The Entrepreneurial Mind

I take a few days off and what happens? Donald Trump has launched an on-line university dedicated to teaching entrepreneurship.

While on-line universities are showing significant growth, entrepreneurship is an area of study that has proven to be a little more difficult to move on-line. Some of the skills are teachable via the Internet, but a good part of what is done in traditional programs is highly experiential, personalized for each student, and based on mentoring relationships. While the Internet can supplement what we do, and already is doing so, it cannot replicate all that students experience with traditional programs.

Speaking from the programs I have been involved with in recent years (here at Belmont and at the University of St. Thomas) I know we also have one other competitive advantage with "The Donald U." We believe that ethics, morals and values matter, and while making money is important and a good thing, it is not the only thing. I am afraid that Mr. Trump is going to create a bunch of "entrepreneurs on steroids" only pursuing the next transaction. Entrepreneurship can and should be so much more than what Trump U will teach.

I know, I know. Dr. Cornwall--You're fired!!

(Information of this new program came from the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:39 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Check out this week's entries at Slacker Manager.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:16 AM | Permalink

From the SBA Office of Advocacy:

Details of the best practices in state initiatives spurring entrepreneurship and demonstrating market-based results are now available in the conference proceedings from Putting It Together: The Role of Entrepreneurship in Economic Development. The conference held in March featured nineteen state entrepreneurship and economic development finalists whose presentations focused on how to create environments where entrepreneurship and economic development can flourish.

"We are excited about making the details of the best practices in state economic development available to policy makers and the public," said Dr. Chad Moutray, Chief Economist for the Office of Advocacy. "These presentations provide a blueprint for others to follow and can help all regions of the country jump-start their local economic development."

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:01 AM | Permalink

I have written before about the need for a vacation--that time is here for me again. We are headed up to see my in-laws in the land of cheese, brats and the Green Bay Packers.

Please feel free to visit some of my old posts and the recommeded web sites listed in the right hand column. I'll be back on May 31st.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:08 AM | Permalink

Entrepreneurship majors, like ours here at Belmont, attract only a small percentage of students interested in business ownership. In fact, an annual survey by the Chronicle of Higher Education finds that about 40% of today's students cite owning their own business as one of the major motivations for going to college. And yet, even the most successful entrepreneurship major will attract at most 1% of the student body. This is somewhat of a concern given the importance of education in improving the success rates of entrepreneurs starting new ventures. So how do we help the rest of them?

Many schools are beginning to implement programs to reach the rest of these students where they learn. In Art, Music, Theater, English, Political Science, Biology, or whatever program they are pursuing. This is being done by offering them minors in entrepreneurship and by creating a wide array of co-curricular programs that get integrated into their education experiences.

One of the major pushes for this type of initiative is being made by the Coleman Foundation. Belmont University's Center for Entrepreneurship has just been awarded a $150,000 grant from the Coleman Foundation to expand our program called "Entrepreneurship Across Belmont."

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:22 AM | Permalink

In the rush of meeting orders and collecting enough cash for payroll, many entrepreneurs don't take enough time to celebrate accomplishments. It can be big things or little things, milestones and anniversaries. Celebrating on-going accomplishments is a way of building a positive, growth-oriented, and hopefully 'fun' culture within your business.

One of my favorite stories about celebrating milestones in business comes from one of our alumni, Charles Hagood co-founder of The Access Group. I recounted their celebratory tradition in the opening of the case study that I wrote about their business:

"The duck quacked. It was a long standing tradition at The Access Group (TAG) to enthusiastically make a stuffed duck they kept in their office quack whenever they landed a new project. In fact, that duck had been quacking much more often in recent months. The recession that started in late 2000 and the aftermath of 9/11 had taken a toll on manufacturing companies, which has been TAG's main client base. But their fiscal year 2003-2004 had seen improvement in both the top and bottom line, and their forecast for 2004-2005 was for TAG to have its best year ever. Charles Hagood and Mike Brown were once again able to think about strategies to grow their business."

That's right. Middle-aged engineers march up and down the hallway quacking a rather homely looking stuffed duck whenever they land new business. What a wonderful way to build a culture that celebrates success.

We had a tradition of celebration in our business that also involved, coincidentally, ducks.

