Local small-biz owner invited to attend State of Union speech

The leader of an Indianapolis advertising and public relations firm will travel to Washington, D.C., Wednesday to attend
President Obama’s State of the Union address later that evening.

Trevor Yager, president of TrendyMinds,
is among 23 small-business owners nationwide invited by Obama to highlight the achievements of successful entrepreneurs.

Yager, who founded TrendyMinds in 1995, said his agency added 15 new clients last year, bringing its total to about
75. Revenue rose 200 percent, to $750,000, and the company doubled its office space to 2,000 square feet in the Douglass Pointe
Lofts in Fall Creek Place.

“It’s a combination of several different things,”
Yager said of the reasons for the growth. “We have an amazing staff, and we’ve got good clients
who are growing as well.”

The company’s clients include the Indianapolis-based Honor
Society of Nursing, Bloomington-based Author Solutions Inc. and Cincinnati Bell.

Yager also credited much of the
firm’s success to the president’s “welcoming climate” for small business, although he failed to provide
specific examples.

An initiative he supports that has proven to be among Obama’s most contentious is the
push for universal health care. Yager, who provides health insurance and a retirement plan to his seven employees, questioned
whether small-business owners should be operating if they can’t offer benefits.

TrendyMinds
caught the attention of the White House after staff members solicited certain national organizations
for small-business prospects. The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce contacted Yager’s
agency, which is a member of the Washington, D.C.-based organization.

Yager submitted a three-paragraph
summary of the company for consideration, and the White House relayed its approval late Friday afternoon.

He suspects the firm’s philanthropy efforts likely helped his selection. In 2009, TrendyMinds
donated $50,000, or 400 hours, of in-kind work to eight not-for-profits. This year, the company is shooting to
triple that amount and contribute $150,000 of work to 12 not-for-profits.