By Lisa Tschauner
Business Instructor & Entrepreneurship Coordinator
Central Community College, Hastings, NE

What do you getwhen you take 13 strong-minded, innovative risk-takers who are eager to learn, 14 business-oriented service professionals willing to share, eight mentors happy to give guidance, and one over-zealous business instructor at a community college? The answer is the perfect storm for a successful eight-week Entrepreneurship Workshop.

In January of 2010, Central Community College of Hastings, NE launched its first entrepreneurial workshop series, "Become An Entrepreneur; Starting and Developing Your Small Business.” As the campus's Entrepreneurship Coordinator and also a Business Instructor, I designed a model for this workshop that included community and campus-wide promotion, session-specific curriculum and lessons, and a build-as-you-go business plan template. The program was enhanced by guest speakers, business mentors, and collaboration with other college programs.

Since this was the pilot of this model, I also put into place a measuring tool that allowed us to gather statistics on what worked and what didn't. Below is a breakdown of the specific steps taken to promote the workshop, the sessions that were offered and how they fit within the enrollment boundaries as well as a discussion of the opportunities, challenges, and rewards involved with this workshop.

Promotion

Promotion of this event included the normal strategies listed below.

• Brochures
• Flyers
• Web site Ads
• Newspaper Advertising
• E-mail Broadcasts
• Ads on the Campus Information System
• Ads on the Public Access Channel
• Guest spots on the News Channel
• Press Releases

However, to promote this workshop and infuse the entrepreneurial message to other vocational programs, I put together an interactive presentation to "take out on the road.” I coordinated class visits with instructors to visit with students in technical-focused programs who may be interested in starting their own businesses. These programs included vocational disciplines such as machine tool, diesel technology, electrical and construction technology, graphic arts and information technology. I visited with over 500 students and shared information on entrepreneurship including the opportunity to enroll in the workshop. This brought awareness to the students as well as the other instructors, who also serve as the advisors to these students when they register for classes.

In the statistical analysis of the workshop we discovered that the participants learned about the workshop mostly through these presentations and their instructors and advisors.

Workshop Sessions and Enrollment

The workshop consisted of eight sessions. The topics of these sessions included:

• Develop an Idea into a Feasible Business
• Laying the Foundation to Your Small Business
• Funding a Business Venture and the Financials
• Marketing Strategies for the Small Business
• Tax and Legal Structures for Business
• Good Customer Service and Business Relationships
• Creating and Presenting Your Business Plan I & II

Students had the option of enrolling in specific sessions or the entire eight-week course. If the students took the entire course, they earned two college credits and they were provided all materials including a course binder, in which they compiled their weekly information packets as well as other handouts they received. Each session ran approximately four hours with about two 15-20 minute breaks. For each class, I taught a lesson on the topic, using a media presentation that covered the business basics needed on each topic. The presentation was a companion to the information packet. This packet included more in-depth information, business planning worksheets and a resource guide for each session topic. Each session had a review of the previous class as well as action plans to prepare for the upcoming class.

The first six sessions were also enhanced by the expertise of guest speakers who talked on the subject matter for the evening and gave their expert advice and shared their experiences. These guest speakers included successful entrepreneurs from the area, an attorney, an insurance agent, marketing professional, economic and community development agents, a rural assistance specialist, a SCORE representative, an accountant and the director of the college's foundation, who previously spent 30 years in the banking and lending industry.

Each class meeting ended with a work session for the students to start on the planning worksheets to develop that particular part of the business plan. Two or three days following the workshop session, all participants received an
e-mail that reviewed important items and shared any additional information. This e-mail also had a link in it to a survey that the students could access to rate that particular work session on items like materials, instruction, guest speakers and resources.

Participants were also given the opportunity to enroll in a QuickBooks course taught through Central Community College. Several of the students took advantage of this option and also earned an additional credit by doing so.

Opportunities

The model is the black and white. The students become the gray matter or, in this case, the color! I consider the interaction and chance to share and assist these students in their entrepreneurial endeavors a great opportunity.

Offering this workshop through a community college afforded the group the chance to collaborate with other vocational programs. In this specific class, the participants were looking for some brand identity and logo creations for their businesses. The graphic design students at the college were able to work this into their program by using the workshop participants as clients for their semester projects. This was an excellent opportunity with a win-win result for all involved, including the partnership between me and Carole Meyer, the Graphic Arts instructor at Central Community College.

The contribution from the community was also an identified opportunity to build on with this workshop. Having seasoned business owners and service providers speak to this group created the chance for budding entrepreneurs to network and make important connections that will benefit their businesses.

Challenges

Having enough time each session to make it through the agenda was a challenge. Meeting the varying needs of all participants in a timely fashion would be the biggest challenge with this workshop. As the pilot of this program, some elements of the workshop were learn-as-you-go. It is clear that a more defined role for the instructor and a more clear expectation of the students could help this workshop. However, it is a balancing act. Entrepreneurs don't thrive with strict boundaries and they need a lot of support and encouragement. They are creative and need to be able to benefit from a learning environment that fosters innovation and promotes inventive problem-solving.

Potential small business creators need a great deal of information. The session involving the tax structures and legal information could easily be divided into two sessions. Intellectual property is an important topic to cover and needs enough attention. Electronic commerce is covered in the marketing session, but could really benefit from being presented in a new session that could also include the importance of viral marketing.

One challenge that eventually surfaced as a reward was getting the students comfortable talking about themselves and their businesses. Each session, sometimes two to three times per session, the participants would introduce themselves and their businesses to each other and guests to the workshop. The evolution that resulted was so important to the way the students saw themselves as entrepreneurs. In the beginning a student would hesitantly say, "I am Bob Smith, and I have an idea for a business that makes custom sleds…” By the end of the workshop the same student would eagerly say, "Hi everyone, I am Bob Smith, the proud owner of Smith Custom Sledding, a new business in town.” This was a true sign of growth.

Rewards

Meeting entrepreneurs and being a part of business creation is a reward in itself. Hearing that this workshop was the catalyst to further jump start the creative efforts of the participants was incredibly rewarding. The participants were all at different stages in their businesses and all presented a variety of business ideas.

Two students were creating a partnership where they would offer chroming and customized motorcycle parts. Another woman in the workshop was inspired by her passion of quality nutrition for high-pedigree dogs and had developed an all-natural dog food, which she plans to produce. A local college physics professor with his Ph.D. took the course to launch his own line of professional loudspeakers that he had designed based on the science of sound. Another gentleman had already applied for the patent to his lawn debris receptacle, which he had started selling and was looking for guidance on how to take his business to the next level. The husband and wife team who thought their hobby was just a craft found out that it was in fact considered art and learned that they could market it as such.