When we first went into business together my partners, both physicians, found a particular piece of art work I hung in my office to be, well, funny. It was a rather nice scene of ducks flying out of a marsh--a painting like you might find in hundreds of offices around the country.

It looked a lot like this picture:

My partners had decorated most of our office space with trendy and modern pieces of art. My picture to them was way too "corporate" for our entrepreneurial venture. But, I liked it and it stayed.

On our first anniversary in business together, my brother (one of my two partners) gave me a present to mark our first year in business. It was--you guessed it--a duck. It was a beautiful carved mallard to be precise. On the second anniversary of going into business he gave me the female mate to my mallard. Each successive year he gave me another duck; each unique.

Over the years these ducks became a wonderful focus of conversation for those who visited my office. The ducks symbolized our staying power in the volatile industry of health care during the 1980s and 1990s. Each year our staff would check in to see this year's duck for the collection.

Finally, on the ninth and final anniversary of our business he gave me a magnificent carved loon to commemorate the successful sale of our business. I was moving to the land of loons--Minnesota--to begin my current teaching career, so it was a fitting end to our tradition.

The ducks are on prominent display in my office here at Belmont. They allow me to tell stories about tradition, celebration and longevity in business to my students.

Milestones and anniversaries are important, so be sure to celebrate.

What brought this topic to mind today? Well, it is our 27th wedding anniversary! So from Dr. C to Mrs. C -- Happy Anniversary!!!

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:24 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

I often get asked whether a new business should form as an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) or an S-Corp. My non-lawyer answer has usually been that, generally speaking, an S-Corp is a bit simpler and cheaper to set up, so unless an attorney has specific reasons to go with an LLC go with the simpler and cheaper option.

There is a lot more case law on S-corps so their rules have been ironed out more clearly over time (one of my personal business goals was to never have my name or our company name in a famous case in the tax laws). However, for most businesses the differences are not that significant so if you get set up one way or the other by your attorney don't worry about it too much. Establishing good cash flow is much more important!

If you like to explore the intricacies of the legal pros and cons of each approach to organizing your business, nolo.com has a very comprehensive overview. Reading such things makes my hair hurt, however.

Some states are moving to make forming and maintaining an LLC simpler. For example, Tennessee just enacted such legislation.

It is not a life or death decision, but is one that can be intimidating for first time business owners. You will get conflicting advice. The best course of action is to talk over your long-term business plans with your attorney and your accountant making sure that the organizational form you pick fits your vision for what the company will become. For example, a business that will likely try go public in three years may need a different approach to legal formation than a business that never plans to have more than the original two shareholders.

Also talk through costs with the attorney. There are fees to set up the legal entity charged by your lawyer, fees that the state charges to file your legal entity (different for LLC vs. S-Corp in many states), and on-going yearly fees due to the state (varies by state).

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A couple of reports may signal a softening of international entrepreneurial activity in China.

First, Red Herring reports that venture capital investments in China fell in Q1 of 2005.

"Venture capital investment in China dropped 24 percent in the first quarter, and some observers are blaming enforcement of a new government policy....The drop may have been caused by a regulatory initiative known as Document 11, which was circulated in late January. The rule makes it difficult for Chinese entrepreneurs to establish the elaborate structures that facilitate listing on international stock markets."

Second, the Treasury Department in looking into possible Chinese manipulation of monetary policies to effect trade. Any retaliatory efforts by the US could make outsourcing to China a more difficult and expensive process.

Add these developments to the pervasive reports of Chinese businesses thumbing their noses at intellectual property rights and we may see a rocky road ahead for our economic relations with this government. At a minimum, it all drastically increases the risk for American small businesses doing any business with Chinese companies in the next year.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:09 AM | Permalink

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship reports that the European Union plans to move decidedly in the direction of a planned economy. They will be funneling billions of Euros into information technology and renewable energy. Such governmental picking of economic winners is quite likely going to lead to little long term benefit, as such initiative have rarely succeeded over the long-term.

But as part of this announcement, the EU said it will be focusing its efforts on reducing regulation of small and medium enterprises. On the face of it, this is a policy that could help spur more entrepreneurial development across Europe.

However, as Europe has a long history of governmental and cultural barriers to entrepreneurship, they will have their work cut out for them. Bureaucracies and cultures take a long time to change. Additionally, there is no word on tax cuts or tax simplification, both of which are also key to encouraging more entrepreneurs.

