Building Business in Muncie
Photo by Samantha Blankenship, ’15
The City of Muncie has always held a special place in Mike Martin’s heart. He grew up a short drive away in Fairmount, Ind., and has family in the surrounding area. Mr. Martin even had a music venue in downtown Muncie for nearly a decade and served on the Muncie Downtown Development Partnership.
“I just really fell in love with the community, and being from the area, I wanted to see it thriving,” he said.
When the city experienced economic hardship in the early 2010s, Mr. Martin sought to make a difference.
After taking a free community class through the College of Charleston School of Business, he brought similar principles to Ball State University and the City of Muncie.
Mr. Martin met with Mayor Dan Ridenour and Dr. Stephen Ferris, former Bryan Dean of Ball State’s Miller College of Business, to present an idea to help make a transformational impact in the local community.
“East Central Indiana seemed to really be struggling because of our loss of manufacturing,” Mr. Martin said. “We need to look to the next phase of Muncie, and it’s not going to be General Motors coming back. We’re going to have to go into the future prepared for it. And to do it, that’s going to take education.”
In 2022, the University and city collaborated to offer Impact X Community Class, which is run by Mr. Martin; Christiana Mann, ’94 MA ’97, assistant lecturer of hospitality innovation and leadership; and Candy Dodd, AA ’90 BS ’11, associate program director of Entrepreneurial Leadership.
“The whole point is helping local entrepreneurs, people who have ideas that want to make an impact in the community,” Ms. Dodd said.
The 12-week course empowers community residents to create solutions and bring their community-focused innovations to life.
“It helps connect the dots and helps get you off the ground and going,” Ms. Dodd said. “We talk about finances and target markets, among other business principles, and even help introduce participants to previously established connections.”
An added benefit of the free class is that it represents yet another tangible example of the Muncie community and Ball State working together.
After two years, more than 100 Muncie residents—including Ball State alumni—have taken the Impact X Community Class, which, to date, has helped launch nine local businesses in Muncie.
“We can be the change; we can be the solution that we’re looking for here in Muncie,” Mr. Martin said.
Bringing an Idea to Life
Local business owner and Impact X participant Jasmine Taylor presents during a recent class session. Photos courtesy of Candy Dodd, AA ’90 BS ’11
Meeka Jennings, a 2021 Ball State University graduate with a degree in travel and tourism, was working as a bartender at a local brewery when she had a possible money-making idea.
Ms. Jennings lived downstairs in a property owned by the owners of the bar she worked at, but the upstairs was unoccupied.
“We decided to turn it into an Airbnb and quickly realized it was very lucrative,” she said. “When I moved out, we turned the downstairs into one as well.”
That idea blossomed into a business for Ms. Jennings called TLC Equities, a property and hospitality management service that offers fully furnished rentals.
“This is a way to facilitate a different way of staying in Muncie,” she said. “It creates a unique thought in the guests’ minds as opposed to just staying in a hotel.”
To help get her idea off the gro
The Impact X Community Class hosts an annual “Impact Day,” designed to bring together government, education, non-profit, and business leaders to listen and learn from the community about the help they need to bring their community-oriented solutions to life.
und, Ms. Jennings took the Impact X Community Class, which served as an incubator for the pillars of her business.
“It helped me join a community of like-minded people who were also going through the same thing and were looking to start their own businesses or further what they were currently working on,” she said. “And it helped me realize my true values in my business and my competitive advantages.”
Ms. Jennings credits the class for not only the growth of her business—which now manages 28 different properties in the area—but also for its impact on the local community.
“This class is just another reminder that Ball State cares about its community and creates a positive footprint,” she said. “It is a way to bridge the gap between accessibility and the community.
“It came at a really important time for me and was crucial to the growth of my business.”
