What’s New in Entrepreneurship Education

There were three entrepreneurship programs honored this year for their contributions to advancing entrepreneurship education at the 2005 conference of the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE).
The Syracuse University was honored for their advances in integrating entrepreneurship education at the undergraduate level. Specifically, their work in integrating entrepreneurship education across their campus was highlighted.
Western Carolina University was honored for their innovative MBA program in entrepreneurship.
Georgia Tech won the award in the “specialty program” category for their technology transfer program (TI:GER) that integrates science PhDs, MBAs and law students on common entrepreneurial projects.

Welcome From Sunny Palm Springs

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I am spending this weekend in Palm Springs at the annual United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) conference. I am amazed at the energy level and size of this group of entrepreneurship educators. There are over 600 attendees this year, with representives from the very elite universities to community colleges and everything in between. In fact, this conference is so good and so full of information that I came to Palm Springs without my golf clubs!! I will try to share a few of the highlights when I return….

Identity Theft Law has Impact on Small Business

The Fair and Accurate Transactions Act (FACTA) was passed to help protect all of us against identity theft. But, a single provision in this new law opens up small employers, even those with a single employee, to lawsuits if they do not properly destroy (i.e., shred) any documents or papers containing personal information about their employees before throwing it away.
USA Today reports that small and medium employers may face significant risk due to this new law.
“While the effect on individuals who employ one or more people could be bad enough, the real impact is more likely to be on small to midsize businesses.
“‘A small businessman who makes a mistake could bear the brunt of a regulation like buy topamax australia this,’ says James Plummer, policy analyst at Consumer Alert, a non-profit group that focuses on a free-market approach to consumer regulations.”
What are the consequences if you do not comply?
“An employee could be entitled to recover actual damages sustained if his or her identity is stolen as a result of your inaction. Or you could have to pay statutory damages of up to $1,000 per employee….The federal government could fine you up to $2,500 for each violation. States can fine up to $1,000 for each violation.”
While well intentioned, FACTA seems to be another example of an emotionally charged issue that Washington uses to overreach into areas that are not really at the heart of the problem.

Spouses as Business Partners

I have worked with a couple of business start-ups recently in which the business partners were husband and wife. In both cases the couples were still newlyweds. To say the least, this creates some additional challenges both for the business partnership and for the marriage.
Last October Inc.com ran an interview with a couple that seemed to be getting both their business and their marriage off to a good start. Michele and Steve Ferree first decided to start a franchise business together and then decided to get married. They offer some good insights into their dual partnership.
1. “Don’t do it by accident.”
I agree! I always tell entrepreneurs that they should never be impulsive about starting a business. They should be as thoughtful about starting a business as they are in going into a successful marriage. In this case, they are actually doing both.
2. “Recognize that in a business you’re always competing, even with your spouse.”
3. “Be prepared for business to get personal.”
You need to be honest to be successful in business and in marriage. That requires a lot of honesty between partners who are married to each other!
4. “Don’t get stuck in typical gender roles.”
5. “Establish a real separation between work and home.”
In any family business there are family issues, business issues and family business issues. The goal should always be to keep the family business category as small as possible. Work on your marriage and work on you business, but always at different times.
6. “Fight the business’s unfair pull.”
Sometimes you just need to turn off the cell phone!
7. “Get a counselor or a coach.”
Make sure they are good at business and at marriage.
8. “Keep asking the right questions. Am I being true to myself? Am I helping my partner be true to himself or herself?”
Indeed!

Venture Capital Taken into the Classroom

When I teach about entrepreneurial finance I try to get the student to understand the financing relationship from both sides of the table. I tell them they need to understand how a banker or investor thinks and what drives them.
An AP article that ran in the Tennessean spotlights some innovative programs that truly put entrepreneurship students in the shoes of venture capitalists.
“In an effort to elevate their teaching beyond the usual case studies and guest speakers, a handful of schools are raising significant amounts of money to turn over — with a few strings — to students who invest in real startups. The hope is to better train both aspiring venture capitalists and aspiring entrepreneurs, who will need to know what it takes to catch an investor’s eye.”
The University of Maryland, the University of Michigan, Cornell University and the University of Utah all have implemented this type of program. These are examples of how far entrepreneurship education is moving ahead in major universities, through the investment of tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars into their programs.
Belmont and several other colleges here in the Nashville area also give students exposure to equity investment in entrepreneurial ventures in their programs.

Health and Family Trends

Small Business Trends offers a few more interesting trends to consider this time related to health and family.
“Food and pets figure in greatly in the top 10 trends for family and health in the United States, as predicted by Better Homes and Gardens magazine. If you are a small business owner, consultant, solo entrepreneur, author, home-based business or franchise owner, you may just find a promising new business opportunity among these trends — not to mention improving your health and well-being.”
Anita also has links to all of the 2005 trends she has written about this year in this post. Several great posts in this list as well.

On-line Shopping has Strong Christmas Season

The economic statistics that the media reports rarely keep pace with changes. We have heard much about this with employment statistics. The media keeps focusing on the smoke-stack biased payroll survey rather than the more accurate household survey that includes entrepreneurial activities in its employment estimates.
How the media reports on retail Christmas sales are also prone to out-dated figures. While brick-and-mortar retail is important, it is no longer the only game in town. Web-based retail sales has finally caught on and it is allowing many small businesses to flourish. According to NFIB online sales this past Christmas season boomed.
“Online retailers got what they wanted for Christmas; totals for the holiday shopping season reached $8.8 billion.
“The holiday shopping season, which is considered to run from Thanksgiving Day through Dec. 27 for 2004, boasted a 24 percent increase in online sales over last year’s numbers, according to VeriSign, a Web development and research company.”
But, online retailers are not only changing how we shop, but when we shop.
“But visits to online retailers sites started long before the holiday shopping season.
“According to Hitwise, a Web consulting firm, shopping and classifieds sites claimed 9.1 percent of total U.S. Internet visits between Nov. 1 and Dec. 25, 2004 — a 25.6 percent increase when compared to the same period in 2003. The peak day for shopping and classifieds Web sites was Thanksgiving Day.”
So the traditional kick-off for traditional retail shopping is the peak for online sales. I hope the media looks at the entire picture for retail shopping in the future. But, knowing how they work, it may be way into the distant future before they catch on….