Pursuing a dream: Boot camp provides key training
Posted: 8/14/2008
By Donna Roach
ARCHDALE - Debra Savvas, a grandmother of three, has spent the past five weeks preparing to follow a dream. “I’ve always wanted a business of my own. I’ve known that for a long time. I just never knew how to gather all the information I needed,” says Savvas.
In her search for information, Savvas has taken several different courses at Randolph Community College. This summer she came across information on a new offering, “The Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp”, a special training program designed for mid-life workers.
The intense training program, sponsored by the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center and Randolph Community College , began over a month ago. Participants attended a six-hour a day, Monday through Friday, schedule packed with information, projects, assignments and speakers. Graduation is set for August 14.
Savvas was a little concerned that she might not qualify for the program. “I thought you had to already know what you wanted to do,” she said. Savvas was assured that was not a problem and her application was accepted.
It didn’t take her long to discover, or rather rediscover, her dream. “We were looking through the computer at different businesses and the coffee shop came up - coffee shop and bookstore. And it just kind of hit me,” says Savvas. “A few years back it was something I wanted to do and I had forgotten all about it.”
Building on that idea, Savvas has narrowed it down to a Christian coffee and bookstore. She is still in the process of forming the coffee shop concept and trying to see how to incorporate some other ideas she has.
“I learned a lot about taxes and figuring out whether or not a business could work - putting it down in writing,” says Savvas. She has also learned where to put her strengths and when to hire out. “That’s a big part of it - learning your strengths and weaknesses,” she says.
While Savvas was concentrating on learning how to build her first business, classmate Denise Tolani, a successful business owner, was searching to start another business in addition to her current one.
Tolani and her husband went into business together in 1985 when they opened up a retail shop in downtown Greensboro. She helped in the initial start-up of the business, then took a job as a secretary at Moses Cone Hospital while her husband continued to run the store.
“We had always set 10-year goals,” says Tolani, “that at 10 years we would take the next step in our lives.” According to Tolani, her husband’s real passion is in the restaurant industry; so they began looking at several franchise operations.
Tolani says most of the available franchises at that time would have involved moving from an area that they consider home. Eventually, the Tolanis worked with a business broker who put them in contact with the owners of the Pioneer Restaurant in Archdale. After 15 months of looking at the Pioneer and doing additional research the couple made their decision and took ownership in 1997.
“We’re at those 10-year goals and our goal is to move up to another business; so we’re looking,” says Tolani. “We’re trying to decide what avenue we want to go down; so any education that I’ve gotten from here has been very important to me.” The new business will be in addition to the restaurant.
Tolani had to rearrange her work schedule to attend, but is very pleased with her decision. ”The resources that are available at this college - I had no idea!” she says. “It’s been a highly concentrated course and I think that for mid-life entrepreneurs, that was a wise, wise choice because people don’t have time to dedicate six weeks or a quarter or three quarters or a year.”
She also praised her instructor, Lonnie R. Hamm, as a great resource person. She says if he doesn’t know the answer, he can find out. “This course is hard work,” says Tolani.
Even with two businesses under her belt, Tolani has still been able to take new information and ideas home. When asked to sum up the main thing she has learned from taking the course, Tolani says, “I think enough knowledge to have the confidence to take on any business venture that we decide.”
Adam Wiley, who moved to Seagrove approximately two years ago, knows what business he wants to be in. Wiley is a potter whose emphasis is on functional ware.
“I had absolutely no training in art school for business,” says Wiley. “That’s one thing they do not show you or teach you as part of the art curriculum. So that’s the main reason that I’m here - to get a crash course in business.”
In the class, Wiley has learned about business plans, marketing, and price structure. He even learned how to create a blog to showcase his business.
“I never thought about all of this as an artist,” says Wiley. He also found a wealth of information by talking with others in the class. “All the students are really creative,” he says, “and we have bounced a lot of ideas off of each other.”
Wiley is preparing for the late fall pottery season. He has a small workshop at his home until he is able to build the workspace and shop he is planning for his business. Wiley does not have a kiln, so he worked out a deal with his neighbor, Robert Saxby, the English potter. In exchange for Wiley’s help in building and firing some new kilns, Saxby is giving him kiln space. Wiley’s finished products are available at Saxby’s shop.
