GRAND CHUTE — Anyone who has considered starting a business still has time to sign up for The Venture Center's fall series 10-week E-Seed program at Fox Valley Technical College.
The program is designed to help entrepreneurs determine if small business ownership is feasible and to explore the necessary steps to launch or expand a business model.
The program includes expert instruction from industry leaders and focuses on topics including competition analysis, market opportunities, legal issues, insurance and regulatory matters, accounting, and the availability of finances.
Sessions are planned around the greater Fox Cities area including:
•Monday, FVTC's D.J. Bordini Center, 5 Systems Drive, Grand Chute; two sessions, 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m.
•Tuesday, New London Senior Center, 600 W. Washington St, 6 to 9 p.m.
•Wednesday, FVTC's Waupaca Regional Center, 1979 Godfrey Drive, 6 to 9 p.m.
•Sept. 16, FVTC's Oshkosh Riverside campus, 150 N. Campbell Road, 6 to 9 p.m.
For more information, call 920-735-5709 or visit www.fvtc.edu/swreg to register.
FVTC's Venture Center provides programming and services in three areas: entrepreneurial studies, business development and innovation. The E-Seed program is an entrepreneurship training series, assists start-up, early-stage entrepreneurs and experienced small business owners in developing management and planning tools for their businesses.
APPLETON - With kids barely back to school, rulers are making way for reapers, as glue sticks give way to ghouls.
Though its more than 50 days away, retailers are already pushing Halloween.
"We're thinking about Halloween all year and a lot of our customers are thinking of halloween all year, cause they're decorating their front yards, they're having some big parties," Todd Cloutier with Halloween Express said.
Cloutier says it's the third largest party day of the year, behind the Superbowl and New Years. That means big business for stores.
According to the National Retail Federation, consumers spent $4.75 billion on Halloween last year. On average, $56 per family.
It falls behind Christmas, Mother's Day, Valentines, Easter and Father's Day however, because shoppers don't usually buy big ticket items.
Retailers say people spend on costumes and decorations, but candy is the real money maker for Halloween.
Just ask Dennis Bucholtz of Weyauwega and his son.
"We do a lot of candy and take him out trick or treating and all the neighbor kids," Bucholtz said as he browsed store aisles.
But shops aren't the only ones rushing the season, area haunted houses have been prepping since summer.
"It's never too early," YouthGo Executive Director Kelly Hicks said. "They're ready as soon as haunted house ends, they're already talking about ideas for next year."
The haunted halls going up in Neenah, will support programming for the youth center's middle and high schoolers. Leaders of the non-profit say it's crunch time for their biggest fundraiser.
"Really there is so much that has to get done, that it's pretty much go time.," Hicks said.
Spooky or not, Halloween preparations aren't limited to October.
YouthGo's haunted house is open the last four weekends in October. Tickets benefit the organization and are $10.
Although a shortage of entrepreneurs may not sound like an economic crisis, to maintain vibrancy and stability – striking a healthy balance between the self-employed and the salaried – every community needs a steady supply of new entrepreneurs.
“We need entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs,” said Amy Pietsch, director of The Venture Center at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton. “We need risk-takers that go out and start businesses as well as risk-takers within organizations that help drive new organic growth.”
Small business incubators, such as FVTC’s Venture Center, are ramping up efforts to promote careers in entrepreneurship in the hopes of attracting more young people to the ranks of the self-employed, a workforce-generation segment that is no exception to the trend of baby-boomer retirements.
As an increasing number of small business owners hit retirement age, more turnkey businesses will be looking for new owners – creating a gold-mine of opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs who are eager to try their hand at small business ownership but do not want to start from scratch.
“If you talk with (business brokerage firms) like Cornerstone Business Services in Green Bay, they are forecasting a large opportunity in terms of people transitioning ownership of a company,” Pietsch said. The next 10 to 15 years will be rife with opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs who “want to purchase an existing company because somebody is retiring or planning to sell.”
Getting young people energized about careers in entrepreneurship is one of the Venture Center’s primary goals. To that end, the Venture Center has ramped up efforts to make entrepreneurship more accessible to young people by sponsoring an annual youth conference, offering for-credit and non-credit training opportunities and giving students hands-on experience running campus-based businesses.
Students pursuing a technical diploma or associate’s degree at FVTC can earn an entrepreneurship certificate, combining their technical skills with small business savvy.
Entrepreneurs are an essential ingredient to keeping Wisconsin’s business landscape vibrant and creating new jobs that sustain economic growth, Pietsch said.
“Jobs don’t come from government,” Pietsch said. “They come from people starting businesses and existing business people being able to grow and expand. Entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs are critical to our economic future, and it’s important that we have an infrastructure that helps them reach their highest level of success.”
Competing against high volume vet clinics with individual, patient-centric pet care story
SKIP THE BOTTOM-LINE EFFICIENCY EXPERTS. Round out the corners (versus cutting them). Bring in the staff you want and spend the time you need. In short, sometimes, you just have to devote more time, more energy, more heart and more gut-level, one-on-one passion and compassion to your business, even if it means you may not end up relaxing on the biggest yacht in the marina at the end of the day.
That’s the way Dr. Patrick Mahoney, owner of American Animal Hospital in Neenah, does business. Talk to him for more than a few minutes and it becomes obvious that this is more than just a job, and he is more than just a veterinarian. Their mission and motto is: “Caring for your pets as if they were our own.”
Mahoney readily admits that “we run a touchy-feely practice. We are advocates for both the owners and their pets. We are very patient focused. When you bring your pet into our hospital, we actually have a patient advocate. One person will be assigned to be with you. There is a one-on-one from the time you come in until the time you leave.”
As a result, Mahoney sometimes ends up competing toe-to-toe with the growing number of quick-in, quick-out, low-cost, high-volume pet clinics in the area. His greatest joy is the animals and their owners, many of whom become personal friends. His greatest challenge is educating potential clients that quality pet care does cost more than what they might spend at the bare-bones, cookie cutter clinics.
That also helps explain the clinic’s 14 staff members, even though it is not a high-volume practice. The staff bios on the animal hospital’s Web site not only give their professional titles and skills, but also something personal about their backgrounds and, of course, their animals.
That translates into dedicated professionalism. You cannot just drop off your pet for a quick spaying at the American Animal Hospital.
“We require blood testing before surgery and an exam to determine that the heart is good, teeth are fine, and so on. We also use IV fluids,” said Mahoney, all to assure that the animal receives the best care possible and endures as little pain as possible.
The facility is also accredited with the American Animal Hospital Association, which sets high standards for everything from record keeping to continuing education, quality of X-rays, and quality of service.
“Most people do not realize that animal hospitals have no inspection or required accreditation. We’re one of a few in the area that have adopted the AAHA standards.”
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July/August/September 2010
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