The best reward is to actually know that this workshop served as a confidence builder and gentle nudge to the participants moving forward with plans to start a business. As one participant commented,"I can't adequately describe how valuable this workshop was to convincing me that my idea had value. I would highly recommend this class to anyone who is seriously interested in starting a business. The resources and information here will save light years of time and expense in mistakes by going it alone.”

The next workshop for Central Community College's Entrepreneurship Center in Hastings has been scheduled for Fall 2010. Based on the feedback from the participants, some adjustments have been made. The sessions have been extended to include 10 meetings as well as the opportunity for more one-on-one time between the students and instructor. If you are interested in more information on this workshop or would like to visit with me to see if this model would work for your college, please contact me: Lisa Tschauner, Central Community College, PO Box 1024, Hastings, NE 68902-1024, Phone: 402.460.2142 or email ltschauner@cccneb.edu

By Melissa Crawford
Director of the Scheinfeld Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA

I recently read that a Web site is now considered "a little gem from the past.”1 This is a frightening thought, since many of us just got our Web sites up or are still working on getting there. We all need a Web site, but there's a paradigm shift in its use. Today's Web sites are static hubs offering social media tools that lead to more interesting, interactive areas. The best part is most of the social interactive tools ar efree.

Your job is to determine which social media work for your program and focus on developing one or two or three, depending on your availability and willingness to commit. The worst you can do is set up a tool and ignore it. All tools can and should be linked to your Web site (using those little widgets with links) for easy access by users. Here are my five favorite tools that give our program connectivity with students and businesses and offer value.

Facebook Fan Page

Degree of Difficulty: Easy

Set-up: 1-2 hours

Maintenance: 5–10 minutes per day. 1–2 entries weekly.

Having a presence on the most-used global social networking site (with over 400 million users) exposes your program to an audience you might not be reaching without it, and reinforces your activities to an existing clientele. Facebook is a "broad use” application. I use it to promote my events, post videos, links and pictures, press releases, and blog entries and to start discussions and interact with businesses, students and other fan pages. NACCE has a very active fan page and re-posts members' Facebook entries. I always post a new blog entry on my fan page, and to my delight I notice it gets re-posted on the NACCE page, giving my blog entry a little unexpected national attention. This is just one example of the viral affect of social media marketing.

Facebook Tip #1:Avoid confusion. Do not open a personal account using your program's name – thus inviting "friends” to join. Instead, create one page for your program: "a fan page” so people can join your page as a "fan.” To do this you will first have to create a page from a personal Facebook account that does not have your program's name on it; otherwise you will end up with two pages for your program – one with friends and one with fans.

Blog

Degree of Difficulty: Medium. Requires inspiration and writing time.

Set-up: 4–8 hours

Maintenance: Minimum one entry per month

Blogging is an essential tool used to educate and inspire your audience and, surprisingly, is not about directly selling anything. It engages your audience by offering a short, but meaningful and thought-provoking read – and indirectly reinforces your program's image as a valuable resource or as offering expertise in a particular area. Today, blogging is such a mainstream (indirect) marketing tool for businesses that your program may appear dated or out of touch without a blog.

Blog Tip #1:Create a separate concept for your blog, which has its own URL. This is an opportunity for creativity and to give users an interesting place to go. Mine is called Look Forward to Monday.

Blog Tip #2: Only write when inspired. A blog entry should reflect the writer's unique and authentic voice and, above all, be short!

Blog Tip #3: Is there anyone in your department or program that loves to write? Make blogging a team effort.

Twitter

Degree of Difficulty: Easy

Set-up: 20 minutes

Maintenance: 2 minutes a day (or automate it)

Twitter has been likened to a micro-blog that forces you to make your point in 140 characters or less. At the Governor's Conference on Entrepreneurship in California, I met the vice president of Twitter. I still have trouble with two-way interaction on Twitter, and the VP says he is working on making this more intuitive. Twitter is the perfect platform for mini-news, press release links, announcements, awards, and conference or event attendance. I tweet at events to give my followers some educational information about what is being discussed, in real time.

Twitter Tip #1:You can link your Twitter account with Facebook so it automatically tweets your Facebook status.

Twitter Tip #2:You can organize all your tweets and Facebook entries using HootSuite.com – a free social media management tool – offering you one place to post to your accounts. You can schedule entries in advance.

Twitter Tip #3:For a free "Twit-Torial,” visit www.webmarketingtherapy.com/cart/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=23. You can find other useful social media tutorials on www.webmarketingtherapy.com.

LinkedIn

Degree of Difficulty: Easy

Set-up: 1 hour

Maintenance: 10 minutes every couple of weeks

LinkedIn is often referred to as the professional's Facebook. Your program can have a page on LinkedIn and start discussions on topics of interest or you can announce events or courses. I like to use this platform to connect with other professionals, view their resumes and work history, join groups and participate in discussions. I am not the most pro-active user on this platform and usually join in others' discussions. LinkedIn is the first to go when I don't have time to keep up.

LinkedIn Tip #1:To get membership going, join other groups, and you will find members of other groups will join yours. Start discussions on your group, but also start discussions on other groups. It will gradually build awareness of your program.

Ning.Com

(www.southcoastbizconnect.com)

Degree of Difficulty: Hard

Set-up: 40 hours

Maintenance: Up to 5 hours per week.

If you really want to blow it out of the water in terms of connecting your program to social interaction, you can create your own network. We used the ning.com platform – ready made open source networking software. We were fortunate to receive a modest grant from the Coleman Foundation to get this launched. It allows students and businesses to interact and is intended to build a database of localized information for start-ups and small business.

Ning Tip #1: Pitch your network idea to a prominent business community member or organization to get some help in terms of funding and building the site. After it's built you might get others to endorse your network. We recently received the local chamber of commerce endorsement – which will give this network some real traction.

http://www.webmarketingtherapy.com/blog/should-you-use-social-media-as-part-of-your-marketing-toolbox   

By Jaime Morgans
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Moberly Area Community College, Moberly, MO

When Moberly Area Community College openedits Entrepreneurship and Business Development Center (EBDC) in early 2009 after a three-year planning and renovation process, administrators were excited to offer a new resource to the community. MACC administrators weren't the only ones excited though. The ribbon was barely cut before the Missouri State Small Business and Technology Development Center at University of Missouri Extension (MO SBTDC) approached MACC with a partnership idea. The SBTDC would partner with the EBDC to create a comprehensive resource for Northeast Missouri. The match was a perfect fit, doubling the Center's offerings and filling a hole in the SBTDC's service region. An added distinction is that it is the only SBTDC located on a community college campus in Missouri.

