Earle Travel Co. has been weathering challenges as the recession has deepened and H1N1 influenza spiked
earlier this year. Those problems have nearly capsized many travel agencies, but co-owner Kelly Shea said Earle’s business
slumped only 8 percent last year.
MoveSmart LLC works with business clients looking to make better use of their space, helping to design, furnish and adapt
their offices for maximum efficiency.
After working in retail management for four years, Rich and Jodi Scheve decided to take business into their own hands—and
their own garage. Passing on business plans for Subway and South Bend Chocolate Co. franchises, the couple
skirted heavy franchise fees and started Twisted Wick Candle Co.
For four decades, Jim Ashby worked as a manufacturing floor manager, first for General Motors Corp., then, after a buyout,
for an Ingersoll Rand subsidiary. He likes to relax and fish, but Ashby considers himself too energetic for retirement. He’s
now 67 years old. And a first-time entrepreneur.
Nine local companies have joined together to offer $80,000 worth of marketing services, computer reconfiguration and office furniture as the prize the “Indy Business Makeover Competition” for small businesses.
Certified public accountant Dave Norris bought a 1976 Good Humor truck and started his family-owned U Want Ice Cream mobile
route in 2007, aiming to make a personal connection with people—along with
a little extra money.
Noblesville resident Tom Wagenhauser is revamping the Hamilton County-centric Web site FishersFind.com and hopes to double its weekly traffic.
Clad in iguana-patterned medical scrubs, Angela Lennox moves quickly around the clinic laboratory, administering barium to
a ferret and ordering a guinea pig X-ray. From there, she moves to an exam room, taking blood from an unruly bird and diagnosing
an injured pet duck—all in the span of about 30 minutes.
With an interior-design overhaul in 2004 and a business plan restructuring last year, Gina and Tina LaGrotte’s No. 7 Salon & Spa near downtown would be aesthetically and economically unrecognizable to their late father.
Here’s why some leaders are able to get so much more out of their teams than others.
Blue House salon owner Phil Salmon spends no money on advertising and yet makes a six-figure salary.
Small Business Administration loan guarantees in May. These businesses have received loans from financial institutions with a guarantee from the SBA.
After graduating from Indiana University with a business marketing degree, J.D. Allen saw every reason to combine his education
and his passion for basketball in a home business.
In this deep recession, many local small-business owners suffer a harsh dilemma: Heavily tied to a single supplier,
customer or industry, they must diversify or die.
Jean Wojtowicz, executive director of the Indiana Statewide Certified Development Corp., has been elected to chair the National
Association of Development Companies, or NADCO, board of directors.
In the midst of a $1.2 million campaign to upgrade streets, sidewalks and other neighborhood infrastructure, a coalition of Irvington businesses and residents is launching a unique marketing campaign to tout the neighborhood’s recent enhancements and position it as an alternative to places such as Carmel, Zionsville, Geist and Noblesville.
Since January, Heartland Distillers has turned out several small batches of its first signature spirit—Indiana Vodka—available at about 300 area retailers.
A focus on old-world quality with modern services and efficiency drives the owners of Simply Sweet Shoppe & Second Story Playhouse.
If you are a human resources professional, now is an excellent time for you to assess the human resource function in your
company.
Doubling annual sales might seem an impossible feat in a recession, but at the modest office of Williams Comfort Air and Metzler’s
Mr. Plumber, it is a reality.
