BEST PEOPLE TO ANSWER 1. Those who have bootstrapped their own business without any support from family, friends, investors (especially those who come from a challenging background) 2. Those who have worked with low-income entrepreneurs who are pursuing "Main Street" businesses ... restaurants, car repair, home repair, courier services, shoe shining, etc. BACKGROUND ON WHO WE ARE For the past ten years, the Prison Entrepreneurship Program has offered "entrepreneurship boot camps" in prison, coached incarcerated participants through writing a full business plan and then helped them to refine their plans through "Shark Tank"-style pitch events to executive volunteers who visit them inside a Texas prison. Our graduates now earn a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business. We then continue to support these graduates after release from prison, providing them with housing, job placement and start-up support. We have had 150 of our graduates start their own businesses, including two that are now generating over $1MM in annual sales. While we are proud of these results, we want to do even more in the future. Your advice could be very beneficial to us as we expand our post-release support for small business development. (Learn more about us at http://www.PEP.org)
Fantastic question! First, a little about me and why I am qualified to answer. My father served 19 years of a 20 year sentence in prison where he passed and I had challenging background. I never met my birth mother and met my birth father at the age of 18. I've been on my own since I was 16 and have lived in the YWCA, homeless shelter's etc. I don't have any family support financial or otherwise. I haven't even had a call on a birthday, holiday, wedding day or even the birth of a child. I have a GED and now a Master's, built my first home before 30 and all while a single mom at the time. I worked very hard throughout my life and now I am retiring from a position at a Fortune 500 company after 10 years of service in my 30's. My husband has had challenges with his background and we opened a gym here in Atlanta for 8 months before closing and I also own several businesses online that focus on teaching part-time entrepreneurs how to convert their passion into profits. I have dozens of courses published on the world's largest destination for online courses including 3 best selling books on Amazon. Okay, now that ALL of that is out the way, here is my response.
Yes, I have begun working with local entrepreneurs and small business owners in Atlanta, GA to build their Internet properties and protect their reputations online and off. I help them create and develop "trust based marketing" through email, books and online and I am partnered with the #1 trusted marketer online to accomplish this and a group of over 10,000 offline business entrepreneurs.
Key things to avoid:
- excessively talking about your past
- blaming others for your current situation
- the old environment
Key things to do:
- Read (or listen to) Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People"
- Find a mentor/coach that you can share your goals with and get feedback
- Invest in small business and personal development classes online or at a center (most are free)
- Think outside the box
- Build a community online
- Transfer life skills into your business
- Understand the pricing structure for your business
- Set goals and create plans to achieve them
- Invest financially and reinvest back into your business
- Create a business and financial plan (on paper)
I could go on and on and would love to connect with your organization. A 15 minute chat to provide more clarity would be great! ~Montina
Answered 11 years ago
Access 20,000+ Startup Experts, 650+ masterclass videos, 1,000+ in-depth guides, and all the software tools you need to launch and grow quickly.
Already a member? Sign in