Business Plan Competition

If you have a business plan that is just waiting for the right opportunity, if you have a fire in your belly to create something important that can lead to job creation, below if just the opportunity you have been waiting for. Please feel free to get in touch, if you need assistance.



TO: Friends of the incubator, area entrepreneurs, students, and colleagues



FROM: Stan Mandel, Professor of Practice, Director of Angell Center of ENT



DATE: July 29, 2011






SUBJECT: PTP NEXT Seed Funding Competition Opens August 15th


Trust your summer is progressing nicely and you are finding new opportunities to capitalize on. Following is one you may wish to participate in as it offers exciting opportunities if you are launching a new venture or wish to be part of an ecosystem to assist in such launches.



Please check out the PTP NEXT Business competition http://ptpnext.com, a brand new grant and support competition for innovative Triad NC region entrepreneurs, and share it with your colleagues, clients, students, constituents and friends.



PTP NEXT is spearheaded by a truly collaborative, talented and region-wide group of young leaders who are deeply committed to the Piedmont Triad's future economic vitality. They've forged partnerships with NC IDEA (who has granted more than $2 million to 57 young NC companies) and the Piedmont Triad Partnership. PTP NEXT is working closely with the Angell Center for Entrepreneurship and our incubator-among many others - so that young Triad companies can successfully compete for grants of up to $50K. (If you or your organization wants to be more actively involved, you can connect via their website.)



The online application launches on August 15th and is open only until September 9th, so our immediate task is to spread the word. Detailed info about eligibility and the review process is on the PTP NEXT websitehttp://ptpnext.com and I've also attached their recent press release.



We all know that lack of early funding is one of our biggest obstacles, so I encourage you to get behind this effort and spread the word.



Best regards, Stan




Stanley W. Mandel, Ph.D., CPA, PE
Professor of Practice and Director, Angell Center for Entrepreneurship
Schools of Business
Wake Forest University
P.O. Box 7659
Winston-Salem, NC 27109

mandelsw@wfu.edu

p 336.758.3689

c 335.671.9884
f 336.758.4514

More on young entrepreneurs

I go to the Agurban Newsletter for update this week on your entrepreneurs that are making a difference in their communities. If you enjoy these entries and know of similar stories locally, please share them. I am sure that our young people are as creative and innovative as those that are shown below.

More Young Entrepreneurs!

Thanks to our many readers for submitting examples of young entrepreneurs. Below are three more stories.

Tyler Finchum, 18, of Muscatine, IA, developed Farm Manuals Fast as an online business that reaches customers around the globe. Tyler sells digital copies of operator manuals to farmers and agrarian workers through his website, giving those producers of the world's food supply information they need to keep older farm equipment operating. His customers purchase manuals and download the documents.

"Sometimes the manuals are so rare, if they couldn't get it from me, they'd probably just leave the equipment in a ditch somewhere," states Tyler.

Thirteen year old Jacob Bernhardt has taken a different approach to summertime entrepreneurship. He has been making and selling his own trout flies at the Great Falls Farmer's Market for the last few years. From a small kit, Jacob taught himself to make the lures. He has had to also learn everything about running his own business, from purchasing supplies to scouting out the competition to pricing his merchandise right. An avid fly fisher himself, he's able to recommend the flies for the right conditions, and now, what started out as a simple hobby has grown into a successful summer business.

AJ's Hawaiian Iceez is an ice-shaving enterprise started by Adam and Jonathan Holland of Prince George's County, MD. The resourceful brothers started the business to help their parents cover the steep cost of tuition at their private school. Their parents and 12-year old sister also help with the business.

"You have to make the sacrifice in order to reap the reward," Adam states.

The boys' expect to gross about $50,000 this year, with a profit of $25,000.

These are great examples of young people becoming entrepreneurs. Please keep the stories coming in!

Assistance for Organic Growers

There is still money left for partial reimbursement for the costs associated with becoming certified as an organic grower. See the information below for more details.

