Open for Business: ADsmith

ADsmith
A quarter-century after founding Springfield agency ADsmith Marketing & Advertising, Angela Smith said she closed Nov. 21 on the sale of the business to company president Ken Taylor for undisclosed terms. Taylor was named president in 2018, setting the company up for a succession plan, officials say. He joined the company earlier that year as senior vice president of marketing strategy after previously working for 16 years at Noble Communications Co. Taylor said the ownership change is about building on what he calls a “rock-solid foundation and preparing for the next 25 years with fresh energy and vision.” Smith said she is retiring after selling the company she founded in 2000. She plans to focus her time on nonprofit work, noting she currently serves on six boards and will be available to advise Taylor as needed. ADsmith, located at 1200 E. Woodhurst Drive, Bldg. S, Ste. 100, ranked No. 2 on Springfield Business Journal’s 2025 list of the area’s largest advertising and marketing agencies, with 18 employees as the ranking criterion.
Phone: 417-881-7722
Web: ADsmith.biz

Black Eden Piercing & Tattoo Parlor
Nixa gained a new destination for body art and piercings with the Sept. 8 grand opening of Black Eden Piercing & Tattoo Parlor. Owned by Anna Bridges, the venture is at 274 W. Mount Vernon St. in a shopping center near an O’Reilly Auto Parts store and River of Life Church. Bridges said she leads a staff of four at the roughly 2,000-square-foot shop, declining to disclose startup costs or lease information. Her past work experience includes Next Generation Tattoo in Springfield, and she also owns Shoot 2 Thrill Photography. Bridges said piercings start at $50, while tattoo costs vary based on design, size and artist time. In addition to her work at Black Eden, Bridges said she also does piercings at Carnival of Ink, an annual Midwest-based tattoo convention, set for March 20-22 at the Springfield Expo Center. 635 E. St. Louis St.
Phone: 417-714-4039
Web: Facebook.com/BlackEdenNixa

CertainFee
Springfield resident Will Crites revamped web-based app CertainFee on Nov. 1 to focus on marketing to the lawn care industry. The app helps lawn care service businesses convert their current clientele as well as potential new customers to a subscription payment option, offering a per service rate or a monthly rate, he said. The app founder owns the venture via Crites Business Solutions LLC. Crites said the idea for CertainFee originated while he owned his own lawn care business, Clean Cut Lawn Care, which he sold in 2020. He began development of the app in 2021, initially focusing on use for any service industry that wanted to build year-round monthly cash flow before pivoting last year to lawn care businesses. Startup costs for CertainFee were roughly $30,000, Crites said, adding CertainFee is compatible with accounting and payment programs such as QuickBooks, PayPal and Stripe. The app has five membership price tiers for companies, ranging $25 per month for up to 100 clients, and topping out at $92 per month for up to 1,000 clients. 
Phone: 417-763-6333
Web: CertainFee.com