For a lot of business owners, entrepreneurship begins as an aspiration, not just a way for them to support themselves and their families. I’ve often heard business owners say they started their own companies so they could control their own destiny, not ha
For a lot of business owners, entrepreneurship begins as an aspiration, not just a way for them to support themselves and their families. I’ve often heard business owners say they started their own companies so they could control their own destiny, not have it controlled by the will of their boss. Makes sense to me.
But with an economy in shambles and long-term unemployment–and underemployment–becoming a reality for more and more Americans, entrepreneurship may be more than a goal; for some it has become a necessity. There have been numerous reports about people going into business for themselves because they simply cannot find meaningful or lucrative work. Last March, the Chicago Urban League unveiled a study that documented this phenomenon in the professional services sector.
However you end up there, entrepreneurship is a good place to be. Some of the biggest companies were launched during a recession, such as Google, or a depression, such as Ford Motor Co. Now is the time for innovation. But in either case, entrepreneurship should not be viewed as a lonely pursuit. If you’ve never done it before, you are definitely going to need some help. If your business seems to have hit a wall or a ceiling, that advice applies double for you.
So, here’s the deal: On July 29-August 1, the National Urban League will bring its pre-centennial national conference to Chicago’s McCormick Place. The theme is “The Path to Power.” The Chicago Urban League’s Entrepreneurship Center, along with our esteemed partner, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, will offer convention-goers access to a six-part series of workshops called “Empowering Your Business to the Next Level.”
We have assembled some of the best minds and emerging thought leaders in the business world to tackle variations on the theme of “Surviving and Thriving.” Let’s face it. In today’s economy, just getting by feels like success to businesses on the verge of extinction. But we will dig down deeper to address the tenets of business ownership that wide-eyed entrepreneurs may often forget about as they pursue their dreams.
Here are a few of the topics we will touch on and our presenters: Professor Steven Rogers of the Larry and Carol Levy Institute at Kellogg will open the series with a discussion on how to finance your business in the workshop “Entrepreneurial Finance.”
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