Follow the progress of the elevator grant recipients from the 6th Annual NACCE conference in Anaheim. Use the experience of the last grant recipients to plan a successful grant opportunity for your program or initiative. Elevator grant information for the 7th Annual Conference in Chicago can be found here -
http://www.nacce.com/?ElevatorGrants
Al Switzler is a co-founder and co-chair of VitalSmarts, an international training and consulting firm that has trained over two million people worldwide and worked with two-thirds of the Fortune 500. Al and the co-founders of VitalSmarts, Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, Ron McMillan and Mike Carter, have been inducted into the Ernst and YoungEntrepreneur Hall of Fame.
Mr. Switzler is co-author of three New York Times bestsellers: Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations.
He has served on the faculty of several universities including The University of Michigan, Brigham Young University, Auburn University, and The University of Kentucky. Each of these institutions has recognized Al with awards for innovation and outstanding teaching.
An innovator in corporate training and organizational performance, VitalSmarts helps teams and organizations achieve the results they care about most.
With award-winning training products based on more than 30 years of ongoing research, VitalSmarts has helped more than 300 of the Fortune 500 realize significant results using a proven method for driving rapid, sustainable and measurable change in behaviors. VitalSmarts has been ranked twice by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in America and has taught more than 2 million people worldwide.
Mr. Switzler is a warm, down-to-earth person who definitely has an easy, effective way of communcating with people. His presentation was insightful and humorous. At lunch following the presentation, we also learned that he is an accomplished cowboy "pote" and we were charmed when he performed one of his original "pomes" for us from his CD "Cowboy Pomes". Surprisingly, he has also composed charming lyrics and melodies for his CD, "Grandad's Lullabies"
Posted By Douglas Dyreng,
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Meditec.com is an online training site for medical transcription, coding etc. Jari Davis, founder and CEO, is an extraordinary trailblazer: She trained staff and set up a complete program for abstracting, amalgamating, processing and reporting statistical medical information for the World Health Organization (WHO ) and various NIH federal grants to the University of Utah medical center. She co-developed the first tumor registry program in Utah, was the first Certified Medical Transcriptionist (CMT) in Utah, and the company she founded, was one of the first companies to deliver training on the Internet.
By recognizing a need in the medical area, she not only made a place for herself in the business world by at first meeting that need through transcribing medical notes at home, but she went on to create Meditech, Inc., a medical transcription company providing out-source transcription services for hospitals and physicians, and remains its President and Chief Executive Officer. She developed innovative systems to outsource dictation and transcription, management, sales, and the development of training processes for medical transcriptionists. All of this was long before mothers in the workplace were socially accepted.
In 1979, her company provided one of the earliest versions of online timeshare billing and patient management services to doctors and hospitals for remote applications. The company now added medical billing, coding, consulting, and practice management to its services repertoire. Meditech’s exposure to this type of service and the various software deficiencies in its integral function ultimately led Ms. Davis to develop the schema for a complete patient information, tracking, accounts receivable, and ad hoc reporting system, TRIAGE. The software Meditech developed was successfully used for existing Meditech clients and worked very nicely for a complex multi-year development program contracted by Meditech with the Utah State Department of Health to track and bill for special needs patients, as well as accumulating sufficient data to report to departments and legislators to aid in budgetary considerations. The Meditech software, TRIAGE, was a big hit and was subsequently sold to medical users with the aid of IBM.
In the early 1990s, a staff member of Meditech insisted the Internet would initiate very fundamental changes to the way the world worked, including online education and suggested the training be formalized and sold on the Net. Though not entirely convinced, Ms. Davis authored the company’s educational training products to deliver online training protocols, and Meditec.com was born, one of the first companies to deliver online training on the Internet. Today, Meditec.com provides training programs for medical transcription, coding, billing, practice management, and legal programs. These training programs are used internationally and are considered cutting edge methodologies.
She presented some excellent information with a great sense of humor. What a terrific addition to our Entrepreneurship Seminars!
