Heather Allen has weights, jump ropes and a bluetooth speaker — and she’ll travel to a park near you.
Heather is the founder of Honey Active, recently launched outdoor fitness startup. She leads outdoor group fitness classes in Dayton parks, and offers personal training and corporate fitness event services.
“I like showing people new spots — places they don’t think to workout,” she said. “You really can do it anywhere, and I’m proving that to people.”
Heather is an accountant-turned-fitness guru. She actually got into fitness, specifically running, after her first busy accounting season. A former cheerleader and soccer player, she had always been active, until that that stretch of 60- to 70-hour work weeks behind the desk.
“I started feeling slow and groggy and icky,” she recalled. “So I signed up for a half marathon to motivate myself.”
She got addicted to running after that, she added with a laugh.
A few years ago, she helped start an accountability group with a few friends to talk about wellness. The group wound up deciding to do weekly workouts together, and Heather found herself organizing those workouts at Riverscape Metro Park.
Soon, people outside the original accountability group started showing up for the workout classes, so she rented Knack Creative’s Studio 42 and began holding training classes on the side. Requests from personal and corporate clients soon followed.
Heather quit her day job and went full-time with Honey Active in March. She runs the bulk of her outdoor group classes at Oak & Ivy Park in the Wright Dunbar neighborhood she calls home. She hasn’t decided what her winter season will look like yet — if she’ll build out a studio or just find a big, open space.
“What drives me is helping people be more confident and energized,” she said. “I’m helping people find a healthy lifestyle, not chase fad diets. It gives me energy, helping others in this specific way, doing something I love and sharing it with people.”
She’s grateful she experienced those periods of inactivity because it helps her relate to her clients, she said.
“I believe in discipline, but I’m not no-excuses,” Heather said. “Life happens, we deal with it, then we move on and build.”
The desire to convey this sentiment shows in her company name — Honey is for natural, local; Active is for fitness, she said.
“I wanted the brand to reflect who I am,” she said. “A little fun, a little cheeky, and I don’t really like rules.”
Connect with Heather and see Honey Active’s full outdoor schedule here.
Looking for that cool toy you remember from your childhood? Check out Mike’s Vintage Toys, coming soon to an Oregon District storefront.
Mike Patterson launched his vintage toy store online about three and half years ago. The U.S. Navy veteran was working part-time when he saw someone selling toys on TV, and he was inspired, he recalled.
“I started in my home, selling on Ebay and Etsy, but I always thought a shop would be more fun,” he said.
He’s moving to 508 E 5th Street from his current location in Springboro. He’s excited at the potential for greater foot traffic, he said.
Most of his stock comes from homes and private collections, he said. You’ll find toys from the 1970’s to now. Toys from the 90’s are increasingly popular as individuals born in that decade are starting to get nostalgic, Mike said.
Star Wars, Marvel heroes and Batman figures are always popular, he said. He himself still has some Batman and Ninja Turtles toys from his own childhood, he said.
Through his online store, he has sold toys all over the world, shipping to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Africa, Asia and South America, as well as across the U.S., he said.
Mike’s two children tested out a few toys last week as he worked to set up the store. His goal is to have doors open by Aug. 31. Hours will be 12-8p Monday through Saturday and 12-7p on Sunday.
He will buy, sell and trade toys. Connect with him here.
Looking for a quick, efficient group workout downtown? Lindsey Deck wants her new workout studio to be just the spot.
Lindsey is building out a boutique fitness studio in the St. Clair Lofts with plans to launch classes in September. Classes offered will include barre, TRX and dance cardio.
Attorney at Taft Law, wife and mother, Lindsey knows how important it is to take care of yourself — and how important it is for those workouts to be time-efficient & require a limited commute.
“As a mom, I take better care of my daughters if I take care of myself,” she said. “But I’ve got to get in, get out and get home.”
Lindsey has been taking group fitness classes since she was a teenager. She likes the community atmosphere & the variety of workouts that hit flexibility, cardio and strength all in one.