The other key ingredient for entrepreneurial growth is education. While entrepreneurial education has increased across Europe, they are also leading efforts to create certification exams for entrepreneurs through governmental oversight.

Europe has a long history of making business start-up a difficult and even daunting process. While they are taking some small steps in the right direction, it is unlikely that they will lead to enough change to make a difference. Socialism has deep roots throughout Europe both culturally and institutionally. Most new EU policies and initiatives (remember the World Tax) are moving toward even more tax burden on wealth creation and more centralization of economic planning.

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AnyLetter is hosting Carnival of the Capitalists this week. A long list of interesting posts!

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Entrepreneur.com offers some interesting insights into trends related to American consumers. As I have written about related to the entertainment industry, mass marketing based on broad demographic categories is no longer the dominant strategy for reaching American consumers.

We are a country of "micro markets." This plays right into the hands of entrepreneurs as micro marketing is what we do best. We love finding niches and giving them what they need. There are many factors that have helped to create today's entrepreneurial economy, and this shift in American consumers is clearly among the most important forces at work.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:44 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Coyote Blog offers a glimse into his life as a small business owner through a reflection on all the stuff that has piled up on his desk. A great read!

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Overhead is the enemy of entrepreneurial start-ups. Every dollar that is spent on overhead is a dollar that does not make it to the bottom line. Precious operating profits get eaten up by overhead preventing them from becoming net profits. Bootstrapping space is one of the most common and effective means to keep overhead costs down for start-up ventures. Start in your kitchen, your garage, your basement; anywhere that does not require you to pay rent.

Anita at Small Business Trends points out the power of virtual space for start-ups in this post. Entrepreneurs can literally start businesses with the founders all over the country if they plan communication correctly.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We had graduation on Saturday at Belmont. I always enjoy the ceremony, but this weekend was a special one for me. We had our first graduates from our entrepreneurship major walk across the stage. The very first was Jason Duncan, of the blog site A Thought Over Coffee, who is moving to Montana with his wife to start their new business.

Good luck to all of the graduates!

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:21 AM | Permalink

Fortune Small Business has a column arguing that the new federal bankruptcy law will be bad for entrepreneurs. Why? They may be afraid to take certain risks.

(R)eader Johnathan A. wrote to say that he thinks the new bankruptcy law "will take away from the adventurous nature of small-business owners." He's already reevaluating his business plans: "As a small business owner, I will be less likely to take as many risks as I currently do. Expansion was a recent topic in my [business], but now I'm a little scared! If we blow it, I could lose my business, home, and personal savings."

If a risky decision has a significant chance of bankruptcy, then it is not a prudent risk. So, if the new legislation keeps Johnathan A. from being "adventurous" that means that he will not take risks that may have an impact on other small business owners who are his creditors. Somebody has to pay for his aggressive decision making. Why not Johnathan A. himself?

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:48 AM | Permalink

Indiana is the eighteenth state to pass regulatory flexibility for small businesses.

"Indiana's small business owners now have a seat at the table when regulatory decisions are made," said Thomas M. Sullivan, Chief Counsel for the SBA Office of Advocacy. "When their voice is heard, better decisions are made, and that means more jobs and growth for Indiana."

The successful passage and signing of Indiana's Small Business Regulatory Flexibility bill resulted from Indiana small business stakeholders working together in a coalition. The Indiana National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and Indiana Manufacturers Association also deserve recognition for their efforts in supporting the legislation and helping to facilitate a vibrant and growing small business sector in Indiana.

Indiana's Small Business Regulatory Flexibility bill implements key elements of regulatory flexibility model legislation drafted by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Similar to the federal Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), the model legislation encourages entrepreneurial success by requiring state agencies to consider the impact of their policies on small business before they issue final regulations.

Reducing regulation on small business and entrepreneurs, cutting and simplifying taxes across the board, and education about the entrepreneurial process are the key elements to fostering and supporting successful entrepreneurial economic development according to most research.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:38 AM | Permalink

Here is the latest report from the Congressional Joint Economic Committee. It shows a leveling off in the growth of the economy, but predicts no significant declines for the remainder of 2005.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 04:02 PM | Permalink

Targeted tax breaks do nothing over the long term to help in economic development, and yet we keep seeing examples like this one in Jackson, TN sent to me by Ben Cunningham. What creates more entrepreneurial development is lower taxes across the board. This has been proven in numerous studies, including this recent report from the SBA.