The partnership between MACC, MU Extension and the SBTDC will have a positive effect on northeast Missouri in a number of ways. MACC offers local relationships through its Workforce and Technical Education programs. The SBTDC is supplying the personnel to help staff the Center as well as networking opportunities, and MU Extension is providing all of the resources that MU offers (training, software, networks, etc.) It's the best of each world all located under one roof.

"For the community and our customers, it brings a multitude of resources MACC could never hope to duplicate on its own,” said EBDC Director Terry Hughes. "In today's economy, partnerships are necessary to broaden scarce resources and to more effectively provide services. Since the SBTDC is integrally tied to MU Extension, our customers have access to these resources. The SBTDCs have a nationwide network of centers and staff with various business expertise. They can help with many of the needs facing businesses today.”

SBTDC Business Development Specialist Chris Shoemaker bases out of the EBDC several days a week. He understands SBTDC counseling and resources, which allows the Center to begin SBTDC counseling, accessing the wealth of products it brings to the community. Shoemaker's presence is also a huge asset in the training of EBDC staff.

"MO SBTDC is excited about the collaboration between the EBDC and MU Extension,” said Shoemaker. "This joint venture will greatly enhance the needed resources for small businesses in the Northeast Region of Missouri, since MACC serves the same counties of the Northeast Region.”

The role of the EBDC to promote entrepreneurship and assist individuals and businesses with start-up and business operations dovetails perfectly with the SBTDC, which also helps businesses at every stage from concept to start-up, growth to renewal, mature to succession. The partnership offers professional business analysis, business consultations, networking, referral services, counseling and business education seminars. The EBDC is also home to a SCORE chapter of working and retired business executives who support new entrepreneurs with developing ideas, writing business plans, and obtaining business loans. Add on the opportunity for office incubator space complete with secretarial and mentoring services, and access to office equipment available at a nominal rate to entrepreneurs in the start-up phase, and you have virtually everything needed to start and grow a rural business.

With the nationwide averages of growth indicating that only 1 percent of new jobs come from companies moving into an area, 55 percent from existing businesses expanding, and 44 percent from new business start-ups, now is the perfect time for the MACC Entrepreneurship and Business Development Center to make an impact on northeast Missouri's economy.

What We Do:

REEsults Coaching™ coaches entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs...and intrapreneurs…exactly HOW to THINK, ACT and ACHIEVE like successful entrepreneurs. Our primary purpose is to expand the entrepreneurial learning opportunities while offering a "one-of-a-kind,” income-producing curriculum for NACCE members.

Our Mission:

For the students of entrepreneurship:REEsults Coaching™ provides a focused sense of inspired, entrepreneurial passion. We take this passion and turn it into positive performance in every facet of the entrepreneur's chosen endeavor. Our program builds a solid foundation of self-discipline and self-accountability that strengthens the entire entrepreneurial experience.

For NACCE Members:

REEsults Coaching™ offers a dynamic, entrepreneurial educational curriculum created to compliment your existing areas of entrepreneurial studies. Beyond the classroom, the prime directive for REEsults Coaching™ Sponsor and E-Team programming is to create a revenue stream directly back to NACCE member institutions.

What Makes REEsults coachingTM Different:

Key Differences:First and foremost…REEsults Coaching™ is GUARANTEED. Second, we are the only coaching program created, structured and delivered that promotes and enhances every facet of entrepreneurship for both the student and the NACCE member institutions. Third, we offer more ways to deliver our high impact, entrepreneurial message than any other educational forum. Last but not least…we are the only program that legitimizes entrepreneurship with our REEsults Elite Entrepreneur (REE) designation.

For the students of entrepreneurship:REEsults Coaching™ reveals the very essence of entrepreneurial achievement that has been hidden in the DNA of entrepreneurial success. Conventional education, especially for students of business and entrepreneurial studies…has focused on "what,” not HOW to achieve success. If this "what” curriculum really worked, then why, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (2009), do 86% of businesses fail every year? REEsults Coaching's™ entrepreneurial students benefit from an expanded learning environment where they can combine all the best of "what” to do, and are coached exactly HOW to think, apply, adapt, engage and achieve entrepreneurial success in any arena.

For NACCE members:

Through our Sponsor and E-Team REEbate programs, REEsults Coaching™ offers a unique business model that "pays” NACCE member institutions every time a REEsults Coaching™ Program is sponsored by NACCE member institutions. With REEsults Coaching™, entrepreneurial curriculum can be an additional source of income that increases the NACCE member's bottom-line!

We assist nacce members by:

• Increasing educational revenues by expanding their reach into the community beyond their present student population through REEsults Coaching™. This is accomplished by targeting the enrollment and coaching of the community's business owners, independent contractors, local chamber of commerce, interested civic groups and service clubs with increasing entrepreneurship as the main focus, thus generating increased income from these previously untapped local resources.
• Offering a text of 1,440 "ready-made” topics for lesson plans through the use of Mark Wehner's book, 1440-Empowering Entrepreneurs Every Minute of the Day.
• Not "REEinventing the wheel.” REEsults Coaching™ offers nearly a decade of proven entrepreneurial mindsets, methods and coaching tools that are "off-the-shelf” ready to enhance or launch any programming for entrepreneurship.
• Positioning their community college as the only educational forum that provides the complete package of entrepreneurial...and adaptable intrapreneurial studies.

To learn more about Mark Wehner's REEsults Coaching™, contact Mark Wehner at
mark.wehner@reesultscoahing.com or 402.676.0101 or at www.reesultscoaching.com

By Donna Duffey
Professor & Department Chair, Entrepreneurship
Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS

I am often asked whywe should consider entrepreneurship programming in our community colleges. To me, the answer has become very obvious, but I am working in a community college that has embraced entrepreneurship education in both the credit and non-credit environments for decades–specifically since 1983 in the non-credit arena and since 1992 in the credit arena.

In our current economic environment with budget challenges facing our community colleges from numerous directions (city, county, state), it is often difficult to find funding for new initiatives. In community colleges where entrepreneurship programming is currently an "idea” but not a reality, it is particularly challenging to convince decision makers to invest in a "new” program. In community colleges where entrepreneurship programming is established, convincing decision makers to invest in new initiatives for the entrepreneurship program is also challenging. Unfortunately, some decision makers are only considering new programming or new initiatives if another program or initiative is brought to the chopping block, thus making room (without any additional expense) for the new idea.