“I don’t want to go into the gym and have to figure it out,” she said. “I want to be told what to do, see friends, then go home.”
Lindsey first dreamed of someday owing her own studio when she was in law school in St. Paul, Minnesota. After returning to Dayton, as she started to look for the perfect studio location, she kept being drawn back downtown, where she works.
“I’ve been living in Dayton since I was 6 years old, and I’m super excited about everything going on downtown,” she said. “I feel like a proud parent, I get so excited whenever there is good news about Dayton. I am thrilled we found a spot downtown.”
Her studio offerings will complement other fitness offerings in the downtown area, such as yoga, cross fit, weight lifting, cycling and boxing, she said — & maybe someday, these studios will join forces for a membership that allows people to tap into them all, she added.
In the meantime, she blames her father for her entrepreneurial goals. A general contractor, he launched his business when Lindsey was in elementary school.
“I kept waiting for that feeling to go away, but when I finally talked to my dad, he understood it, this nagging,” she recalled. “It’s very cool to create something of your own.”
Stay tuned on Instagram @thirdspacedayton for the latest as Lindsey gets her studio up & running.
Need a social media guru for your small business? Taylor Hudson is your woman.
Taylor launched her company, Taylored Social, on July 1. Taylored Social is a small business social media management company, offering a full suite of services including social media monitoring, posting, content creation and consulting.
“We’re empowering small businesses to grow and leverage online communities,” she said.
Taylor face is familiar to many local entrepreneurs — a Dayton native, she tapped into the local startup scene early when she took a job at Nucleus Coshare at 19.
“I love how everyone treated me as an equal, even when I was in college,” she recalled. “If you’re engaged in the startup community, you’ve experienced that sense of support — you’re empowered, even if you don’t own a company.”
Last fall, Taylor accepted a full-time position at The University of Dayton. But she quickly realized that she preferred the odd but flexible hours of the startup world to the steadier pace of a 9-5. As she started voicing these feelings to friends, they encouraged her, and purchased an online course in entrepreneurship for her.
“It was a pivotal moment, to realize they believe in me, and they’re willing to invest in me,” she said.
In July, she returned to The Entrepreneurs Center part-time and launched her social media company.
“I love social media because it’s a platform to be creative and easily connect with individuals across the world,” she said. “Relationships and interactions don’t need to be bound by geography, social media makes connecting with others remotely quite easy.”
But Taylored Social is more than just social media — it’s about being social and connecting in real life to support fellow creatives & small business owners, she said.
To demonstrate this side of her work, Taylor organized a photoshoot event that pulled in multiple collaborators including The Brightside Music & Event Venue, Fusian, Home with Ashley, Breana Soliday Co., Kandice Stidham Photography & volunteer models. The participants donated their time and supplies to connect in person, then used the resulting images to cross promote each other’s skills across social media. (Photo above courtesy @bsolidhaugh)
“It was magic,” she described. “Remember to stay connected and supportive online and in person.”
When she’s not running her social media management company, Taylor can be found hanging with her two best guys, fiancé Alec and dog Blue; shopping local; or organizing events to benefit local charities.
Noah Bragg and Drew Bidlen are going to launch a startup in 24 hours — and they’re going to do it live.
“Sometimes the best way to figure out if an idea will work is to launch it,” Noah said. “We could waste a lot of time researching. Can we put something out that fast for people to try and get feedback?”
The two entrepreneurs are cofounders of CoffeePass, an app that enables local, independent coffee shops to offer the same order ahead of their large chain-store competitors.
Their livestream startup launch is a side project — they’ll be building a piece of software designed to help people with their morning routine.
“We like to think about productivity,” Noah said. “We wanted to find something relatively simple that would be fun to try and get out to test. We want to make something that that will make it easier to wake up and get out of bed.”
They’ll be live-streaming the software development on Twitch. Folks watching will be able to see their faces and their monitors as the duo builds the productivity software. They’ll share thoughts throughout the process — why they’re using this tool for this solution, why this code — to help teach people how they can also prototype an idea fast, Noah said.