NCDA&CS offers organic certification cost-share assistance

RALEIGH – Organic growers in North Carolina can apply for partial reimbursement of the cost of becoming certified or recertified producers through a program offered by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Growers who have been certified or recertified since Sept. 30, 2010 can apply for assistance. The program will pay 75% of the cost of certification up to a total of $750.

The program is for the 2010-2011 season, and is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Funds are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and the deadline to apply for reimbursement is Sept. 30, 2011.

To apply, growers must fill out an authorization form that can be found online at www.ncdaorganic.org. The completed form, a copy of the farm’s certification, a copy of the receipts from the certifying agency and an IRS W-9 form should be mailed to the NCDA&CS Division of Marketing, Attn. Heather Barnes, 1020 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1020.

Growers with questions can call Barnes at (919) 707-3127.

Program for Self-Sufficiency

I attended our monthly meeting at the Job Link center in Walnut Cove yesterday and was very pleased to meet Elisha Harris, Success coach for the Community Service Block Grant progarm in Stokes County. Elisha is a very impressive young lady that has a passion for her work that is readily apparent. The Self-Sufficiency Program is designed to assist individual or families to overcome poverty. What a wonderful idea. It isn't about applying a temporary fix, it is about overcoming poevery and helping gain employment in a position paying a living wage.

This is accomplished by assisting clients in their efforts to improve their educational status but it appears to go deeper by looking for ways to empower their clients by teaching the coping skills such as: survival skills (I take this to mean surviving life, not necessarily the in wilderness conditions but what we face every day), budgeting classes, nutrition classes and much more. Many of us take these skills for granted but I think in the financial conditions we find ourselves in today, I think these skill sets are often not taught and they are not something that comes naturally.

Ther are a limited number of slots for this program in the county, but for some reason, they have a difficult time filling these positions, therefore, I challenge the readers of this blog, if you know someone who can use a hand and truly wants to improve their position in life, make them aware of Elisha and this program. She can be reached at stokescsbg@hotmail.com or by calling 336-593-2371. This is not a "Hand-out but a Hand-up" and we can all use one of those from time to time.

How to enter a room

It my nightly reading, I found a note that said that it is a matter of respect to re-post good information that you find. My wife forwarded this to me this morning and I think it is good information for anyone who as the part of their normal routine enters a room with a group of people either known or unknown to them. My takeaway is show your interest in what they have to say and you will be successful. People love to talk about themselves and if you are polite and a good listener, you can carry the day. See what you think and remember, no fist bumps!

How to Enter a Room and Network Like a Pro
Consider these tips to make a lasting impression on new connections, before a meeting even starts.
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By Ross McCammon | Entrepreneur Magazine - August 2011 | 0
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So, we're assuming you're on time and you know why you're there and you know exactly what you want from the people in the room and you've Googled them and found out where they went to school and that according to LinkedIn they made a couple of questionable professional moves in the early '90s and at least two of them tweet. What we're interested in is that pregnant series of moments that lasts for around a minute and is ostensibly about introductions and handshakes and the offering of beverages and, if you're lucky, a Danish or something, but is really about the beginning of potentially important relationships.
The main problem with entering an unfamiliar meeting room is that it's like leaving a bar when it's still light outside. Things seem a little too bright, a little overwhelming, a little disconcerting. Yet no matter how thrown off you feel, the guiding principle is: It's your room. For the next, oh, 30 seconds to a minute, you're in charge. Even if it's their room, you're in charge. Even if your earnings are a 10th of the salary of that guy you're about to shake hands with, you're in charge. You're not the only one determining the mood of the room, but you have to take responsibility for it.
Consider a lesson from the forest. "Pretend everyone's a bear in the woods," says Robbie Pickard, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based comedian who spends his career entering rooms full of people he needs to impress. "If you look scared, the bear is going to attack you." Which we always thought involved yelling and waving your arms and stomping the earth and throwing a Coleman lantern. But what he's saying is, offer no apologies or expressions of trepidation or false humility. Protect yourself with confidence. Confidence makes you look comfortable.
It should seem like there's no other place in the world you'd rather be.
Key Technical Matters
1. WHEN people introduce themselves, say their names back to them or take a mental note. But try to keep their names in your head. Saying a person's name back to them 20 or 30 minutes after you've met them suggests graciousness and respect, and it will endear you to them.

