You want to be your own boss? Johnson & Wales University will offer a new certification program to teach aspiring business owners the ins and outs of being an entrepreneur.
The entrepreneurship certificate, offered through the J&W continuing education program, is a 33-week course designed to educate entrepreneurs on the various aspects of starting a business.
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Larry Bennett, director of the Larry Friedman International Center for Entrepreneurship, and Frank Duchala, assistant professor in the College of Business, outlined the program, which will begin in September, at J&W’s Harborside campus earlier this month.
“There are two expectations you’ll have by the end of the certificate,” Bennett said. “Either, ‘No I don’t want to do it’ or ‘I’m going to make this work.’”
The certificate is geared toward those who have a business concept they are thinking of implementing. Duchala said startup companies can be made simple so long as the person is “patient and persistent.”
Course work includes refining a general business idea into something specific, Duchala said.
“You need to be able to articulate it and get someone else as excited about it as you are,” he added.
Through the course of the program, instructors will help the students to answer six questions necessary to building an original and credible business plan, Bennett said. Entrepreneurs need to ask themselves if there are enough people or businesses that will purchase their product before starting out, Duchala said.
“Do market surveys and observe what is or isn’t working,” Duchala said.
The second question budding businesspeople need to ask themselves is what skills they will need, including technical, formal business and soft skills.
Included in the skill sets presented in the program are things investors look for when lending funds, important sections in a business plan and how to network effectively.
“Starting is simple, but succeeding is difficult,” Bennett said. “Nothing in entrepreneurship comes with a guarantee.”
Bennett said the certificate program will instruct people how to do competitor analyses, evaluate costs of starting, help with where to do research and other ways to prepare for operating your own business.
“How will you differentiate yourself?” Duchala asked. “What are you trying to build and how will you build it?”
Duchala said the certificate program doesn’t start with a blank slate – “we use existing skills.”
The third question the course asks is if you’re willing and able to invest the time it will take to start a successful business.
“What kind of personal sacrifices are you willing to make?” Duchala said.
Bennett, who said he started several companies, said he missed countless family functions because of the long hours he logged at his companies.
Since venture capital is hard to find, the fourth question addressed in the program is “Can and where do I find the money?”
“You can’t start a grandiose idea without the funding … it won’t happen,” Bennett said.
Bringing the entrepreneur’s own expectations into focus is another area the program focuses on.
“The training helps determine if the expectations are real,” Duchala said.
The three-section program features “An Introduction to Entrepreneurship,” “The Business Plan” and “Business Expansion Strategies and Tactics.” The course meets one night a week from 6 to 9:45 p.m. For more information, call Continuing Education Admissions at (401) 598-2300.
