Entrepreneurial centers bloom in suburbs
From a simple way to determine your entrepreneurial DNA and connect with similar business owners to possible development of a Fox Valley Entrepreneurship Center next year, there’s a swirl of activity in the suburban small-business world. Here’s what’s happening — and who seems most involved:
Ÿ Joe Abraham, whose BOSI Inc. went live last month with the Beta version of www.bosidna.com. Abraham, CEO of the Gilberts company, describes BOSI DNA as a “LinkedIn for entrepreneurs, an online community where entrepreneurs can truly collaborate.”
Abraham’s idea is that LinkedIn serves larger businesses better than smaller ones. That’s probably arguable. More to the small business point is Abraham’s skepticism about business best practices.
“The strategy that works so well for one entrepreneur, give it to another and he’ll fall flat on his face,” Abraham says.
“I am convinced,” Abraham wrote in a follow-up email, “that the number one reason for (high small-business) failure rates is the mindset that ‘If it worked for one entrepreneur, it will work for every entrepreneur.’”
Abraham, a serial entrepreneur “with lots of battle scars,” could be right. In fact, he’s betting a book and BOSI Inc. on research that indicates not all business owners are the same — and that they will benefit from support that plays to their differing entrepreneurial characteristics.
You can explore Abraham’s approach by visiting www.bosidna.com and taking its free 10-question DNA test. Your profile will be a combination of builder, opportunist, specialist and innovator characteristics that give BOSI its name. Follow-through from BOSI is intended to funnel information to you based on your DNA test results.
Although BOSI is nationwide, Abraham seems equally enthused about creation of a Fox Valley Entrepreneurship Center that could provide both a physical home and a source of low-cost or free support to local small businesses.
Entrepreneurship Centers aren’t new. There are about half a dozen in Chicago, but apparently none in the suburbs. Leading the discussions for a local center are:
ŸErnie Mahaffey, one of the founders of the Geneva-based Center for Business Education, Innovation and Development. Essentially, CBEID is a cadre of professionals willing to donate their efforts to small businesses, mostly startups.
Ÿ Harriet Parker, manager of the Small Business Development Center at Waubonsee Community College, Aurora. Parker’s SBDC advises, teaches and encourages small businesses — and with CBEID is hosting a June 16 session featuring Abraham and Austin Dempsey. For more information, call (630) 906-4143.
Ÿ Dempsey is a vice president at Batavia Enterprises, Inc., a property management company. He is hoping to have a small business accelerator program in place later this year — and a physical location for a Fox Valley Entrepreneurship Center “with meeting rooms so (a business owner) won’t have to meet a client at Panera” ready next year.
Ÿ Contact Jim Kendall at JKendall@121Marketing Resources.com.
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