Is it worth it?

So you are thinking about entering IdeaWF and wonder if it’s worth the time and effort.  Lots of people wonder that before they enter.  If a person wins prize money from a competition, it’s likely they’ll decide entering was definitely worth the effort.  You see that in the video commercials on this web page.  Our past winners love the contest.  The value of entering a business plan competition goes far beyond the prize money, though.  And don’t take my word for it.  This url takes you to a story about the value of business plan competitions for those that don’t score prizes.  http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/losing-a-business-competition-was-it-worth-it/  This is why we strongly believe everyone wins through IdeaWF.  If you are serious about succeeding in your new business, plan to grow to at least three employees, and plan to get the majority of your revenue from outside Wichita, Archer, and Clay counties, IdeaWF is for you!  

Lunch and Learn About IdeaWF

We have an orientation session tomorrow for those that can’t make evening orientations.  Join us at 11:30 am in the Dillard College of Business, Room 189 to learn more about the competition and how to write an effective executive summary.  I know it’s lunchtime, so please feel free to bring your lunch if you are pressed for time.  We should be done around 12:30 for those that are heading to work after the session.

Hope to see you there!

3 Great Reasons to Attend Tonight’s 7 PM Orientaton Session

Great Reasons to attend tonight’s orientation session at 7 PM in the Dillard College of Business, Room 189

1)       It’s raining (yea!).  You want to do something indoors

2)      You’ll be home in plenty of time to see the last few innings of the Ranger’s victory!

3)      You’re ready to learn how you can dramatically change your life for the better

See you tonight!

Check out our judges!

One of the benefits of entering IdeaWF is the opportunity to get feedback on your idea.  For most successful new businesses the track record is that the entrepreneur’s original idea was “just OK.”  As the entrepreneur got feedback the idea morphed from something “just OK” into something successful.  Often that feedback came in the form of having too few sales.  The idea morphed as the entrepreneur struggled to stay afloat.  That could have been avoided had the entrepreneur first gotten some expert feedback on their idea. 

As you work on your plan the experts in the SBDC will gladly give you valuable feedback. The sooner you contact them with your draft executive summary, the sooner they can help you.  In fact, if you give them your draft before November 14^th they guarantee you’ll have their feedback in time for you to make changes to your executive summary before the November 30^th IdeaWF deadline.

Once you submit your plan, the feedback process gets even more intense. Our judges then put their experienced eyes on it and are likely to provide you some insights that are simply invaluable.  Often those insights come in the form of hard, direct questions like:  “why did you pick that market” or “how much do you think you can charge?”  As you form answers to these hard questions your idea is morphing from “just OK” into a real opportunity.  Check out the backgrounds of our judges — technology, retail, health care, manufacturing – they’ve got it covered.  Our judges are ready to help you turn your idea into a successful business.  Why would you pass up such a great opportunity?

Our next orientation session is Thursday night at 7 pm.  See you in Room 189 in the Dillard College of Business at Midwestern State.

COME TO TONIGHT’S ORIENTATION SESSION

Tonight (Monday October 24th) is our first orientation session.  It starts at 5:30 pm in the Dillard College of Business (Room 189).  The best parking lot for the Dillard Building at MSU is off of Hampstead Blvd.  There will be signs on the Dillard first floor pointing you to Room 189.  Hope to see you there!

COME TO AN ORIENTATION SESSION!

Beginning next Monday, October 24^th we offer orientation sessions about IdeaWF.  I strongly encourage all interested in the competition to attend one of these sessions, which are offered Oct 24^th at 5:30 pm, Oct 27^th at 7 pm, Nov 1^st at 11:30 am, and Nov 3^rd at 7 pm in Room 189 (first floor) in the Dillard College of Business at MSU.   The sessions last about an hour and answer any questions you might have about the competition.  Beyond the basics of the contest, we talk about how to write an effective executive summary.  An effective executive summary indicates you have thought through the key elements of your plan and is a great start on building a strong business.  The experts from our SBDC will also be there to tell how you can tap into their free (can’t beat that price!) assistance as you progress in IdeaWF.  Hope to see you there!  

IdeaWF 2012 is Open for Business

We ran our first advertisements this weekend to kick off the IdeaWF 2012 competition.  Let me first tip my hat to a few of the folks without which this contest would not be possible.  Many thanks to Mike Bernhardt, Dick Bundy, James Frank, and Lanham Lyne for helping raise the funds needed for the competition.  In fact, they’re still raising money from the business community.  I’ll update our list of sponsors at the bottom of the website once we have a better handle on the “investors” in the 2012 competition. 

The contest owes a special thank you to Jackie Hoegger of Hoegger Communications for the contest’s brilliant marketing and branding campaigns.  Colt West and his crew at Crane-West power our electronic media presence (including this website) – thanks for the fabulous work!

I hope you notice the first place prize amount for this year’s contest has gone up to $35,000.  Other than that eye-popper there haven’t been many changes to the 2012 contest.  Take a tour of the website—it has the all details you need.  My next post will introduce you to our judges.  Talk to you again soon.

We Have Winners!

Congratulations to Kenny’s All Purpose Seasoning for taking 1^st place in IdeaWF 2011.  Kenny’s has a great tasting line of seasonings that needs to be in your kitchen and kitchens across the world!  Second place went to the Texas Casket Company.  Bobby Scarber builds a high-quality product, and the judges are confident he’s soon going to have a lot of business once folks see what he’s offering.  Big League Dirt, which helps baseball and softball coaches keep their fields in great condition, was the third place team.  You have to love this country – you can even launch a company that sells dirt (and other soil conditioners) and be successful.  By the way, good dirt not only makes a ball field look great, it also significantly lowers the chance of player injury.  Buffalo O’Bryant’s Craft Brewery, Integratest, and Off-Beat Enterprises, our other finalists, also won in IdeaWF – they won because each refined their ideas and got valuable feedback that will help them succeed.  I anticipate all six finalists will soon be operating, creating new jobs, and economically developing our area.  And that’s what IdeaWF is all about!

Drum Roll Please

The Six Finalists for IdeaWF 2011 are:

 Big League Dirt Company

Buffalo O’ Bryants Craft Brewery, LLC

Integratest, Inc

Kenny’s All Purpose Seasoning

Offbeat Enterprises, LLC

Texas Casket Company 

These entrants now enter the final phase as they update their business plans based on feedback from the judges.  It’s up to them to evaluate the feedback and incorporate any needed changes.  We also hope the entrants will work with mentors to provide some independent feedback and advice over the next month.  Part of that mentoring is the SBDC’s session this Thursday evening at 5:30 PM in the Dillard College, Room 133  on how to make an effective oral presentation to the judges (and later to potential investors).  This session if open to all IdeaWF entrants and the public, not just the finalists. 

We have great hopes for the finalists.  The judges thought each can succeed and create new jobs in our area.  And that ultimately is the purpose for IdeaWF – new jobs in our region based on exciting new ventures.

Deadline Approaching

Just a reminder to our IdeaWF contestants that the business plans are due not later than Monday, February 21^st at 5 PM to the Lalani Center.  Please bring six copies of the plan.  Unlike if you were submitting the plan to a potential investor, please don’t put your plans in a nice folder.  A simple staple in the top left corner or a very basic folder will do.  Nice folders add too much bulk to the process as we get the plans to the judges.

Good luck!  I suspect many of you will be very busy this weekend as you put the finishing touches on your plan.  I look forward to reading the plans for the next hot 15 businesses in our region.