Jenny Lanier created a new educational board game, Tesoro, after she attended the Watauga Entrepreneur Development Partnership’s 2005 entrepreneurial workshop. Photo by Marie Freeman Getting Down To Business Spring Entrepreneur Sessions Start March 21 By Frank Ruggiero The Watauga Entrepreneur Development Partnership is now in its third year, and dozens of aspiring entrepreneurs have reaped the program’s benefits. A partnership between Appalachian State University’s Appalachian Regional Development Institute (ARDI), Watauga County, local business owners and ASU’s Walker College of Business, the comprehensive program tells aspiring entrepreneurs everything they wanted to know about starting a business (but were afraid to ask), and even pairs participants with established, local entrepreneurs, who serve as mentors. Schedule The program’s spring 2006 session starts Tuesday, March 21, from 6 to 9 p.m., with successive workshops to be held April 4 and 25. The first workshop concentrates on idea development, with the others designed to turn ideas into actual businesses through development of business plans. The workshop is free, and the deadline for registration is Friday, March 17. For more information, call Chilton Rogers at ARDI at 262-6662, email rogersc@appstate.edu, or visit www.ardi.appstate.edu on the Web. Hidden Treasure Jenny Lanier attended the program’s fall 2005 session, and is now preparing her product for the market. Lanier decided to start a cottage industry, and will soon market an educational board game she originally designed to help her son succeed in mathematics. The game is called “Tesoro,” which is Spanish for “treasure.” Lanier devised the game three years ago for her son, who she home-schools. “I’m a home-schooling mom and my son hated math, so I needed a different way to teach him instead of reading page after page of math material,” Lanier said. The game was a success, at least for her son. She began sharing it with other home-schoolers, who also enjoyed the entertaining and educational experience. Over the course of those three years, Lanier sold 20 to 30 games to friends and home-schoolers, but a friend told her she should turn it into a cottage industry. “But I didn’t know how to do that,” Lanier said, admitting she was uncertain how to work supply, manufacturing and marketing. She heard about the entrepreneur development workshops the day before the first seminar and immediately jumped in. “It was really exciting being with people who had other business ideas, and were in the same boat as me to get somewhere with their ideas,” Lanier said. “It gave me the desire to take my game to the next level, to actually believing it was good enough to mass produce.” Lanier said she learned most from the third workshop session, where she was paired with her mentor, Joseph Miller of Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff. “I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor — he was the perfect match,” she said, telling how Miller gave her ideas on how to find supplies for her game, ideas for packaging and how to market it. “Originally, I had a limited view of my game. Now, I view it more as a game that everyone can enjoy.” As it is now, Lanier hand-makes every game, using a piece of canvas in tune with the treasure hunt theme for the game board. The board’s borders are lined with numbers, and players place assorted jewel-like tokens beneath the numbers, each holding a different value. Three dice are included, and the players must roll the dice and make use of their numbers to find the treasure. For instance, if a player rolled a six, three and one, they player could multiply six and three, then add one to arrive at 19. The player would then collect whatever treasure is under 19. Since certain treasure has certain value, players begin to calculate the most profitable equation in their mind. “And that’s what really helped my son with math, because he loved the gold coins and would do mental math to find the best treasure,” Lanier said. When a roll produces nothing, players must mimic a pirate with a hearty “Argh!” After three “arghs!,” the game is over and the loot is counted to find the winner. “It really helps with the mental math,” Lanier said. Lanier actually sold a game to one of the program instructors, and two to her mentor. She plans on making an additional 250 games to sell at Cheap Joe’s Art Show this summer. After that, she’ll either sell her idea to a game manufacturer or have someone manufacture it for her, so she can distribute it. “I definitely would (recommend the workshop),” she said. “It is a wonderful experience, especially the mentor program. Being paired with a mentor is a fabulous idea. They really look at what you’re going to do, and they try to find the person who could benefit you the most.” Tesoro is available at Lanier’s booth at the Shoppes at Farmers Hardware. For more information, e-mail jennylanier1@hotmail.com. Getting Organized An organized person at heart, Nancy Adams left Hospice after 15 years to embark on her other passion — organization. Adams said that, unofficially, she’s been organizing all her life. Now, she’s decided to make a business out of it. “I am a professional organizer,” Adams said. “It entails a little bit of everything in terms of organizing businesses or residences — anything from garages that are so cluttered people can’t fit their cars in there or basements so cluttered nobody knows where anything is.” Adams has organized a variety of offices as well, helping people “get a little more situated so they can be more efficient,” she said. “It can entail moving furniture around to create space to making file systems to be more accessible.” She also helps organize houses for people who are hoping to sell their homes on their own, making the product more presentable and selling. Adams officially started her business, Organization Solutions Unlimited, in May 2005. She participated in the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce’s business expo, introducing a good number of people to the concept of professional organization, which has established itself in larger cities like Chicago and New York. “There’s over 3,000 (professional organizers) in the National Association of Professional Organizers, so we’re coming along, in terms of a profession,” Adams said. When a friend told her of the entrepreneurship development program, Adams figured, “I could always learn something,” and signed up for the fall 2005 session. “And it was wonderful,” she said. “The instructors were great in the way they organized the class and got us to know each other. And the third course, where they matched us with a mentor, was very helpful, at least for me, because my mentor helped me look at things in my business that maybe I wasn’t looking at — challenge areas, and even some issues about myself about what I need to focus on in terms of networking and that sort of thing. He wasn’t gun-shy about it — he gave it to me from his heart.” Adams’ mentor was Crae Morton of Grandfather Mountain. As an organizer, she could professionally say, “The course is very well organized,” and though she enjoyed herself, it wasn’t an easy ride. “You had to do some work, so it wasn’t like you just sat there and relaxed the whole time,” Adams said. “It was a workshop where you were encouraged to talk and take notes. It wasn’t just a lecture — you need to do some work yourself.” One particular session involves the writing of a business plan, which is shown to the mentor during the third session for feedback. “I would recommend it to anyone considering starting a business,” Adams said. “It was very supportive with the other people in there, and other people in the class came up with ideas to sort of help you, which was neat.” For more information on Organizing Solutions Unlimited, call Adams at (828) 260-0520 or email organizingsolutionsunlimited@yahoo.com.