For those of us looking for a rationale for our entrepreneurship proposals (whether they are new or expanded programming initiatives), shouldn't we consider that we (America's community colleges) cannot afford not to support entrepreneurship? You are ready to make this argument when your initiatives have been properly researched for your constituency, your programming has been developed with student/client learning outcomes as the cornerstone of your initiative, and you and your team are committed to the continuous quality improvement of your initiative.

Students' Motivation Varies

Today, members of our communities and students/clients in our classrooms face numerous uncertainties about their futures. Many community members are finding themselves needing to reinvent themselves, often resulting from actions not of their own choice–they have been displaced, downsized, under-employed, need to un-retire, or are returning from military service. Some of those persons are coming to our community colleges to update their skills and return better prepared to another employer in their industry. Others are coming to us to learn new skills and seek employment in a different industry. Another group of these community members are coming to us to reinvent themselves through self-employment.

Younger students are coming to us to seek the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in their career choice. Upon completion of their studies, some plan to "take” a job with existing employers. However, increasing numbers of these younger students have come to their community college to seek the knowledge and skills necessary to "make” the job of their choice.

Whether our students/clients intend to initially invent themselves (or reinvent themselves), or to "take” a job (or "make” a job), they are attempting to prepare themselves to be productive, self-sustaining members of our communities. Whatever the reason or circumstance that brought them to our doors, we should applaud their arrival and tenacity to pursue a new direction with enhanced preparation through education.

We all recognize that at the core of every community college's mission statement is the intent to create economic vitality through education. Properly developed and delivered, entrepreneurship education provides a pathway to economic vitality. A properly developed entrepreneurial idea has the potential to create jobs (not just for the entrepreneur but for those they employ as well) and to create sustainable wealth for our communities.

Many argue that entrepreneurship is risky. They point to the high number of small business failures as proof of their stance. Conversely, those who believe in innovation and entrepreneurship as the engine for economic growth recognize that properly developed and delivered entrepreneurship education initiatives can and will minimize that risk.

At JCCC, we have developed what we believe are realistic entrepreneurship program outcomes. Developed with the assistance of the Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee, we have found this to be key to our success. Sharing those program outcomes with our NACCE colleagues may be helpful as you pursue the development and/or growth of your entrepreneurship education initiatives. For us, student success in the Entrepreneurship program is defined in these ways:

• Did the student complete a business plan and, in doing so, learn the process of business planning?
• Ultimately, did the student open the business developed in the business plan?
• Based on what the student learned in their Entrepreneurship coursework, the student could be contributing meaningfully as an intrapreneur–demonstrating the concepts of entrepreneurial thinking within their business unit in an existing business setting.
• Based on what the student learned in their Entrepreneurship coursework, the student could determine that their near future would be best spent in a corporate environment to further their learning experience and/or their financial status before embarking on an entrepreneurial venture.
• Additionally, an acceptable outcome would be for that student to realize they should not become an entrepreneur.

Future articles will address more specifically the Entrepreneurship initiatives that have worked (and not worked) at JCCC as well as the goals and expectations of each initiative. Strategies for implementation, marketing efforts, and relevant partnerships will be identified. For each of the initiatives discussed in upcoming articles, we will connect the initiative to JCCC's mission of improving economic vitality through quality education.

Q: How did you get interested in starting this business?

A: My passion for baking started when I was taking classes at Anne Arundel Community College, and it continued from there. I have worked in bakeries, grocery stores, catering companies and any other place that I could gain knowledge about baking and business.

There is nothing like owning your own business. You can work for someone year after year and do what you are told or you can break out on your own and realize your dreams of being your own boss. There is nothing like seeing your business succeed and knowing that you are the one responsible for that success.

Q: What are your plans and goals with your bakery?

A: In the short-term, I would like to open a retail storefront this year and update my Web site. In the long-term, I want to be a self-sustaining company and be able to build my dream bakery where I have all the equipment I need, the layout is exactly what I want and I can have tables and chairs for customers to come in and sit for a while. I plan on running Fields of Heather for many years.

Q: How many hours per week do you work?

A: When I am not very busy I spend about 10 hours a week doing paperwork, trying new recipes and getting caught up on all the business items that I can't do when I am working in the kitchen. During a busy week I could work 50 to 60 hours a week.

Q: What has been your biggest challenge in growing your business?

A: The lack of funding for small business startups has been my biggest challenge. To get a bank loan they want collateral, usually in the form of real estate, they want tax returns for the business or you and a solid business plan. I had a solid business plan and tax returns, but banks didn't even want to talk to me last year because I didn't have collateral. My business is also a bakery, which under lending practices is categorized as a restaurant, the number one failing business startup. My only option has been to continue as I have been and hope the lending market opens up, but it has not done that yet.

Q: What programs at your school were the most helpful in starting and growing your business? Why?

A: When I started at AACC, I was a Baking and Pastry Major, and I had to do an internship in a bakery. After a month I realized that I was going to need more than a Baking and Pastry Degree to start my own business. I ended up double majoring and also getting a degree in Business Management. The classes in small business, sales, human resources and so many others opened my eyes to all that I needed to know. Below are some of the highlights of what I learned in each class:

• Entrepreneurial Thinking, Creativity and Opportunity Recognition helped me come up with new creative ideas for where Fields of Heather should go with new product lines, and it helped determine some of the areas that I might need help in.
• In Entrepreneurship: Sales and Marketing for Small Business I learned marketing ideas that didn't cost a lot of money and how I could use them for Fields of Heather. At the end of the class I had my marketing plan written for Fields of Heather.
• Entrepreneurship: New Venture Planning was the class where they helped you write your business plan or in my case rewrite my plan. We bounced ideas off each other, got help with where to do research, and wrote our entire business plan in 15 weeks.
• The last class was Small Business Accounting, where I learned how to use QuickBooks software. When I left this class I already had my QuickBooks set up and I was ready to start using it in my business.

Q: What do you think the most important things community colleges can do to help encourage and support young entrepreneurs are? Why?

A: They need to get the word out that they are there to help, that they have the resources and the professors who are willing to help guide people through their entrepreneurial journey. They need to get the school involved in getting the word out to the professors and teachers at the colleges. It doesn't matter what degree the students are studying for, there is always the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship. If the professors don't know what is offered, then they can't offer it to the students. Also getting the students in the program to help promote it is a great way to get the word out. You get a better response from students if they talk to other students in the program. A potential student would rather ask questions to someone their own age and not an older professor.

Heather Howe (27)is the founder of Fields of Heather, LLC. Fields of Heather is a full service bakery that specializes in decorated cakes for all occasions, decorated sugar cookies and any other type of baked goods. Founded in 2001 and operating full-time starting in 2007, the business is growing every month.

