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Custom Bat Manufacturer Hits Home Run as Entrepreneur 

August 13, 2014
Success Story, Illinois –

Swansea resident Todd “Dutch” Eschman is batting a thousand as the first-place winner of a regional business plan competition that is driving his entrepreneurial venture toward success. Eschman, 44, is the sole proprietor of Old Dutch Classic Bats (www.dutchbats.com), a manufacturer of custom bats for vintage baseball players. Vintage baseball is a rapidly growing sport that recreates the game as it was played in the 1860s by replicating rules, period uniforms, style of play, language and equipment – including bats.

The entrepreneur’s business idea to manufacture and sell custom-made bats came from his passion to play vintage baseball, which began three years ago. “I’ve always played baseball and have coached my kids’ teams,” said Eschman, whose day job is as general manager of community publications for the Belleville News-Democrat and who began his journalism career as a sportswriter. “In August 2011, I got wind of a vintage baseball game between the St. Louis Unions and Lafayette Square Cyclone BBC and decided to check it out. After watching one game, I was hooked.”

A year later, Eschman and friends formed a team and started competing in local leagues. Eschman and his friends were not the only ones fascinated with vintage baseball. The game’s quick growth led to the formation of the Vintage Base Ball Association with 161 member clubs across 26 states, most of which include multiple teams of 15 to 20 players each. This surge in popularity motivated Eschman to take his passion for the game to the next level.  (more…)

Improve your business website with simple changes to the header and footer

August 12, 2014

Say you’re a mom whose kids badly need haircuts. A search for “hair salon for kids” offers some options, and you click to learn more.

When you arrive at a website, you see a bright, cheerful homepage with photos of a kid-friendly salon, complete with free stickers. You immediately see the address, phone number, and hours of operation at the top of the web page. Your first impression: perfect. You see they’re open, you call for an appointment and you get directions, without having to scan through their website for more info.

This section of a website, called the header, is a valuable but often under-utilized area. Here are some simple tricks to improve your customers’ experience by focusing on both this section and the footer.

Lesson Highlight: Create effective website headers and footers

The header is the first thing a website visitors sees. The information you include here can influence whether customers decide to stick around and explore your website.

Here are a few quick tips:  (more…)

3 Reasons to Care About Intellectual Property

August 11, 2014

"Intellectual Ven Diagram between Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks” Intellectual property (IP) is one of the most important components of any business, and yet it is often one of the most neglected. Amidst the furor of innovation and the pressure of day-to-day operations, IP can get lost in the shuffle. But neglecting your IP won’t resolve the issue; in fact, it puts your business at increasing risk every day. So why should entrepreneurs care about IP?

IP is your most valuable asset – Every company has IP whether they know it or not. After all, every business starts with an idea. And while your physical assets show up on your balance sheet, it’s your intangible assets that can set your company apart. Innovative products and processes, creative designs, distinctive signs and branding, and trade secrets are all part of your IP portfolio. As the economy shifts more towards information technology and services, those intangible assets have never been more valuable.

Failing to protect your IP can be expensive – Imagine: You’ve come up with a fantastic new idea–something that will revolutionize how we consume cat videos posted online. You don’t want to wait another day to get started changing the world, so you put off filing patents and trademarks to another day. Unfortunately for you, the patent system is now first to file (not first to invent), and someone else has swooped in and filed for a nearly identical invention in the interim. Even worse, you’ve put considerable time, effort, and money into a project that now has to be scrapped. Filing early will help you avoid these headaches and help you raise capital; investors want to know that you own your IP.  (more…)

A Must-read To-do List for Anyone Looking to Start A Crowdfunding Campaign

August 7, 2014

As the crowdfunding industry continues to explode around the world we still find too many campaigns failing and people desperately seeking help once they see no funds appear in their coffers after launching.

People need to know that it’s hard work to be successful at crowdfunding, but if you’re willing to learn (and get prepared ahead of time), you can make incredible things happen with the right knowledge and tools, some of which are found here:

“Win the crowd and you’ll win your freedom.” – Gladiator.

You and your business will need to attract followers, fans and positive awareness. This is not “If you build it they will come” scenario, but more like “If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound?” In this sense, you’ll need to make a lot of carefully calibrated noises in the presence of many receptive people.  (more…)

Success Story: Iowa

August 6, 2014

Mark Snow, John Dore, Dean Conlin, Susan Hinrichs and Terri Caldwell together own SafelyFiled.com LLC (website)(Facebook page). SafelyFiled is the perfect place to organize all important documents online – safely, securely, and simply. SafelyFiled offers free checklists, an invaluable tool that helps families get started and allows them to gather their important documents together.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Terri Caldwell was a Program Manager and Software Engineer with Cisco Systems. As a Program Manager, Terri was responsible for Cisco’s TL9000 and ISO certifications. As a Software Engineer, she was responsible for ensuring various security products within Cisco routers were coded and tested fully to meet the ever-changing security threats on the network.

Terri became involved with SafelyFiled because it fit a very personal need/challenge in her own life when the opportunity came up. Terri is located in Columbus, Indiana, and being the executor of her mother’s estate in Florida, she found that even with modern means of transportation, she could not get there quickly enough to provide important medical or legal documentation, which might be needed if something were to happen.  Now, with SafelyFiled she can provide a digital copy of those records immediately, and know where the original paper copies are located so she can provide those if needed.  (more…)