Thursday, September 30, 2010

Livingston County and the US Dept of Energy

On September 23, the US Department of Energy published an article about recent economic development in Livingston County. Read an excerpt of the article below:

A car dealership in Dwight, Ill., shut down this year, but recently reopened its doors and 29 people kept their jobs.

Over in Collum, a grocery store that sat silent for three years recently awoke, creating six jobs. And a new coffee shop is now open in downtown Pontiac, bustling with customers sipping lattes and eating muffins.

So what breathed new life into these Livingston County businesses?

Surprisingly, it was the opening of the Streator Cayuga Ridge South Wind Farm, a 300 MW wind farm made possible with the help of $170 million through the U.S. Department of Energy's 1603 grants-in-lieu-of-tax-credits program to the developer.

Read the rest of the article here.

"We believe in economic gardening," says Larry Vaupel, director of the GLCEDC. "We try to grow our economy from within by nurturing businesses and providing financial assistance for start-ups and expansions."


Friday, September 10, 2010

10 Mistakes That Start-Up Entrepreneurs Make

The Wall Street Journal recently published their top 10 mistakes that start-up entrepreneurs make. Here is the list:

1. Going it alone
2. Asking too many people for advice
3. Spending too much money on product development, not enough on sales
4. Targeting too small a market
5. Entering a market with no distribution partner
6. Overpaying for customers
7.
Raising too little capital
8.
Raising too much capital
9.
Not having a business plan
10.
Over-thinking your business plan

For a full description of each mistake, please view the article here. If you are a small business owner or entrepreneur, don't forget that the GLCEDC and SCORE provide free business advising every
3rd Wednesday from 9am - noon at the GLCEDC office in Pontiac. To set up an appointment, please contact the GLCEDC office by email: office@glcedc.org or by phone: 815-842-2900.