Success Stories

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…)

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…)

Jaymie Mitchell, proposal operations manager, Schultz Surveying & Engineering, Inc. (SSE), is originally from Waseca, a small town located south of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. She still pronounces certain words with an unmistakable Minnesota accent.

Stan Schultz, owner and founder of SSE, is also from the small town of Doniphan in southern Missouri. Like many small-town entrepreneurs, Schultz realized his employment options were limited, so he struck out on his own, opening the company doors of then-Schultz Engineering Services, Inc. in 1997 with just one employee in an abandoned farm house at the edge of Poplar Bluff. He regularly pulled all-nighters and his wife and parents frequently pitched in to make the business work.

And work it has. SSE has grown to an approximately $5 million civil engineering, materials testing, surveying and water treatment systems firm employing more than 45 engineers, surveyors, materials testers and support staff in a main office in Poplar Bluff with additional offices in Branson, Lake Ozark and Doniphan.  (more…)

Erin Schroeder owns Schroeder Dental, Inc., located in Floyds Knobs, Indiana. Dr. Schroeder offers a wide variety of dental services. Some of the services offered include fillings, cleanings, exams, crowns, bridges, whitening, implant crowns, dentures, partial dentures, etc. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Dr. Schroeder was busy with schoolwork. She earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Biology and Associate of Arts and Chemistry from Indiana University Southeast. After four years of dental school, she received her Doctor of Dental Medicine from the University of Louisville.

Dr. Schroeder has had the dream of becoming a dentist since she was only 12 years old. She has always wanted her career to be one that helps people and promotes better oral health. To this day, her mission at Schroeder Dental is to provide excellent dental care to patients. It is important to her that her business enacts ethical procedures and follows guidelines.

Dr. Schroeder enjoys so much about her business, and the part she enjoys the most is helping people learn the importance of oral health. She also loves seeing patients’ happy, smiling faces after treatments. Working with dental insurance companies is Dr. Schroeder’s least favorite aspect of running her business. She says it is a long and sometimes challenging process to learn everything she needs to know about working with each company. (more…)

Success Story: Indiana

Jennie DiBeneditto and Dawn Spyker together own Silica Ceramic Studio, LLC., in Jeffersonville, Indiana. This educational art studio offers art camps, classes, parties, and more. Jennie and Dawn designed the studio to be a relaxing space for adults to have a wonderful creative experience, but children who love to paint are also welcome! Silica Ceramic Studio, LLC. has a small gallery space where they feature a new local artist’s work every two months.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Jennie was, and still is, a graphic designer. When Dawn isn’t busy at the studio, she is working as an art teacher in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Dawn and Jennie met at the University of Louisville. They are both very passionate about art and started playing around with the idea of starting their own art studio. Dawn and Jennie believed that there weren’t enough art opportunities in the Jeffersonville area.

Dawn and Jennie talked about opening their own business for over a year. Their passion for art urged them to move forward with their dream.  Three months after taking classes at the ISBDC and legalizing their LLC, they opened Silica Ceramic Studio, LLC. on October 4, 2013.  (more…)