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HUNTINGTON UNIV MAGAZINE

Huntington students consider starting own businesses

FOR RELEASE May 7, 2007

James Haifley (left) and Brian Lambright plan to open their own business on June 1.

Huntington, Ind.—Some Huntington University students are looking forward to starting their own businesses within the next year.

Brian Lambright, a senior business management major from Shipshewana, Ind., and James Haifley, a senior business management major from Huntington, Ind., are working together to create a home healthcare company. The name of their company will be Hometown Health Care.

“Our company will focus on selling oxygen to patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,” said Lambright.

Lambright believes his hands-on experience in the class Sweet Satisfaction at Huntington University has helped him the most when it comes to making decisions as to how the business will run. Sweet Satisfaction is a class through which students are put in charge of keeping the candy machines on campus working and stocked, ensuring that the stockroom is filled with inventory, and managing the money from the machines.

“Through this program, I have learned that you have to be knowledgeable about your business and know that you can make good decisions,” said Lambright.

In addition, Lambright and Haifley sought advice from Venture Works, a resource center providing assistance to entrepreneurs in the Huntington County area.

Lambright and Haifley hope to officially open Hometown Health Care on June 1.

Dave McEowen, assistant professor of business, and Melissa Shepard share some ice cream and discuss her possible business venture.

Melissa Shepard, a junior entrepreneurship/small business major from Brooklyn, Mich., is interested in purchasing the ice cream shop Swiss Swirl in her hometown. She has been a manager there for two years. Swiss Swirl is only open for business in the summer.

“I am now interning at Coffee D’vine in Huntington, Ind., to help me gain experience in the behind-the-scenes actions of a business,” said Shepard.

Her time at school has been spent learning about the financial and human resources aspects of business. She hopes to adapt what she has learned and use it in the ice cream shop.

“Once I feel like I have established myself in the business and financially begin to settle, I would love to expand the ice cream shop into a coffee shop/café,” said Shepard. “A place that allows customers a place to relax, but with a more retro feel incorporating the ice cream much like an old soda fountain but with the modern twist of a coffee shop.”

To help her prepare to run the shop, Shepard went through business planning workshops offered by Venture Works earlier this spring.

Workshop topics included “Business Plan Basics/Investigating the Market Needs,” “Creating a Winning Business Plan,” “Delivering with Confidence and Creditability,” “Marketing Your Business and Sleuthing the Internet,” “Business Plan Financials and Capital Sourcing Options,” and “Preparing Your Final Investor Presentation.”

Shepard will decide at the end of the summer if she will purchase the ice cream shop.

Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S.News & World Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington University is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in northeast Indiana. The University is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

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