog as entrepreneurial events and other happenings come to my attention.

Our 22nd and final guest speaker of the soon-to-end semester brought many things to the Midwest Entreprenurs class that students had not seen or expereinced throughout the semester. These “new things” included an operational 3D-printer, prototypes of innovative new toys, a fascinating and at times chaotic early-stage (i.e., still in fluid development) entrepreneurial story, and fervent, unbridled entrepreneurial passion.

Five to ten years from now, we may be looking back on this as a brief glimpse into the early thoughts of a very wealthy and influential toy magnate. It would not surprise me if the students in the class will be buying the toys we saw in prototype form for their own children!

I turn the blog over to class member Chase Bair to tell this captivating early-stage entrepreneurial tale.

Prof. Gabel

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Mike Acerra (of Acerra Studios), a graduate of Knox College with a BA in Studio Art, is in the process of starting up a new business in nearby Galesburg, Illinois. Acerra Studios will be printing 3D toys with the launch of his business in the summer of 2015.

Growing up every kid plays with Legos and other “building block” toys. But these toys can’t be manipulated into spheres and other shapes. As a child, this upset Mike Acerra.

In college Mike taught himself what he enjoyed to do. He started out as an engineering student. Although pursuit of the engineering degree was eventually abandoned, we saw in class how this strong techniccal background today plays an important role in Mike’s ongoing entrepreneurial story. He designs his toys on the computer and prints them on a 3D-printer, which he brought to class and actually used to produce a small part for one of his toys.

The current business idea got formally started around 30 years ago while at Knox College when Mike got into studio and performance art. And since that day this idea has been building into what it is soon to become; a line of science-based toys that can be moved into shapes and do many things that no other toys on the market today can.

Mike spoke extensively about his inspirations. While in college Mike became fascinated with R. Buckminster Fuller. Fuller was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist. Mike was especially interested in the numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, and the widely known geodesic dome that Fuller produced. These shapes and designs are what lead Mr. Acerra to make this new and improved toys.

Currently Mike has one employee and is hoping to get an intern from Monmouth College. In the future Mike wants to expand his business and grow into the northern cities. He also wants to eventually make his toys motorized.

Coming to Galesburg in the summer of 2015! Acerra Studios producing 3D toys; something that Mike Acerra hopes that every kid comes to need!

Chase Bair

A fast-growing, family-owned high-tech metal and stainless steel fabrication operation was the focus of our last Midwest Entrepreneurs class.

Another amazing example of amazing entrepreneurial activities right here in our own backyard (in the middle of a corn field off an asphalt road)!!

Today’s class blogger is Nikki Hurt. Below, she recounts the ongoing entrepreneurial success story of Roseville, IL-based Fusion Tech (as told to the class last Thursday by company General Manager Dan Bentz).

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Dan Bentz, the general manager of Fusion Tech, was our guest speaker on 4/24/2014.

Fusion Tech provides metal and stainless steel fabrication services in every step from design to installation. Their clients include: food, food processing, transportation, renewable fuels, and agricultural industries. They also do small individual projects like signs, handrails, counter tops etc.. They handle materials like carbon, aluminum, stainless steel, rubber and more.

Dan’s father had a blacksmith shop in their local hometown in Iowa. Dan and his brother worked at the shop learning about fabrication early in life. He moved to Kansas City, Missouri and went to college earning a degree in Business and Industrial Technology.

In 1997, Dan’s brother and his father started Modern Engineering and Piping in Roseville, IL. His brother inherited a two car garage and 88 acres of land when he married. The business only had three employees at the time. They tore out equipment and put in new for their clients. They wanted to start making their own products because they were having too many problems with the current ones they were installing.

In 2001, Modern Engineering and Piping put in their first shop. They hired more people, serviced more, worked seven days a week. Dan’s brother wanted him to come work at the family business.

In 2003, they got their first abrasive water jet to do their own cutting. Dan came around and joined his brother and father in 2004.

In 2007, The Company introduced another side to the business, Fusion Tech. Fusion Tech dealt with designing projects for customers, while Modern Engineering and Piping handled the servicing side. By this time they had 30 employees. They eventually bought out Modern Engineering and Piping and all became known as Fusion Tech “The One Stop Shop”.

In 2013, the family-run firm gained a 1.3 million dollar contract with a company they had previously lost due to lack of having a laser jet. At this time they now have three laser jets and two water jets. There are 85 employees.

Dan expressed that they work on big projects, but still do small ones as well. The big projects that earn large sums they do not get right away. He said it usually is paid “40-40-20”: 40% down immediately, 40% at time of completion, and 20% during the installation process. They have to do small jobs to keep the lights on and function (because the large ones require such time and effort to complete). Around 10 employees work on the large projects, and the other 75 handle the small ones.

