As many of you remember, Veel Hoeden was blessed to win the Dream Big Grow Here contest in late 2010 to assist with launching our space. Now that contest is back with a new twist, with plenty of Marion County players in contention for the big award.
As we have a few friends, members, and local staples involved in the process, we're happy that we don't have to root for only one. This contest is a little different in that the top 3 to 5 vote getters from the next 10 days will be compete in a "pitch off" later this month. You can vote for more than one entry so please also vote for all of our Marion County participants to advance to the next critical round.
Individuals may vote for as many entries as they desire, but may only vote for each dream once per day, as defined by running every day from 12:00:00 AM until 11:59:59 PM. To help prevent vote fraud, they have imposed a limit of 1 vote per entry, per day by computer network. This may mean you'll need to vote from home if others on your network have voted.
To help you get familiar with the entries, I'm providing a summary of each idea below. To vote, click on the blue star icon to the right of the entry. Please pass this on to others who may have interest in voting.
Let's make this a Marion County clean sweep to the finals!
Thanks & God Bless,
Joel Bennett
Chief Dreamchaser
Veel Hoeden
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Our dream is a statewide book contest with a prize of free book publication, as both paperback and e-book. Through this book contest, we will expand the visibility of our business, attracting additional authors, and by publishing the winning manuscript as an e-book, we will add e-book techniques to our publishing skills. We will use the grant money to: 1) publicize the contest across Iowa, 2) judge the contest, 3) publish the winning book (edit, layout, design interior and covers, assign ISBN, print, and make available in book sales channels both in print and as an e-book), and 4) master the skills of creating an e-book in the varying available platforms.A new book division of The Write Place assists authors with self-publishing. Authors can choose the combination of services that meets their needs and budget. Service options include writing, editing, proofreading, layout, cover design, and publishing management. In November, The Write Place will release On Mended Wings, our 25th publication since launching our book services.The “Dream Big Grow Here” grant will help us connect with another 25 authors in the next two years, doubling our current book production rate. And 25 more writers will achieve their dream of book publication.Our book division has built on the skills of our business division, which opened in 1995. Our writers craft targeted messages for business owners. Our graphic artists create layouts and design pieces that match a business’s message and make an impression on its audience. By combining our writing, graphic design, and communication plan coordination skills, The Write Place can provide a range of final products, including catalogs, newsletters, brochures, press releases, flyers & ads, branding & logos, web site content, e-newsletter copy, social media copy, manuals & reports, and business cards & letterhead. | |||||||||||
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Skowty strives to make the real estate journey, specifically online, as frictionless as possible for all parties. Whether you're a home buyer, home seller, broker, agent, landlord or seeking rental housing or investment property, Skowty will provide you the place and tools to break the limitations of your real estate journey. We are applying for the Dream Big Grow Here grant to take our dream, Skowty, to the next level.If we are fortunate enough to win this region's contest we would use the money to fund the continued development of the Skowty.com site so that we could get this tool into our users hands as quickly as possible. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Peace Tree Brewing Company is a start up microbrewery created out of a rundown building on Main Street and a desire to spark development in our downtown. We create high quality craft beers and sodas generating excitement in the beer community but more importantly in our local community. We distribute our brands throughout most of Iowa and are actively growing our capacity. We also have a small taproom and offer tours which drive visitors from around the state and beyond. Additionally, we promote local artists and musicians in our space so our customers have a well rounded experience and the artists get some recognition and support. Peace Tree is rapidly expanding in our start up phase and we want to keep the momentum going! A $5,000 grant would help us purchase additional fermentation tanks to increase our capacity, in turn widening our distribution, and creating a need for additional staff. As our volume increases we will be able to reinvest more back into our community in the form of capital improvements, payroll and community involvement. We took our business from concept, (empty building), to full production in less than a year so we have a proven track record of success with investing money. Help us Save the World, One Beer at a Time! | ||||||||||||||||||
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I manufacture and market Bisschopswijn - Mulled Wine & Cider Spices. Every bag is hand packaged. Most of my spices are sold hand to hand through craft shows, festivals and farmer's markets, with a percentage being sold on the wholesale level. A key to future success will be expansion of wholesale distribution and increased on-line sales. I started small doing everything myself. My business has grown enough that I can no longer do it alone. Since I am not large enough yet to hire employees and every dollar I earn goes back into the business I enlist the help of family and friends. In a few more years a change in production methods will be needed to continue growing. Currently this is a part-time business for me. Eventually I dream of this becoming my full-time occupation with a production facility right here in Pella, producing multiple products under the Bisschopwijn name. I love talking to my customers, sharing with them what my product is about and it's history. I am the first to admit it can be a hard sale. With a name that is difficult to pronounce and many customers not sure what exactly we are selling it takes a special marketing effort to make the product move. My top sales techniques are hand to hand sales and sampling. Without giving customers a sample of the product my spices would often sit on a shelf. This is why my ultimate dream is to market my product on a cable shopping network. On cable shopping networks many food items are sold. It is the story, the history, the demostration and the testimonies that sell the products. I feel Bisschopswijn is a perfect match for this type of sales and marketing. Many of my customers buy my spices not only because they taste great but it often reminds them of their families traditions or sipping hot mulled wine while strolling Christmas markets in Europe. Those are just a few of the key experiences I talk about when selling Bisschopswijn. Being proud of my Dutch heritage I tell everyone the history behind mulled wine in the Netherlands and Europe, the story of Sinterklaas and the traditional foods we eat to celebrate special occasions. On-line sales and wholesale customers continue to grow from year to year. I want to expand my market by adding new items to the product line and eventually taking the full line of products to national food shows. My dream is to expand the products we offer to include other Dutch food mixes such as split pea soup, tomato soup, poffertjes, pannekoeken, speculaas, pepernoten and cocoa. Part of getting ready to take that next step is building a professional looking display booth to use at these shows to sell our product to wholesale buyers. This grant money would go towards product development, preparing Bisschopswijn for a national launch at the National Association For The Specialty Food Trade (NASFT)shows and building our brand name so someday I can be one of the faces you will see on a home shopping network. | |||||||||||
