LouPreneur - Louisville KY's Entrepreneur Magazine

Resources for developing businesses in Louisville Kentucky

Finding the Supply for Demand

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IMG_0077 Loupreneur sat down with Jermaine Watkins, the President and CEO of Supply Ark, a Louisville business that provides distribution channels and seamless fulfillment strategies for military and government contracts as well as commercial bids. Since 2009, Supply Ark’s team of three has had an innovative focus on strategically winning contracts from the Defense Logistics Agency bid process. Watkins crafted a proprietary system that automates the bid process for the military’s miscellaneous items requests.

Success for Watkins comes from combining a tech background as a former employee of the US Army Corps of Engineers and as a website developer for Borders Unlimited Inc., a wholesale distributor of wallpaper borders for a company in Shelbyville, KY. Supply Ark grew out of his desire to be a self-motivator and from his childhood in which he was raised by entrepreneurs. “I got tired of working for a company and paying my own salary. I thought, ‘this is ridiculous, I can do this from home.’ I realized that if I can sell almost a million dollars in wallpaper borders, then I can make my own money doing something else,” jokes Watkins. [Read more…]

Making a Life in HR

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By NIKI KING

If Amy Newbanks Letke had her own reality show, it would be called “Say Yes to the Success” in human resources.

She’s made a career of saying “yes” to opportunities that have presented themselves in her respective field, including a decision to become an entrepreneur. In 2007, she founded IntegrityHR, Inc., a Louisville-based human resources consulting and outsourcing firm for small to medium-sized businesses. Since then, it’s grown to 11 employees offering a range of human resource services to clients around the country.

Her business motto is rooted in the same affirmative approach that motivates her. She wants to help other business leaders say ‘yes,’ too, and also “share, in a positive way, the consequences,” she said. [Read more…]

Get Your Smartphones

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By DAVID C. PHILLIPS

In a world dominated by technology, a recent Nielsen survey yielded the compelling statistic that over 50% of US consumers use smartphones. Not surprising is that the mass demographic utilizing such technology is between the ages of 25-34, with 2 out 3 people in this age group using smartphones. Subsequently that means, roughly, that half of you are not using a smartphone.

A smartphone is essentially a mobile telephone built upon a mobile operating system giving it significantly more functionality than your basic mobile phone and putting a small computer in your pocket. Such capabilities include internet browsing, mobile applications including access to internet based applications such as Facebook and Twitter, and most commonly the ability to send and receive electronic mail or e-mail. ‘SMS’ (Short Messaging Service) messages, or text messages, have also become a dominant force in the way we communicate both in our personal and business lives. [Read more…]

A HOW TO: Meet Your Ideal Customer in the New Year

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ups-adcampaign3By BARBARA EILERT

Principal and founder of Eilert Communications, a marketing strategy and communications firm based in Louisville, KY. beilert@eilertinc.com

Who is your ideal customer? Someone who will likely buy & rave about your products. Finding groups of people who can and will buy from you, and connecting with them is the basis of a solid marketing plan, and every successful business enterprise. The trick, of course, is finding these customers and discovering why they would be interested in buying your products or services in the first place. [Read more…]