Keith McKeever 0:25

Welcome to Mission 309. I am your host, Keith McKeever, thank you for stopping by. This is the first episode, they have got Eric Sampson from the Illinois small division, Small Business Development Center at Bradley, which is what we're going to talk about today, we're going to highlight exactly what they do over there, and how it might be beneficial for you. So without further ado, we'll bring in Eric Sampson, who also happens to be my neighbor. We're about what a couple blocks away from each other. So general speaking neighbors over here in Lake Arlington Pekin. So Eric, welcome. Welcome to the show.

Eric Sampson 0:58

Hey, pleasure to be here, Keith. Thank you for inviting me.

Keith McKeever 1:01

And no problem. I'm excited to start this often with business stuff. So the Illinois Small Business Development Center. That's almost a mouthful to say. It is all out. But tell us a little bit about first yourself. Who are you? Where are you from?

Eric Sampson 1:18

Biomass you

Keith McKeever 1:18

want to share?

Eric Sampson 1:19

Great, great. So yeah, I'm Eric Sampson, and I'm the director of the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Bradley University. So I'm part of the Turner Center for Entrepreneurship right there on Bradley's campus. I'm actually 1992 graduate of Bradley University myself. So as I joined the center about 22 months ago, it was kind of a return to the hilltop for me. So I really enjoyed that fact, and getting to kind of serve my alma mater and a little bit different role. But basically, yeah, I grew up a couple different places. Most of my childhood was in Indiana, and I went to high school outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1988, that's when I came down to Central Illinois, actually to go to Bradley. And as you can tell, I never really left the region. So I worked in financial services versus a stock broker. And then I spent 20 plus years as a Commodities Futures and options broker. I dealt with a lot of farmers and ranchers all across the Midwest from Eastern Indiana all the way out. Almost Colorado and western Nebraska and Missouri, Iowa. You name it, Wisconsin. Wow, all over the place doing that. And then, you know, as Keith, you may recall, I spent five years as a realtor with Jim Maloof realtor selling residential Realty here in the greater Peoria area. And then I also had a brief stint as a mortgage loan originator with guaranteed rates. So believe me, I was pretty excited when I found out that the opening for the director at the Small Business Development Center, Bradley was there and they were looking to fill that. And one of the things that really drew me to the role was that I've always had a passion for understanding the origin story behind different businesses. You know, what was the idea? What was the problem that somebody was trying to solve? What was the service they were hoping to provide? Or the widget that they were hoping to invent that would make their lives easier? And how would they share that with other people. That's what really drew me to the center. So I was just really kind of thrilled to have the opportunity to become the center director. It's really kind of neat how the center functions from the standpoint that our host organization is Bradley University. And Bradley has one of the few and probably the first schools of entrepreneurship and innovation in the country. So endowed by Bob and Carolyn Turner, who are graduates of the school. And then they also have so that's the basically the Turner school is the student facing organization. And they also endowed the Turner Center, which is a public facing organization, which is host to the Small Business Development Center. So within the Small Business Development Center, we have experts that are able to provide a lot of very interesting and neat services to small businesses that are hoping to start up and grow and hire and do international trade and government contracting and those types of things. But our Small Business Development Center at Bradley University is actually one of over 40 centers here in the state of Illinois. So there's a big network of Illinois, small business development centers. Obviously, the goal here is to empower individuals to start businesses from their own ideas and turn them into going concerns and hire people and support and grow the economic development in the region.

Keith McKeever 4:49

That's awesome. And yeah, I have no new gosh, I have known you that long five years of real estate and it since then, probably only seven, eight years now. So and it was it was also strange when I found out that you We're literally gonna move in as a neighbor, so to speak here a block or so away. So,

Eric Sampson 5:05

yeah, I yeah, I'm thrilled to be here. And I wouldn't have known what the place if I hadn't been a realtor because actually sold a house. Oh, you know, it's probably what, six or seven years ago to somebody on West Shore. So, you know, the fellow that was looking to move in was looking for a place that he could have an opportunity to fish he loved to fish, he said he didn't really need to put a boat in all the time to need to be, you know, have direct, you know, Lake frontage, but at least wanted access to it. And as such, kind of doing the search to find them a place that fit. That's how it happened upon Lake garland. And hidden gems later. I really did. You know, and I tell people that all the time, you know, first people say, oh, you know, over here at, you know, in Peking, they say, where are you talking about the lagoon? And I'm like, no, no, there's there's a little lake off of Court Street, I said, you could drive past the high school, you know, 100 times, and you never know that this is over here. But coming from