Heather graduated from Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) in 2003 with an Associate's degree in Culinary Arts with emphasis in Baking and Pastry and Business Management. She returned to AACC in 2007 to receive her Associate's degree in Entrepreneurship. Heather also has a Bachelor's in Food Service Entrepreneurship from Johnson and Wales.

by Alex Stewart
Coleman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship
Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI

Many studentsare interested in entrepreneurship, and so enroll in courses in the subject, but they lack either a realistic feel for what entrepreneurs do or a clear sense of what businesses they want to start. They aren't ready for a business plan course. Nor do typical textbooks help much, because these texts focus on business fundamentals. These are certainly important. But these students need another foundation–discovering their personal self-employment potential.

Can we serve these students' needs? Can we help them understand entrepreneurship as the vehicle to a career that fits their individual needs? I believe we can; more strongly, that we can help them see how entrepreneurship can be a calling, a vocation, not only a career.

If students are to find the entrepreneurial path that best suits them, they need help with four competencies, of which the first three are fundamental: 1) self-understanding, 2) awareness of the careers and development of real entrepreneurs, and 3) a sense of what venture would really work for them. The fourth competency, which requires the first three as a foundation, is business-relevant creativity. I will explain what I mean by these, why they are critical, and how I attempt to develop them in the classroom. This article covers the first two competencies, and Part II, which will be in the next issue of this journal, covers competencies three and four.

Competency One: Self-understanding

Most of us have a hard time saying what career would most deeply fulfill us. We lack role models or at least enough of them; we aren't comfortable with introspection; we try to please parents, teachers and others and won't admit even to ourselves what we really want. These might not apply as much to mature students, in which case they can perhaps skip this first step. For others it's crucial. As it's the most unusual of these competencies to include in entrepreneurship, I pay it the most attention.

Why? I suggest one common sense reason and two from research. The first reason is that entrepreneurship takes a lot of work and persistence. Persisting on work when you are in your element is a whole lot more likely than when you are not. Second, entrepreneurs have been found to be more effective when they experience positive affect or emotional states. Third, they are more effective when they have unique or idiosyncratic knowledge. What's the best way to gain this knowledge? With time we've spent on our passions.

How can we help to develop this competency? I've tried several resources and will keep looking. Here are suggestions of resources I like, from which you may find the right ones for your contexts. Books with a career choice focus are easy to find on Amazon: typing in the titles for Bolles, Christen and Blomquist (2006) or Lore (2008) will bring up many others. These particular books are aimed at younger, college-age readers. A more general reading you might like is a short book calledThe Element(Robinson, 2009). It lacks the self-tests or entrepreneurial focus of other books but reads well. So too does Grace Bulger's (2002)The Enlightened Entrepreneur.Her book is out of print and works best with female or arts students. You might find good parts in it to include in your class.

Students often like readily done self-tests, and there are a few I've used that are specific to entrepreneurship. A tough-minded test is the questions in an article fromHarvard Business Reviewby Walter Kuemmerle (2002). It poses the question of whether you're really ready for the entrepreneurial challenge. Jack Miner's (1996)4 Routes to Entrepreneurial Successis an easily digested book about four types of entrepreneurs. It offers an easily administered self-test and is helpful for overcoming the myth that there is one type of entrepreneur (the Type A, always charging type). Finally, Rhonda Abrams' (2004)What Business Should I Startincludes an easily administered test that has face validity with its results.

Another book that has gone out of print but is easy to find and cheap is Shapiro and Stevenson's (2005)Make Your Own Luck. This is an excellent resourceif and only ifit is actively used. Its purpose is to develop clarity and rationality in setting goals, and developing broad-brush plans for how to get there. Its language is sometimes peculiar, especially with the crucial concepts of "Lead Dog” (the desired future state you're focusing on) and the "It” (the key actions you're betting on to get you there). So it requires some explanation. It's also helpful to show (with permission) examples of prior students' plans. To my surprise, students told me that they also found it helpful when I went over my ownMYOLplan. I think it worked, despite the differences in our life stages, because it showed examples of details that render these plans actually useful. This approach could apply to other such exercises.

Further, I have students write a self-assessment in which they analyze themselves on a number of dimensions, and spell out their evidence for their self-characterizations. Evidence doesn't have to be complicated. In the hypothetical example in the matrix below, the evidence for a fear of failure is enrolling in easier classes than could have been handled.

Competency Two: Understanding the entrepreneurial career

The self-evaluation matrix also asks students which characteristics are well suited to their venture, and how they could develop in the areas where they are still lacking. That is, this assignment is not just a self-assessment but also a self-assessment in the context of comparison with a potential role model entrepreneur.

Some of this can be done by thinking through the job the entrepreneur has to perform in the business they care about. This is much better done with an understanding of real entrepreneurs and their careers. What I mean here is obvious enough, but there are two not-so-obvious aspects. One is an appreciation for the development process over the lifetime by those entrepreneurs who entered and mastered the sort of business of interest. This cannot be achieved with only current recollections of practitioners, who (like all of us) fail to remember all of their challenges, epiphanies, mentors, lucky and unlucky breaks, and so on. The other less obvious aspect is figuring out which entrepreneurs a particular student can best learn from. Trying to find this match requires exposing students to a wide variety of potential role models.

Why does understanding actual entrepreneurial careers matter? Here are three reasons. Learning about real life patterns disabuses the students of misconceptions, including misconceptions that generate fear of trying. Students come to realize that nobody, not even the greatest entrepreneur, starts out as a master, that there is no one model of entrepreneur, and that your parents don't have to be wealthy.

Real entrepreneurial careers also offer inspiration. Interaction with entrepreneurs is the most motivating part of a course. Moreover, learning from real entrepreneurs offers practical lessons–for example, finding mentors is crucial; cash flow planning does matter–that no single instructor can know or present with equal credibility.

How can our courses do this? Class visits, of course, especially with a wide range of guests on many dimensions (age, sex, ethnicity, etc.). If we have few guests, their visits can take all of a class; if we have many, the visits need not be so lengthy. Opportunities to meet potential mentors are similarly valuable, especially if we prep students on how to interact in networking opportunities. Highly recommended are visits to the annual Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization conference, which brings in many practicing entrepreneurs for students to meet and to learn from.