Such initiatives are a slippery slope that leads to more demands not only from the company you help today, but all the others that see this as a precedent for them to ask for a break. Since governmental official are incapable of cutting spending, this means the rest of us have to make up the difference in tax revenues.

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Like many of us, the only time I read the USA Today is when I travel. We just got back from a trip to pick up our daughter from college. While in the hotel in Gaffney, SC I came across a feature that USA Today ran on the state of the entertainment industry. While much of it has been said elsewhere, it really provides a fascinating looking at where music and the rest of the entertainment industry may be headed. USA Today put together a diverse group of people who are helping to shape the industry's future. As I read through the comments of the assembled panelists, I was struck by all of the immediate and longer term opportunities in the entertainment industry. Here are a few of the impressions I took away from their comments:

- What I am doing here this morning will soon be out of date. Blogs are just the early, archaic form of new ways to share ideas and communicate. The sprit of blogging will continue on, but its form will most certainly evolve and morph into other media.

- The market will no longer be such a "mass market", but one that is full of product and market segmentation. The "long tail" of the market will become the focus of business development. The "long tail" refers to that part of the market that does not favor the popular choices in music and entertainment. They are made up of countless little market niches out there hungry for their specific interests to be satisfied. About half of the culture is in the very tall popular culture part of the curve, but there is an incredibly long tail of that curve that continues off to the right that contains all of the various sub-markets for entertainment. With this diverse group of consumers and new means to reach highly specialized market niches, the opportunities are limitless.

For example, there are bands making a nice living off of a very small, but loyal group of followers. They can reach them through the Internet in ways that build loyalty and intimacy that most marketers would kill for. Thousands of blogs have hundreds or even thousands of very loyal readers, who share a strong and passionate commitment to a common interest.

- New forms to catalogue, store and search through all of this media that will be at our fingertips in the soon to be wide open market will need to be developed. Think of it this way; right now I have all of my favorite CDs in a 200 disc player. I have little booklets that hold the covers of these CDs for me to look through and I have the CDs grouped in blocks by musical genres (classic rock, blues, country, folk, old jazz, new jazz, classical, and so forth). While this allows me to do some rudimentary searches for a specific song, artist or musical style, it takes time and effort for me to search through all of that. iPods have a more powerful search feature that allows you to search by title, artist, etc. Both of these are limited in space by the storage capacity and neither search feature is really satisfactory, especially when applied to an open market of music that will not be limited by or defined by any hardware that I happen to own. But how to we find and organize all of that? Certainly Google is not the answer. In fact, if the now corporate Google does not reinvent itself ten times over in the next few years it, too, will become irrelevant.

Soon you will be able to communicate your mood or the setting and artificial intelligence that has learned from your past decisions and information combined with an almost limitless database of entertainment will be able to, well, entertain you beyond anything you can now imagine.

- Advertising will need to reinvent itself as an industry, as well. Again, think of that long tail of little market niches that stretches on and on. Mass marketing techniques to a captured audience will not work in this space.

- The devices we use for music, video and other forms of entertainment in 2015 may not have even been dreamed of today in 2005. Convergence of our current devices is just an attempt to fit a bunch of round pegs into square holes. Eventually there will be a breakthrough or a series of breakthroughs. There will be another group of entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who will bring this new world of media technology to us.

- Even what forms media takes will change. Video, audio, the Internet, as we now know all them, will all seem like quaint antiques within a decade or two.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:16 AM | Permalink

Market? Margin? Me?

Those are the three questions that my students hear over and over when they come to me with new ideas. One of the most important keys to becoming a successful entrepreneur is learning how to ask and assess these three questions. This is not the stuff of some full blown business plan. It begins, instead, with a simple, common sense look at the market.

StartupJounral explores the "Market?" question recommending that potential entrepreneurs use easy to gather data, that often is right at their finder, tips to validate their ideas. Talk to people in the industry. If you don't come across as selling they are usually happy to give you their opinions. Use the Web to gather information on major trends that may help or hurt your idea over the coming years. And get to know how your potential customers think and what is really important to them in making purchasing decisions.

