LLCEO Tradeshow

Land of Lincoln CEO tradeshow puts the icing on the cake of a challenging yet good year
Part two: Young entrepreneurs Eli Hewitt and Ruthie Ruhl

 

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[May 01, 2021]   Eli Hewitt and Ruthie Ruhl were afforded the ability to enroll in the LLCEO program for a second year due to the coronavirus taking away many of the learning opportunities in the 2020 school year.

In 2020 the students enrolled in the CEO did a lot of their education via zoom meetings and they missed out on some of the personal experiences and training that previous year students had gotten.

According to LLCEO Chairperson Kristi Powell and facilitator Britta Langley, students are supposed to attend LLCEO one year only. However, there is an exception made for extenuating circumstances. The CEO Board of Directors felt that the pandemic was definitely an extenuating circumstance.

Eli Hewitt



In 2020 Eli Hewitt’s business was ‘Nothing Fancy.’ He built his business plan around offering made to order cheesecakes and bread products.



Hewitt maintained the same business in 2021 and was happy to share samples of his freshly made cheesecakes to guests as he talked about his business and products.

Hewitt explained that he chose this business model because it is an extension of his passion for baking. He said that he has been baking since he was 14 and at age 15 he began selling his cheesecakes and turning his passion into a profession.

A senior at Lincoln Community High School Hewitt says that he is headed to UIC Chicago where he will major in political science. He says that right now he’s not sure if he will make Nothing Fancy a permanent part of his future, but he does think that he can take the business to college with him for some extra spending money.

Ruthie Ruhl



In 2020 Ruthie was a junior. She is a homeschool student connected to Mount Pulaski High School. Her first year of LLCEO her business was RR Equestrian Jumps & Training. Ruthie utilized her love of horses and riding to develop a business focusing on training young riders.

In 2021, Ruthie switched gears only slightly. Still building her business around her love of horse and riding, she started Foadail Equestrian. In her business, Ruhl is purchasing worn out riding boots and making them new again. She then sells them for a fraction of the full retail price while making a great mark-up and profit for herself.

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Ruhl says that the business has been very successful. In fact, her profits in the first few months have netted her enough that she was able to purchase her first vehicle on her own.

Ruhl explained that she got the idea because her own boots broke and she was flabbergasted by the price she would have to pay for a new pair. She did some research and found a person in Springfield who would do repair to her boots. That started the wheels turning. She said that she felt that there were a lot of people who wanted tall boots and English riding boots but didn’t want to pay the hundreds and even thousands of dollars for a new pair. She pointed out one pair she has in stock and said the boots are European designer boots with a full retail of around $2,000. She has her pair of refurbished boots for sale online for $400 and is confident that they won’t last long.



Ruhl said she does the work of restoring the leather on the boots and demonstrated how she does so. She outsources physical repairs to the person in Springfield, saying that the machines he has to work on boots are very costly, yet his rates are very low. She can’t afford to invest in all the machines she would need when she can outsource the work for less.

Ruhl says that the boot business is going to be a part of her future for sure. At the same time, she was excited to share that she had learned earlier in the day that she had won a full-ride scholarship to the college of her choice. She will definitely be taking advantage of that opportunity.

One last fun fact, Ruhl’s business name is Foadail Equestrian and her mantra is “Where boots are truly lucky finds.” Ruhl explained that Foadail is Galic for “lucky find.”

[Nila Smith]

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