Lastly, biographies of entrepreneurs can have lasting impacts. One problem I find is that if we have students present them we use too much class time. Another problem that can be surmounted is that many autobiographies and biographies fail to cover the challenges, mistakes and learning over time. I have prepared a list of 60-odd good biographies, with a wide range of entrepreneurs, which you can download from the NACCE Web site by clicking here. (My list is thin on Latinos–perhaps you can help me here. E-mail suggestions to alex.stewart@marquette.edu.)

In Part Two we will explore the third competency (finding the right and real venture for an individual) and the fourth (business-relevant creativity). We will also consider how to structure the assignments if more entrepreneurially developed students enroll along with the novices.

By Erin Givens, Continuing Education Coordinator; Felix Haynes, President;
April Robinson, Assistant to the Dean of Academic Affairs; and Tom Tankersley,
Grants Coordinator, Hillsborough Community College, Plant City Campus

In the early 1990sMichael Porter'sThe Competitive Advantage of Nationsand Paul Krugman'sGeography and Tradeanalyzed the use of business clusters. However, geographic concentrations of simultaneously competing and cooperating businesses benefiting from close proximity to each other date back more than one hundred years to the inter-organizational networks of Germany and the United Kingdom. As the term became instilled in the current business nomenclature, economists and small business owners alike realized that these clusters can provide several important benefits. A cluster can increase productivity, drive innovation and creative output, stimulate new business in the field, and create a larger pool of qualified workers for the cluster.

Generally, three types of business clusters have been recognized by economists. Technology clusters develop around renowned universities and research centers, such as California's Silicon Valley or The Research Triangle in North Carolina. Knowledge-based clusters focus on more traditional activities, are industry specific, and often are maintained for long durations, such as London's financial center. Finally, factor endowment clusters are created by advantages linked to geographical location, like wine production clusters in sunny, mountainous regions conducive to growing good grapes.

Over the years local and state governments, along with business development organizations, have worked to create such clusters–as these entities realize that there are tremendous economic benefits to business clusters. Moreover, these benefits are not just realized by well-known clusters but are also captured by less-recognizable smaller regions and cities.

Association Cluster

Such is the case of Plant City, Florida, a community of 33,000 situated between Tampa and Lakeland on Interstate 4. Over the years Plant City has attracted a number of national associations, many with an agri-business focus. The Florida Strawberry Growers Association is located in the Plant City-Dover area and also oversees the Florida Strawberry Patent Service Corporation and the Florida Strawberry Research and Education Foundation. The National Watermelon Association, with chapters in over 30 states, represents the interests of watermelon growers and distributors from its offices in Plant City. The Paso Fino Horse Association, an international organization supporting the breeding and competitive showing of horses with a distinct gait, has been located in Plant City for 20 years and represents over 6,000 members world-wide. Finally, as part of an effort to bring the 2012 Olympics to nearby Tampa, Plant City officials were able to convince the International Softball Federation (ISF) to relocate to Plant City to a vacant baseball facility constructed as a spring training site for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1980s. The ISF is the only Olympic sport with its international headquarters located in the United States.

This cluster of associations connects Plant City to the distinct field of association management, a fact that may not be widely known. Association managers encounter similar personnel challenges and several of the same organizational tasks found in small businesses. The Association Management sector of the U.S. economy accounts for billions of dollars, employs more than half a million people, and includes more than 65,000 state, local, national, and international associations.

One question many may ask is how did a city of 33,000 residents surrounded by much bigger and presumably more competitive cities such as Tampa and Lakeland attract this cluster? The answer is three-pronged. First, Plant City has the good fortune to have a strong Chamber of Commerce focused not only on retaining businesses but also on recruiting industry. The Chamber works closely with city officials to leverage its resources and knowledge to drive economic development. Second, Plant City has a distinct geographic advantage. The city is centrally located on Interstate 4 near its intersection with Interstate 75, in close proximity to two international airports, and is situated in a key agricultural area for the state of Florida. Plant City is known as the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World, and the area generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue through its agricultural production businesses. Third, the area's connection to the Plant City Campus of Hillsborough Community College and its co-located branch campus of the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Science affords it a sustainable competitive advantage–especially in the area of attracting other agriculture-related associations.

These factors have worked in Plant City's favor for many years in attracting and maintaining this cluster of associations, a branch of free market capitalism that has functioned with the same dynamism of the private sector organizations it represents. As this article is being written, the Paso Fino Horse Association has decided to join the thoroughbred horse cluster in Lexington, Kentucky, and growers of new Plant City crops like blueberries are moving down the path of organizing their own association. These dynamic outcomes of Plant City's association cluster continue to provide evidence for the effectiveness of the cluster concept and explain why so many other local communities are striving to establish their own.

Professor Emeritus, Johnson County Community College
Overland Park, KS

Business start-upsin 2009 were at a 14-year high, according to the latest research by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation1, and the age group most likely to start businesses is 55-64 years old, according to an earlier Kauffman report2. With this strong supporting data on Baby Boomers starting businesses, many have asked themselves, "Is now really a good time for Boomers to start businesses?”

This article is written for both faculty who are working closely with nascent entrepreneurs planning their business start-ups, many 50+ years of age, and administrators planning innovative programs to reach specific target markets in their communities, with the Boomer population being one too large to overlook.

Let's discuss why "now” really IS a good time for many Baby Boomers to start their own businesses.

The volatile economy and depreciated retirement accounts are just a few of the reasons some Boomers who may have never before considered starting their own businesses are doing so now. They want to shore up their retirement nest eggs, supplement retirement income or avoid returning to the corporate world. For the types of businesses many Boomers start—low risk, lifestyles business—the timing may be just right, and here is why.

Opportunities

Opportunities are created by changes in the marketplace, which is something we've definitely seen in the last several years. Disruptions in the status quo create opportunities for the alert entrepreneur. One only has to look to history to see examples of companies that have started and flourished in down economies, including McDonald's and Microsoft.

Finances

Many Boomers are looking to start businesses that have low start-up costs. At 50+ years old, they want to minimize their financial investment and risks. Many self-finance their businesses. As such, tight credit in the current economy will not have the same impact on them as it will on start-ups that require a lot of capital.

Time

Starting a business takes time. If Boomers just retired or lost their jobs, time might be the resource they have in greatest abundance. By using their time to plan, research, develop and test the market, they will be poised to take advantage of economic growth as it occurs. Starting a business in a slower economy provides time for them to learn valuable lessons, gather information and establish a track record that will prepare their business for future growth.

Customers

Customers are different. Loyalty to current vendors often loosens in changing markets as buyers look for better value and less expensive products and services.

Opportunity Costs

Opportunity cost may be low. The opportunity cost of a decision is what is given up when a person chooses one alternative over their next-best alternative. For those who are retired or displaced from their job, the opportunity cost, what they give up by starting their own business, may be their golf hobby or watching Oprah.

