A relatively untouched promotion venue for your entrepreneurship program, especially if you have an on-line component, is the Internet. While many niches have long since been saturated on-line, that is not the case with community college entrepreneurship. Because of the recent development of entrepreneurship education at the community college, there is an open frontier for on-line marketing of your program. However, to market successfully on-line, you need to understand a little about how search engines work. (Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a web programmer to implement these steps.)

Search engines place emphasis on certain things about a web site to determine which sites should be displayed in order of perceived importance. Once you know which factors the search engines are emphasizing, you can use them to earn a top spot in the search engine rankings. You can use a number of tools to assist you for each of the items below, and I’ll post links to them in the blog section of the NACCE web site.

Keywords

The first thing you need to know is what people are searching for when you hope they’ll find your web site. This means you need to know what keywords they are typing into the search engine. Once you know what they’re searching for, you want to make sure that your web pages use and emphasize those words. A good rule of thumb is to make sure your web page has between 400 and 600 words of keyword-rich text. Doing things like using larger type, putting the words in bold, and naming the page using the keyword add emphasis.

Freshness

Search engines also have a bias toward new and frequently updated content. Unfortunately, most college web pages are stagnant and static. Once they’ve been published, they often sit untouched until the entire web site is redone. Placing new content (keyword-rich!) on your site on a regular basis can give you a boost in the search engine rankings. An easy way to do this is to create a blog on your school’s site. Or, how about a student blog where they can share their experiences in your program?

Inbound Links

For search engines, links to your site are like popularity votes. The more popular your site is, the higher it will rank in the search engines. There are many ways to get links. The best, and most often repeated advice, is to create something worth linking to. Additional ways to generate inbound links include submitting your pages to on-line directories, submitting on-line press releases about your program, or article marketing where you submit original articles to a web site that are then picked up by other web site owners who provide a link back to your site.

We’ve just scratched the surface, but these tips are some of the most important when it comes to promoting your program online. 

Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH

 

Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour

Over the past 30 years, the field of entrepreneurship education has made incredible strides in reach, credibility, and teaching methods. However, it still has a far way to go to reach its potential.

I believe the next major step our field needs to make is more emphasis on students starting an actual business during their entrepreneurship class, rather than simply writing a business plan or participating in experiential activities.

Starting a business, especially a first business, can require remarkably little money and no business experience, and the rewards it can provide in the length of a semester are significant:

• Confidence and self-worth from business cards that say "Founder & CEO.”

• A viable business idea that has received positive feedback from peers, teachers, and potential customers that the student wants to pursue after the class.

• Personal growth that comes from going out of one’s comfort zone and learning from failures in a safe environment.

• Producing the first product (seeing, touching and smelling it) and then seeing it create a satisfied customer.

• First customers that prove the idea can work beyond the paper plan.

• Unforeseen challenges that would not have come into awareness without attempting the plan.

• A plan for how to continue the pursuit of the idea after the class is over.

I started my first business 10 years ago when I was 16 years old. I’ve taken many entrepreneurship courses and programs through the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (http://www.nfte.com) and my alma mater, the Stern School of Business at New York University.

The one thing I’ve learned is that learning in the classroom alone doesn’t give a student a full understanding of entrepreneurship like starting a real business does. One of the biggest challenges aspiring entrepreneurs face is simply getting started, and the classroom is the perfect environment to help them do this.

In my opinion, starting and running a business is the ultimate experiential activity, because of:

Ownership. Ownership gives entrepreneurs the hope of hitting it really big one day and all the benefits that come with that, including financial, social, and psychic. Also, for the first time for many, it gives students the opportunity to be their own boss and call the shots.

Comfort Zone & Failure. Standing by a business concept that is important to the individual not just as a class project or a work assignment but in life overall is extremely difficult for most first-time entrepreneurs. Teaching students to be open to constructive criticism and to be prepared to hear the word "no” and yet continue to invest in their idea, share the concept with others, and make sales calls is challenging for most people, but at the same time, is an incredible opportunity for personal growth.

The classroom is the perfect environment to teach students to confront and learn from failures in starting their own business. The ‘safe environment’ increases the likelihood that students will continue their business despite humbling challenges.

Market as Teacher. Entrepreneurship uses the market as a teacher. It may not always be forgiving, but it is the closest thing you can get to the real world. It gives students the confidence that they can succeed outside of the class as an entrepreneur, and teaches them lessons, successes, and challenges that it would be impossible for them to foresee by only creating a business plan.

Learn Knowledge at a Gut Level. A different level of learning goes on when you lose your own money or time because of a mistake. You don’t forget. You learn.

Resume Builder. Starting a business is an activity that students can put on their resume to differentiate themselves. It also gives them an "owner” perspective that can help them be more successful should they decide to take a job, with skills like accountability, reliability, and commitment to the success of an organization.

Furthermore, the exercise of launching businesses is beneficial for instructors because of:

Increased Student Motivation. Students are more motivated, because what begins as a project for class has the possibility to turn into a real business. There is immediate real world application, so students see the relevance of classroom material and apply it immediately to their business enterprise.

Student Success Stories. Having successful student entrepreneurs who got started in their entrepreneurship class motivates other students to take the class and start their own businesses. Success stories can also serve as tools to get exposure for your entrepreneurship program in the local media and among funders. In the end, when students from these classes become successful entrepreneurs, they will be more likely to give back. As they get invited to speak publicly about their success, they will share how they got started in your entrepreneurship program.

It has become a typical path for college students to take part in internships and part-time jobs as a way to transition into full-time work. Shouldn’t future entrepreneurs have a similar opportunity to transition to full-time entrepreneurship? The classroom is the perfect environment with peer and instructor support for students to start their journey into entrepreneurship.

Michael Simmons, a former keynote speaker at NACCE, may be reached at michael@extremee.org

Simply stated, the effectuation process describes the phenomena when an entrepreneur starts with what they have and selects among possible outcomes. This is in contrast to the more familiar causal process or thinking style in which one starts with a desired outcome and then focuses energy and effort on activities that generate that outcome. With effectuation, the definition of "what one has” is just who they are, what they know and whom they know. (Sarasvathy, 2006).

