Monroe County startUP hosted its annual trade show at 11 South in Columbia last Wednesday, with this year’s students displaying their various business ventures ranging from hand-crafted jewelry or soap to a mobile spray tanning service.

One of this year’s young entrepreneurs offered a unique digitizing service, with Addie Janssen’s Film2File providing folks with the opportunity to bring their old films and photos into the digital age.

With her equipment and know-how, Janssen is able to scan VHS tapes, photo slides, photo negatives and other such recordings and turn them into digital files, allowing her customers to look back on their memories or enjoy their collection of classic films in a more modern, accessible format.

Janssen said the idea for her business came well before this year’s startUP class began. In 2022, Janssen’s mother pointed her to the family’s collection of tapes and photos up in the attic.

“I looked on Amazon, figured out what equipment I would need to get, got it and then just kind of taught myself how to transfer that over as a Christmas present for Grandma and my mom,” Janssen said. “I realized through that process that this was something I could do for other people as well.”

Her time with startUP then gave her the push to turn Film2File into a proper business.

Janssen explained the relatively straightforward process of digitizing. For the VHS tapes, this simply involves placing them in a machine that plays them while it’s hooked up to another recording device.

While there are some businesses who offer this sort of service, Janssen said she stands out by being part of the community. Rather than shipping a box of cinema treasures or family memories to a faceless business across the country, folks working with Janssen instead entrust their collection to a neighbor.

She said Film2File has already received a fair amount of attention following the trade show, and she hopes to continue the business into the future, also offering the services in her college town.

Film2File can be reached at 618-335-9538, filmintofile@gmail.com, filmintofile.wixsite.com/home or at film2file on Instagram and Facebook.

Ellianah Jones also came up with the idea for her business prior to startUP, though she actually got hers started when she was just 11.

With her family operating Feather’s Farm, a familiar vendor at the Monroe County Farmer’s Market, young Jones would bring flowers from their garden and sell them at the family’s stand.

While Jones suggested that many initial customers were likely buying from her just as a donation, her interest in flowers was quite real and has persisted in the years since.

“I really just get more and more into it every year, probably because I just learn more about it and I get better at it, and it’s just always been fun to me,” Jones said. “It’s never been something that I get bored of. It’s just that passion that I have for some random reason. I’ve been doing it for a while, and people love it.”

Jones continues to appear at the farmer’s market with her family, and she has also sold flowers to Bountiful Blossoms and other businesses and groups in the community.

She presented Elli’s Flowers at the startUP trade show, offering bouquets and hanging baskets as well as a flower subscription.

Looking ahead, Jones expressed interest in continuing the business into the future, creating her very own garden and turning her attention far more to the growing side of things as opposed to the arrangement.

Elli’s Flowers can be reached at 618-980-6499, ellianahjones@gmail.com or at ellis_cut_flowers on Instagram.

Still another presence at the trade show was OSA Soaps by Oscar Hoerr, a business focusing on soap made from goat’s milk and other natural ingredients.

Hoerr said the idea for the business came from his mother, who previously took an interest in making this particular kind of soap several years ago. His family has owned a handful of goats for a little over five years.

While she only made a few batches on occasion, she offered him the idea as he was looking for something relatively simple to do between a busy schedule of school and athletics.

“We’ve had goats in the family for a while, so it was just natural that, since we have the goats and dedicate so much time to them, that we’d continue to use them,” Hoerr said.

Hoerr touched on the substantial amount of research that went into the soap, from making sure it came out correctly to getting the recipe just right.

He suggested that his business stands out compared to typical store-bought soap due to the simple list of ingredients that comes with every bar – including almond oil, cocoa butter and shea butter – ensuring customers that they know exactly what they’re getting.

While Hoerr said he isn’t planning on making OSA Soaps a full-time commitment, he is considering it as a side project and is hoping to get some repeat customers following the trade show as folks make good use of their purchases.

OSA Soaps can be reached at 618-612-6665 or at oscarhoerr07@gmail.com.

With this year’s startUP program coming to a close this week, the students also spoke about their overall experiences in the program.

Hoerr said things got more than a little hectic at times, noting the recent 5K color run was a bit rockier than the fall’s golf tournament – though both were rather successful in the end.

He further spoke positively of the business tours the class participated in, and while he offered encouragement for those considering participating in the program, he noted that his class’ experience was likely more rough than others given the change in program facilitators which took place midway through the year.

Janssen spoke about the success of both group projects, also encouraging other students to join the program while commending Monroe County startUP Program Facilitator Priscilla Wilkerson for her efforts in bringing the year to a strong close.

“I would say that this year, although it started off kind of rocky, was a really great success,” Janssen said. “Mrs. Wilkerson was able to take our somewhat falling apart group who were kind of ready to quit at any moment and band us together, get us organized so that our color run could be what I would consider a huge success.”

Jones spoke more about the program in general, noting how her participation has helped with her personal growth and provided her with the opportunity to work with a diverse group of her peers.

“I think the best thing about startUP is that it really challenges you to get your head in the game and kind of think about what you really want to do,” Jones said. “I know a lot of the kids in the class came into startUP with no particular ideas, and it was kind of cool as we went through the class to see different people’s ideas.”

Wilkerson spoke highly of each of the students participating in the trade show, praising them for their performance in startUP’s final big event of the school year.

“I am very impressed with the work and displays that the students presented,” Wilkerson said. “I think that everybody worked very hard and really was able to showcase their businesses and their talent very well at the trade show.”

For information on the other businesses which presented at the startUP trade show, visit the Monroe County startUP Facebook page.