1 Million Cups program brings successful entrepreneurs to Delaware Tech

People from the area gathered around fireside lounge on Oct. 12 for the weekly 1 Million Cups program at Delaware Technical Community College.

Entrepreneurs from the area were in attendance to hear from two speakers who had been successful in starting their own businesses in the Rehoboth Beach area. The guest speakers were Casey Lyn Goold, who owns Mind Body Spoon, and Jen Rineer, who owns Carolina Sugar Fairy.

Goold is a board certified health coach who focuses on whole-body wellness

Goold states that although she is a vegetarian, she doesn’t push the vegetarian lifestyle on her clients.

For some people switching to a plant-based diet may be easier than it is for others. Goold ultimately strives to be a completely healthy person.

“I struggled with weight my entire life. I was on medications and I’m not anymore and that’s through my diet change and believing in myself,” Goold said.

The audience of 1 Million Cups seemed to have really listened to what she was saying about how she had started her own business and how she made it grow.

Rineer makes her own custom cakes and spoke second. Rineer said that at this point, she will not do retail because of all the work it takes to own a retail business.

She started out as an artist and then went into the restaurant business.

“I’ve done just about everything you can in a restaurant from being a hostess to being a corporate manager,” Rineer said.

Rineer said that she combined her two loves together, the restaurant business and art. Her business started out small in North Carolina and has since snowballed since bringing it to her home state of Delaware

“I started off very small, maybe two weddings a year while I was working in the restaurant business,” said Rineer.

Rinneer’s cakes can go for as much as $1,500 for being such a small business. Her business has progressed and she is to the point where she cannot accept any new clients because she is at capacity. Last April, she provided the cake for the 2016 Starry Starry Night Gala.

Project Coordinator and Workforce Development staff Brenda Whitehurst said 1 Million Cups was created by Ewing Kauffman, a pharmacist, entrepreneur and a philanthropist. The purpose of 1 Million Cups is to provide a platform for local entrepreneurs to share their stories in an educational manner.

Whitehurst said that the goal of the program is to engage entrepreneurs in helping them to better communicate with each other.

“The perception is that people communicate better over a cup of coffee,” Whitehurst said.

Whitehurst said the platform at Delaware Tech is an opportunity to see the entrepreneurs in their environment sharing. The overall goal of this program is business sustainability and retention.

“The opportunity to help somebody grow their business is everything,” Whitehurst said.

For more information, 1 Million Cups meets every Wednesday morning in the fireside lounge from 9-10 a.m.

1 Million Cups meets every Wednesday morning in the fireside lounge from 9-10 a.m.