In our continued efforts to increase enrollment in this class, we explained (through email and posters) the opportunity to sign up for two credits, and continued promotion included a contest for students to recruit a friend. As a result, at four weeks into the semester there are 71 students enrolled for 98 credit hours.
Posted By Douglas Dyreng,
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Alan E. Hall was the founder and is chairman of MarketStar Corporation, a global outsourced marketing and sales company with a focus on assisting high technology companies increase sales through the small to medium business sectors. The company employs several thousand people and generates billions of dollars in sales for its clientele.MarketStar is now owned by Omnicom Group (OMC).
Mr. Hall is also the founder and chairman of Grow Utah Ventures, a not-for-profit entity with a mission of stimulating economic development through entrepreneurship.
Mr. Hall, an angel investor, has multiple investments in emerging Utah technology companies.With partner Greg Warnock, he recently established Mercato Partners, a growth equity venture capital firm.Its focus is to invest in high growth technology companies that need additional funding and expertise for marketing and sales.
This gentleman, a multi-millionaire, is as warm, genuine, and down to earth as you can get. No wonder he is so succesful. His presentation was very interesting, clear and filled with great, useful information. He talked about how important it is to first know what potential customers want, to know their demographics so you can identify the potential marketing area, and to then research and understand the competition of the potential product before any actual product/service decisions are made. This is SO important for budding entrepreneurs to know! Sometimes when these areas are thoroughly explored, the information gleaned helps entrepreneurs understand that what they thought might work really won't work. And knowing that is as important as anything!
Posted By Douglas Dyreng,
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Community member attendance has increased during each of the three presentations thus far, and they have had positive after-class interactions with the presenters.
Snow College President, Scott Wyatt has been in attendance at one of the three post-presentation lunchs. Kevin White, director of College Advancement, has been in attendance at two of the three post-presentation luncheons, opening relationship development with potential future donors.
Four to six students enrolled in the class entered The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship Essay Competition.
September 21 - Dave Checketts - Real Salt Lake Soccer
Posted By Douglas Dyreng,
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
We are so fortunate to have been able to get such a successful Utah businessman to present for our Entrepreneurship Seminar Series.
One of the most heralded sports, media and entertainment executives, Mr. Checketts currently serves as Chairman of SCP Worldwide (SCP) this fast growing company. The company acquired the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, ScottradeCenter and Kiel Opera House.In 2004, SCP acquired the twelfth Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise launching RealSaltLake. SCP also owns sports-talk radio station KALL 700 AM, “The Zone”, also in Salt Lake City,has a controlling interest in Running Subway, an entertainment production company, and this year acquired Tupelo-Honey, a heralded media production company. In addition, SCP has a long-term marketing partnership with world renowned soccer club Real Madrid, and also owns exclusive multi-platform rights to the prestigious 2010 South American World Cup Qualifying tournament matches. He is Governor of the New York Knicks (NBA), Rangers (NHL) and Liberty (WNBA. Now THIS is a man who definitely has leadership skills that have served him well!
His presentation was so interesting and he talked about many leadership skills that would serve people well as they consider or enter the world of entrepreneuship.
Student response regarding the Dave Checketts presentation…
• "… taught us some essential leadership skills including: believing in yourself, having a certain sense of poise and calm, the ability to inspire others, be competitive, create trust and raise capital. If I follow these things, I believe that I will become a successful business man."
• "… you need to have a passion for your business and spend money. I really enjoyed listening to his presentation he made me want to really go out and start a business."
• "… a better understanding of how important research is and how to do it. It was because of his research that he was so successful."
• "… the definition of wealth is having control over your own time. I really enjoyed this presentation, and have over a page of notes that I can use to reflect on for my life."
• "… inspired me to keep going on with school, no matter how hard it might get."
Posted By Douglas Dyreng,
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Now this was a fun presentation! Kristin Murdock explained how her business grew from a family outing when she found a ton of dried cow pies in a field, noted their interesting shapes, and wondered, "Now what could I do with these?" She began making cow-pie clocks as gag gifts for friends. A friend of Donny Osmond showed him one of the clocks, and he showed it on "The Donny and Marie Show", and from that moment, she was in business!
