ClickStop, Successful Small Internet Retail Company

A sales representative by trade, Tim Guenther, 32, of Urbana started a small Internet retail company four years ago to help give him a competitive edge selling building products. Little did he know that his company, which had $14,000 in sales in the first year, would explode.

The once one-man company, ClickStop, now has 20 employees and continues to add more despite the recession. It made about $5 million in sales last year and expects to hit $10 million in sales this year.

“We’re going to need an economic tail wind to do it. We’ve had so much head wind. If we’re growing 50 to 60 percent while we’re being pushed down, imagine what we could do if the economy improves,” said Shaun Linderbaum, vice president and chief technology officer for ClickStop and Guenther’s right hand man.

Guenther, president and CEO of ClickStop, lured Linderbaum, 32, who had helped him start his Web site to the company from Deere Co. when business picked up.

“It’s a lot more exciting,” Linderbaum said of his new job. “Every day is an interesting challenge. I’m excited to get up and go to work every day.”

Expert Help From The Entrepreneurial Development Center

While they were able to take the company far, the two knew they needed some skilled help last spring. So they turned to The Entrepreneurial Development Center in Cedar Rapids.

“They’ve really pushed us to think about things we’re not thinking about,” Linderbaum said.

ClickStop’s “ability to build Internet sales engines is really good,” said Curt Nelson, president and CEO of The EDC. “They’ve really got their business scaling at a really fast rate.”

Nelson said The EDC tries to help ClickStop and other companies manage their growth.

“A business can easily grow right into bankruptcy,” he said.

They’ve really helped hold us accountable during that growth, Guenther said of The EDC.

Guenther attributes ClickStop’s success to simply capitalizing on a change in shopping habits that many companies have been slow to grasp — e-commerce. With Web optimization and Web advertising, ClickStop’s e-commerce sites have become the top search results in the products it sells, Guenther said.

“That’s our way of sneaking up on industries,” he said.

New Building For The Spring

The company is getting used to being in transition as it expands its warehouse and office space, but it hopes to start building a new $2 million, 35,000-square-foot building in Urbana’s new economic development park along Interstate 380 this spring.

The four-year-old company sells six e-commerce brands with products ranging from building materials to vitamins to cat furniture.

“We don’t manufacture it. We do private label it,” Guenther said.

That alone has allowed the company to expand rapidly.

The EDC has also helped ClickStop organize its inventory.

“We were carrying too much,” Linderbaum admits.

That’s a problem for a lot of companies, especially when credit is tight, said The EDC’s Nelson.

Too much inventory ties up too much cash that’s not available to reinvest. Companies need to make sure they have a good manufacturing resource planning system to track that, he said.

Most recently, the EDC has been helping the company with its organizational structure.

“When we were just six people we all just did everything,” Guenther said.

When they needed another employee they’d just post a job and told the person to come see that they did to see if it was what they’d like to do, he said.

“We didn’t want to put people into boxes. We wanted them to be able to contribute where they could,” Linderbaum said.

That’s all changed.

“We’re already seeing a value,” Linderbaum said.

“We know now that roles have to be defined,” Guenther said.

Jane Burroughs, vice president of operations at The EDC, said that clearly defined roles leads to reduced duplication, decreased errors and increased production.

“If you focus people in silos, they do the same work over time. That’s what makes them faster,” Burroughs said.

Right People In Right Position Is Key To Success

ClickStop also needed the right people in the right positions to keep growing and the recession has helped in that respect.

“We’ve been able to get a lot of good, really talented, loyal hardworking people. We’re scooping them up as fast as we can,” Linderbaum said.

Nelson said that convincing small start-ups that want to grow that they might need to get rid of or move a person who has been with the company since the start of the company is often a difficult thing for people to do.

“Sometimes you just don’t have all the right people.” Nelson said.

ClickStop hopes to keep their employees by providing a fun environment and competitive benefits.

“We’ve (Guenther and Linderbaum) both worked in larger companies. We’ve never done this before, but it feels good — satisfying — to make a profit and be able to do something nice for your employees,” Guenther said.

Working with the EDC has also given them even more confidence to grow.

Guenther admitted he was tentative about growing by acquiring companies, but consulting with the EDC showed him it was a good strategy, especially since companies can be purchased at a good value right now because of the economy.

“You can spot opportunities in this economy,” Guenther said.

The business:

ClickStop Inc.

2535 Bing Miller Lane

Urbana, IA 52345

www.clickstop.com

1-(800) 383-0592

The consultant:

Curt Nelson

President, CEO

The Entrepreneurial Development Center

230 Second St. SE, Suite 212

Cedar Rapids, IA 52401

www.edcinc.org

(319) 369-4955

By Janet Rorholm, via EdgeBusiness Magazine, kcrg.com

Thursday, March 25th, Field House

Less than 24 hours after the House gave final approval to a health care reform bill, the White House announced President Barack Obama will visit Iowa City on Thursday to discuss health insurance reform’s effect on small business and American families.

The Democrat-heavy Iowa City area served as a frequent campaign stop from late 2006 to early 2008 during Obama’s march to the presidency. Thursday will mark his first visit as president.

“I am just excited as can be. I want him to give me my marching orders and tell me what to do next,” said Sue Dvorsky, Obama’s former Johnson County campaign co-chairwoman.

Obama is scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. at the Field House on University of Iowa campus. People must register for the opportunity to attend by 4 p.m. Tuesday at www.whitehouse.gov/webform/rsvp/university-iowa-100325.

via Press-Citizen 3/22/10
Picture courtesy of Morgan/Getty Images

Gaelic Storm To Perform At Englert

It has now been more than a decade since Gaelic Storm’s career lifted off with their appearance in the blockbuster film Titanic. Since their big-screen debut 10 years ago, the band’s fan base continues to multiply with each new album, turning the one-time-pub-band into one of the premier touring acts in the Celtic/World music genre. Gaelic Storm’s compelling originals and fresh arrangements steeped in Celtic traditional melody combined with their unique blend of world rhythms continue to broaden the musical horizons of the Celtic music genre creating new standards for generations to come.

