GOSHEN COUNTY – In exchange for their own fresh perspective, Goshen County students enrolled in a new collaborative entrepreneurship class will gain hands-on experience and knowledge in business management.
Eastern Wyoming College and Goshen County School District are offering the dual-enrollment, two-credit course, titled Youth Entrepreneurship Topics – which features active work with entrepreneurs in Goshen County Economic Development Corporation’s Goshen Enterprise Center Business Incubator.
Last week, students met for the inaugural class with business representatives Wendy George of Wendy George Therapy Service, Nona Kindsvater of Health Thyme, and Maeven Younkers of Kelley Integrity Safety Solutions, LLC.
Each individual spoke about the nature of their business, experience as an entrepreneur – with the exception of Younkers, who was filling in for Patrick Kelley – and expressed a desire to become more technologically accessible to customers.
“I love what I do, I love the impact I’m making … and doing it on my own … no boss … it’s very rewarding to be independent and out there,” George said, adding, “it is risky, it is hard, (there are) no paid days off, no vacation time.
“It’s very worth it, though, and you guys are young, you can start early,” she said later. “I think what we need, across the board, is education from you guys and a lot of patience.”
“It is a roller-coaster ride … (you’re) emotionally, financially invested,” Kindsvater, whose business offers integrative, complementary and alternative medicine, agreed. “The business aspect for me is not new … it’s like you’re married to it. It’s a 365-day job, where you’re always feeding that pipeline.
“I need young knowledge,” she continued. “If I need my phone fixed, I go to my grandchild. I need somebody who can make that website pop, to make it flow so that when we offer these unique services … they can get to it, it’s easy to use and understand.
“We get technical support from (GCEDC), but our needs exceed the availability of Sandy (Hoehn) or Sondra (Dent), whether marketing graphics, how to put something on Facebook, how to find it – that’s what I’m really needing is that tech aspect,” Kindsvater said to the students. “In return, you get to learn really the nuts and bolts of business … I have an idea, I have a passion … What are the pitfalls? … How do I survive? … we have experiences that can help propel you a little bit further so you’re not reinventing the wheel and starting from scratch. Save you some of the … heartache of owning a business.”
Younkers, who does animation for Kelley Integrity Safety Solutions, LLC, said the online, interactive safety training business also hopes to expand its reach, and offer students coding experience in return.
Both business owners also attested to the value the GCEDC business incubator, including “affordable office spaces” provide, with Kindsvater summarizing “They’ve provided encouragement, helped promote and provided the validity.”
Youth Entrepreneurship Topics is an online and face-to-face hybrid course, designed for students who are interested in starting businesses, launching products within organizations or setting growth strategies for businesses, according to a GCEDC press release. Students will dive into several aspects of business ownership, including finding customers, testing markets, planning financials, and pitching solutions to the business clients, and are expected to work as a team that will be formed during the class time, along with completing individual work.
GCEDC Business Development Director Lisa Miller was also in attendance Thursday, and informed students of three key aspects to a successful business: product, marketing and financial management.
“No one person is an expert in all three of those,” she said. “(This is) a really unique opportunity to see what it really takes a business to run.”