She went from paying her children, neighbors and high school kids to assemble them to a full-fledge bonifide business. The word kept spreading, the orders kept coming in, and her business has boomed for nine years. She expanded into cow-pie awards for various sports activities, to a line of greeting cards (an exclusive agreement with Leanin' Tree), key chains, other gag gifts such as "a chicken on a chain" which sells like hot cakes at the National High School Championship Rodeo every year, and even cookies! She is always looking for new opportunities.
She was a charming, enthusiastic speaker and the audience loved her. Kristin draws no salary from this business, but uses it to help others through charitable gifts for those in need.
Student comments regarding the presentation:
• "…we don't need to know everything, hire someone who is good at what they do and just have them run that part of the business."
• "I think if she can do [it,] I can do it."
• "…not everything works. if you fail, try again."
Posted By Douglas Dyreng,
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Our first seminar presenter was a great success! He gave an excellent presentation on pro-forma financial statements and had excellent, detailed examples, which he offered to send to us for student use.
Student comments about the presentation:
• "I … left with a feeling of hope of that I could do something great."
• "I also thought it was particularly useful the idea of getting customers BEFORE manufacturing the product so you don’t waste time or money on something nobody is going to want anyway."
• "I believe that this will help me when I start out with my own photography company."
• "I guess the most useful thing I learned is that I really need to focus on my terms and vocabulary when taking my business classes. I wish I could [have] understood what he was talking about. I recognized a few terms. I liked how he had all the spreadsheets for all his different business accounts that showed how successful each one was [going] be."
Posted By Susanna B. Spaulding,
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Updated: Thursday, September 17, 2009
Colorado Mountain College’s 2009 Elevator Grant program of mini-grants to student entrepreneurs is complemented by the college’s student business incubator program sponsored by the Leadville campus. The Timberline Campus Student Business Incubator is housed in an annex of one of Leadville’s historic homes built by Horace Tabor in the late 1800s. Entrepreneurial students from the local high school and the college are eligible to apply for occupancy.
Over the summer, the college staff installed three modular office spaces with bookshelves, desks, chairs, and file cabinets. In addition, the incubator has a shared conference area with a business resource library. Each office will have a computer with a wireless connection and the student tenants will share a printer/fax. The computers and wireless connection will be installed by late September.
The next round of mini-grants using the remaining Hughes funds will take place in October 2009. As we did in April 2009, we will have an elevator grant competition when entrepreneurial students pitch their business idea to the Advisory Council of the college’s Entrepreneurship Program. We will award three grants of $500.00, which will complete the approved utilization of the Hughes funds. We expect these student mini-grant recipients to be the first tenants of the Timberline Student Business Incubator.
Meetings with clients: BHCC graduate for producing & selling music CD, BHCC student starting own construction business & enrolling in entrepreneurship option, BHCC student starting own event planning business, community member on entrepreneurship academic programs & entrepreneurship as career choice)
·Researched best practices for entrepreneurship centers -- client management, print materials and offerings. Meeting set up to meet with director of Enterprise Center at Salem State, conversations with SBA, Center for Women & Enterprise. Created 1-page resource sheet and working to obtain copies of entrepreneurship guide to hand out to clients.
· Continued work on teaming up Entrepreneurship students and NFTE high school students through service learning
Charlestown Retail event planned for September 23 -- flyer created and distributed, speakers secured
·BHCC selected by MA State Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship to host entrepreneurship speaker series
·Secured Friendys, Snip-Its and Fantastic Sams for October 21st franchising event. Working to secure on more franchisee -- outreach to 99 Restaurants, Papa Ginos and Cold Stone.
Global Entrepreneurship Week Planning going very well. Here is the schedule to date:
Global Entrepreneurship Week Sponsored by: The Community Center for Entrepreneurship
Bunker Hill Community College, November 16 – 20, 2009
(draft as of 9-9-09)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH
12:30 – 2:30pm
“From Green Innovator to Green Entrepreneur,” Keynote Speaker, Sushil Bhatia
Executive in Residence, Strategy and International Business, Suffolk University, Inventor of the Glue Stic and Decopier
2:00 – 7:00pm
Green Marketplace
Shop products from local entrepreneurs and artisans who use green materials and embrace green business practices.