Fusion Tech, unlike some of our other guest companies, do indeed believe in using banks. A small business needs capital. They used the local Raritan bank for 5-6 years before outgrowing it. They search different banks when looking to purchase equipment for the best interest rates.

Mr. Bentz led us through a summary of the many services Fusion Tech provides to its clients.

Drafting is there #1 thing they are known for and is a great sales tool. It shows a 3D model of the product Fusion Tech is going to produce. This takes a specific person to have the skill to perform drafting and it is time consuming.

Milling- This entered Fusion Tech into the machining world. The return on investment purchasing a milling machine was better than outsourcing. This also created convenience for their customers.

Drafting and milling are main two services provided. However, many others are performed as well. These include: CNOC and Lathe, Brakes, Roller and Bender, Saw Cutting, Spot Welding, Mig Welding, Tig Welding, and Trucking (transporation of finished goods to client operations).

Fusion Tech also uses an Industrial Laser Marking System for all the equipment they produce so they can use it to find products later on (as well as tools, equipment, materials etc.). They also use access databases and excel to organize jobs.

One of the most important issues for the company in recent years has been to attain ISO (International Standards Organization) Certification. In the eyes of clients (and prospective new clients, particiularly big ones), this certification means that Fusion Tech follows precise standards and performs high quality work. This ensures they hold safety rules and regulations high. It allows them to get into big name food companies that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to without the certification.

Recently, the company branched out and created Stainless Reflections, a company that specialized in monuments, head stones, statues, and memorials. This wasn’t as successful as Mr. Bentz thought it would be but has been a good opportunity for the company to learn from its mistakes. “If you’re not making any mistakes, you’re not doing anything different,” he told the class. “Don’t do the same thing twice.” You must try something or you won’t know the outcome.

When asked by a member of the class what the firm’s biggest competitive advantage is, Dan replied “our people.” They are talented individuals. They do what they have to do to get things done for clients and to respond to the changing marketplace.

A lot of quick decisions and being able to think on their feet led to many new customers, opportunities, and overall company growth. Working with the customer is important to build lasting relationships and customer loyalty. Don’t argue, just get it done and make it right if you mess up. Making the customer happy is your job and is important for the company image.

Nikki Hurt

Our guest Tuesday in Midwest Entrepreneurs class was local State Farm Insurance Agent Jon Ferguson (http://www.jonferguson.com/).

While one may not think of an insurance agent as an entrepreneur, it was clear by the time that Jon was finished with us that what he does to best serve his clients and otherwise run his business as effectively as possible has much in common with how more traditional entrepreneurs go about achieving these same core goals.

I now turn things over to class member Zariah Gaston to tell the entrepreneurial-like (and family-business-laden) story of Jon Ferguson.

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Jon Ferguson, a State Farm agent located in Monmouth, who is an alum of Cornell College (Iowa), was our guest speaker on April 22, 2014.

Mr. Ferguson’s father was an insurance agent as well. In fact, he has been surrounded by them throughout his life. Moreover, his wife was an agent, and his two brothers are agents.

In college, Jon majored in Economics. After college, he started with State Farm in Lincoln, Nebraska. Later he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, continuing his work with the firm.

Due to the limited bonus advantages, he decided he wanted a franchise of his own. When deciding on a location, Ferguson chose Monmouth, Illinois. Here in Monmouth he is the only agent in throughout much of the region. He is able to work in both Warren County, Henderson County, all of Illinois, and Iowa.

John Ferguson inherited a “book of business” when he started here in Monmouth over a decade ago. He also inherited two staff members. He later fired one and hired someone else. He stuck with consistency and his other original staff members still work there today. He makes sure his employees are comfortable at work and in their lives outside of work. He gives them daily tasks in order to meet quota. Like we have heard from other speakers this semester, it seems that for Jon, one of the keys to success is treating employees well.

Most of his business comes for auto insurance. Moreover, it is 85 percent of his commission and 65 percent of his business. Although he loses 15 percent of business in auto, it is mostly because of the fact that people are moving or downsizing. The fact that he is the only agent in Monmouth gives him an advantage. He states he is “driven by sales and money.”

Zariah Gaston

Our guest speaker on “tax day” 2014–Tuesday 15 April–had at least something indirectly to do with taxes; local real estate appraisal entrepreneur Robert W. Young (accompanied by his son and business partner Durkin Young).

Prior to class, few students realized the nature or need for land appraisal; a critical service called for any time there is a transfer in the ownership of land. By the time the class had ended, much had changed; although the complexity of what a land appraiser does–and how they have to be certified and trained–led to what was learned being a bit overwhelming to fully comprehend given the short time frame.

One general theme that has been heard more than once this semester is “being in the right place at the right time.” In the case of Robert Young, this meant a surprise promotion in his first post-college job which provided him a crash course in the highly valued yet rare skills that he today uses to run his own highly successful entrepreneurial business.