It is easy to identify with this type of self-assessment or taking stock of one’s position and identifying what opportunities, solutions and innovations germinate from that analysis. The entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial thinking are not limited to the challenging application of starting a new business. There are applications of effectual thinking or effectuation to the broader context of problem solving and stimulating creativity.

The next time you are considering an idea or opportunity it might be interesting to examine which thinking style you really incorporate. What are your first thoughts? Do you run through a mental list of who you know, what you know and how well your personality and interest align with the idea? (Effectual process). Or, do you immediately have a desired outcome in mind and create a checklist in your mind of tasks to produce the outcome? (Causal process).

In the following five statements, I have taken the liberty to condense and otherwise paraphrase five basic principles that Sarasvathy (2006) outlines to describe the way that entrepreneurs often really think.

1. Patchwork quilt principle: Essentially creating something new with existing means, the patches of the quilt are the "who I am,” "what I know” and "who I know.” The importance lies in what the entrepreneur does with his/her patches not necessarily the patch itself.

1. Affordable loss principle: Identifying in advance what one is willing to lose rather than focusing on expected returns.
2. Bird-in-hand principle: Negotiating with all stakeholders willing to make actual commitments to the project and therefore help to shape the new venture.
3. Lemonade principle: Leveraging surprises rather than trying to avoid or overcome them, thus being able to run with an emerging situation and create value.
4. Pilot-in-the-plane principle: Recognizes people as the prime driver of opportunity; entrepreneurs thinking effectually will be concerned with aspects of the future they can control with their own actions, thereby removing the need to predict the future.

This research is quite interesting and likely has direct application to the curriculum and instructional design considerations for authentic entrepreneurship education. For more information on this interesting research, visit the effectuation Web site at www.effectuation.org. This topic and others are typical of material we discuss in our exploratory course ENTR 1500 Successful Entrepreneurship taught at Laramie County Community College.

References: Sarasvathy, Saras. (2006). Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise. Edward Elgar Publishers.

EntreWorks Consulting

For the past several years, the hot term in workforce development circles has been "WIRED.” In this case, WIRED doesn’t mean too much coffee or a fast Internet connection. Instead, it refers to a new way of thinking about regional economic and workforce development.

WIRED stands for Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development and refers to a three-year-old Department of Labor program that has invested more than $400 million in 39 regional projects across the U.S. These projects are quite diverse, and include efforts to stimulate boat building in Maine, to promote green energy in Montana, and to promote entrepreneurship in California. Nearly all of the 39 regional projects include heavy participation from community colleges, many of which are NACCE members.

WIRED has been a key part of the Bush Administration’s efforts to promote demand-driven workforce programs. Using this approach, workforce development agencies and other training organizations have been pushed and provided incentives to build closer partnerships with their customers, i.e. businesses. Other related programs include the Community Based Jobs Training program grants. WIRED was designed to push this model at the regional level–to integrate workforce, education, and economic development agencies in a collaborative campaign to transform regional economies.

It’s hard to quibble with this objective. Regional economic transformation is a bipartisan goal. Yet, because of the WIRED program’s roots in the Bush Administration, it’s unlikely that a Democratic Congress will authorize new WIRED grants–regardless of who prevails in this year’s elections. Nonetheless, NACCE members would be well advised to keep an eye on WIRED projects and the overall WIRED concept. Even if the specific WIRED program is not reauthorized, the basic principles underlying it will likely drive future Federal workforce and economic development funding programs. New programs might have new names, but they will share a lot of similarities with WIRED.

Several core concepts will remain in place. First, collaboration will be required in all new projects. Initiatives that are designed and implemented by a single organization will be discouraged. Today’s economic development challenges are complex and multi-organizational solutions are needed. Second, regions will become the key organizing entities for future Federal investments. A state or county or city is a political entity; a region is an economic entity. And, economic development strategies need to be organized around natural economic units, i.e. regions. Finally, innovation will be the sine qua non of Federal economic development programs. Simply creating jobs will not be enough. Programs will need to help nurture and expand innovation. These innovations need not be solely focused on high tech, but they need to help promote and grow new entrepreneurial ventures in the private, non-profit, and public sectors.

The good news about this change in perspective is that it aligns well with the perspective shared by NACCE members. We have always been about collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurship. It’s good to see that Washington is ready to join the movement too!

I welcome any feedback or ideas you might have on NACCE’s unique role, perspectives, and potential influence on key public policy issues. Send all comments and perspectives to me at epages@entreworks.net

Arizona Western College SBDC, Yuma, AZ

While attending the NACCE Conference in San Antonio I was most pleased with one of the keynote speakers and his reference to "moving at the speed of business.” The only challenge with this comment was whether educational institutions could practice what was preached.

To me, "the speed of business” is something like driving down the freeway at 75 mph. You see a billboard and you may remember and use the information, or–out of sight out of mind–you miss the message entirely. You must receive a very overt benefit to remember the message or you must be looking for that exact message to be impacted. It is just like my father used to say; his message went in one ear and exited the other ear just as fast with very little retention. The secret to education is to keep the message between your ears long enough for retention to happen.

I have worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs every year in the Small Business Development Center at Arizona Western College and there have been a number of successful entrepreneurs. There are two very basic reasons for the high level of success. The first is the incredible investment in professional development opportunities my staff and I take advantage of every year, and the second is the example we try to set for our clients. By example I mean if I am to educate entrepreneurs, I had better lead by example and be entrepreneurial. I have also noticed how the new entrepreneurs are learning and are becoming successful by not following the traditional four-year business degree program initially.

When I work with clients I follow these guidelines to be successful:

1. Do not try to give the client/student more than they can absorb in one sitting.

2. Do not try to educate with outdated materials or technology.

3. We often learn together.

4. Give the client/student something they can learn and use the same day.

Many of us have heard of the MTV generation, which means our clients/students learn in sound bites and have no patience for a lengthy lecture. In business counseling we try to educate our learners of the resources available and how they can learn more on their own. I discovered in a previous career in sales you never give every possible feature of your product in the initial presentation. To keep the prospect interested you must keep your presentation short and probe for their hot buttons. Once the client/student begins to ask questions the learning becomes much more apparent.

