Entrepreneurs
Business course, Entrepreneurship 101, begins Jan 10 at Business Incubator
Business Acceleration System will offer Entrepreneurship 101 free of charge to new entrepreneurs, starting today. Participants will attend a 90-minute class once each week for five weeks on Tuesdays or Thursdays. Classes will be held at the Central Louisiana Business Incubator, 1501-A Wimbledon Drive in Alexandria. Full article.
Millennial entrepreneurs skip the unemployment line
There’s a national movement to drive the Millennial Generation to become entrepreneurs and start their own businesses, rather than wait for more jobs to open up in today's rough economy. Called Buy Young, the initiative was organized by Our Time, a non-profit, non-partisan group in Washington, D.C., that focuses on issues that matter to people age 30 and younger. On the Buy Young website, consumers are encouraged to support and shop at small businesses owned by entrepreneurs ages 35 and under. Full article.
Idea factory
Entrepreneurs face multiple challenges, but one of their biggest is that of isolation. Creative Louisiana is a new monthly lecture series that matches successful creatives with budding entrepreneurs. Creative Louisiana's monthly meetings foster collaboration between successful business owners and budding entrepreneurs, and are scheduled to allow participants to be at work by 10 a.m. Full article.
Entrepreneurs share their secrets of success
Baton Rouge Entrepreneur Week takes place Nov. 11-18 as part of Global Entrepreneur Week. This article is a series of interviews with successful entrepreneurs. Full article.
Business Incubator to house commercial kitchen for entrepreneurs
The Central Louisiana Business Incubator will have a commercial kitchen that will function as a place for entrepreneurs to train, prepare food in a safe environment and grow their businesses. Delta Regional Authority recently announced a $100,000 grant to finish the kitchen at the facility on Wimbledon Drive in Alexandria. The first phase of the kitchen has been completed, and the grant from DRA will be used to install new flooring, additional equipment and make sure the facility meets health and safety codes. Full article.
Five 'Thinking Traps' entrepreneurs should avoid
Idealab, a Pasadena based technology incubator, formed 75 startups in the past 15 years, selling or taking public 30 of them. Some of the "thinking traps" Idealab tries to avoid include: the tendency to favor data the confirms one’s preconceptions or hypotheses, being afraid of entrepreneurs who experienced past failures, attributing people’s behavior to their fundamental character rather than to the current situation they find themselves in, and not pulling the plug on early stage companies and declaring the venture a loss. Full article.
Opportunities for entrepreneurs
Small Business Trends is a website that lists awards and contests that are open to entrepreneurs. Some listings are geographically defined, but others are open to all entrepreneurs. The list of contests, competitions and awards for small businesses is brought to you every other week as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology. Visit website.
Gourmet chefs rent a kitchen
There's a business venture underway in New York that's giving live to would-be gourmets. Part time cooks and culinary entrepreneurs share a commercial kitchen that's fully equipped for professional use. The cooks pay rent to use the facility in shifts, and pay more or less according to the time of day or night. Full article.
New Entrepreneur Class
Our latest entrepreneurship class is titled Strategic Planning and will be held on November 30 and December 2nd at the Central LA Business Incubator.
The course will provide an overview of Strategic Planning as a process and as a means for best managing resources through the creation of a working document. Attendees will have an opportunity to work on a SWOT analysis and a Mission Statement as they gain a firm understanding of the potential benefits and the options for initiating a Strategic Planning process in their own organization, and will be taught by Wayne Denley on Nov. 30 and Dec. 2 at the Central Louisiana Business Incubator.
When to write a business plan
The value of putting together even a simple business plan is that the process forces startup entrepreneurs to confront some basic principles of business that they would likely miss—to potentially bad consequences—otherwise. A business plan can focus you on assessing your competition and puzzling out your unique selling proposition and will allow you to set revenue, expense, and profit projections. Full article.