6:00 – 8:00pm
“Art Gone Green, “Art Gallery Reception
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH
6:00 – 7:00pm Speed Networking (TBD)
Networking even for students, local entrepreneurs and businesspeople
7:00 – 8:30pm
“Legal Implications for Entrepreneurs,” McCullough, Stievator & Polvere, LLP
Discussion of legal considerations for small business owners and legal issues related to going “green.”
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH
9:30 – 1:30pm, Main Lobby
Job Fair
1:30 – 2:30pm
John Pepper, Founder & CEO, Boloco (www.Boloco.com), 1st green certified chain restaurant in N.E. Discussion of challenges of embracing green business practices and how it has helped make Boloco a success.
6.00 – 8.30 pm
“Immigrant Entrepreneurs,” Gary David, Bentley University
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH
12:00 – 2:30pm
Panel Discussion: “Going Green: Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Profitability”
Panel includes Dan Curtin, zipcar
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH
10:00 – 1:00pm
Young Entrepreneurs Alliance – Business Plan Rehearsal
The Community Center
for Entrepreneurship
at Bunker Hill Community College
CHARLESTOWN RETAIL BUSINESS OWNERS:
Please Join Us
The Community Center for Entrepreneurship (CCE)
at Bunker Hill Community College
and the Charlestown Retail Organization (CRO)
would like to cordially invite you to join fellow
Charlestown retail business owners to discuss the
state of retail business in Charlestown over breakfast.
The CCE and the CRO are looking forward to
learning more about how we can support
the Charlestown retail business community.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
7:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Bunker Hill Community College Charlestown Campus
A300 Lobby
250 New Rutherford Avenue
Boston, MA 02129
Sponsored by:
The Community Center for Entrepreneurship at Bunker Hill Community College
and the Charlestown Retail Organization
RSVP to
cce@bhcc.mass.edu or 617-228-3224 by September 16, 2009.
Posted By Julie Mierau,
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Our Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) worked diligently in June and July, reaching out to faculty and staff, and doing counseling sessions with local business owners. Unfortunately, his time has been over-booked by a client in crisis, and he had no time in August to spend on campus.
He'll be back on campus next week and ready to meet with business instructors, classes and individual students. We remain committed to this process and hope to post numbers of visits and hours spent soon.
Lenore and I got together to plan for the fall session. we are dividing and conquering the various tasks that are required. The class has 20 students enrolled so we closed it. Only 3 people from the summer program enrolled for the 12 week program...that could be a problem.
We have found offering a free class reduces the level of committment of the student.
$$ will will attached for the spring offering.
Lenore and I are excited to get started. Its a learning experience!
The class finished last nite. We had about 10 students complete the class. The evaluations were good. The following comments were found on the evaluations: "we liked the energy of the instructors" More student involvement is needed.
It was a great taste of whatis to come. We covered 3 modules in the child care class. The various hats you wear as an antrepreneur, marketing of your child care center which included 2 guest speaker who own home based childcare businesses. The final session was on DCFS, food program and revenue and cost projections.
I believe many of these students will complete the 12 week program which begins Sept 22, 2009
Last night we had our 1st of 3 sessions. There are 15 students registered. A couple of students already have their associate degrees and most are interested in starting a home based child care center.
We introduced concepts and Lenore (co-facilitator) shared many resources and experiences with the students. Lenore really brings a reality to the class and the students really appreciate
her insights.
Excited about next week when we bring a panel of child care providers to the share there insights. NK
We have created a promotional flyer which will be distributed to the Advisement Office, Registration Office, and mailed to students carrying fewer than 12 credit hours, and who are not registered for a class during the time the Entrepreneurial Seminar is scheduled.
On May 22, the second interview in the lecture series was held with Julia Rhodes and Char Wrightington. Inventions and patents both nationally and internationally. Both of these ladies are great with the audience. The turn out was great considering that Columbia College was completed for the Spring semester, it was Memorial Day weekend and the Strawberry festival (an annual weekend Jazz concert) was happening in town. We had about 50 people in attendance and the reviews were great. Everyone is excited about the DVDs and we have handed out about 85 of them from the first lecture from restaurant owners.