Career Highlights

Highlights from their decade-spanning career include seven Billboard Chart topping albums, a DVD, a full-length concert film featured on HD.net in 2007-2008, song placement on two EA Sports Games, a 2008 Hallmark greeting card featuring their song “Kiss Me I’m Irish”, countless television and radio appearances, and of course, an appearance in James Cameron’s Titanic. Gaelic Storm has sold out hundreds of theatres and performing arts centers and has now played to audiences totaling in the millions.

Details

Friday March 19th at 8:00 pm

Englert Theatre, (319) 688-2653

221 East Washington St.
Iowa City, IA 52240

www.englert.org

Top UI business students finding work at Wall Street investment firms

The New York Times recently reported that investment banks and Wall Street firms are again hiring young business school graduates as the financial services industry slowly comes back to life.

That’s not a surprise to Brian Richman, director of the Hawkinson Institute of Business Finance in the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business.

“All 19 of our seniors this year have accepted employment offers or been admitted to graduate school for next year,” said Richman. Among the companies that have hired the Hawkinson program graduates are such major Wall Street firms as Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The Hawkinson graduates will also work at such firms as Houlihan Lokey, DRW Trading Group, William Blair & Co., BMO Capital Markets and Lazard Middle Market. Richman said they will hold jobs in investment banking, capital markets, sales and trading and research.

Richman said this year marks the first time that Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street’s “bulge bracket” firms, recruited on campus at Iowa.

U of I Students Are Being Recognized

“That’s a significant recognition of the quality and quantity of students we’re graduating,” said Richman. “But more importantly, it expands the opportunities to a broader range of Iowa students.” For the first time, he said a Tippie sophomore would be participating in a spring internship program at Goldman.

Now in its 10th year, the Hawkinson Institute of Business Finance takes some of the Tippie College’s top undergraduate students and rigorously prepares them for careers in investment banking and sales and trading as Hawkinson Scholars. The program accepts students after a competitive application process, and those who are accepted have an average GPA of 3.8.

This is the second year in a row that the Hawkinson Scholars have had such an enviable placement rate. Last year, all 17 graduates from the Class of ‘09 had jobs upon graduation, despite the fact that the financial services industry had been riddled by the recession.

“The hiring landscape was certainly better this year,” said Richman, a former investment banker himself. “But in good times or bad, the key to our students’ success continues to be their focus, diligence and preparation — through their coursework and their Hawkinson activities. It’s fantastic to see Iowa students perform so well in a venue that historically has been the purview of Ivy League graduates.”

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Service, 300 Plaza Centre One, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brian Richman, director, Hawkinson Institute of Business Finance, 319-335-0853, brian-richman@uiowa.edu; Tom Snee, 319-384-0010 (office), 319-541-8434 (cell), tom-snee@uiowa.edu

This Saturday, Mar 6, 2010 at 8:00 PM  (7:00 PM DOORS)

JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound with guests to be announced  at The Blue Moose Tap House (formerly The Industry) – Iowa City

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound“The Real Deal” – Chicago Tribune, 05/29/09

In his 1970 Playboy Interview, Ray Charles described soul as “people who do things from the heart.” In performance and on record, there is no question that JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are 100% soul. Like Otis fronting the Stooges, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound get crowds twisting and writhing on the floor, something that’s been sorely missing from live music.

Brooks knocks out his audience with heart and raw emotion, while the Uptown Sound’s post-punk attack updates the MG’s and JB’s groove model, resulting in pure and unrelenting soul music that ranges from sweaty on-the-one workouts, dance-punk booty shakers, garage-rock thump humps, and aching R&B ballads without a missed step in between. JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are not just another throwback group, they came to be during an age of war, manifesting their style of aggressive dance music with lyrics that dig deeper than the standard “baby, baby” fare.

“Neo-soul glory” – New York Times

Born in the great melting pot of Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood in 2007, guitarist Billy Bungeroth, drummer Kevin Marks, and bassist Ben Taylor (Beat Down Sound/September Sessions soundtrack) lay down a ferocious foundation for the soulful shouts of Mr. JC Brooks. The son of a Jersey funk diva set adrift by the disco era, he’s renowned for his take-no-prisoners stage style, leaving audiences with no other choice than to get up and move!

Brooks & co. kicked off 2009 with a bang, playing to an ecstatic SRO crowd at Chicago’s historic Park West Theater, where they were MC and house band for the Numero Group’s critically acclaimed Eccentric Soul Revue. They’ve collaborated with greats like Syl Johnson, the Notations, the Impressions’ Nate Evans, and Tortoise’s Dan Bitney. They’ve appeared on WGN-TV and BBC 6, cut a live session for influential independent radio station WFMU, and been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine, TimeOut Chicago, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Now armed with their explosive debut album Beat of Our Own Drum (with Fall ’09 European release via Vampisoul Records) these intense young soul stirrers are bringing it to your door, ready to tour, score, and not be ignored.

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound are for the people remaining awake through a great revolution… for people who want to move and not just sit tight…
for soul people!

“One of the most energetic, joyful live bands going on today… like if Otis Redding individually whipped each member of the Velvet Underground off of heroin, and transformed them into a disciplined, show-stopping Stax soul band.” – minneapolisf**kingrocks.com

For Tickets & More Info, visit:  www.ticketweb.com

The Blue Moose
211 Iowa Ave
Iowa City, IA 52240