Keith McKeever 6:06

a slightly bigger body of water, right? Truly, a little bit bigger than lagoon was truly. So yeah. So entrepreneurship, and that's, that's a dream of a lot of people. And that's why I'm really excited about this. Being a being a realtor, and I've got a veteran podcast as well. So I guess you could throw my my name under that entrepreneur abstainer In one way, shape, or form, but, you know, it's, uh, it's, it's tough sometimes to really know where to start how to start, or maybe you have that spark, and you get the first two or three steps done. And then you're, you just hit a brick wall, and you're like, where to go. And I think every single business owner gets to that at some point in time you hit a brick wall, and you're like, well, now I gotta find a path around because the I thought the path was in front of me, but it's not. So your your center does a lot of work with that stuff. Correct. That's helping people find find that next path. So how exactly are you guys doing that? Yes, some examples?

Eric Sampson 7:06

Great, great question. So twice a month, we actually hold a workshop, and we've delivered this virtually now, probably, they have delivered it about 40 times in the last two years virtually. But we have a workshop called starting your business in Illinois. And it does exactly what you're, you know, asking about there, it gives guidance to people that have that inkling or that spark, and need to know, okay, what are some concrete steps that I can take to actually start my business. So we talked about things like selecting a name and starting to, for example, reserve a website address. And we talked about different ways that they can organize if they're going to be a sole proprietor or if they're going to form a partnership, if perhaps actually, founding a corporation, or an S corp, or setting up an LLC is an appropriate way to go. And we talked a little bit about the importance of record keeping and insurance. And you know, what kind of taxes we'll have to encounter as they're working through this and talk a little bit about some of the challenges they might face in terms of, obviously, one that's in the news lately is staffing and that type of thing. But a lot of times, you know, people just don't know what they don't know. And you're exactly right, we we aim to be a resource for those who need some help along that path. Because that path of entrepreneurship, you know, you think that you're going to go from one point to the other, but but the journey kind of looks a little bit like this, you know, to get there. And it's not the same for every single individual or every single business that gets started. But like I said, there, there is a framework that leads towards success, and we hope to assist people in guiding them along that path.

Keith McKeever 8:52

Absolutely, yeah, not all those paths are straight, and service industries wildly different than a products based industry, you're gonna have different issues and just totally different needs different directions, you got to go. So that's, that's great. Would you say most of the people that come through your doors or maybe virtually come through your doors are in the beginning stages of that? Or do you find people you know, kind of in semi established or in that growth and scaling stage?

Eric Sampson 9:20

Yeah. Well, it's, it's, I'm glad that you asked that. Because the bulk of people that really come in contact with our center initially are just in that first, I have an idea. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. How can how can you help me proceed. And so we try to help people with starting their business in Illinois workshop as the first step. And then we offer as follow on advising as well. So in the following follow on advising, we offer those essentially in a one on one session, where we can meet either via the phone or in person, which, you know, for the last, you know, 18 months that's been virtually through Google meet or zoom or, or in a web conferencing service, similar to what we're on, you and I right now. But we find that delivering the assistance through these one on one sessions, and I've had some clients that I've met with, periodically throughout the entire time that I've been with the center, others it's been, you know, more, one or two steps, and they're on their way and taken off with the information, they need to make those next steps and go out and grow their business. So we try to meet everybody where they are, you know, we, I've met people with all degree of different levels of business acumen. So for people that are on their third or fourth serial venture, that they're starting to people that have never balanced the checkbook before. But that's okay. We can work with everybody. And that's really what our center is set up to do. And I tell you, the one thing that makes it exciting is no two days are the are the same, I'm hearing from a diverse background of different individuals and people, diverse ideas, you know, exciting, different things that they want to try. And like I said, we we hope to help them along that path. So yes, we we deal with people that come in and that are at the very, very, very, you know, seed starting phase, to those that have businesses that are experiencing growing pains, and are running into those challenges, like you said, say, hey, you know, we haven't encountered this before? What are some ways that we can talk through some potential options? Or what are some ways that we can do some strategic planning? Or perhaps, what are some ways that we can engage our client base and expand our market? Or, you know, should we examine expanding our product mix a little bit, should we do some things along those lines, so we stand ready to assist in a lot of those areas,

Keith McKeever 11:45

it's gonna be a lot of very interesting conversations. And it's also going to be pretty rewarding. For those that are, you know, based right here in the greater Peoria area to see somebody come in, I'm assuming you've seen this a handful of times by now that somebody comes in with an idea, and you get them started. And in six months, or a year later, you're walking into their brick and mortar location, or you're or you're buying their, their food at the, at the farmers market, or whatever, whatever the case is, it's gotta be really rewarding to know, like, you know, what, we, we made this happen for this person, we set them on a different path.