The duo also expects to learn a lot themselves by going through the process, he added.
Once the software is finished, they’ll launch it on Product Hunt, a website where users can upvote software they like. Products that reach the top of Product Hunt often experience up to 10K website hits in a single day, Noah shared.
Noah and Drew will also be donating half of any revenue generated by the new product to Charity Water, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing access to clean, safe drinking water to communities across the globe.
They’ll kick off their 24-hour window at 6am on Saturday, Aug. 10. Catch the link at snoozeyoulose.io.
Have you heard?! We’re moving out of the 444 building!
We’re following The Entrepreneur Center’s Nucleus coworkers to their space on the fourth floor of the Kuhns Building — and in doing so, we’re getting one step closer to our future home in the Arcade!
The Kuhn’s building, located at 15 W 4th Street, Dayton, is part of the Arcade complex.
Stay tuned as we roll out new programming in our new space!
The Springfield business community has joined forces for Springfield Hustles, a business plan and pitch competition with a grand prize of $75K+ in cash and services to infuse into your startup.
The Shark Tank-style competition will be held Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7pm at the new COhatch Marketplace, located in the revitalized Historic Myer’s Market Building, 101 S Fountain Ave., Springfield.
Included in the grand prize — worth $76,350 total — is $5K in startup capital from SpringForward, $5K in startup capital from entrepreneur & angel investor Blake Shaffer and a three-year, and a $5K City of Springfield micro loan from The Small Business Development Center; a one-year membership to COhatch; branding and logo services from Hucklebuck Design Studio; website development from Launch Runner; tax/accounting and outsourced CFO services from LWS tax and Accounting; legal consultation from The Stuckey Firm; radio advertising from iHeart Media; social media marketing from Shift•ology; video services from Champion City Media; photography services from Hatch New Media; printing from Box King; signage from MacRay; and a one-year membership in the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.
Applicants with the top eight business plans will be tapped to pitch live in November. Apply by Friday, Aug. 16 & submit your final business plan by Friday, Oct. 18. Pitching entrepreneurs will be notified by Friday, Oct. 25. They’ll have 10 minutes to pitch on Nov. 6.
Only new business concepts and startups that have been in business less than three years are eligible. Ventures must be headquartered in Springfield — entrepreneurs operating outside Springfield are welcome to apply, but must be willing to relocate company HQ to Springfield. Ventures must be for-profit, and one owner must be at least 18 years old. Applicants must also see a business coach from the Springfield Small Business Development Center before submitting their final business plan.
For full rules and more info, visit https://springfieldhustles.com/.
Are you a college student with a business idea who wants to win $1K to launch it? Then we’re looking for you to join our first Early Risers Academy cohort!
We’re seeking 10 student venture teams from Dayton-area colleges including Wright State University, University of Dayton, Central State University, Sinclair College, Wilberforce University, Cedarville University & Wittenberg University.
The fall cohort will kick off Tuesday, Sept. 17. Teams will meet for 10 weeks, with in-person meetings on Tuesday evenings from 5-8p in the Kuhns Building, 15 W. 4th St, Dayton.
“Our ideal applicants are students with solid ideas that they have given some real thought to and have begun to asks themselves the hard questions regarding its feasibility,” program manager KeAnna Daniels said. “We particularly want to know that they have skin in the game and are committed to making their idea work, even if they have to pivot. We are looking for students who are looking to take action.”
Teams will spend those 10 weeks moving from idea to founding a business through coursework from the Kauffman Foundation, the country’s preeminent entrepreneurship-building organization. Student founders will receive pitch coaching and hands-on mentoring, weekly discussions with successful entrepreneurs and experts, access to Dayton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, & alumni support after graduating the academy.
Participants should be able to commit at least 4-6 hours per week to coursework for the duration of the academy.