Since we can individualize education today no one can be the absolute "bank of all knowledge.” The secret to educating is in knowing where to find the answers. For my clients/students it is easier and more efficient for me to refer them to a librarian for some basic information or industry knowledge. The same philosophy of referral happens once they begin their own business also. Our clients/students are encouraged to set up a professional relationship with their banker, accountant, lawyer, insurance agent, IT, and marketing expert, as well as the continuation of SBDC services. I also have many resources available to assist my entrepreneurs and very few are in a book. Some of today’s most important tools can be an understanding of the current technology. From financial software to blogs, the business tools developed for computers have become more intuitive than something to be committed to memory.

To keep my clients/students engaged to the point they recognize me as a resource I must give them something easy and new almost every session. Almost all of my clients are not coming to a Small Business Development Center for a certificate or degree so what I can offer is knowledge, experience, and education. If we are discussing their target market, we can talk about age groups, income levels, diversity, education levels, and more. Since this simple discussion usually consists of why each area may impact their business decision it can quickly become overwhelming when they try to think of where they might even begin their research. I can then show them a zipskinny.com report broken down by zip code from the 2000 census. This information can then be amended with more current information or growth percentages from the city. So I can basically have them learn what is needed, why we need the information, and finally how to get the information while also giving them something fun to check, all for free.

You might have taught wagon drivers to learn how to drive a wagon with a buggy whip, but is this method appropriate for driving a car? In my office we have eliminated almost every book and replaced them with the Internet, newspapers, and magazines. This concept may be contrary to traditional educators and the college bookstore, but in many cases their business model is outdated and expensive. The Internet can provide information much quicker and cheaper and more current than any book, especially in bits of useful information. For the entry level entrepreneur books do have their place providing inspiration, recreation, and relaxation but the research is often not very cost effective.

So as I lead by example I spend a lot of time practicing what I preach. Most of my books are no longer available in my office. Instead, I have high speed Internet and know how to use it. I read one to two newspapers every day along with some favorite news sites on the Internet. I subscribe to three or four business magazines. I also try to attend four or more workshops or conferences within the state and nation. The tools from this reading and listening allow me to answer the questions of clients/students accurately and professionally.

If you have read this far you probably are either very upset with my philosophy of replacing books with technology or you can see the merit. If you are upset, it is probably because you read over the part about this philosophy being for "new” entrepreneurs. The new entrepreneur needs to learn basic research skills, how to make a decision based upon experience and from a financial viewpoint, and how to think without a box (not just out of the box).

This philosophy seems to fit in well within our educational institution. Rather than being seen as a competitor for headcount I can actually be known as a referral for specialized classes, especially within our Entrepreneurship program. When appropriate I refer my clients to classes where the basics are still needed or as a place to develop a deeper understanding for their success. After all, traditional education should educate the excellent workers my future business owners will rely upon for their subject expertise in decision making.

So for your next entrepreneurship class, live on the wild side. Eliminate the need for a textbook, and educate your students to use resources to come up with solutions. Together you will probably both learn more and have better results. If this concept is stimulating your thoughts, you should also be able to devise a method to evaluate the effectiveness of learning in a workshop style environment.

In Part One of "A New Model For Community Prosperity,” entrepreneurship was identified as one of the key foundations or "pillars” necessary for economic development in small and rural communities. Community colleges, and the importance they play in the economic development of cities and towns within their regions, are uniquely positioned to assist communities in the development of their entrepreneurial potential. Identifying potential entrepreneurs and giving them the tools necessary to guarantee their success is critically important for communities that wish to take a pro-active approach to innovative economic development solutions.

The following outlines how a community can use entrepreneurial strategies to build their economic base. Using a three-pronged approach of Assessment, Strategy Development, and Sustaining Success, community college leaders can assist communities with identification and support of their entrepreneurial talent.

• Assessment

Every community has a range of entrepreneurial talent and the primary priority is to assess the existing entrepreneurial landscape along with identifying potential entrepreneurs within the community. The first step to this assessment is to build a team of community members who have a good understanding of the community, its residents and its businesses. Once the team is assembled, the second step is to assist them with identifying not only current entrepreneurs within the community, but identifying potential entrepreneurs who might be mentored and developed as well.

A four-square approach could be used where each of the identified entrepreneurs would be categorized as either Limited Potential (individuals who might have an interest, but are currently working or otherwise unavailable), Potential Entrepreneur (individuals who could become entrepreneurs with the proper resources and assistance), Business Owners (individuals who are currently in business with the motivation to grow or create new opportunities), and Entrepreneurs (individuals with high motivation, actively engaged in current business ventures and looking to create new enterprises). This list may be extensive, so the team may choose to limit their focus initially on the one group that makes the most sense for economic purposes in their community.

• Strategy Development

Once the community team has targeted the appropriate group (the "who”), an entrepreneurial intervention strategy is designed that will address the "how.” Each community is different and each design will be different, but the foundation of the approach will be the same for all–how will the community find and cultivate champions for the project, what strategies will be employed, how will it be funded, and what are the outcomes expected? Designing a strategy that will energize entrepreneurs may include many resources, such as assistance with writing a business plan or forming a business incubator. The most successful strategies however, all include one important factor–the use of networks, peers, and mentors. The most valuable resource a community can provide for entrepreneurs is the opportunity to learn from, and be mentored by, another entrepreneur.

• Sustaining Success

Ultimately any strategy designed to create systemic change within a community must be sustainable. In this phase, community members should identify two factors: 1) what criteria are important to the entrepreneurial development effort and 2) what indicators will be used to determine success? For example, if "community success” is an important criterion for the project, the indicators to be measured might be: expanded employment, expanded tax base, or broader career options. Having documented short, medium, and long-term outcomes is essential for the evaluation of the project as well as developing a program that is sustainable and provides long-term economic growth to the community.

Developing communities takes a great deal of investment in both time and money. Entrepreneurship is only one strategy that can lead to greater economic prosperity for our small and rural communities, but it is the most important strategy for long-term viability. By helping communities to identify their entrepreneurial talent, design a system that supports those entrepreneurs, and documenting outcomes for sustainability, community colleges can play an important role in the prosperity of rural America.

