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Comments for this video
Talk about inspiring! Emily's vision is to get kids plugged in and excited about learning. I love that she's getting teachers motivated too, especially integrating technology in the classroom. There is such a need for StarrMatica and for Emily's vision to succeed!
GREAT job Emily!
How awesome is this!!! Great Job :^)
Emily you are brillant.... The Chicago Public School System could def use your site.. :-)
Try AZ too, the little time I had there they could use it too...:-)
Miss ya!
katie
Inovative and inspiring!
ely1
Great video. Perseverance to a great goal - and it's all for kids (and teachers). We will all benefit.
Tears just ran down my face after viewing Emily's story - what a great job she's doing!
Great video! And what a terrific story.
Wonderful job, Emily! I'm so impressed and so happy for you!
Emily is a bright, delightful & dedicated entrepreneur who is deserving of success with her business! Hats off to you Emily, you rocked this video! Nancy
It is inspiring to see Emily's dedication to helping her students and using that as the basis for her business.
We are very impressed with her enthusiasm, with her dedication to an ideal and her professionalism. She is indeed a bright star. As an educator I appreciate her trying to make the best, most appropriate, materials available to our students. We liked the video. She shows spirit, a sense of humor, and a spunk.
Your Mom is one talented lady.
Liked the video and it seems like you could be well timed and placed in your business concept, as any asset for schools should be a viable product particularly in this day and age where school budgets are being annihilated.
This is AWESOME! Talk about motivation all to benefit children. You can tell a lot of hard work has gone into this and what can happen when one person has a dream.
Excellent storytelling and storyteller. Showing the hours in a single day of going out to schools is a wonderful part. Would have been helpful to use a wireless mic on the speakers while they're on camera. I hope this makes the final round.
Very nice video! I am inspired by your passion for educating students. It is clear that you believe in your business and have what it takes to helm your ship to success.
You are awesome Emily! Great job!
WONDERFUL JOB!
LOVE IT!!
Thanks your innovation, it made our children learning in more creative way!
It's so awesome to see Emily taking teaching and learning beyond the classroom! I'm so proud of you, Em! Keep up the good work!
I know Emily and this video is so authentic, it's really inspirational. She is a gal on a mission and she's doing some really great things. Keep it up, Emily! I'll share your story with my friends so you can make it to the next level and keep on going! Great job.
Emily has created a way to reach all intellectual levels of students as they work through the learning process. When schools and institutions are considering StarrMatica they need to remember that what they are paying for is not only an incredible teaching system, but the fact that they are helping to insure successful futures for the kids that without this system might be left behind. I can hardly wait to see your system in Spanish.
Great video - clunky Intuit website (logging in was a nightmare - but not your problem). I'm going to share this with my son, a 4th grade teacher
Emily turned her vision into reality, and has the drive and deterimination to succeed. Be sure to pay a visit to Emily's website and take a test drive of her product. I have had the pleasure to work with Emily as her QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and look forward to continuing that work as her business grows. Way to go, Emily!
GREAT idea! WAY TO GO!! I am so impressed by your brain power and you are inspiring to all teachers as well as mothers!! GOOD job. Julez
Emily, you are doing such a fantastic job. I love how motivated you are to succeed. Congratualations on the success so far - I'm ready to see you TAKE OFF now! ~Amy
Great Job and great product. What an enpowering learning tool! Good luck.
This is great Emily! I still want it at our school. Now that we have more mimios, maybe they will let us get it. Roberta
What a great vision you have. You deserve every success that comes your way. Your site is the result of intelligence, creativity, and the desire to give kids a better future by learning with Starrmatica. Great entrepreneur! Great video! You are an inspiration to many. Your family must be very proud of you!
I've seen this product in action, so I know first hand what a wonderful impact it has on both teachers and students!
Emily - In times when education budgets are being slashed and our standardized test results show us falling behind the world - - an economical way to incorporate teaching and technology -- GREAT IDEAS - RIGHT TIME!
Steve
I'd love to see this work for you! If you need help with contacts please let me know as we do over 20 school districts for their insurance needs.
Passion, talent, dedication, and true will of character are truly represented in your cause. Best of Luck!
Buscaglia “You are the best you. You will always be the second best anyone else.â€
Thanks,
Jonathan Lohman
jonathan@lohman-companies.com
Best of luck to you Emily!!! Great job!!
What an inspiration! This is the kind of story we need to hear right now. Way to go Emily! You've really shown how one person can truly make a difference!
Finalist story from StarrMatica:
Everything You Need To Know About Starting Your Own Business is what the flyer said. As a fourth grade teacher, I knew nothing about starting my own business, but an idea had been simmering in my mind, so I took the flyer as a sign. I attended the class presented by our local SBDC and promptly came home and told my husband I was ready to make the leap. Luckily, he was, too.
The next day I dove into developing StarrMatica Learning Systems. StarrMatica provides teachers with educational content designed to enhance the effective use of technology in teaching reading and math in elementary schools. Member teachers and students log into our online site at school and at home to use our virtual manipulatives, practice activities, games and weblinks with interactive whiteboards, LCD projectors and personal computers.
Because of a change in project requirements combined with the programmers severely underbidding the initial project, our costs quickly skyrocketed to 5x’s, then 10x’s, and eventually to 15x’s my initial projections. But, we had invested so much of our personal savings that quitting was not an option. We battened down the hatches, and in 2006, I quit my job to run StarrMatica full time. There was no money to hire help, so since day one, I have run every aspect of my business including scraping together funding, writing content, managing programmers, beta testing, marketing and sales. I have never been so overwhelmed by work, but I’ve also never loved it so much.
To sell subscriptions early on, I would call every elementary school principal for miles along a major highway and ask to stop and share StarrMatica. To be as efficient with time and money as possible, the more appointments I could schedule in a day the better. And my mother drove me from appointment to appointment so I could work on the laptop in the car.
One memorable day I had scheduled eight back-to-back appointments. My 60-year old mother frantically drove me from school to school on back country roads. We would fly up to the front door, and I would roll out, run into the school, meet with the principal and burst back out the school door. Mom would race the car to the door, I’d jump back in, and she would peel away to our next appointment. Thank goodness she’d brought along water and a bag of snacks!
Four years later, I’m still the company’s sole employee, and we still operate on a shoe string budget. I know it is more important than ever to keep our prices low so we can help as many students and teachers as possible. Our subscriber base is growing, we have a 100% renewal rate, and I’m optimistic for future expansions of the site into science and Spanish translation. To this day, Mom and I still make monthly sales trips together. I can’t imagine why she bought me a GPS for Christmas this year….
Wise Advice: When speaking with a fellow teacher about the time and money investment it was going to take to make StarrMatica successful, she shared with me something her father had told her: Your ship can’t come in unless you let it out to sail.
Practical Advice: Harness the power of free web advertising to connect with potential customers by posting videos on Teacher Tube and You Tube and contributing to message boards. Teacher Tube videos alone boosted StarrMatica’s free trial signups from 3 to over 100 per month.
I love that her mom is driving her around and still making her dreams happen. I am totally crying.