But there is much, much more than “blind luck” to this ongoing success story…  A story told nicely below by today’s student blogger Matt Homscheid.

Prof. Gabel

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Robert Young, born in a small town just outside of Roseville, is the owner of his real estate appraisal company, R.W. Young & Associates, Inc.  Robert, his son, his wife, a secretary, and a student here at Monmouth College work for this small company appraises land within the 10 neighboring counties of Warren County.  His company appraises anything from housing to farm land to land for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Growing up on a farm, Robert worked vigorously and constantly.  However, because he was challenged mechanically, he couldn’t stay in the farming business no matter how much he loved it.  So he made sure to take away one thing from farming, “hard work pays off.”  This being said he worked constantly from elementary school all the way up to the end of college.  Into his senior year in college he had a summer internship working with the Federal Land Bank (FLB).  Here he picked up skills working with people and appraising land for farmers that were looking to sell or buy the land.  Before graduating college he was offered a job to work for this company.  Robert was set upon graduating because he had a job right away.  Upon starting his job at the FLB, he noted that the price per acre of land was around $2000 and within a few year after that the price doubled.  But, due to the economic downturn, the government raised interest rates on the farm land, driving the price per acre back down to $2000.  This dramatic fluctuation in land values had takne place in a matter of a few short years; something Mr. Young learned early that is always possible in his business.

With the stress of inflation, pricing changes, and customers getting rather enraged by the appraising (a constant in the business), Robert’s boss at the FLB became extremely stressed causing him a heart attack.  Needless to say his boss stepped down, which put Robert in the number one spot. In this new position, with the economy as it was, Robert quickly became what he called “the collector of loans instead of the loan maker” (due to a large number of foreclosures and bankruptcies).  Fresh out of college, still young, this was a very hard position for him to fill.

After several months of going to court and dealing with enraged customers, his employer offered to pay him seven months’ severance.  He accepted the offer and decided to start his own business, R.W. Young & Associates, Inc (utilizing the skills he learned quickly and by surprise as a result of being thrust into this high position at the FLB). 

When starting his business, Mr. Young asked his former boss to join him in his company, but in this case, his boss would have a very low stress level position.  Robert had heard that the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) was looking to get the land between Monmouth and Burlington, Iowa appraised to continue building Route 34.  He took the initiative to send a letter to Peoria informing them he could be of great assistance.  Within only a couple days, someone was knocking at his door asking for an appraisal of the land on which they’d be building.  This started him off on a good foot because it lead to him working consistently with the Illinois Department of Transportation, a huge consumer of appraisal services, in the neighboring counties.

After a few years of working, Robert’s former boss had to retire due to the circumstances of his heart attack earlier in life.  This led Robert into contacting someone in Galesburg, a small competitor, and bringing him into his business.  This is what expanded his business into the ten neighboring counties instead of the original three he had started with.  With business being so vast, he decided to ask college students to come assist him in his business.  The students worked on computers and with spreadsheets creating a list of numbers for the appraisals he was doing.  He’s had roughly a dozen or so students come in and help him with his business.  One of the biggest things he covers with his business is inheritance taxes on properties when someone in the family passes away.  Because there is a loan involved in most inheritance properties, it requires an appraisal and Robert is always the one to be there if he isn’t too busy at the time.

To become someone of his stature, one needs to get a college degree, get certified by the state of Illinois, and have over 3,000 hours of experience in order to gain the title of “Certified General” like Robert Young.  Robert is known very well for his appraising abilities in the 10 counties around Monmouth.  He will take on mostly farm and income land appraisals because that’s what he knows best.  Due to the nature of his business, he isn’t able to charge customers by the value of the land, so he instead charges people by the acre.  He does give discounts to customers so that they are able to save large amounts of money on taxes for their purchase.  It will take Robert anywhere between 60 and 180 days to come out for an appraisal.  This is dependent on whether the customer is a residential or farm land customer or the state.  The residential or farm land customer will take around 60 days to come out with a full appraisal.  State jobs, because they are bigger, take around 180 days.  The land or property that needs appraising must be done by someone that is certified by the state or it isn’t a good appraisal.  Robert rates the land based on the soil productivity and puts it into different classes ranging from “A” to “D.”  “A Class” is the top notch soil for farmers, while “D Class” isn’t worth as much, somewhat less than half of “A Class” per acre.

R.W. Young & Associates, Inc. is a business that is promoted almost exclusively by word of mouth.  The only formal advertising that Robert does for his business consists of putting his business contact information in a plat book that local farmers look through to either buy or sell land.  The bankers and farmers are the ones that will see his information and contact him for an appraisal.

To finish strong, Robert said that he was “in the right place at the right time or [had] just dumb luck” to get his job and business going and started on the right foot.  Obviously, there is much more to his success than this. To make sure we took one thing away from this, he made sure we knew and understood that “hard work pays off.”

Matt Homscheid