Training Institute from page 43
she took, in addition, from the Smiths by stating, “[I learned] the niche market and location are very important.” Ms. Whitaker was not the only one to have garnered additional knowledge from the Smiths. I too had learned the all too important and the very first lesson of business, from them both, as well, that you do what you love. Following the preparation, is how well organized the class was presented. That very first day, each student was given a notebook that included a template on how to write a business plan, the objective of the entire Entrepreneur course, as we would all be given the opportunity to present our business plans and gain constructive feedback at the end of the course. This notebook also included organizational tabs throughout to help keep notes, as well as, keep all of the various handouts, booklets, and packets, given during each class session on each respective business topic, organized and readily available. I was able to insert the class curriculum, which was promptly emailed to me once I had registered for the course through the BBA, into the front of my notebook for quick reference of what each week’s class session would cover beforehand. These well thought-out provisions, as supplied by the BBA, Citi, and the Smiths, gave a great foundational start that got everyone prepared to begin the exciting journey in becoming successful entrepreneurs. Then, there was how well the instruction given in each class session was taught. The quality of instruction given brought an in-depth approach to learning in that it was not taught by just one instructor, who could only share one background, or set of experiences, or offer only third party hearsay on operating a business, but the course was even more dynamic, in that, it was instructed by several different persons, one or two instructors per class session, who were themselves highly credible in various areas in the field of business. Each instructor gave personal, real-life business experiences from which to learn from, either from having their own businesses, having master’s degrees in business, and/or
and
Comedy Night Join the Fun! Share the Laughs! were just working in the business world in some form of business operations within existing major organizations, like Dorothy Randle, author and marketing expert with Minority Business Opportunity Center, from the Los Angeles City Mayor’s office, as funded by the US Department of Education, who was one of our most informative instructors during the 12-week Entrepreneur course. Hence, in the untraditional method of conducting a course where each business topic had different instructors to teach in their particular area of business knowledge, we, the students were given the benefit of learning all aspects of running a business directly from the expertise of that individual
instructor’s experience. For example, we learned legal issues of operating a business from Dr. Nicholas, a 30 year Professor at West LA, the Director of West’s ABA Paralegal Program & former Chair of West LA College Business Division. We learned accounting and QuickBooks, an accounting software program, from Steve Brown, a West LA accounting professor and owner of Elite Business Network. We learned banking and finance from Dr. Shaw a West LA professor, and Andrea De Luna from the Valley Economic Development Center. Then, the all too important area of marketing a business
62 December 2010 Black Business News www.bbnews.org
see Training Institute on page 75