Local pastor and business owner Jerry Myers said he’s found success with an unconventional job and wants to offer the same opportunities to others.

Information on many start-up and home-based businesses is available online, but Myers wanted to create a more personal way for people to learn about the businesses and the people who’ve found success with them. He hopes the upcoming Business Opportunity Expo will provide that.

“Instead of going on the Internet to do the research on the companies, people can come here and learn about these different opportunities,” he said.

The expo is a two-day event Oct. 27 and 28 at the Holiday Inn in Joplin. It will feature both business speakers and vendor booths. Myers said not all of the 25 different companies represented at the expo are home-based, but many are including Mona Vie, Coastal Vacations and Xango.

Myers said he is expecting a minimum of 1,500 people at the event. Participants are invited to listen to short speaker presentations on different business opportunities throughout Saturday, or browse the vendor booths in the hotel’s atrium.

In the past, his business Freedom Now helped organize the Black and Blue Ball for Harley-Davidson and the Muscular Dystrophy Association, lined up some of the entertainment for Boomtown Days and brought in Rebecca St. James for a concert during the last Airfest Joplin.

As part of Freedom Now, Myers also does some life coaching, encouraging people to identify the life they want to live and live it. He also sells vacation packages online through Coastal Vacations.

Pulling from his personal experience, Myers said there is a type of person who can find success in an unconventional job format, but there are also those who will fail at them. He said the biggest difference is taking the business seriously whether it’s based out of a home office, or a brick and mortar building.

“You can’t treat it like a hobby, you’ve got to take it seriously,” he said. “We’re looking to attract people who are serious about making a change.”

Along with national franchise owners and local representatives, Myers said several local businesses will be on hand that offer services especially for the small business owner. Curt Medlin, co-owner of DataGraphics Printing in Joplin, said he was excited about having a booth at the expo because the majority of his work comes from small businesses.

Medlin creates business cards, letter head and specialty advertising items for small businesses that don’t need enough product to work with a large printer. Medlin said the expo will give him a chance to market his services to the small business owners who need them most.

“Small and home businesses are a market that’s been around for years, but to give them a chance to all come together in one venue is something unique,” Medlin said.

Ginger LaMar, membership director for the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber will also have a booth at the event to both disseminate information about the chamber’s services to small business owners and to gather comments on what home-based business owners want the local chamber to offer.

“It’s a great way for us to get out there and meet and visit with home-based business owners in a non-intimidating surrounding and find out what they want, because a lot of time they want different avenues of services than other businesses,” LaMar said. “We want them to know that we’re an offering for all businesses. Most of our members are small businesses and home-based businesses fall into that.”

The Holiday Inn doors are open to the public from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. A gala is scheduled 6 p.m. Friday, and will feature dinner catered by Holiday Inn. The gala will open with a welcome from Joplin Mayor John Tupper and speakers include Mike Misenheimer of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing in Arkansas with his presentation “The How To’s of Team Building,” former major league baseball player Danny DiPace with his presentation “The Power of Visualization,” Krissy Hitz of Cutting Edge Media with her presentation “How to Build Your Business Effectively,” Rosalind Venter of My Success Insight and Coastal Vacations in Florida with her presentation “Walking in Leadership Mentality,” and Jerry Deutsch of InteleTravel in New York City with his presentation “Building On Business.”

The gala will also feature a question and answer session with local Mona Vie representative Kerri Sundy and a presentation on the tax benefits of small and home-based businesses. Tickets for the gala are $25 a person and there are 350 seats available.

An empowerment breakfast is scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday. Tickets are $15 in advance and include breakfast catered by Holiday Inn and presentations by Myers on “The Power of Intention,” and Venter and DiPace. The Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce will also be giving a presentation during the breakfast on the benefits of chamber partnerships. There are 150 seats available for the breakfast.

Doors open to the public at 9 a.m. and the cost is $5 a person Saturday for the main expo, and early bird tickets are available for $3 online. The expo will wrap up 4 p.m. Saturday.



Saturday speaker schedules:

9:30 a.m. Krissy Hitz on Cutting Edge Media

9:45 a.m. Mike Misenheimer on Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing

10:05 a.m. Jerry Deutsch on InteleTravel

10:20 am. Rosalind Venter on “Success In Sight”

10:40 a.m. Kerri Sundy on Mona Vie

10:55 a.m. J.D. Buckridge on Freedom Now

11:15 a.m. Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce on chamber programs

11:30 a.m. Cheryll Livingston on Legacy Events

12 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Break for lunch

1:30 p.m. Misenheimer on Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing

1:45 p.m. Hitz on Cutting Edge Media

2:05 p.m. Venter on “Success In Sight”

2:20 p.m. Deutsch on InteleTravel

2:35 p.m. Buckridge on Freedom Now

2:50 p.m. Sundy on Mona Vie

3:20 p.m. Joplin chamber on programs

3:40 p.m. Livingston on Legacy Events