Success Stories

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…)

Since 1951, the Wrazidlo family has been providing the Twin Ports area of Duluth MN, Superior WI, and surrounding communities with quality meats. Wrazidlo’s Old World Meats continues a tradition that started with Paul Wrazidlo’s grandfather, Frank Wrazidlo, when he opened Frank’s Quality Meats in Duluth, MN. Today, Old World Meats continues to grow and provide quality products made with the same meat recipes and techniques handed down through the generations.

Paul Wrazidlo first came to the Center for Economic Development (CED), Northeast Minnesota’s Small Business Development Center, to participate in the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Student to Business Initiative (SBI) Marketing program in fall 2012. UMD students provided him with an integrated communications and marketing plan that really impressed him.

“The marketing program was the boost we needed,” Paul said, “we have used 99% of their proposed marketing suggestions and today when I walk through the door of a prospective customer I think ’People Buy What I Believe.’ The students stressed this to me in their presentation.”  (more…)