*These strategies are a part of the Hometown Competitiveness program for rural development. For more information or to obtain resources on entrepreneurial development, visit the website of The RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at

www.energizingentrepreneurs.org

Director, John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center

North Iowa Area Community College

he North Iowa Area Community College is committed to entrepreneurship education on several levels. Our focus is to educate our students, citizens of our communities, elected officials and existing businesses in the practice of entrepreneurship with the goal of economic development and growth in North Iowa. Sometimes these lofty goals seem far out in the future, especially when dealing with elementary students and helping them see entrepreneurs like rock stars. Or sometimes it seems far off when we work with elected officials from throughout the region and provide seminars and information and assistance to jump start their communities with active support for entrepreneurship and then it doesn’t happen right away or happens in some communities and not others. But sometimes we get to see firsthand the fruits of our labors in a start up of a new business and its growth or success. Here are two short case studies that exemplify the latter and are great examples of why entrepreneurship matters.

Take Tad Andreasen, for example. A NIACC student with a certificate from the NIACC John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center in Entrepreneurship, Tad exemplifies what it means to be an entrepreneur. Tad has a passion to drive his business and through the skills he has acquired from his classes in the NIACC JPEC he is already seeing success. Tad has participated in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization and led it as its president and has been active on campus and has sought out mentoring and assistance from the NIACC JPEC staff.

Through his knowledge and instruction from the entrepreneurship classes, Tad put that knowledge and passion to work building a business plan to enter the statewide John Pappajohn Business Plan Competition for college students. The result? Tad is the first student from an Iowa community college to win one of the top three cash awards since the inception of the competition eight years ago. His business, Andreasen Racing, is a marine sales, service and repair business, which specializes in one thing–selling and maintaining personal watercraft (PWC).

"I love maintaining and repairing PWC. I have literally been a ‘Garage Entrepreneur’ for the past five years repairing, building and painting PWC in my unheated garage. I can relate myself to Bill Gates and other Garage Entrepreneurs,” states Tad. Without the training Tad received it is doubtful he would have been able to articulate a clear business plan, set himself up for success and win the competition. Winning one of the awards brought Tad $5,000, which he will use to jump start his business and begin working full time to drive.

The second case study is one of Latham Hybrids, a high tech hybrid seed corn company, launched three years ago by John and Shannon Latham. Both have achieved advanced degrees, obtaining MBAs from the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. Despite that excellent training, or maybe because of it, when the Lathams decided to launch their business they sought help from the NIACC JPEC. The NIACC JPEC works with start-up companies and existing companies providing training and consulting services. In this case the "entrepreneurship education” came in direct consulting to the Latham’s by the NIACC JPEC staff. They were encouraged to complete their business plan and enter the statewide business plan competition for businesses, which they did with the guidance and assistance of the NIACC JPEC.

John has stated that if it were not for the business plan competition and the assistance of the NIACC JPEC, they would not have completed the plan and as a result would not have thought through all the issues they have subsequently faced. The result of the hands-on work that the JPEC provided to the Latham’s was a third place finish in the state and a $10,000 prize. More importantly the foundation was set for their company to grow and prosper. They have added customers and new products in the ensuing two years and have exceeded the sales goals by a wide margin. The Lathams are frequent visitors to the center for continuing guidance and learning and now are also giving back by supporting the center and serving on its advisory board.

Entrepreneurship education matters, indeed! Whether it is formal classroom setting for credit, getting a certificate, in the elementary schools, in the form of Fast Trac classes or direct consulting support, the NIACC JPEC is making a difference in North Iowa and we believe this integrated model can work elsewhere across the country.

Jefferson Community College

At the beginning of every semester I ask the students in my entrepreneurship, business, and marketing classes this question: ”What is the most important aspect of long-term success?” Although the answers range from proper planning and goal-setting to financial acuity to training and development of employees, the top two responses always are 1) find new and innovative ways to attract customers and 2) do whatever is necessary to keep those customers happy. The bottom line seems to be that customer service is critical to long-term profitability.

With that in mind, I’d like to pose the following two questions to you: ”Do you consider the students who take your classes customers?” and "What steps are you taking to serve those customers?” Despite some vigorous opposition by some of my colleagues, I absolutely endorse the idea that our students are our customers. When you think about it, they have the same characteristics of customers. They exchange their money (or taxpayers’ or scholarship donors’) for goods and services at our community colleges. The goods include books and supplies and the services include academic advising and financial aid assistance in addition to the classroom instruction we provide.

As each semester approaches, I seek ways to deliver the material in new and innovative ways. Most textbook publishers provide instructor resource materials including video clips and slide presentations. A word of caution is in order when using slide presentations. Be careful not rely too heavily on the presentation at the expense of your own expertise and experiences. The video clips provide foundations for classroom discussions that encourage the student to think creatively and critically. These two skills are invaluable to any entrepreneur.

Technology can also be used to further engage the students. I have found that classroom response units or "clickers” allow each student to participate without fear of embarrassment. This technology is very cost-effective and the students seem to enjoy using them. Today’s students are used to iPods, cell phones, and text messaging. The use of "clickers” in the classroom takes the educational experience to the students on their turf.

The tried and true teaching methods of case study and small group discussion round out my arsenal of in-class instructional methods, along with occasional guest speakers from local business and industry.

You may wonder, "Why bother? The students have to attend the class anyway.” I believe engaged students learn more, and study after study has shown that diversifying the classroom experience engages today’s students more than the traditional lecture-and-blackboard approach.

If we believe the students in our entrepreneurship classes represent the future of American commerce and if we believe, as most of my students do, that customer service is paramount to long-term success, then it’s incumbent upon us as instructors in general and entrepreneurship instructors in particular to reach out to our students and serve them on their level. The result will be more engaging classes, happier students, and hopefully repeat business for our colleges.

Ken Knox may be reached at kknox@jcc.edu

Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, MA

Over the past three years I have been doing research on entrepreneurship. My research consists of asking entrepreneurs the following question: What is the best advice you ever received that most helped you become an effective and successful entrepreneur?

The comments have been both interesting and insightful. What I learned is great advice comes from many sources–parents, relatives, consultants, partners, mentors, teachers, and friends. The important lesson is to stay open, and listen to everyone. You never know when ‘pearls of wisdom’ may be dropped in your lap.

