Mentors are a vital tool for any entrepreneur. At Illini Prairie CEO, we are blessed with some of the best!

We utilize a panel of mentors to help our entrepreneurs think through the different facets of their business.

We have mentors for branding and marketing, mentors for sales, mentors for bookkeeping, mentors in our fields of business, mentors who can help us set up payment processing, mentors who help us with our sales pitches, and mentors who connect us with other area business leaders.

At last Friday's Mentor Coffee (at Roselens in Arthur), mentors Kevin Conlin (G.M., Mid-State Tank), Brian Beachy (photographer and graphic designer, CHI Nucor), Beth Wiley (marketing, The Great Pumpkin Patch), and Leslie Karcher (marketing, CHI Nucor) met with students to help them through the next steps of setting up their business.

Brian Beachy helped Brooklyn Gingerich, of Brooklyn Studios, with aspects of her photography business, from the actual intricacies of taking the photographs, to the online photo gallery, taking orders, and looking at her current portfolio.

Kevin Conlin and Leslie Karcher walked through the business plan for Zo's Essentials with Zoe Conlin, thinking through details like tracking inventory, scheduling time in her busy week to get things done, pricing, etc..

Beth Wiley listened to several entrepreneur's ideas, and then explained how decisions are made at The Great Pumpkin Patch regarding collaborations, product placement in their mercantile, photographers holding shoots at TGPP, and setting up weekend musical entertainment at TGPP.

Roselens Coffee & Delights is a great site for our mentor coffees, where we can chat over coffee in a casual atmosphere. We rely on Roselens, and other area coffee shops, for class meetings and mentor coffees, and we thank them for always accommodating us.