Education Primer: Hitting the books

Hitting the books

by Andrew Tellijohn   David Burley and his business partners, Stephanie and Luke Shimp, were running the Highland Grill about five years ago, thinking about opening more restaurants. When they opened the first diner, they wrote a business plan, but it didn’t contain as detailed and specific financial information as they needed for any expansion plans.So Burley talked to a friend that had done some teaching at the University of St. Thomas, and learned about the school’s FastTrac program.“It was really beneficial,” Burley says. “Step by step, they sort of coached me through it.”Two years later, after opening a second restaurant, he went back again for the second FastTrac phase, which he likened to a mini-MBA program. Now, The Blue Plate Restaurant Co. operates four restaurants with plans to open three more over time.“If you are thinking about opening a business, do FastTrac,” he says. “It makes you ask hard questions and that’s what you really need to get good at is asking yourself tough questions.”Whether they have already started their company or they are trying to give life to an idea, entrepreneurs in need of an education can find a multitude of outlets. The University of St. Thomas is largely considered a local powerhouse. The school offers three FastTrac development programs, in conjunction with Kansas City-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, each focusing on a different business stage. Those areas — new venture, manufacturing and planning — cover issues such as financing, feasibility planning and marketing strategy.“It’s focused on building the skills that can help you enhance your chances of business success,” says Shauna Dodge-Oakley, director of marketing and communications for the school’s Center for Business Excellence. The school’s new Schulze School of Entrepreneurship also houses the William C. Norris Institute, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the Center for Family Enterprise, and the John M. Morrison Center for Entrepreneurship.The SBDC, in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration, has consultants that sit down and work with business people. That includes not only entrepreneurs, but also executives with large corporations who are trying to think more creatively, says Mark Spriggs, director of the school of entrepreneurship.Other college alternatives
There are plenty of other academic and nonacademic options available. Dakota County Technical College, for example, has been offering some self-employment coursework for the past 30 years. But two years ago, the school established its Business Entrepreneurship Institute and added a certificate in entrepreneurship that covers key elements such as writing a business plan and managing finances.The school also is working to add resources that will be available for students once they complete their program, says Christine Pigsley, associate dean of business.“You have to be there not only when someone is taking classes,” she says. “You have to create networking in the community and provide longer-term support.”Some of that support is provided through regular events highlighted by speakers from successful growing companies, including Dick Enrico, founder of St. Louis Park-based 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment, and Sally Smith, CEO of the publicly held Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.The school is also looking into some incubator space to help small businesses start and grow, and working to establish a partnership with organizations such as WomenVenture in St. Paul to make their classes more accessible to business owners outside Minneapolis and St. Paul.“We have created some of the same types of offerings in the suburbs,” Pigsley says.The Business Entrepreneurship Institute was founded in 2004 and is located in Apple Valley at the Partners in Education Building. It is a natural extension of the two-year technical college just as entrepreneurial centers at four-year degree offering schools have been for years, Pigsley says.“We recognized that entrepreneurship needed to be woven into all of the other programs,” she says. “Not everybody who takes a traditional trade is going to go work for someone else. A lot of them are going to work for themselves.”Pigsley says the coming year will likely be a big year for the program with job uncertainty at companies like Eagan-based Northwest Airlines Corp. “I think that you are going to see a lot more entrepreneurship in 2006,” she says.If college campuses make you cringe, there still are plenty of options available, says Mel Aanerud, assistant director of the Minnesota office of the SBA.“There’s a consortium of groups that put on small-business resource fairs,” he says. “There’s a lot of stuff.”One free option is the Business Planning Center, located on University Avenue in St. Paul. The organization, with support from the Twin Cities corporate community, the SBA and SCORE, has a library full of information available for people writing business plans and doing other preliminary work, says Tom Trutna, business planning specialist with the SBA and manager of the center.Also available are 12 computer stations loaded with software that will assist entrepreneurs in writing business plans, making business cards and brochures, and producing financial projections.Additionally, the center hosts three-hour sessions with local attorneys from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Tuesday that can provide business legal advice. An SBA loan officer is on hand from 12:30 to 2:30 on Thursdays, followed by a loan officer from one of more than a dozen local banks from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The best part? With grants and donations from the local corporate community, all the center’s services are free to the public.“We don’t get any money from any government sources,” Trutna says. “It’s not a big drain on the taxpayer.” Other organizations available to provide assistance, according to Aanerud, include the Metropolitan Economic Development Association in Minneapolis; the St. Paul-based Neighborhood Development Center, led by Executive Director Mike Temali; the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE); and the Minnesota SBA, which Aanerud says will soon add courses done in conjunction with some local churches to its plethora of resources. “Last I checked there were 63 classes and they are all free,” he says.Aanerud also cited several Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) located throughout the state. They have on-site resources and host annual events, such as an annual resource fair at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Park. Specialty groups
Finally, there are organizations that specialize in training people of specific gender, ethnicity or other demographics. Willetta DeYoung traveled the world working in fashion design for a large company. She worked in graphic art for a while. For a while, she thought she would move her way up the corporate ladder. But she couldn’t get the idea of being her own boss out of her system. In order to better figure out what she wanted to do, she took seminars and sought information from the SBA, SCORE, St. Thomas and others. Then, when she stopped at the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office seeking information about starting a business here, she learned of WomenVenture. She talked to representatives of the organization and eventually took some seminars that helped flesh out her business plans.Now, approaching two years into establishing Minneapolis-based DeYoung Design Inc., which does business as Exclusive Digital Printed Textiles, she still meets with a WomenVenture counselor on a regular basis. Starting the business hasn’t been as glamorous or easy as DeYoung had hoped. Getting finances to lease her equipment was difficult and she’s not ready yet to hire help that would alleviate her workload. But her association with WomenVenture helps her stay positive and excited about what the future holds.“There have been times where I have been really down. I call her and ask her why nothing is working,” she says about her WomenVenture counselor.The organization offers classes, consulting services and assistance and lending through government grants. Consulting services cost generally a half-dollar per minute, though entrepreneurs can get 10 minutes free on orientation evenings, says Heidi Pliam, the organization’s director of business development.WomenVentures’ trademark series, “Planning to Succeed,” is an eight-course  business curriculum that admits up to 40 students per class. There is no degree, but Pliam says the organization is trying to get accredited through Dakota County Technical College and Anoka-Ramsey Community College.“We are catered to the small-business owner,” she says, adding that while the organization’s name is no accident and its clientele is primarily female, it is rounded out by about 15 percent men.The College of St. Catherine’s International Institute for Women Entrepreneurs also has a number of outreach methods. Every third Thursday of the month, the Institute hosts “Stay Connected,” a networking and educational event that attracts more than 30 people.Topics include business growth, leadership, and work-life balance. In January, for example, attorneys from the Minneapolis-based law firm Rider Bennett discussed doing an estate plan for business owners, says Lynn Middleton, program coordinator.“They’re getting to be better and better known,” she says of the events, which have been around since 2003 and usually attract more non-St. Catherine’s graduates than former attendees. “It doesn’t hurt St. Kate’s at all to be exposed to this whole new audience of women.”The school also has an annual “Get Connected” half-day conference in May and the “CoffeeTable,” a series of morning events during which business issues are discussed.Finally, its “RoundTables,” groups of 12 to 14 female entrepreneurs, with $250,000 or more in sales, that meet monthly with trained facilitators to work through common issues, have also become increasingly popular.“It’s sort of a commitment to stay together for a year as a group,” Middleton says.Darcy Ellarby, owner of Savage-based ITFirst Inc., is one such member. She joined her company in 1995 and acquired it in 1999. She had expected to become a partner, but says she was surprised and unprepared to become a sole owner. “It was sort of a shock,” she says. “It was either jump in and do it myself or take a job somewhere.”She did some on-the-job learning, but also became a participant in one of the school’s RoundTables. “I really, truly have a group of people who are my peers and are in much later stages of their companies,” Ellarby says. “It’s been just a fantastic experience.”

