{"id":13344,"date":"2019-11-04T05:21:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T11:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/?p=13344"},"modified":"2019-11-01T16:59:55","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T21:59:55","slug":"better-entrepreneur-training-for-small-towns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2019\/11\/better-entrepreneur-training-for-small-towns.html","title":{"rendered":"Better entrepreneur training for small towns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Could a simple backroom tour be better for supporting startups than a full 14 week course? Photo of Bonnieheath Estate Lavender & Winery backroom tour, Ontario, by Becky McCray.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Because I\u2019ve been an entrepreneur since junior high school, I\u2019ve been asked to help with all kinds of entrepreneur support over the decades. I\u2019ve taught entrepreneur classes, I\u2019ve been part of day-long entrepreneur events, I\u2019ve taught workshops and I\u2019ve been a mentor in formal and informal ways. And I\u2019ve been thinking lately about what works and what doesn\u2019t work that well for people in small towns.<\/p>\n

Not everyone learns best from the usual kind of formal trainings in a classroom with a lecture from an expert.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not easy for would-be entrepreneurs to get to the classes because of timing and conflicts and they\u2019re busy.<\/p>\n

And the topics we had to cover in the trainings I was involved in, often focused on things that weren\u2019t necessarily helpful for entrepreneurs. Or weren\u2019t what they most needed to know.<\/p>\n

In fact, I just got an email from an educational institution that they\u2019re doing a six week entrepreneur training. When I looked at their list of topics, it struck me as exactly what is wrong with our traditional entrepreneur training:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s focused on writing out business plans and legal entity formation, and even the outline is full of jargon like \u201cowner\u2019s equity\u201d and \u201cCalculating Revenue to Break-Even.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m convinced that training curriculum is not the right way to get more entrepreneurs actually doing business in a small town.<\/p>\n

In small towns, we have a lot of potential entrepreneurs. They just don\u2019t all fit into the \u201ctraditional startup business\u201d model that Old Way courses assume. Think about all the people in your town who could be non-traditional entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n