Going it alone? Help is available for Entrepreneurs

No one seems to work harder, put in longer hours, get more mentally fatigued and question more often whether it is all worth the effort than the entrepreneur.

By Brent Strong
Brigham Young University

The entrepreneur’s responsibilities to employees, family members and investors can be overwhelming. The skills required are diverse and complex — financial, managerial, technical, organizational and others too numerous to mention. The risk of failure and bankruptcy is often lingering just around the corner, hovering like a specter that you’d like to ignore but can’t.
And yet, those who do it, love it. Many who aren’t entrepreneurs wish that they were. Most Americans seem to have "Yankee ingenuity" built into their souls and believe that, given the chance, their ideas would surely become a commercial success.
I believe that the entrepreneurial spirit is at the root of our society and our image of ourselves as a people. It is the stuff of our economy and our civilization. It is the essence of the American dream.
Frustratingly, very few entrepreneurs have all the skills required to succeed in this glorious adventure. Thankfully, there is help available — if you know where to look.
The federal government, for example, has established several programs to assist the entrepreneur. One is focused on the needs of the small manufacturer. It is administered through the National Institute of Standards and Technology and is called the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The model used for the MEP is the agricultural extension system, which has been successful in making the United States the top agricultural production country in the world.
The state MEP office has experts who are available to assist you in gaining the skills needed to run your company more effectively. Usually the MEP will have manufacturing engineers who can come to your plant and provide assessments, specialized training or access to experts for solving special problems. The existence of the MEP and its federal subsidies depend upon how well you rate them in their ability to render assistance. Imagine, a governmental agency that requests a formal rating from the customer on every job!
A second source of help for the entrepreneur may be available at a nearby college or university. I know that some view universities as ivory towers where professors take a theoretical and disinterested view of the business world. But I also know some university programs that are anxious to assist industry and have become directly involved with local entrepreneurs. At BYU, we have created a mechanism to bridge between disciplines by establishing a Professorship in Entrepreneurial Technology — the designation of a particular professor whose responsibility is to try to merge ideas and activities between the colleges of engineering/technology and business.
We also have a Center for Entrepreneurship that works with local entrepreneurs and provides direct assistance. The center invites successful entrepreneurs to come to campus and explain to students how they achieved success. These speakers supplement the classes taught by the center’s faculty on the theory and practice of entrepreneurship. The center also facilitates placement of interns in local businesses, a benefit to both the students and the companies.
So, where should an entrepreneur go for assistance? The choice is up to you. The important thing to know is that there is help available — if you know where to look.

Brent Strong is associated with the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship. He can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].

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