Here is a small sample of the "best advice” comments I received.

Ed Zimmer, Founder and President Zimmer Foundation

The best advice I ever received (from an uncle in my pre-teens) was "build your vocabulary.” I’m sure his intent was that I learn to communicate clearly and precisely. However, I later learned that advice was the secret to gaining a quick understanding of any new field, technology or discipline. Once you’ve learned its special vocabulary, you have a grasp on all of its key concepts–and as an added benefit, find yourself accepted as a "peer.”

Jennifer Gonzales, CEO, ProCharms, Inc.

The best business advice I ever got was from Craig McCaw back in the early 1990s when he owned Cellular One. He paid a personal visit to our office in Sacramento, CA, making an inspiring presentation that impacted me greatly. His self-described business philosophy was "keep it simple,” a basic idea that has been a valuable asset to me not only in business but also in everyday life. I relied heavily on that principle as we grew our business from the ground up. I think it is much more than just a philosophy...it is a way of life, and has become a big part of who I am today. Whenever something begins to spiral out of control, I go back to the beginning and remind myself to "keep it simple.” It works every time!

Lisa Druxman, Founder and CEO of Stroller Strides

The best advice I was ever given was to find something that I have a passion for. When you’re an entrepreneur, you are always working. The only way to stay driven and motivated is if you’re passionate about what you’re doing. Other great advice that I was given: 1) When creating your budget, always double your expenses and halve your revenue. If it still shows a profit, you’ll be in good shape. 2) Create a logo that has no more than two colors so it won’t cost you a fortune in screen charges for letterhead, logo gear, etc. I didn’t listen to that one and still pay the price with a very colorful logo! 3) Stay very focused on why you are in this business. For me, it was 100 percent so that I could be in control of how much time I spent with my children and could work from home. I wanted to be a mom first and foremost but couldn’t accomplish that in any other job. When I start to get pulled in many directions for the business, I go back to that reason for being in it and the rest just falls in to place. And last but not least, the best advice I was ever given came from my parents. They told me that I could be anything and do anything that I ever wanted if I would just work hard at it. And they were right!

Ira Bryck, Director, UMass Family Business Center

In a previous life chapter, I co-operated my family’s fourth generation children’s wear store with my parents [oldest in the nation (the store, not the parents)]. As Yogi Berra would say, I learned a lot just from watching. My father taught me at a young age (3) that customer satisfaction was all about listening–discover what the customer really wants and deliver it. But often customers don’t really know what they want. The best they might come up with as an explanation is: "I’ll know it when I see it.” So you really have to tune in to that customer, to unearth his taste, her fear, what they are really looking to accomplish by choosing the designer label over the identical but unbranded suit, the simple but elegant Christening dress over the flashy but inexpensive one. Customer satisfaction relies on your customer empathy at that point, so that the "wow” you deliver might be that you understand that buyer more than she understands herself. On the other hand, my mother had an expression: "If everyone leaves with something, you’re over-stocked.” She knew that though we needed to be wide and deep in inventory, we made 80 percent of our sales on 20 percent of our items, and we could go out of business trying to please everyone. If we’re all things to all people, we’re really nothing to anybody. Though I no longer sell suits and dresses, and my current business is delivering "knowledge, experience, honesty and wisdom” to business owning families, hardly a day passes that I don’t implement those lessons from my mom and dad.

Michael Jansma, Founder and President of GEMaffair.com

The best advice I ever received was from my college finance teacher. My class was having a discussion about the significance of company profits. We were learning about the practicality or commonality of companies existing while not making money. This was baffling to me.

"Cash flow is always the factor that determines whether or not a company can exist, regardless of profits,” he said. "The lifeblood of business,” he further explained.

He stated that cash flow played the same role as the blood in our bodies. No blood, no life. He provided us with many real life examples, showing us companies who for years spent previous years’ profits, leveraged employee retirement funds, borrowed money from banks and vendors, and remained in business, despite having no profit. Eventually, many of these companies turned around and became profitable. He also showed us real life examples of companies where profits were exorbitant, yet lack of cash flow killed the company. Extending credit to customers and having huge accounts receivables eventually drove the company out of business. They were unable to pay their vendors and their employees.

I experienced this first hand a year ago when my company suddenly lost one of its largest vendors. We were unprepared, since we had never really sought other large sources of revenue. We had outstanding bills from vendors and not much revenue; keeping the lights on became very difficult. Suddenly, I painfully remembered my professor’s words. I did what those other companies did: I borrowed. And borrowed. And got back to work. Fortunately today, we are profitable. Managing cash flow is the top priority of my job daily.

John Jansheski, President and CEO, DenTek Oral Care

The best advice I ever received in business is: There is no such thing as a free lunch. Tom Elliott was the President of Washington Fish & Oyster and also my one of my mentors. Mr. Elliott afforded my burgeoning company the use of his Telex machine to communicate with Korea. When our manufacturer’s quote for freight "prepaid,” which means Freight On Board delivered to my warehouse, noted that the cost for FOB shipping would be "free,” Tom warned me that when you are in business, there are very few things a company does not pay for one way or another. I received this eminent advice from Tom in 1984, and it has served our company well for over two decades. "No free lunch” prompts us to look at every deal and examine it for hidden costs and charges and make sure we are getting the best possible price for goods and services.

Ryan P. M. Allis,CEO, Broadwick Corp

I would say that the best advice I have ever received is to have a bias toward action. I see many prospective entrepreneurs who have an idea but never get moving on it. They spend months perfecting their business plans but can never make the break and take the first steps. In trying to help young entrepreneurs get over this hurdle, I like to relate an anecdote. Imagine you are at your friend’s house and want to get back to your house four miles away. You can either stay at your friend’s house until all the traffic lights along the way are green and then leave, or you can start now. Although you’ll run into a few stops along the way, you’ll make it to your destination a lot quicker than if you waited for everything to be perfect before you began your journey. Have a bias toward action and get going. You may not know all the steps or the problems and challenges you’ll run into just yet, but that is okay. As you progress toward your goal, you will continue faster and faster up the learning curve. You’ll build momentum and as you move forward you’ll gain new knowledge and just as important, build new relationships that will be very important in helping you reach your end vision. As the momentum turns into exponential snowballing, your new knowledge and new contacts will create new possibilities and opportunities, allowing you, with continued persistence, to reach your business goals.