The next interview will not be until September. I will have an update for what is planned in my next post. The lecture series has not only helped with outreach in the community but it has built enrollment in my new entrepreneurship program here at Columbia College.
We have about 15 people registered for the 3 day summer session. Lenore Johnson and I will be faciliatating. The class begins June 16 and ends June 30.
May Progress on Entrepreneurial Student Mini-Grant Program
Posted By Susanna B. Spaulding,
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Updated: Saturday, May 16, 2009
As I mentioned in my last posting, we used a portion of our 2009 Elevator Grant (from the John T. and Jeanne E. Hughes Charitable Foundation) to award five mini-grants of $750 to entrepreneur students and student teams. Each student or team of students is launching a new venture and competed in an Elevator Grant competition for these start-up funds.
The students will use a newly established blog on Colorado Mountain College’s (CMC) website to provide an update on how they applied the grant funds and how their new venture is progressing. Here’s a link to CMC’s Blogs where there’s a link the “Student Entrepreneurs” Blog: http://coloradomtn.edu/blogs/
Posted By Douglas Dyreng,
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Entrepreneurship Seminars is a new and very exciting class being offered fall semester of 2009. Students who enroll for one semester credit hour will attend a weekly seminar held each Monday at 12:30 – 1:20 in Founders Hall. Each of the following outstanding entrepreneurs will inspire those who attend with their story as to how they started their business. In addition they will teach us one critical business skill or concept that is essential for entrepreneurial success followed by a question and answer period. The following individuals have made a commitment to present:
August 31
TIM HUNT
Go Natural CNG
"The How and why of Pro-Forma financial Statements"
September 14
KRISTIN MURDOCK
Cow-Pie Clocks
"The Home Run Business"
September 21
DAVE CHECKETTS
Real Salt Lake Soccer
"Leadership Skills Essential to Entrepreneurs"
September 28
ALAN HALL
MarketStar
"Determining Customer Demand & The Competitive Environment"
October 5
AL SWITZLER
VitalSmarts
"Human Resource Issues"
October 12
JARI DAVIS
Meditec
"Attributes of Successful Entrepreneurs"
October 19
PATRICK BYRNE
Overstock.com
(TBD)
October 26
JOSH COATES
Mozy.com
"How to Obtain and Use Equity Financing"
November 2
PAUL CHRISTENSEN
Natural Trends
"Advantages & Disadvantages of Owning a Business"
November 9
DOUG BARTON
Mid-Utah Radio
"The Importance of Customer Service"
November 16
MARK BURTON
International Armoring
"Strategic International Growth"
November 23
MARK WALKER
Walker Foods
"The Importance of Identifying Competitive Advantage or Core Competency"
November 30
AMY REES ANDERSON
MediConnect Global
"How to Ensure Innovation and Continuous Improvement"
The planning of this seminar series has impressive support from the Chair of the Business Division at Snow College, the Business Management department Chair, the director of the Small Business Development Center at Snow College, the director of the Sanpete County Office of Economic Development, and former extension agent of Utah State University.
April has been a very busy month, hence doing my April update on May 1st. On April 17th we had our first Enlightening Lessons from restaurateurs. The evening went better than I could have anticipated. We had over 50 people in the audience from the community not counting students from both Columbia College and the local high schools. We had great feedback and I have been invited to talk to several local business organizations about future events.
May's event will showcase local inventors of internationally-recognized products as the featured speakers at the next Columbia College Entrepreneur Program presentation. Julia Rhodes, president of KleenSlate Concepts and Charlene Wrighton, president and CEO of Zoo-phonics will provide tips on creating new products and marketing them, based on their own professional business experiences.
The presentation is part of a free public lecture series for aspiring entrepreneurs and will be held in the Columbia College Dogwood Forum Theater on Friday, May 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. The series is titled, “Inside the Entrepreneur: Enlightening Lessons” and each lecture presentation will highlight two entrepreneurs in a related business field.