Find out if the idea is a non-starter before you invest your time and other people's money in the deal. Learn to fail on paper.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:46 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (2)

Disabled Americans have more freedom of movement, more access, and more opportunities than ever before. Fortune Small Business examines this growing market.

"After he had driven four hours to buy a wheel-chair that would allow him to play tennis-and was ignored by the salespeople at the company that made it-John Box was so angry that he decided to do something about it. When Box returned home, he and a brother, both engineers, teamed up to invent their own athletic-oriented chair. Box was soon marketing it at the wheelchair tennis matches in which he competed around the country."

As we baby-boomers are now old (no longer getting older--just old according to my students), this market may become even larger over the next 20-30 years. Even today this market includes about 50 million Americans.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:39 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (2)

Economic conditions for small businesses moderated in the first quarter of 2005, according to the Office of Advocacy's newly released Quarterly Indicators: The Economy And Small Business. The report shows real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3.1 percent in the quarter and unemployment falling to 5.2 percent.

"The economy cooled in the first quarter of 2005 as higher energy costs weighed on the public's mind," said Dr. Chad Moutray, Chief Economist for the Office of Advocacy. "While real GDP grew at 3.1 percent, that is slower than the previous quarter. Small business owners remained optimistic, although at lower levels than in 2004."

During the quarter, interest rates continued to increase as policymakers tried to dampen inflationary pressures. The average prime lending rate rose to 5.4 percent, while the 2004 average was 4.3 percent. Nonetheless, the Senior Loan Officers Survey showed the demand for small business commercial and industrial loans remained strong.

Energy prices played a key role in the first quarter of 2005. The average price of West Texas crude reached $54.31 a barrel in March 2005 -- almost $11 more than the December 2004 average.

This increase affected consumer prices, so that between December 2004 and March 2005 they rose at an annualized 4.25 percent rate, with 1.37 percentage points of the rise attributable to energy costs. Producer prices followed a similar pattern.

(Source: SBA Office of Advocacy).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:33 AM | Permalink

A Penny For... is our host this week.

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Sixteen students from the Belmont University Entrepreneurship Club attended the International convention of Delta Epsilon Chi in Anaheim, California this past week. The annual business conference hosted approximately 2,000 college and university students.

Belmont students won twenty awards in the various competitions that were part of this conference.

The team of Aleah Armstrong, Jessi Menish, and Heather Stohl took first place the Entrepreneurial Challenge. The team was awarded a $1,000 cash prize for winning this event.

The following students also won awards at the convention:

Financial Services Competition:

Ben Feller -- Written Exam, Role Play, Finalist, Top 10
Joe Drake -- Written Exam, Role Play, Finalist, Top 10

Marketing Management Competition:

Jessica Phillips -- Role Play, Finalist, Top 10

Apparel and Accessories Competition:

Aleah Armstrong -- Role Play, Finalist, Top 10
Lauren Alexander -- Written Exam

Web Design Competition:

Sara Loeppke -- Top 10
Cameron Powell -- Top 10

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:46 AM | Permalink

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship reports that the numbers related to VC activity may be beginning to soften. This is likely due to a variety of factors with Sarbanes-Oxley at the top of the list due to the chill it has cast on IPOs.

They are reporting on a study issued by the National Venture Capital Association.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:16 AM | Permalink

Bryan Freeman, founder of SnackWorks, was the keynote speaker to the Entrepreneurship Academy here at the Delta Epsilon Chi conference I am attending this week with my students. One of his main points was how important it is for entrepreneurs to know how to sell. No other activity is more important for a start-up than getting customers to buy the product or service and get cash flow coming in the door. And yet, many entrepreneurs are not prepared to sell.

The selling process for any start-up entrepreneur is a relatively simple process, according to Freeman, if executed properly:

- Make the call! Get over your fears and start calling on potential customers.

Start-up entrepreneurs hesitate to get out and mix it up with their customers. It may be due to fear of rejection, uncertainty about their product, or inexperience with selling. Selling is a skill that can be improved and honed over time.

- Develop your elevator story. Be able to tell what you do in three sentences or less.

The attention span and patience of any potential customer is going to be very short. Develop a clear, concise message of who you are and what you offer.

- Explain the benefit, not just the features.