“I’m excited about creating a space for students to grow, to create, to learn, and to get them connected to resources that will support their entrepreneurial endeavors,” KeAnna said. “Currently, we don’t have a ton of resources to support college students outside of their respective colleges and universities. During the process of launching The Early Risers Academy, we have begun to build those relationships and pipelines into the broader Dayton entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Student teams who complete this pre-accelerator program will pitch their idea to the community at our November edition of Early Risers. One startup will be awarded $1,000.
Apply here to be part of the inaugural cohort!
Have a business idea, but not a student? Stay tuned! We’ll be launching additional Early Risers Academy cohorts through 2019 & 2020 that will not be limited to students. For more information, contact KeAnna.
Caressa Brown founded (DE-FI), the Dayton Emerging Fashion Incubator, six years ago with the goal of making Dayton the fashion capital of the Midwest.
Today, she is poised to open the region’s first multidisciplinary fashion coworking studio — and she wants your input.
“We’re shedding our grassroots structure and becoming more visible within the community,” Caressa said. “The multidisciplinary fashion coworking space will offer fashion professionals an affordable and unique workspace right here in Dayton — a fashion business hub created by and for the fashion community.”
(DE-FI) is holding a series of bi-weekly public meetings beginning this Saturday, Aug. 3, 10a to 12p in the Dayton Metro Library Main Branch’s Conference Room 1B, to get community feedback on the general direction, business model, and logistics for the fashion coworking space. The current vision for it incorporates a design studio featuring design software, designated and roaming desks, designated and roaming offices, a visual art studio, a fashion studio, a makerspace, a micro-manufacturing/fabrication space, photography studio, sewing studio, conference room, production room, classroom space, networking space, and venue rental.
Participants in the Aug. 3 session will hear about the progress of the local fashion community and will work together in small groups to generate ideas for the character and amenities of the space that may be incorporated into the overall plan, Caressa said.
Follow-up meetings will be held at the Dayton Metro Library Main Branch on Aug. 17, 10a-12p, Conference Room 3A; Aug. 31, 10a-12p, Conference Room 3A; & Sept. 14, 10a-12p, Conference Room 3A.
(DE-FI) currently operates a number of subsidiaries that work different angles to make Dayton a fashion center. Among them, The Gem City Sewing Company trains individuals to sew, prioritizing work with underserved communities; Dayton Garment & Textile District offers micro-manufacturing and an online registry of seamstresses, fabric makers, pattern makers, weavers, fabric dyers, beaders, embroiderers and vendors; & Dayton Threads, an online boutique, hopefully soon to be a brick and mortar shop, offers retail space for individual and emerging designers to sell their products.
(DE-FI) also runs Dayton Fashion Week, and holds workshops on topics ranging from combatting sexual harassment and trafficking to advocating legislators and establishing reporting hotlines to combat the predatory aspects of the fashion industry.
For more info, visit (DE-FI) online.
In this new monthly feature, we’re celebrating milestones big and small with our entrepreneurs and founders! See what our awesome startups have been up to this month, in no particular order:
Lily’s Bistro turned six. Congrats, Emily!
Dayton Emerging Fashion Incubator (DE-FI) also turned six. Congratulations, Caressa!
Taylored Social launched. Congratulations, Taylor!
White House Event Center launched its first Small Business Spotlight event. Congrats Brandon & Veronica!
Texas Beef & Cattle Company announced it will open a second restaurant downtown. Congratulations James & Erin!
937 Payroll added a third employee. Congratulations Rebecca & Bryan!
Chris Wright & Chris Pearson announced they’ll be opening a sports complex in Trotwood. Congratulations, gentlemen!
Third Perk Coffeehouse & Wine Bar announced it will open a second location in Dayton Mall. Congratulations, Juanita!
Chad Diggs & Trenton Nalls officially purchased Edible Arrangements Dayton, located at 4015 Far Hills Ave. Congratulations, gentlemen!
The Chicken Spot opened. Congratulations, Chef Anthony T. Head!
Something or someone we missed? Tell us! We need your help rounding up this good news so we can celebrate our entrepreneurs together. Thank you in advance!
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