Financial Costs

Some business costs will be lower than in a thriving economy. This can be anything from employee costs (talented employees may find themselves out of work and willing to work for less), rent, office equipment and advertising.

For many Boomers, these factors have tipped the scale in favor of starting a business now rather than waiting for the economy to recover.

Workshops such as "BoomerPrenuers: How Baby Boomers Can Start Their Own Businesses, Make Money and Enjoy Life,” based on my book by the same name, are planned this fall at Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers, FL. A shorter version of the workshop, "Three Common Mistakes Baby Boomers Make When Starting Businesses and How to Avoid Them” is planned this fall at Palm Beach State College in Boca Raton, FL. To request a free-of-charge Workshop Facilitator's Guide, e-mail me at mbizard@consultACH.com or call me at 913-268-6873. This is an excellent opportunity to reach out to Boomers in your community.

Special Offer:Article based on book, BoomerPreneurs: How Baby Boomers Can Start Their Own Business, Make Money and Enjoy Life, by Mary Beth Izard, which is available to NACCE members at a 30 percent discount off retail price if purchased by September 30 at www.consultACH.com

By André Taylor
Entrepreneur and Author

There's a school of thoughtin the world of entrepreneurship. I don't think it's a point of view typically held by educators, but I've certainly heard it espoused by many entrepreneurs. The thought is, "You can't teach someone to be an entrepreneur.”

There's a reason many entrepreneurs feel this way. I think it's because we know successful entrepreneurs have "it” in their soul. I'm convinced educators in entrepreneurship will only be successful if they can make small business education a soulful experience for themselves and their students.

The sentiment; "You can't teach it” is related to the familiar question, "Are they born or made?” We all know that something takes over in the mind, body, and spirit of entrepreneurs, and connecting with that "something” is what entrepreneurship is all about. It takes a special kind of person to bond with and stir the soul of an aspiring entrepreneur.

I first noticed this as a college freshman as the 1970s came to a close. I registered at my community college for the one small business course offered. As we approached the first day of classes I was thrilled. I had always wanted to build a successful business.

Throughout my teenage years I worked for a successful entrepreneur and relentlessly devoured books about starting and running a successful business. I wanted to know more about how I could make this a career choice and lifestyle. But once the course began, I immediately noticed differences in the way entrepreneurship was taught in school versus on the street.

Following Malik's Example

I worked for a young entrepreneur named Malik, who founded a restaurant business. He was not college educated but was equally street smart and well-read. He was a self-made man who had escaped the mean streets of a rough section of Buffalo, NY, and built a small restaurant group with four locations through his enormous drive and charisma.

I would watch how he handled people and situations. Occasionally we would talk one-on-one, and he would give me a quick course in entrepreneurship. He'd show me how to lower the natural sales resistance of a customer, how to inspire the staff to work harder, and how to quickly make the cash register ring when we needed to by charming everyone in sight. He'd talk about the power of serving a well put together meal–how it should look, smell, and be presented. It was a study in improvisation with Malik's well-honed artistry and creativity at its core.

The restaurant I worked at was in Harlem, just a few blocks from the world-famous Apollo Theater, where legendary soul performers like James Brown and Aretha Franklin routinely took the stage, but what I saw Malik do every day was just as soulful as the masterful acts that appeared at the Apollo each night.

It was a different story, however, at my community college small business class.

In class we immediately launched into a theoretical discussion of what a business is: legal structures, and what should go into a business plan. Next we discussed break even points and accounting methods. Although this was quite practical and somewhat necessary it bored me to tears. Each day I felt more and more removed from what I knew a business was really about. What I really wanted to do was visit a real business, meet more Maliks, and see real-life entrepreneurs solve the dozens of problems that crop up each day.

The focus of my college class was far too administrative; documents, spreadsheets, structures, licenses, certifications…yawn!

My fellow students didn't know the difference. Many were exploring entrepreneurship in-depth for the first time and silently became convinced during the course that running a business wasn't for them. Little did they know how exciting the world of entrepreneurship could be. They didn't have a Malik in their life.

I ultimately "nailed” the course, scoring an excellent grade but my performance in the class meant nothing to me. That's because neither the professor nor the class were connected to the soul of entrepreneurship.

The reason many entrepreneurs feel you can't teach entrepreneurship is because they know a great company doesn't come about without soul. Successful entrepreneurs and companies are not the result of merely studying "practical” matters. Anyone can master that. Great entrepreneurs are always seeking to make themselves, their staff, and their customers feel special by creating extraordinary products, experiences, and results. It's a "moving” experience.

Can you teach entrepreneurship? Sure you can. But to do so, you must have soul.

André Taylor is an entrepreneur, consultant, and author of the book You Can Still Win! He's chief executive of Taylor Insight, a New York-based leadership development firm, serving entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies. He's a regular contributor to ABC News Money Matters, and a community college graduate. More at www.andretaylor.com

When the recession hit in 2008, the value of community colleges became clearer than ever. Since then, thousands of newly unemployed or underemployed people have flocked to community colleges to prepare themselves for their next jobs. But in addition to educating and retraining workers, community colleges increasingly are taking on a broader role in revitalizing hard hit communities. They are jumping into the economic development driver's seat, leading projects that will support the economic health of their communities.

Here are stories of three community colleges that are acting entrepreneurially, undertaking exciting new ventures that will drive economic growth for their entire region. At the same time, these projects will help the colleges become more sustainable and less reliant on financial support from hard-pressed local and state governments.

Arkansas State University-Mountain Home

Arkansas State University-Mountain Home is located in north central Arkansas. A relatively young school founded just 15 years ago, ASUMH has about 1,400 students. In September, ASUMH opens the Vada Sheid Community Development Center. This 65,000-square-foot facility gives the region its first cultural and special events hub. It includes:

• A 1,600-seat auditorium, which will welcome concerts, lectures, graduations, and special events.
• The region's only convention center, which will host conferences, meetings, trade shows, training seminars, banquets and special events.
• The Trout Nature Center, which includes a Trout Hall of Fame and related educational exhibits. Mountain Home is one of the nation's best venues for trout fishing, a sport that draws thousands of visitors to the region. The school received a grant of over $822,000 from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council to move this center forward.

"The convention center is going to be an economic driver for our community and for the university,” says Chancellor Ed Coulter. "This is a tourist community that is very beautiful but remote, but a lot of people come here to enjoy the wonderful lake and river. Now, people will be able to attend conventions here and then stay over and go to the lake and enjoy all of our amenities. And trout are revered in this part of the country; people are going to want to come to the Trout Nature Center.”

