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Create the job that you always wanted !

The lifeblood of rural communities is often entrepreneurs who start and expand their businesses in their hometowns, creating jobs and cash flow for their communities.

Independence County is working to seed new small businesses through a six week Entrepreneur Boot Camp.

“The Independence County Economic Development Commission is putting on this boot camp to help train and organize new start-up enterprises,” Ed Mabry, executive director of the commission, said in an email.

“Small business is the backbone of the U.S. economy, and they employ the most people overall. Local people have some great ideas for business but may not have all the tools to make the best start. A lot of the people we talk to need a good business plan, or a good marketing plan, or need to know where to find proper financing.”

In rural communities that depend on small businesses for economic survival, support for them is especially important.

“In the rural counties in Arkansas, the odds of us getting large companies to employ a lot of people are minimal,” said Herb Lawrence, director for the Arkansas State University Small Business and Technology Development Center. “In economically strong communities, you’ve got to be willing to support small enterprise.”

The boot camp costs $50 and is cosponsored by the center, the Independence County Economic Development Council, Citizens Bank, First Community Bank and the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville. Twenty three Independence County residents are enrolled in the classes, which are midway through the session. Each night of the boot camp, a different aspect of business is covered, such as marketing, accounting, legal issues and personnel.

Although there is a $50 charge for the classes, those who complete the entire series get their money back.

“We have a seventh night, which is graduation,” Lawrence said. “They present an executive summary of their business plans, and we rip their [tuition] checks up.”

Lawrence said that when the budding entrepreneurs graduate, they have a complete business plan and the tools to start a new business.

Once the business is started, the new owners become clients of the development center, where consultants are available free of charge to help answer questions and offer guidance to keep the new business going.

“The overall theory is that you bring people in who have the desire to be an entrepreneur and give them the tools with which to achieve that,” Independence County Judge Robert Griffin said about the boot camp.

source - http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2011/nov/06/rural-areas-encourage-small-business-grow-20111106/

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