2. DO NOT give out business cards before the meeting begins. Because it makes you look like a blackjack dealer.

3. LOOK everyone in the eye for, like, a millisecond longer than is comfortable.

4. Don't carry yourself in a way that could be described as "jaunty."

5. IF there are fewer than six other people in the room, shake everyone's hand. If there are six or more, shake approximately five hands, and then nod amiably to the rest. The shaking of hands can get out of hand.

6. At no time say, "Let's do this!"

7. NO fist bumps.

8. DON'T talk about anything that isn't pleasant, such as how much traffic you were just in or how hot it is or how you have a cold.

At this moment, more than any other moment in the meeting, you're your own agent. You're saying, "I'd like you to meet myself." (Note: Do not under any circumstances actually say, "I'd like you to meet myself.")
Bill Clinton is a useful example. The man knows how to enter a room. He might not know how to leave, but he knows how to enter. Two out of the two former press secretaries we called for help with this column (we figured they might know something about the subject of entering meetings, since they've seen people enter the most important rooms in the world) mentioned Clinton as the best room-enterer they've ever seen. Which is pretty easy to do when you're the president of the United States, but still, there are lessons in his approach.
"When Bill Clinton entered a room, he owned the room from the second he walked in," says Dee Dee Myers, Clinton's first press secretary and now a managing director at The Glover Park Group, a D.C. communications firm. "Because he was curious, he wanted to talk to people and would totally engage them. And pretty soon all the energy in the room was running in one direction."
Marlin Fitzwater, press secretary for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, says, "Bill Clinton was probably the best I've ever seen. He walked in and demanded the attention of everyone. The lessons of Clinton are: Don't be aimless, don't be casual, don't be flippant. Let your audience know they're important and that you're there because you have a message to give them."
So, it's an act, yes. But it's not entirely an act. The act is supported by an important psychological underpinning: actual curiosity. "You have to be curious," says Thomas Huseby, managing partner at Seattle VC firm SeaPoint Ventures. "Most entrepreneurs are thinking about what they want to teach or what they want to convey, and everybody would much rather talk to someone who is curious. It's amazing what that attitude does."
That's how to enter a room. With curiosity. But not necessarily about the business at hand. Meetings at Esquire often start off with questions about the view from our conference room on the 21st floor of the Hearst Corporation tower in Midtown Manhattan. If the person we're meeting with asks anything at all about the city, we take them over to the window and give them a quick tour: the Empire State Building, the exact location in the Hudson where Captain Sully landed the plane, that statue of Ronald McDonald that somehow ended up on the roof of a four-floor walk-up on Eighth Avenue, how New Jersey looks vaguely bucolic if you squint. It's a rich, interesting conversation.
Who wouldn't want to be in a room with you now? You're amiable and confident and pleased with the way things are going. You're ready to talk and to listen. You haven't given them any reason why they couldn't see themselves giving you a lot of money or offering you a contract or partnering with you in some way. You're someone they could see themselves doing business with, is what we're trying to say.
All that, and you haven't even sat down yet.
Have a question for the Esquire Guy about how to comport yourself at work, on the road or maybe in a bar? (or even at work in a bar on the road?). Ask it at Askesquire@entrepreneur.com.
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Did you find this story helpful? Yes No

Do you think this would work here?

I found this story on my blog list today and my thoughts ran immediately to the point of why can't we do this here. We have empty buildings. We have farmers growing food and we have about 25% of our population that is having difficulty putting food on thier tables. If after reading this article you have a fire in your belly and it isn't just heartburn, give me a call and lets have a frank discussion on the matter.

