MyEntre.Net, an online hub for Iowa entrepreneurs of all kinds

My first official post here at Silicon Prairie News is on an organization that I’m closely tied with, MyEntre.Net, a division of my employer, the Incubation Services at the University of Northern Iowa. Truth be told, my editor actually requested that MyEntre.Net be my first topic. MyEntre.Net has come to be the face and a…

MyEntre.Net team member Rob Williams visits with entrepreneur Luann Alemao at a recent MyEntre.Net EntreBash networking event in Waterloo, Iowa. Photo courtesy of MyEntre.net.

My first official post here at Silicon Prairie News is on an organization that I’m closely tied with, MyEntre.Net, a division of my employer, the Incubation Services at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). Truth be told, my editor actually requested that MyEntre.Net be my first topic. MyEntre.Net has come to be the face and a huge part of what we do at UNI to foster entrepreneurship locally, around the state of Iowa and beyond.

MyEntre.Net was originally started as a program to reach out to rural entrepreneurs in parts of the state where new businesses didn’t have the same opportunities for networking and collaboration as those in urban areas. Sixteen counties from across the state were picked to pilot the concept of delivering assistance, consulting, and networking through myentre.net.

It didn’t take long for an audience and demand to build to a point that required MyEntre.Net to go state-wide in its reach. Today’s MyEntre.Net has grown to an online interactive, social media driven hub to connect the 100,000-plus entrepreneurs, small business owners and service providers across the state. With over 8,400 members, the community has ramped up quickly and continues to add about 15 new member every day.

Businesses on the site run the gamut from service to tech to retailers and just about any other way you could imagine to make a buck. The average MyEntre.Net business has 3.6 employees, but almost half of the firms are one-person shops, so most of our audience is truly the small businesses of Iowa. A vast majority of the businesses on MyEntre.Net are self-funded or seek conventional funding through banks, family, friends, and various “fools,” who my parents told me were soon parted from their cash.  

Like any web 2.0 hub, it’s the members and the information-sharing that make it all happen. You can find access to capital via our Money Map, live webinars on timely business topics, customers, and collaborators, all in one place.

“In addition to being a great source for small business information, MyEntre.Net members have found they can, and do, learn much from each other,” said Amy Kuhlers, MyEntre.Net program manager. “They share war stories, what’s working for their business and what’s not, give each other encouragement and advice.”

Ann Ashby of Iowa City is a great example of how it works. Ashby owned a shoe store in downtown Iowa City for a number of years but closed it in 2007, in part because the traditional retail shoe store model wasn’t working any more.  She joined MyEntre.Net in 2008, where she learned about the Iowa Micoloan Fund and contacted a consultant from the Iowa Women’s Enterprise Center (IWEC). She got free help from IWEC in applying for an Iowa Microloan which gave her needed capital to re-launch her shoe store with a new business model and an effective social media marketing strategy. 

Alan Morrison (left, photo from MyEntre.Net YouTube video) of AM Guitar Repair in Davenport is another user of MyEntre.Net who has reaped rewards from the community. Morrison entered MyEntre.Net’s Dream Big Grow Here monthly $1,000 grant contest, and in September of 2010, he won. Morrison used those funds to develop a seminar for music enthusiasts on how to build an amplifier which helped to increase his sales and brand. In January, Morrison was back, attending a webinar on hiring a first employee. He enjoys the online and on-demand functionality of MyEntre.Net, giving him access to what he needs, when he needs it.

The program has blossomed from those early days into a program for all types of startups from rural and urban areas. The initial services of MyEntre.Net were centered around twice-weekly webinars featuring prominent speakers from around Iowa sharing their expertise on various subjects. They ranged from marketing to accounting and everything in between. This staple continues to be a cornerstone for today’s MyEntre.Net, but we’ve added a ton of new content and features.

One of those launched this spring in the form of the Dream Big Grow Here contest. From June through December, we’ve given away a $1,000 a month to entrepreneurs all over Iowa to help them realize their business dreams.

A new and free business information and market research assistance service is coming soon plus a navigation tool called Connections to help you find money, technical assistance, mentoring or other services. It’ll help you navigate through the maze of the SBDCs, IDEDs, IWDs, and C-3POs to find the expertise you need when you need it.

I invite you to check it out and get plugged in to Iowa’s online community for entrepreneurs of all business types and sizes.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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