[contact] Mel Aanerud, Minnesota SBA office: 612.370.2324; me************@*ba.gov; www.sba.gov. David Burley, Blue Plate Restaurant Co.: 651.690.2102;  da***@********ll.com; www.longfellow.com. Willetta DeYoung, EDP Textiles: 612.377.9100;  wi******@*********es.com; www.edptextiles.com. Shauna Dodge-Oakley, University of St. Thomas: 651.962.4609; sl*********@******as.edu; www.stthomas.edu/cbe. Darcy Ellarby, ITFirst Inc.: 952.707.0550;  da***********@*****st.com;  www.itfirst.com. Lynn Middleton, College of St. Catherine’s International Institute for Women Entrepreneurs: 651.690.8665;  lm********@****te.edu; www.stkate.edu/iiwe. Christine Pigsley, Dakota County Technical College: 651.423.8600;*******@**tc.edu“> in*******@**tc.edu; www.dctcbei.com. Heidi Pliam, WomenVenture: 651.646.3808, x. 124;  hp****@**********re.org;   www.womenventure.com. Mark Spriggs, University of St. Thomas: 651.962.4256;  mt*******@******as.edu; www.stthomas.edu/cob/schoolofentrepreneurship. Tom Trutna, Business Planning Center: 651.209.1884; th***********@*ba.gov; www.sba.gov/mn