Eric Sampson 12:23

Yeah, that's absolutely the truth. And, you know, now I'm starting to get goose bumps a little bit here, as you You're, you're making me remember some of these conversations that I've had with with clients, you know, in the last two years that have been very similar to what you just described, you know, people have come together with the idea that, you know, there's something that they want to do. And they just need a little bit of guidance here. They're, they're the ones that are putting in all the effort, you know, so sometimes people will come to us, and they'll say, Hey, listen, I'm looking at, you're trying to start a business or grow business that I've, you know, had some success with to a certain degree, maybe I need to take it to an additional level with some additional capital funding and that type of thing. I'm talking to a lender, and they said, I need to, you know, bring them a written business plan? Well, one of the services that our center offers is that we can assist them provide them with a checklist or an outline. That works pretty well. So you know, I've heard from the, from the lenders that have read them, they said, Yeah, this is the right format, because it tells us the information that we need to know. So we can provide them with that checklist. And they're the ones who have to fill in the blanks, right? They're the quarterback of their, of their team, and they've got to call the shots. But we're certainly happy to give them some pointers and feedback on that. They need a little assistance with some market research and some figures to put in their financial projections, we can assist them along those lines as well. And yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, there's nothing better than to, you know, hear from somebody that says, hey, you know, worked worked out, you know, we got that loan application through and we got some of the operating capital, we needed to, you know, to go to get really running and to see that grow. And we've hired some additional people, and we're doing some of these other things that you bet it's, it's absolutely very rewarding and fulfilling.

Keith McKeever 14:08

Yeah, it's, it's gotta be really cool to, like I said, to see that in person. Because I've, for a couple years now, I've been involved in a mastermind group on on Facebook and zoo with veteran business owners. And there's one it's a little over an hour from here, so I haven't met her in person, but everybody else is spread across the country and to hear about their business stories and their struggles and people offering advice, just to see people succeed is just an amazing thing. And so to be able to, to see that and know the problems and know the that they overcame those obstacles and and then you can go in there and, you know, support their business has got to be amazing. So what what are the kinds of services? Since we're, since you kind of mentioned that what are the services are you guys providing?

Eric Sampson 14:54

Sure. Well, I'll tell you, we are really fortunate from the standpoint that our centers actually One of the oldest in the network centers been around since 1985. One of the great things about how we provide our services are that because of our funding through the Small Business Administration at the federal level, in concert with our partners at the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity at the state level, we're actually able to provide our services at no cost to the client. So there is a confidentiality agreement. I like to tell people, we work in a confidential manner. And I like to say in a collaborative manner, as well. So we're not here to share your ideas with anybody who could be a potential competitor of yours. And we're certainly also not here to take your idea and turn it into something of our own doesn't work that way. Our success is really your success, we want to see you turn your ideas into a successful business. But yeah, I'm glad you did ask about some of the other services that are provided at our center. We are unique in that. We do have some additional specialists on staff at the Turner Center for Entrepreneurship. So for example, we have a woman named Kelly Krieger hurrah, she is an expert in government contracting. So and this may be near and dear to your heart as well. So she assists veterans, veteran disabled, minority business owners and women business owners to get certified. And then she also helps clients that are hoping to position their businesses to earn contracts with the local state and federal government, including with the military services as well. So she provides that under the banner of the PTAC that you see there behind me, the Illinois Procurement Technical Assistance Center. So basically, that is specialized services to, you know, provide those that guidance in those certifications, and also positioning so that they can win those government contracts and grow their businesses by doing business with the government. So, you know, that's pretty exciting to have

Keith McKeever 16:55

that that is this, those are some, those are some good contracts to get if you're in business, but I do I have heard that those can be difficult. I mean, you're dealing with the government, and they're gonna want things in their specific way. So that's, that's a tremendous resource for people who who have a product or service that can be beneficial.

