DCC Creates Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

For Immediate Release:

Staff Contact:

Administrative Assistant to the President

for Public Relations & Minority Concerns

DCC CREATES OPPORTUNITIES, SOLUTIONS

FOR ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS

DANVILLE, VA, August 15, 2002 -- “Do your research and when the opportunity presents itself be prepared to seize it!

That’s the advice Vince Decker gives to persons who plan to start their own businesses. And Decker should know. He is employed as Assistant Professor of Business Management at Danville Community College. He has owned and operated his own small businesses in addition to working as a business counselor with a Small Business Development Center.

Decker, who lives in Nathalie, says for many in the Danville, Halifax County, and Pittsylvania County area, the idea of owning a business seems more like a dream than reality, but actually the dream is only a step away.

Decker received his bachelor’s degree in business from Longwood College and he has a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Lynchburg College. Prior to coming to DCC, he was Executive Director of the Sports Capital of Virginia, a not-for-profit sports commission in Lynchburg. He also has served as Associate Director of the Longwood College Small Business Development Center for several years.

He teaches a number of business-related courses at DCC, including Introduction to Business, Supervision, Small Business Management, Economics, and Marketing. He has spent a number of years helping to turn entrepreneurial dreams into reality. Thanks to various grant funding, Decker and Dr. Edward White, Dean of Business and Engineering Technologies, have been able to create several programs specially designed for the entrepreneur.

“Dr. White and I share a very strong interest in entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship education,” says Decker. “He had some initiatives already in place at DCC in which I assisted prior to my coming on board as a (full-time) professor.

“Last fall, we hosted a high school conference to promote entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education at the secondary level,” Decker adds. The conference, which was held at the Dan River Business Development Center, was a tremendous success! Two nationally known speakers and several hundred high school students and their teachers attended.

After a series of full-group activities, the students were divided into smaller groups of 15 –20 students, and local entrepreneurs and business owners were recruited to assist the students in developing mini business plans for a product of their choice.

“The students seemed to enjoy it and the teachers were happy to be able to expose the students to something different, “ Decker says. “I hope that as a result of being exposed to this incubator program, not only will a few of those students go on to start their own businesses, but that we will be able make the businesses grow and ultimately help the regional economy.

“Hopefully, the program lit a fire under the students and they will think about entrepreneurship as a viable career alternative,” Decker notes. “Since the idea was designed to give students the concept that they don’t necessarily have to go out and find a job working for someone else. Instead, they can create their own business and do their own thing.

Last year DCC sponsored another program targeted to entrepreneurs -- an eight-week free class, entitled “The Enterprising DCC Student”.

“We had a competition to select students who would attend the course, because of the limited number of seats in the program,” Decker says. “At the end of the course, we hosted a banquet to further expose students to professionals in various occupations.”

Participating professionals included an attorney, marketing expert, insurance agent, and people representing other services that someone starting a small business might need. Decker said the program would be repeated in the fall, with plans to make it an annual offering.

Decker said other program plans include the launch of a new student club -- an independent entrepreneurship club that will be affiliated with Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) or Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO).

“One goal is to create a small student-run business on campus or in the area to expose students to several aspects of running their own business,” Decker notes. “The business will probably be set up as a nonprofit and any monies that are generated will be managed by the organization to assist with conference and competition travel expenses.

“Both SIFE and CEO have regional and national conferences that would allow DCC students to take their project ideas and compete with other college and university students,” says Decker. “Other aspects of the club involve public outreach where students could tutor others in business skills or they could be involved with the high school entrepreneur conference. Another benefit will be that students would get some hands-on or real-world business experience to put on their resumes.”

If customer relationship management is a challenge that your business constantly faces, DCC also has a solution. Decker says the college will offer a new one-credit class in customer relations with emphasis on front-line customer service. Participants will take business problems and find solutions that will satisfy the consumer.

“The first thing we focus on will be attitude adjustment, followed by building specific skills,” Decker says. “There will be emphasis on casework, real-life situations and role-playing to determine what is the best way to handle a particular situation.”

The course will include customer relations topics such as: phone etiquette, how to greet customers, creating a positive attitude for self and co-workers, plus a variety of other interesting and challenging problems. Although this class is designed for business management majors, it will be open to the general public.

“It will be a fun class that offers benefits to everyone who attends,” says Decker.

“Customer service is an area that is needed in almost every business. We have two outstanding DCC administrators -- Dr. Betty Jo Foster (Vice President for Academic and Student Services) and Martha Walker (Director of Institutional Advancement), both of whom have done a considerable amount of work in customer relations training. We plan to draw on their expert knowledge in this specialty area.”

Programs like the Enterprising DCC Student, the new entrepreneurship club, and other activities have been developed to help local entrepreneurs overcome the fear associated with starting a business.

“A lot of folks like to kick the tires first because it’s a scary proposition,” says Decker. “Many people have the “I’d- like-to someday-own-my-own- business idea in the back of their heads and they keep exploring and exploring the idea before taking the leap. That’s what I did.”

Decker says he sees a lot of statistical data indicating that approximately 80% of small businesses that are started each year fail.

“Even though the odds can be disheartening, I always tell people that there is no reason that you have to be in that 80%.” Decker says. “My personal opinion is that most businesses fail because somebody started it without doing any research -- without getting the facts. They just went ahead and found out later that it was a bad idea.”

Decker suggests that aspiring entrepreneurs have an idea; and then research it as thoroughly as they can.

“The idea is to do your homework. Gather some more facts and then take that leap. By doing so, you will significantly improve the odds that you’re going to succeed.”

He adds, “Very often, somebody will do a little research, check out the competition and find out if there truly is a viable opportunity. But then they’ll find out what they thought was a good idea is really a dumb idea. But that’s fine. At that point, they can say ‘I’m going to do something else or I’m going to modify the idea.’

“If you do that, you can reverse the odds just by doing a little homework and research and always keeping your eyes open for an opportunity that might fall in your lap,” Decker says.

That’s what happened to Decker when he opened his own business in a Virginia Beach mall. “I kept my eyes open and when the opportunity was there, I seized it and it took off from the start.”

So here’s the chance that you may have been waiting for. Seize the opportunity to start your own business, but as Decker says, “Make DCC of part of the plan for success!” For more information, contact Decker at 434.797.8470; 800.560.4291, ext. 8470; or by email at vdecker@dcc.vccs.edu.