Entrepreneurs are very busy people. Getting them to answer a 24-question survey can be problematic. Doing research by just asking one question can be an effective way to collect data. Great advice about what it takes to be an effective and successful entrepreneur can come from many different sources. Bottom line–be curious and be open. What is the best advice you ever received about teaching entrepreneurship? Pass it on so others can benefit.

Paul Thornton’s latest book is Leadership-Best Advice I Ever Got. His e-mail address is PThornton@stcc.edu.

 

An open access, two-year institution, Howard Community College provides services to a culturally, socially, and economically diverse student body. These students, whose ages span from 16 to well over 60, are at varied levels of preparation, confidence, motivation and focus. At Howard Community College our belief is that entrepreneurship develops many of the requisite aptitudes and attitudes desired by organizations today. Therefore our entrepreneurship program seeks to help students to identify their entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial potential, and then to discover and engage those talents with the academic, research, and business communities. We think about entrepreneurship as taking a creative idea and turning it into an opportunity. As Socrates said, "Wisdom begins in wonder.” We want students to see the world and wonder: introspectively, about their talents, interests, and abilities, and outwardly, about what the community needs. We want students to discover their potential as they wonder how they might fit into academic and business worlds.

Accordingly, the entrepreneurship program at Howard Community College embraces development of students and their ideas in many different ways. One such way is under the auspices of the National Science Foundation, where the college is collaborating with local research labs, businesses and the public schools to expand the region’s innovation infrastructure, speed the transfer of knowledge from national research laboratories to the private sector and enhance entrepreneurial education to diverse traditional and non-traditional high school and college students. The course, associated with the National Science Foundation Grant, is "Taking Innovation to Market.” It is a three-credit course that provides the student with an idea in the form of an invention and teaches them to look for and use opportunity.

During the course, students study patents, technology marketing, licensing, and careers in science, technology, research and business through a multimodal variety of activities designed to appeal to learners with different learning styles. During the second phase of the course, students work in teams to apply their knowledge. Each team is given an innovation developed by a local United States Government (USG) research laboratory. Teams analyze the innovations, conduct feasibility investigations, and then design marketing plans for the inventions. These technology assessments are compiled and presented in an open event attended by students, researchers, faculty, prospective entrepreneurs, local businesses, venture capitalists, and technology transfer experts. Written reports are provided to attendees and USG laboratories.

A second course, "Entrepreneurship and Creativity,” is designed for a learning community of students ages 18 through 22 who have potential, but for a variety of reasons including low socio-economic status and family challenges, have yet to achieve at a level commensurate with their abilities. Students meet twice weekly with an instructor who maintains contact with program administrators and counselors who work with students on successful student strategies as well as inter- and intra-personal experiences. The goal of the course is to remove some of the barriers that block self esteem, and to channel energy in a positive way all while educating students in the business of starting a business. Attention is also given to public speaking and written communication, leadership and teamwork. This is all done through development, discussion and an oral presentation of an entrepreneurial concept of the student’s choosing. The semester culminates with an opportunity for the student to pitch their business concept in front of an audience of business people from the community at our semi-annual Entrepreneurship Celebration.

Creativity and the opportunity to experiment and experience frame entrepreneurship at Howard Community College. The two courses described here are examples of the way that people develop to their greater potential and open new doors for themselves while a student here.

The benefits of integrating entrepreneurship (e-ship) programs into existing educational curricula have been well researched and documented. Here we will continue our discussion of the previous article on the E-Youth Framework (Community College Entrepreneur, Spring/Summer 2008) to motivate, provide skills and link youth to opportunities through in-school, out-school, summer and incubation programs. Here are some of the challenges and benefits of such efforts.

In-School: Although incorporating e-ship programs into traditional K-12 curricula can be a procedural challenge, the benefits of a well-designed program can greatly outweigh the costs. Offering an e-ship elective or incorporating business examples into existing courses has resulted in positive outcomes, such as increased test scores, increased student participation, decreased drop-out rates and career planning. A semester unit developed by a graduate student in the Gifted and Talented Program at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education incorporates many standards-based concepts into an entrepreneurship semester course for grades 7 through 9.

Out-School: The flexibility available after hours allows instructors to experiment with different teaching pedagogies that may more closely match the learning styles of students interested in e-ship, who in many cases are gifted/talented students that require a degree of program differentiation for effective learning. The out-school setting is a great opportunity to infuse students with enthusiasm by arranging industry field trips, inviting guest speakers, establishing student clubs, coordinating business plan competitions, and perhaps getting parents involved in the e-ship learning process.

Summer: With school out, students are able to concentrate fully on the material being taught and workgroup discussions. Students who enroll in summer e-ship courses are in many cases already evaluating a business concept they wish to develop. The chance to work with these students is very rewarding as there is a better chance of an actual startup to emerge. Also, these students are eager to learn as much as possible, and more importantly, willing to apply newly acquired skills. Several colleges and universities offer e-ship summer camps for student candidates and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Incubation: A great learning experience for students is to immerse them in the innovation process by visiting and working within a business incubation setting. Close contact with real world entrepreneurs is a tremendous opportunity for students to ‘see’ and ‘feel’ the life of an entrepreneur. Real world war stories go a long way in teaching students how passion and perseverance are key ingredients of e-ship success. Furthermore, a visit to an incubator links students to the process of discovering real world opportunities that may be difficult to simulate in a classroom.

Although it may be true that not all students exposed to e-ship programs will launch a real business, the skills obtained via these programs can contribute to forming well-rounded, productive citizens. Similarly, not all students who participate in sports programs will become professional athletes, but the skills learned in competition (teamwork, perseverance, focus, etc.) become personal assets that can benefit them in all facets of life. A great quality we have found in K-12 students is that many are high achievers who want to continue learning beyond the course offering and classroom setting. Our challenge as instructors and mentors is to keep that fire burning.