For example, a feature is that your product tastes better. The benefit is that it will increase your customers' sales by 20% with an increase in margins on their sales of 10%. Customers will come to your business if you offer clear benefits to them, not just nifty features. They will need to be motivated, so make it easy and make it logical for them to choose you.

- Validate these benefits.

Be able to offer specific examples of how your product or service helped other customers. Testimonials and references do help. Getting the first customer can be the hardest, but it becomes the most important because it begins to build your legitimacy.

- Ask for a relationship. Set up the next contact as you finish up this contact.

You have to manage the relationship with your customer. "if you build it they will come" is a lie when it comes to entrepreneurs.

Bryan founded SnackWorks after leaving school in 1998. He recently sold the company for about $20 million. He must really know how to sell!

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:25 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (5)

Conexion Americas provides financial, entrepreneurial and small business education and assistance to the Hispanic community in Nashville, TN. One of the founders of this non-profit entrepreneurial venture is Jose Gonzalez, a graduate of Belmont University's Massey School MBA program. The specific services they provide to the Nashville Hispanic community include:

- Financial literacy education
- A homeownership program
- Taxpayer education and assistance
- Small business education, networking opportunities and peer interaction

Jose worked on the planning for Conexion Americas while in his MBA program. The idea evolved over time and he says that the final outcome looks nothing like the original idea, he credits being part of the MBA program as being a major catalyst in getting Conexion Americas started.

"Part of the reason why I decided to go to business school was so that I could reevaluate my career path. When I was going through my MBA program at the Massey School, I determined that I wanted to find something where I had a distinct competitive advantage but that I also felt passionate about. After many months of conversations and evaluation of various ideas, I was lucky enough to find two partners that shared vision, values and had tremendous energy. We pent a couple of months putting together a business plan and decided to launch the organization."

Conexion Americas builds upon the experience and history of the Hispanic Family Resource Center (HFRC), a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 to provide information and referral services in Spanish and help Hispanic families and individuals connect with needed resources.

In 2002, the HFRC Board of Directors faced the challenge to respond in a comprehensive way to the needs of the growing Hispanic immigrant population of Middle Tennessee. They wanted to broaden the scope of the organization and have greater impact in the community. However, the organization had limited capacity to respond to this challenge.

Simultaneously, Jose and his partners were developing a business plan for a new Latino organization that would work to assist the Hispanic communities of Middle Tennessee to improve their living conditions. After learning about the HFRC Board's desire, Jose and his partners approached the existing organization and proposed to combine efforts: The HFRC would provide the infrastructure and seven-year history; the new group would provide a new vision, new leadership and capacity for implementation.

In April of 2002 the HFRC Board embraced this opportunity and a renewed organization was born: Conexion Americas. Since then, the original information and referral service of the HFRC has evolved into the Spanish Help Line for Middle Tennessee in collaboration with the Crisis Intervention Center. New programs in the areas of social, economic and civic integration have been developed and launched.

Funding for the venture came from various sources. The 'seed' money was primarily provided by some of the larger local foundations in Middle Tennessee.

"In that sense, raising money for the venture was not much different from a for profit venture where 'angel money' would provide the basis for growth. We prepared a business plan, went around the city, pitched the plan, and the 'investors' looked at the market opportunity, the management team and the implementation plan and they believed and provided initial support."

The biggest challenges have been the continued search for financial support to sustain the programs they have launched. One of the biggest surprises is the support and overall positive attitude and image that main stream Tennessee has of the immigrant community.

"This community is recognized as hard working, family oriented and making strong contributions to the society and economy of Tennessee. Unfortunately however, there is an anti-immigrant 'vocal minority.' We spend more time than we would like, educating, responding and working against the anti-immigrant movement than we would like or anticipated."

Jose sees a bright future for the social entrepreneurial venture he helped to found.

"We're still a young organization. We're consolidating many of the programs we've launched over the last three years. I'd like to see Conexion evolve in its resources, both human and financial, to be able to get to a point where I feel comfortable saying that this organization is here to stay and will be here 20 years from now."

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:02 AM | Permalink

I will be blogging from California for the rest of the week. I am here with a group of 16 of our undergraduate students at the annual meeting of Delta Epsilon Chi.