Eric Sampson 17:13

Well, yes. And that's absolutely right. And you're right, there are definitely some specific guidelines that have to be followed. The great thing about working with somebody at the local PTAC is that they are familiar with exactly what has to happen along the way. So they can provide guidance with the appropriate steps to position properly. And they also can help from the standpoint that a lot of businesses that end up becoming Prime government contractors start out as subcontractors to other contractors that are fulfilling these contracts. So again, there are a lot of ways to, you know, kind of find your success along that journey. And just because it seems like it's a really, really big egg to crack doesn't mean it can't be cracked. So I would definitely encourage people that if your goal is to take your business and win government contracts, the way to do it, you know, appropriately is to is to work with your local PTAC and get that get that assistance. So we're happy to provide guidance and point people in the direction of that. One of the other things that's really cool is say, you know, we're talking about somebody says, okay, you know, I've developed my new product and um, you know, open a storefront and I'm selling it like crazy. So, you know, selling it in Peoria, I'm selling it across Illinois, I'm selling it in Missouri and Wisconsin and Texas, I'm thinking to myself, can I sell this in Canada, or Mexico or Germany or New Zealand? Well, the great news is we also have an Illinois SBDC, International Trade Center, at the center of hurt at the Turner center for entrepreneurship as well. So we have specialists that can guide people in basically preparing to export their products to other countries. Also, if you need some assistance in importing some of your raw materials, or things like that, that could go into it, we can offer you some guidance there as well. So that's another pretty pretty neat aspect to what we can do at the Turner center. Yeah, that's,

Keith McKeever 19:06

that's pretty awesome. Because you guys are basically, you're painting a picture, do you guys have the roadmap, and you're the guide, they just got to do the driving.

Eric Sampson 19:16

That's exactly the best way to put it. You bet. If somebody has the initiative and puts in the effort, they can definitely get the the some help kind of along the roadmap to to get there and find that success. So absolutely. One of the other things that I'm really excited to share with you today is the fact that about eight months ago, our center actually was able to bring on a new Director of Technology Commercialization. And this gentleman who's by the name of Mike Stubbs also serves as the Director of the Peoria next innovation center, which is a building a few blocks off Bradley's campus up there on Main Street, but it's great because, number one, he comes he comes in With a tremendous background in intellectual property, so he can assess people that need to copyright or trademark trademark, or perhaps even develop a product that needs to be patent protected. And he can assist along those steps. But he's also been responsible for bringing in new tenants to the Peoria next innovation center, such as velocity Labs, which is going to be doing a medical testing business based out of there. Also, the pure next Innovation Center as part of the SBDC has a pretty successful history of really interesting businesses that, at one point, were incubated at the Peoria next innovation center. So obviously, you hear lately about the successes of natural fiber welding. And that's how I started. Yeah, so that's a company that was started by a chemistry professor at Bradley, who's incubated that business initially at the puree next innovation center, and then has expanded and grown and grown and grown. And you may have seen recently in the news that the old Shopko facility there on Pioneer Parkway, they're going to be taking over a good portion of that to add to their manufacturing capacity here in the area as well. So

Keith McKeever 21:16

that's awesome. And I'm not surprised that a chemist came up with that business, right? Seems like the perfect fit for somebody to do that. A chemist.

Eric Sampson 21:26

Yeah. Isn't that great? I mean, basically, they were looking for a way to provide a sustainable alternative to petroleum based fabrics. And, you know, through research and brainstorming, I mean, it's brilliant. And I don't understand how it all works, for sure. But apparently, they can take, you know, kind of shorter fibers and recycled cotton products and weld them into longer fibers that then can be, you know, spun into yarn and fabric, and now they're producing polo shirts for Ralph Lauren. And, you know, it's it's kind of amazing stuff that they're, they're doing. Wow. And that's just one of the innovations that that natural fiber welding has worked on. So

Keith McKeever 22:07

don't feel bad. It's gonna go it how they do that goes over my head, too. So yeah. percent of people if you're Yeah, well, yeah, I understand that. But it's cool. I understand. It's cool, cool. stuff. It's tech stuff. It's cool. But yeah,

Eric Sampson 22:21

yeah. So I mean, it's, it's great to be able to tell those success stories of companies like that, and velocity labs. And we've got another business that's based in the pure next innovation center called Midwest bio processing. And they're working on essentially commercializing some of the technology that's been developed in the USDA Ag Research Lab here in Peoria. So you know, imagine the fact that we've got facilities that are doing all kinds of phenomenal research and that, and we're looking at ways that we can turn those into growing businesses to to feed the economy here in the area.