Spoon River College

In all my spare time, about 15 minutes a day since I have a three year old and a six year old in the house, I try to keep learning about entrepreneurship. Having become an ardent believer in the value of entrepreneurship for rural areas of our nation, I want to keep looking for the elements and items that will help me in talking to students, to area business persons, and to residents in general so they also will get more interested and involved in promoting this process.

Some people I visit with have the notion that entrepreneurship is something that can only be learned by a business major at a business school, and that the entire focus is on business, i.e., making money. Now, the idea of making a profit is not a bad idea for entrepreneurship. However, it is important to remember that entrepreneurship is a process of thinking, exploring and analyzing…and the profit/loss factor is only one part in the process…and often comes later than sooner. The process of entrepreneurship does not seem to me to be foreign to rural America, or solely the province of business schools and business operations. The process involves the capability of multiple perspectives!

Several references on entrepreneurship identify common elements within the overall process of entrepreneurship. While many folks see a problem or issue, persons with an entrepreneurial perspective see potential opportunities…what many consider to be thinking outside the box. The next element in the entrepreneurial process is in creating ideas. Again, the non-entrepreneurial outlook often seeks the one right answer (the bane of traditional education!), while the entrepreneurial perspective looks at ideas and refines them to produce multiple options. The process then moves to aligning resources with options. Please notice there is not much work done yet related to profit…but the focus is on what will be needed to take advantage of an identified opportunity.

Entrepreneurship starts by looking for possibilities…and that is very applicable to rural communities. What is possible is an attitude of not being preoccupied with limitations, but examining the potential results if various actions are taken to meet opportunities (not problems). So, my advice? Practice the process of thinking outside the box! Like any other good habit you want to have, you have to put it into active practice so it will become the norm rather than the exception.

We can all think of examples of businesses in rural areas that seem to have the "touch” but closer examination will often reveal an entrepreneurial perspective from these business persons; they saw the opportunity that could be met and moved on it. So, broaden your perspective and don’t let barriers stop the "what if” thinking we need to do! Entrepreneurs don’t dream, but they do explore ideas and possibilities and recognize there is often more than just one right answer!

Program ConsultantEwing Marion Kauffman Foundation

American colleges and universities have embraced entrepreneurship, making it the fastest-growing field of study on campuses in recent decades. Currently, more than 80 percent of the two- and four-year, accredited, not-for-profit colleges and universities in the United States teach entrepreneurship courses. Of the nearly 1,200 accredited two-year colleges, 78 percent offer one or more entrepreneurship courses for academic credit.

These statistics are music to the ears of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. The Foundation works to bring the importance of entrepreneurship to the forefront of the American consciousness and supports programs that encourage people of all ages to engage in entrepreneurship. Kauffman also promotes entrepreneurship as a legitimate field of study in higher education that is accessible to all students.

As a catalyst of entrepreneurship, the Foundation encourages institutions to provide students across the entire campus access to entrepreneurship education. In studying successful entrepreneurs and examining their college backgrounds, it became apparent the business schools were not graduating the vast majority of next-generation entrepreneurs. They were coming from engineering, biology, computer science, history, nursing, the arts–from every area of study. In fact, liberal arts was a strong breeding ground for many of the innovators in the study. This realization and the subsequent Kauffman programmatic response contributed to a new movement on campuses.

Entrepreneurship is one of the most important aspects of our economy and students understand that. They no longer believe they can take a job with a large corporation and expect to spend their entire career there. Students know they must build a wide range of interdisciplinary skills, which will give them maximum flexibility and preparation in their future careers. Entrepreneurship is one such skill. Students want to learn how to recognize opportunity, harness the resources to exploit opportunity, exercise their creativity, create sustainable solutions, take the inherent risks, and participate in the rewards.

Benefits for All

Community colleges, in particular, are well positioned to meet the demands of their students and their communities. To help further entrepreneurship education in community colleges and reach all students on campus, the Foundation introduced the first, comprehensive, blended e-learning course material in entrepreneurship developed specifically for community colleges. Planning the Entrepreneurial Venture™ (PEV) course material and delivery method offers a dynamic and engaging experience to students seeking the entrepreneurial knowledge and skills required for venture creation.

Why a blended learning approach? Research substantiates the benefits. By blending the approach among a variety of meeting types and delivery methods, each student can become fully engaged in at least some course activities–face-to-face instructions, audio, video, online activities, and more. Colleges using PEV as their course material indicate students are more likely to complete a blended e-learning course. Community colleges have also stated this delivery method enables them to reach markets, such as students in rural areas, not previously reached.

PEV’s blended e-learning course material provides students with core entrepreneurial knowledge and key concepts needed to consider starting a business. Its practical approach teaches students how to research, develop, and write detailed, start-up business plans that can be used to create successful businesses. The blended e-learning environment provides an interactive experience, which combines the flexibility of Internet-based e-learning with the benefits of face-to-face instruction. The delivery method incorporates visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning modalities. The blending of rich, on-line content with the classroom environment enables students to effectively learn and practice the knowledge and skills required to successfully evaluate a business idea and develop the idea into a new business.

In PEV, students experience all aspects of a new venture–from determining their personal vision to conducting market analysis to testing financial feasibility–drawing from the whole spectrum of business and management. The material demonstrates why good planning leads to successful business performance. Students gain insight in how the various pieces of the business’s puzzle fit together and why the different aspects need to be managed in harmony for the venture to start up and operate successfully.

The materials center on the business planning process–opportunity recognition, business concept development, feasibility testing, and the business plan. The business plan for a new venture includes four major sections: management and organization plan, product/service plan, marketing plan, and financial plan. Students, through personal discovery, gain the knowledge, skills, concepts, and strategies relevant for start-up and early stage entrepreneurs. The practical, hands-on approach encourages students to immerse themselves in the vision, research, and planning aspects of a new venture.

PEV’s learning model is designed to introduce students to concepts, give them an opportunity to practice those concepts, and then apply the knowledge to their own ventures. A variety of tools, templates, and resources designed to teach and reinforce key learning points support the core, learning environment.

• On-line content. The e-learning text provides core information supported with examples, analogies, tips, reality checks, and insights from real entrepreneurs. Students can progress through each chapter in a linear fashion or explore specific topics and media that attract their attention.