There will be over 2,000 college students here exploring various topics of business and entrepreneurship. I will keep you posted on what happens here, as these young folks represent the future of our economy.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 09:08 AM | Permalink

Small Business Trends has a post on a study that finds that 10% of small businesses plan to use blogs as part of their marketing efforts.

An example of this can be seen with one of my soon to be graduated students who runs the A Thought Over Coffee. Jason is trying to build a buzz the new coffee shop he plans to open in Bozeman, MT.

My one caution is to be aware of noise. As more web sites and blogs pop up it gets harder to get attention and drive folks to your sites. This needs to be an active process. These are not passive media. You need to find ways to get people to these sites and give them reasons to return. Also, it takes time to build interest in a blog. Patience and persistence are key to giving it a chance to work for you business.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 08:59 AM | Permalink

Small manufacturers will benefit from regulatory reforms being considered by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) according to congressional testimony given today by Thomas M. Sullivan, Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Sullivan testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and Oversight.

"For manufacturing firms employing fewer than 20 employees, the annual regulatory burden in 2000 was estimated to be $16,920 per employee nearly 2 1/2 times greater than the $7,054 estimated for firms with more than 500 employees."

(Source: SBA Office of Advocacy)

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 08:49 AM | Permalink

Inc has issued its top American cities for business for 2005. Among the very best, Green Bay, Wisconsin, home of my beloved Packers.

My new home town of Nashville was ranked 19th among largest cities.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:53 AM | Permalink

Entrepreneurship as a force for economic development is alive and well in America's cities. The Institute for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and Inc Magazine have announced the annual Inner City 100, which includes the fastest growing businesses located in America’s inner cities.

Microenterprise, a major force in urban economic development, is also contributing to growth. From 2000-2002 microenterprise employment grew by 5.1% according to the Association of Enterprise Opportunity. At the state level, microenterprise employment grew in every state but Alaska.

Both of these reports are from the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (3)

The ACCESS Group (TAG) and its affiliate companies have been recognized as a 2005 Business Tennessee Fast50 company by Business TN Magazine. (Co-founder Charles Hagood is a Belmont Massey School MBA alumnus).

The statewide business magazine announced its annual list of companies last week. The Fast50 is a list of the fastest growing companies in the State of Tennessee as determined by the business periodical. TAG provides various engineering, project management, and consulting services to client companies all over the world, in addition to complete turn-key plant relocations services to industrial clients. TAG clients include such notable companies as GE, Cessna, TYCO, Brunswick, Volvo, and other notable companies.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:14 AM | Permalink

COTC is up at Incite.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:22 PM | Permalink

Here is part of the text from a speech titled "The Entrepreneur As American Hero" that columnist Walter Williams gave at Hillsdale College:

"Whenever the profit incentive is missing, the probability that people's wants can be safely ignored is the greatest. If a poll were taken asking people which services they are most satisfied with and which they are most dissatisfied with, for-profit organizations (supermarkets, computer companies and video stores) would dominate the first list while non-profit organizations (schools, offices of motor vehicle registration) would dominate the latter. In a free economy, the pursuit of profits and serving people are one and the same. No one argues that the free enterprise system is perfect, but it's the closest we'll come here on Earth."

(Thanks to my favorite octogenarian entrepreneur, R.M. Cornwall, for sending this my way).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:43 AM | Permalink

The new bankruptcy law does not just have an impact on individuals, but also changes the rules for businesses seeking bankruptcy protection. It seems that individuals weren't the only ones trying to avoid the consequences of their actions. From the Tennessean:

"Businesses seeking to restructure their operations under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection will face stiffer restrictions and limitations on their conduct. Among the more notable are tough limits on the retention and severance packages paid to the executives of companies who have filed for bankruptcy protection."

While creditors were left wondering what if anything they could expect in payments, the executives of the bankrupt business were getting extra compensation to remain with the company. Too bad their own sense of responsibility is not enough for them to stay and help get the company through the mess they may have helped to create. It seems a bonus is in order for such actions.

There are times when bankruptcy is the only viable choice for a company. As we saw with in the aftermath of 9-11, for example, not all bankruptcies are predictable or controllable events. But many are, and the easier it is for managers and business owners to duck their obligations the more willing they may be to take make less than prudent decisions.

The current laws are structured to "provide protection" for business from their creditors. Now we have a little more protection for the creditors, who most often also are small businesses trying to stay afloat.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:21 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)