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Peoria’s Hinrichsen offers business book for women

Joe Deacon
/
WCBU

Francie Hinrichsen learned about going into business for herself the hard way—she found out running a spa wasn’t for her.

What the Peoria woman did was establish her own marketing firm and now has written her own step-by-step guide for other women who want to start a business.

Dream, Build, Grow covers six phases of business that an entrepreneur, specifically a female entrepreneur, should pay attention to, she said.

“I wrote the book for females because I see a shift happening in the entrepreneurial world where it’s okay to run a business but also to cling to that role of being a homemaker,” said Hinrichsen.

“Sometimes women are encouraged to choose one or the other (between running a business and being a homemaker). What I’m trying to do is rewrite the playbook,” she said.

Hinrichsen emphasizes preparation in her six-step guide. “The first phase helps readers clarify their ideas. The second phase is research,” she said.

Instead of simply relying on a Google search, Hinrichsen suggests checking other resources before “diving into the build stage where you construct a marketing plan and create your brand.”

Hinrichsen pointed to a number of local agencies where an entrepreneur can find help: the Illinois Small Business Development office at Bradley University, the Small Business Administration, Peoria SCORE, the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council.

The Peoria area is a good place for entrepreneurs to work out their business plans, she said. “Peoria is rebranding itself right now, figuring out who we’re going to become tomorrow. I do see an anchor in entrepreneurship and innovation in that sphere,” said Hinrichsen.

“As we rebrand Peoria, what I would love to see are more roads, more pathways, more channels to (business) resources,” she said, suggesting that more promotion of agencies that can help entrepreneurs would only encourage innovation.

Click here for more information on Hinrichsen's book, Dream, Build, Grow.

Steve Tarter retired from the Peoria Journal Star in 2019 after spending 20 years at the paper as both reporter and business editor.