• Real entrepreneurs. The PEV Overview introduces students to five practicing entrepreneurs who offer insights, tips, and mentorship throughout the course. Each chapter automatically opens with an audio clip featuring one of these entrepreneurs.

• On-line activities. The interactive, online activities reinforce major concepts as students apply what they are learning to entrepreneurial ventures. Students receive immediate feedback and explanations as they work through the activities. Many of these online activities follow the Backyard Solutions scenario, in which an entrepreneur assesses and develops his business idea.

• Assignments. The course material includes both a business plan template and a financial planning template. Each chapter’s out-of-class assignments guide students through the business planning process and provide a simple, question and answer, step-by-step approach to writing their own plans.

• Scenario worksheets. Woven throughout the course are 19 Sparkle and Gleam scenarios, which reinforce concepts presented in each chapter. The scenarios follow Carmen on her entrepreneurial journey.

• Exercises. PEV exercises are individual or group activities that give students practice in the business planning process.

• Case studies. Case studies are additional exercises in which students can apply their new knowledge and skills. The case studies zero in on the key concepts presented throughout the chapters.

• More Info. The More Info items enhance the course material and include links to audio and video clips, Internet resources and articles, and research periodicals. Numerous current books focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation are also included. Many of these resources were updated and revised in June 2008.

• Assessments. As students complete a chapter, they can check their understanding of the material by answering 10 multiple-choice questions. Each incorrect response receives an explanation with the appropriate answer.

The Kauffman Foundation is dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship education in higher education. And one specific goal is to help instructors and colleges jump start their entrepreneurship courses through implementing PEV’s turn-key, comprehensive package of students materials, resources, and instructor guide. In fact, many colleges use PEV to jump start the first entrepreneurship course offering at their colleges.

To review Planning the Entrepreneurial Venture or learn more about the Kauffman Foundation’s research, contact Tina Sterling at tmsterling@tcstrat.com or (816) 421-1106.

Let’s look at two communities with very contrasting economic challenges:

• New York’s Cayuga County is home of Cayuga Community College (CCC), located in the beautiful Finger Lakes region. "In our area, the manufacturing companies that were powerhouses a generation ago have either downsized or moved out completely,” says Daniel Larson, President of CCC. "Part of our challenge is that we have a very skilled workforce that needs to be retrained and retooled and needs to have the ability to do work that is commensurate with what they were doing previously.

"For many people this is their opportunity to look at career shifts and whether they may want to develop their own small business or be their own boss,” adds Larson. "That is not to say that manufacturing is dead, but it has changed tremendously. It’s no longer that dirty, hands-on environment; it’s much more automated and leaner.”

Larson says that with the help of several foundations that have deep roots in Cayuga County, the region is looking at how to help reinvent the area and build on its obvious assets. "For this part of central New York,” he says, "it’s certainly tourism, culture and the history that are associated with it, as well as the natural beauty and the New York state wineries.”

• Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, home of Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), is equidistant between Washington, DC, and Baltimore, MD, and is home of the state capital in Annapolis. Also in the county is Fort Meade, one of the country’s largest military bases. Fort Meade is growing even larger as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) program. According to the county’s Web site, conservative estimates place the direct, indirect, and induced jobs being created in Anne Arundel County in conjunction with BRAC in the range of 9,000 to 14,000 jobs by 2011, with many being well-paid high-tech positions.

"The defense industry is an opportunity and a challenge,” says Martha Smith, President of AACC. "Some of the jobs that are coming here will bring people with them but others won’t, so we’re gearing up now to know what skills people will need to take on those positions. We are also the backbone of the bioscience corridor between DC and Baltimore, and we are continually being asked to train more and more workers in those areas.”

Different Needs; Same Solution

"Despite having economies that are dramatically different, both these communities can benefit from having strong entrepreneurship education at the community college level,” says NACCE Executive Director Heather Van Sickle. "We see the same story with members all across the nation, from urban to rural areas. People increasingly understand why entrepreneurship education is important and why community colleges, with their strong community roots and focus, are in the best position to offer this service to their communities.”

When it comes to helping Anne Arundel County adjust to the BRAC influx of jobs and the demands of a growing bioscience industry, Smith says entrepreneurship education has a big role to play in both areas. "On the broadest dimension, a large part of entrepreneurship education is about developing the ability of individuals and organizations to be innovative and creative,” she says. "Unless we’re intentional and focused on helping students develop these skills across disciplines, we’ll lose what has made America great. We need to bring this skill set across the curriculum; you don’t have to major in Entrepreneurship Studies to help you develop your own sense of creativity and innovation.”

AACC’s Entrepreneurial Studies Institute (ESI), founded five years ago, continues to evolve in new directions. The ESI includes a Collegiate Entrepreneurs Club (www.c-e-o.org), a student business incubator and a social entrepreneurship program. "We are also active in the community in the area of economic development,” says Smith. "We have a close working relationship with the county’s economic development corporation, and we’re on the boards of about seven chambers of commerce. We host an annual meeting of all the chamber CEOs, executive directors and board members to talk about the economic issues they’re facing and how we can help.”

New Tactics for a New Future

"Eighty percent of our alums live within 50 miles of the college,” says Larson. "For those graduates to have a knowledge of what it means to be involved in a small business and to take their own idea and evolve it will bode well for the innovation and creativity this region was known for 100 years ago and still in many ways continues to be known for,” says Larson.

To help drive entrepreneurship education throughout its curriculum, CCC has established the nation’s first endowed chair in Entrepreneurship at a community college. The college’s entrepreneurship offerings are closely linked to the region’s new Stardust Institute for Entrepreneurship. (See Community College Entrepreneur, Spring 2007 for details on the Stardust Institute.)

"America’s community colleges enroll more than 50 percent of all undergraduate students and for them to have good experience and skill sets with entrepreneurship will set things well in terms of potential for the future,” says Larson. "These are the people who are going to be the backbone of the workforce of the future.”

"As more and more community colleges in communities all across the country launch and then build entrepreneurship education programs, they further raise their profile as major economic resources for the communities they serve,” says Van Sickle. "Building this understanding both on campus and off is an important part of what we at NACCE hope to help our members achieve.”