In addition to undertaking projects like the Vada Sheid Community Development Center, ASUHM works hard to create community partnerships that help support its sustainability. Coulter cites the school's relationships with a local hospital and the region's funeral industry as examples. "We have a wonderful regional hospital, and we provide all of their workforce training,” he says. "Each time they come to us and say they need a new skill set, we create the curriculum. We've also hooked up with the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Center in Little Rock, a major medical research part of our state; with them we have created paramedic, respiratory care and dental hygiene programs.

"We are ranked number four in the country for our program that prepares people to become a funeral director or a licensed embalmer,” he adds. "We provide all of the training on campus except the embalming. We have a wonderful partnership with area funeral homes, which allow our students to obtain the embalming experience they need to be licensed. It's a perfect example of education and business/industry working together.

"We truly have an entrepreneurial spirit in what we do,” says Coulter. "For example, we have become very active in online instruction; in the near future we will be advertising degrees and programs to military installations throughout the country. Military benefits will help soldiers pay for this so while they're serving our country, they can also prepare for their post-military careers. I truly believe we're going to become one of the key players in online instruction.”

Closer to home, ASUMH is leading a consortium of local organizations that is using an $84,000+ grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation to reduce poverty in a four-county area. "We hope to create an education program that will help teach young children the importance of a college education and that they can climb out of poverty through educational opportunities,” says Carol Gresham, ASUMH's vice chancellor of Development.

Of this effort, Coulter says, "We've got to change expectations. People at poverty level somehow feel they're on a dead-end street and there is no way out. This is our attempt to say that education, setting goals in life, and realizing that you can break the cycle of poverty is the way out.”

NorthWest Arkansas Community College

About 150 miles west of Mountain Home, in Bentonville, is NorthWest Arkansas Community College. NWACC's six locations serve about 8,100 credit and 7,000 noncredit students. It also has an exciting new building opening this fall, the 40,000-square-foot Shewmaker Center for Global Business Development. The $8-million building was funded through a capital campaign that raised $16 million, including a $4-million matching grant from the Walton Family Trust. (Bentonville, of course, is the home of WalMart.)

The new center houses the school's business programs and four institutes focusing on specific areas of instruction: Entrepreneurial Studies, Retail, Sustainability, and Transportation and Logistics. A student incubator is located in the new building, with room for 18 student businesses.

According to NWACC President Becky Paneitz, because the school is located in the hometown of corporate giants like WalMart, Tyson Foods, and JB Hunt, it made sense to create institutes focused on their core businesses. "This presented the school not just with an opportunity to create educational programs based on industries that provide local jobs but also with fundraising opportunities, including naming rights to the institutes,” says Paneitz.

For example, the Sustainability Institute is named after another local firm, Stribling Packaging and Display. With WalMart taking a leadership position in the retail industry on the issue of sustainability, the Sustainability Institute and the school's newly hired sustainability coordinator take on added importance. Courses on topics such as packaging and how to cut down on an organization's waste stream will be part of this institute.

"We're also walking the talk of sustainability with a conservation program for bottles, cans, and paper,” says Paneitz. "In the last fiscal year by not putting these into the waste stream, we saved about $14,000 in waste fees.”

Another entrepreneurial undertaking of NWACC is Jenny's Café, which is operated by Culinary Arts students; it is located at an old hospital that has been turned into a center for nonprofits. "We're moving our adult ed, literacy and GED programs into that building, and we've hired a chef who was trained at the Culinary Arts Institute, who will use students to run the Café as an entrepreneurial venture for us,” says Dean of Business and Computer Information Tim Cornelius. "We also are setting up Jenny's Place Catering, and we're already getting calls about that.

"The reason this college is entrepreneurial is because of the president,” adds Cornelius. "The president has to set the tone; without his or her tone setting or allowing people to become innovative, it just won't happen.”

"One of the things I did when I came here to be innovative was to have some dollars set aside every year for innovation grants,” she says, "Faculty or staff members receive up to $2,000 for a grant that ties to our mission. The idea has to be out of the box; it can't be ‘buy equipment for my lab.' Our study abroad and honors program grew out of this, and now we have those programs institutionalized. That gives people a chance to think out of the box; we give awards twice a year. The other thing we did was to hire people that understand what entrepreneurship means and how to think entrepreneurially about what we do.”

Kirkwood Community College

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, impressive entrepreneurial endeavors are afoot at Kirkwood Community College. The college's 12 campuses serve nearly 25,000 students in credit courses; another 41,000 people participate in continuing education and training programs. Kirkwood is in the center of a region still recovering from the devastation of massive flooding in 2008. The college has taken a leadership role in working on a regional plan for recovery and growth.

"Between this natural disaster and the recession, we've had a significant 1-2 punch that we're trying to come out of,” says Executive Vice President of Continuing Education and Workforce Development Dee Baird. "For the last 16 months, the college has organized, facilitated and coordinated the Corridor Business Alliance, which is made up of 12 organizations focused on entrepreneurial development, small business development and working more collaboratively on a regional level.”

Alliance meetings have taken place at Kirkwood Center, the college's conference center, turning the college into a regional hub for economic development. This month, the Hotel at Kirkwood Center opens, giving the college yet another attractive facility that will aid in regional economic development at the same time it provides invaluable training for students and an economic engine for the college itself.

The $32-million, 107,291-square-foot luxury hotel has 71 rooms and is the largest and most comprehensive teaching hotel at a community college in the U.S. It is staffed by professional management and lead staff assisted by students from Kirkwood's Culinary, Culinary Assistant, Bakery, Hotel/Motel Management and Restaurant Management programs. "What the hotel will do is give students a first-class, hands-on learning experience; they will be integrated into every part of its operation,” says President Mick Starcevich. "The learning experience will be phenomenal. But besides that, the hotel provides another revenue source; we can take those dollars and put them towards our general fund. That will help us keep our tuition the lowest in the state.”

Another example of entrepreneurship at Kirkwood is the college's Iowa Equestrian Center. "The center feeds our Equine Science program,” says Starcevich. "It's booked for business 48 weekends of the year. It has turned into a profit center since opening in 2000 and we're looking to enlarge it.

"Our vision is to invent, develop and deliver learning solutions for the 21st century,” says Starcevich.

"When you work as an organization with that type of vision, it really gives you a large platform to think about how you come up with learning solutions through creative processes. It's that type of thinking that leads to entrepreneurial solutions such as the Hotel at Kirkwood Center and the Iowa Equestrian Center.”