From the Agurban:

He's Still At It!

Last week we told you about the Bulldog Express, a grocery store ran by high school business students in Leeton, Missouri. This week we want to update you on one of the first young grocery entrepreneurs we learned about back in 2006, Nick Graham.

Nick lived in Truman, MN with his grandmother. When the town's only grocery store closed during the summer of 2006, just before Nick's senior year of high school, he recognized what a loss the closing would have on the town. So, at age 17, Nick bought the store with his life savings of $10,000 and a $25,000 loan from the local city council, a gutsy move on the council's part. The store reopened it in October 2006. By July 2008, the store was profitable. Nick was offered a good price for the business and sold it.

Not only was Nick Graham running the grocery store in Truman, he was servicing about 14 customers as a wholesale distributor and generating $100,000 per week in gross sales.

Nick worked for several months for a couple other companies after he sold the Truman store, but couldn't resist the appeal of a business adventure. After hearing about a near bankrupt grocery store in Rolfe, IA, Nick drove an hour south of Truman to check it out. He purchased that store, and once again, was in the grocery store business.

Next came an investment in a combined grocery store and café in Pomeroy, IA in late 2009. The café that attaches to the grocery has been a great asset to Pomeroy's sense of community, serving as a gathering place for local residents.

Why are these small town grocery stores so successful? According to Nick, "We emphasize personal service to keep residents shopping in our stores. We call people by their first name. We deliver groceries. We do whatever somebody wants us to do to make our customers happy."

In addition to the stores in Rolfe and Pomeroy, Nick also owns stores in Fontanelle and Huxley, IA.

We love the Nick Graham story! Not only is he a millennial entrepreneur, he is providing a valuable service to small rural towns. We would like to learn more about other "Nick Graham's" out there. Please share your stories about your local millennial entrepreneurs.

Fun at the Shine Festival

Sounds like a a good time.

Dear Farmers And Value Added Producers,

On July 30th from 11:00am-8:00pm and 31st 12:00pm-6:00pm the Southern Culture Society, in conjunction with numerous sponsors including the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, will be hosting the 3rd Annual Carolina Shinefest. The festival takes place in downtown Madison, North Carolina.The event is a celebration of North Carolina’s history, food, music, arts & crafts and NOW, its LOCAL growers. The current schedule of events includes performances by North Carolina born musicians, an antique car show with over 100 competitor car entries, appearances by NASCAR Hall of Famer - Junior Johnson, and many NC arts & craftsmen. Roughly 20,000 people are expected to flood the streets of downtown Madison for this event.
Through the support of the NC Department of Agriculture, this year’s Shinefest will feature an opportunity for farmers to sell their products throughout the show. Spots in the farmer’s market will be FREEof charge and located within the confines of the Shinefest event. These spots are open to any farmer who would like to attend; however due to the limitations put in place by the size of the event, only a certain number of spots are available. These spots will be assigned on a first come first serve basis.
To apply for a spot at this year’s Carolina Shinefest, please fill out the attached application and mail it to:
Southern Culture Society
ATTENTION: Jessie Paschal
939 Burke Street
Suite F
Winston-Salem, NC 27101

For more information: contact Jessie Paschal at Jessie@southernculturesociety.org, or 336-293-4299, or me at ryan@piedmontdistiller.com.
Sincerely,
Ryan Casey
Southern Culture Society Volunteer



2011 Carolina ‘Shinefest Farmer’s Market Application

July 30 (11 am - 8 pm) and July 30 (12 pm – 6 pm)
Downtown Madison, NC

Name _________________________________________________________

Phone Number __________________________________________________

Address________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Email __________________________________________________________

Please list what you will be bringing and the pricing on these items _________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________


For more information: contact Jessie Paschal at Jessie@southernculturesociety.org, or 336-293-4299, or me at ryan@piedmontdistiller.com.