COURSE GIVES DREAMS A BOOST; ENTREPRENEUR SPIRIT GETS LIFT AT ACADEMY.Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer Kathleen Ricks is having sweet dreams these days. Last summer, the 55-year-old Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. woman was unemployed, on disability and looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a new start. Although she came from a family of entrepreneurs and had business experience of her own, she felt stymied about pursuing her dream of starting her own business baking baking: see cooking. baking Process of cooking by dry heat, especially in an oven. Baked products include bread, cookies, pies, and pastries. cheesecake. But what once were only pipe dreams are about to become reality, thanks in large part to the Ventura County Entrepreneur entrepreneur (än'trəprənûr`) [Fr.,=one who undertakes], person who assumes the organization, management, and risks of a business enterprise. Academy, an innovative county government program aimed at giving would-be entrepreneurs the know-how and confidence they need to get going. ``I feel like the horse at the starting gate starting gate n. Sports 1. A series of stalls with interconnected doors that open simultaneously at the beginning of a race. 2. right now,'' said Ricks, who graduated in December from the no-cost academy. ``I can see it all coming together. I just know it's all going to work.'' Ricks is one of 110 budding budding, type of grafting in which a plant bud is inserted under the bark of the stock (usually not more than a year old). It is best done when the bark will peel easily and the buds are mature, as in spring, late summer, or early autumn. entrepreneurs who have completed the Start-Up Business Training Program since it began in 1996 as a follow-on to two other small business training programs, which are no longer offered. But later this month when the next Start-Up Business Training course begins, it could be the last time. ``As the economy gets better and better, it seems that the need for government-subsidized training is diminished di·min·ish v. di·min·ished, di·min·ish·ing, di·min·ish·es v.tr. 1. a. To make smaller or less or to cause to appear so. b. ,'' said Hui Ling ling: see cod. Tanouye, administrator of the entrepreneur academy. ``Now, the only thing left is the Start-Up Business Training Program. And it's questionable whether that will be continued into the next fiscal year.'' With Ventura County unemployment at its peak in the early 1990s, then-County Human Resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. Director Ron Komers and Tanouye came up with the idea for the academy. They tapped into state and federal grants, as well as county support. Some local cities have even chipped in. Since the first course started in January 1994, officials estimate the academy has helped create 600 jobs in Ventura County. With fewer courses being offered, the academy's budget has slipped from $350,000 to $150,000. ``We had to fight several battles to get it working because it was so new at the time,'' Tanouye said. ``When we started, there were only a handful of entrepreneur training programs across the nation. Today, there are more than 700.'' The start-up entrepreneur class covers everything from marketing and strategic planning Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. to finding venture capital and assessing competitors. Each class in the 85-hour program centers on a different aspect of running a new business. At the end of the program, students bring everything together to present their business plan to the class. ``If they need to apply for a loan, they can take that business plan to a bank or an investor,'' Tanouye said. Tanouye said local community colleges have shown interest in continuing the programs. In 1994, Paula Brannian was working as an accounting supervisor for a bank and running her tax preparation service out of her Simi Valley home. For three years, her business had grown modestly, but it was still only a part-time operation. That is until she attended a small-business class offered by the academy. ``Before, I didn't really advertise because I couldn't even focus,'' said Brannian, owner of NumberCrunchers, a Simi Valley bookkeeping bookkeeping, maintenance of systematic and convenient records of money transactions in order to show the condition of a business enterprise. The essential purpose of bookkeeping is to reveal the amounts and sources of the losses and profits for any given period. and tax firm. ``I didn't know who my target market was. I didn't have a clue. Once I started focusing, that really helped tremendously. It forced you to think about your business and your target market and to plan, plan, plan.'' Brannian, who moved into new offices last October, now has two full-time and one part-time employee. ``Business has pretty much doubled every year,'' she said. ``I'm assuming I would have gotten this information by reading many, many books and articles. But by taking the class, it concentrated the learning.'' Ricks said the seven-week course turned her dreams into reality. ``What it did was to put the final icing on the cake Icing on the Cake is the seventeenth episode from the dramedy series Ugly Betty. Overview As Grace and Daniel chit chat in bed before they start the day, Daniel panics when she informs him that she needs to speak with his mother, but tells her that Claire has for me,'' said Ricks, who hopes to open her bakery in a few months. ``It gave me the tools to go for my dream and have the ability to do it, from the financial to the marketing end.'' Although Tanouye said the entrepreneur academy is clearly winding down, she relishes the successes she has been a part of. ``Small-business owners are the economic fabric of our society here,'' she said. ``And we really need to support them and help them become more successful. More than 95 percent of employers in this county have 50 or fewer employees. So this kind of program really is very, very important.'' |
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