Former schoolteacher Julia Rhodes invented, patented, manufactured, marketed and distributed her first product, the KleenSlate Attachable Eraser for Dry-Erase Markers. Then, she single-handedly landed contracts with Office Depot and Staples to mass market them. Over the past seven years, Rhodes has built a thriving business with a growing line of dry-erase products and services.
Her KleenSlate Dry-Erase Paddles were awarded “Best New Products for the Classroom” by Scholastic magazine, and earned the “Teachers’ Choice Award 2008” from Learning Magazine. She has been featured on radio and television, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Entrepreneur Hour Radio Show. She is also working on her first book, The Right Sisters: Modern Day Women Inventors, which she hopes will inspire, educate and inform inventors to pursue their passions and believe in their ideas.
Charlene Wrighton’s 37 year career in education has really been three careers in one. She taught special needs students locally for over 20 years. Then in 1984, Wrighton and her sister Gigi co-created the Zoo-phonics Language Arts Program, founded on kinesthetic techniques and phonics to teach reading, spelling, math, art and social studies to students.
In 1993, she retired from teaching to develop and promote Zoo-phonics, which has expanded across the country and is now marketed worldwide. With the opening of Sonora’s SafariLearningPreschool & KindergartenAcademy in 2007, Wrighton’s dream of establishing a preschool/toddler learning center with Zoo-phonics as the core curriculum was fulfilled.
Wrighton holds five teaching credentials and three degrees, including a master’s degree, administrative credential, child development program director’s certificate and is presently in the writing stage of her doctorate. She was a California Mentor Teacher for two years for the Tuolumne County Special Education Department; awarded Woman of the Year for her work with the disabled, elderly and homeless; and Teacher of the Year for the Tuolumne County Special Education Department.
Another very busy month at the Community Center for Entrepreneurship. We co-sponsored a couple of events:
Thursday, April 15 Johnny Cupcakes, America's Best Young Entrepreneur of 2008 with the Business Club at Bunker Hill Community College
Tuesday, April 21, Chris Graber, Marketing Consultant, Marketing on a Shoestring Budget, with the Charlestown Retail Association
and
Thursday, April 30, Entrepreneurship for the Hospitality Industry, with BHCC's Hospitality Department.
We are filming events and interviews with presenters and students for the DVD we are making to promote the Center and our programs.
We also have more clients coming to our newly opened Center, mostly requesting help with business plans. Their interests cover a very wide range of ideas, from opening a restaurant to starting a soccer camp for children. We purchased Biz Plan software for the Center's computers and our clients are finding it to be a very useful tool.
We continue talking to NFTE regarding articulations with area high schools who teach the curriculum, as well as mentoring and internship opportunities for our students.
We recently received the evaluation results from the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour that came to one of our northeast Minnesota college campuses on March 3, 2009. The Tour consists of motivational presentations by college-age entrepreneurs from around the U.S.The event provided a professional setting for students, faculty, and staff of our area community colleges, as well as members of the surrounding communities, to learn more about entrepreneurship and feel inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit.The event also served to increase awareness among students of entrepreneurship as a career option and of our efforts to increase entrepreneurship education regionally.
Attached are some of the compiled evaluation results, and below are just a few samples of the feedback we received from students who participated:
Very inspiring and encouraging - gave me the kick in the butt I needed to get this started.
It was very motivational and pumped me up! I liked the interaction with others and the positive attitudes! It was awesome!
The biggest thing I learned is that it is possible and not as scary as I thought to start your own business (and my parents own two businesses!!)
The tour had a great impact on me and I walked away with a lot more knowledge about going into business.
The exercise on establishing a goal-vision -mission brought back a business idea that I started researching one year ago. Due to illness and workload, I had put it on the back burner. Today, I will bring my project out of the closet and begin to obtain my goal.
The event was a success, and I am pleasantly amazed at how well it reached through to our students and engaged their interests! A number of them have since expressed an interest in participating in our Campus Entrepreneurship Initiative planning teams.
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