Keith McKeever 23:01

We're constantly amazed at how many medical type advances and tech and it's, it's amazing how much of that has happened here in Peoria? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I have much of a recognition for it. On a national stage, obviously, Silicon Valley kind of gets, you know, sure you press on that. But sure, there's a lot of really neat inventions and stuff that's come out of out of Peoria. Oh, yeah,

Eric Sampson 23:29

absolutely. Well, and it's great to have an opportunity to have a podcast like this where we get to share some of those success stories. It's kind of like you said about the lake here, right? It's It's a hidden gem. A lot of times, we're sitting right next to neighbors that are working on groundbreaking stuff, and we don't have that conversation. You know, we don't we don't know how great some of the things are that are happening around the greater Peoria area?

Keith McKeever 23:54

Absolutely. There's a lot of a lot of good things. And that is the whole the whole point of this show for for real. So is their last question I have for you. Is there. Is there anything your organization needs now from from the community, or or is it just support and sharing what you guys do?

Eric Sampson 24:10

Yeah, I think that's really the main thing. You know, we're we're tasked with helping people take their ideas and turn them into businesses. Basically, during this pandemic, one of the things that's another interesting success story is, you know, you hear again, you hear the negative thoughts, oh, well, people are leaving the state of Illinois, so on and so forth. One of the things that I really am happy to share about is the fact that basically in 2021, Illinois was number six in the nation in terms of business startups. So can you imagine, right, wow, so basically, in 2021, Illinois opened 69% More businesses than they did in 2019. So So you hear about people going through the great reset, right? The rate great reconsideration, the rate, great reevaluation, whatever you want to call it right? People are kind of taking a look at their quality of life, they're taking a look at, you know, what is going on in their, in their work or their career. And they're deciding, hey, you know what, I'm ready to take a bet on myself, or I'm ready to take a bet on my team, I think I can put something together that can be world class. And if I am willing to take the risk and put in the effort, I think I could potentially be rewarded to do that. And obviously, that's what our centers here to assist with those individuals and those teams that want to put something together, we can offer them guidance in understanding how to build a framework in pre planning, help them understand where their potential customers might be, what customer segments, they should be gunning for, help them develop a a value proposition. In other words, what can they provide that is new or different? And how can they assist those potential customers that are, you know, what are some of the decision making criteria that that their potential buyer is going through and you what specific issue or item or feature or benefit of what they develop, you know, could be that winning thing that sways that person into making that buying decision for, for their new product or their new service. And because of the fact that so many people come into this with a love or a passion for, you know, performing that task, or building that widget or serving those clientele, they probably don't come into it with the wearing all the hats of saying, you know, I, I sure do love, you know, doing insurance evaluations, I sure do love bookkeeping. And I sure do love, you know, working on legal contracts, now, they, they probably wanted to get into that business to produce that thing, that product that service, and serve their potential clients. And what we can do is help them fill in the gaps and connect them with some of those other resources in the community that can provide some of what fills in those gaps. So they don't have to know every single thing about every single thing in order to find their way to success.

Keith McKeever 27:10

Absolutely. Because there's no doubt about it, you don't know everything about everything, and you don't know what you don't know. So you guys are guys definitely a great place for that. I will have the link where they can find the information through the Turner center and everything about the Illinois Small Business Development Center. It'll be in the show notes for people to find it and and they can go out there and reach out to you and get the help that they need with whatever little nugget of business see they got in their head. So

Eric Sampson 27:43

yeah, absolutely. And on that, on that website, you'll you'll be able to find the calendar of some of the upcoming events like that starting your business in Illinois workshop. You know, and by the way, sometimes people are a little shy and they think to themselves, well shoot, you know, you're talking about these statistics of business startups and all that kind of stuff. And it only happens in the big city centers around Chicago or St. Louis and that kind of thing. But it doesn't, it's happening right here in Peoria as well. And I encourage people to go ahead and seek this information. Because our office has been so busy that I am proud to announce that starting tomorrow, I have a new assistant director of the Small Business Development Center that will be joining me on staff because yes, there's plenty of work to do here. And and we're thrilled to be able to be on this on this path to serve everybody in the community and help them get their ideas off the

Keith McKeever 28:32

ground. That's awesome. Because we need more Morgan small businesses in Peoria, that's for sure. There's a lot of good ones but you know, there's nothing like starting your own business and taking control of, of your life of your legacy of of your job and do something that you enjoy. So, absolutely have folks if you have that little seed, there's there's a direction to go to, to get that to grow some roots and start growing for you. So thank you, Eric. I appreciate you stopping by.

Eric Sampson 28:59

Thanks for having me, Keith.