Tag Archives: business success

It Takes a Village

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Friday the 13th was a very lucky day for the Cumberland Business Incubator (CBI).  Pauline Sherrer, Crossville Chronicle and CBI Steering Committee member, recognized earlier this year that the CBI, as well as the businesses located within the CBI, needed to be easier to find and took the leadership role in the CBI sign project.  Pauline felt the sign should represent a local business so she and CBI Director Holly Hanson met with Cyndy and Bruce Gardner of Homestead Timber Frames and their team who designed, built and led the raising of the timber frame. Continue reading →

GIST – Great Ideas for Starting Things

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GIST

Guy Kawasaki likes to start his speeches with a top-ten list based on the topic he is speaking about.  When it comes to the list of most important things an entrepreneur must accomplish, his list has only five. Continue reading →

Fast Pitch Winners Announced!

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The Cumberland Business Incubator’s (CBI) Global Entrepreneurship Week’s final event on November 22nd provided the opportunity for 7 business owners to pitch their business plans to a crowd of family, friends and community leaders. Continue reading →

Incubation Increases Success

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Entrepreneurs have limited time, knowledge and resources.  They need to focus on what matters most to them and what they need to do better than their competitors, but the rest still needs to get done and that’s where incubators can be of great help.  Continue reading →

WELCOME to Global Entrepreneurship Week!

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What is Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW)?  Check out the Kauffman Foundation sketchbook  http://www.gew.co/resources  for an overview.  GEW is 35,000 events in 125 countries around the globe – all in one week.

Global Entrepreneurship Week at the CBI concludes with FAST PITCH FINALS on Friday November 22nd at 5:30pm.  This free event is open to the public. 

Seven entrepreneurs will each pitch their business for 5 minutes and answer questions from the audience.  It’s a bit like Shark Tank, with the twist that the audience will be there to provide support and offer suggestions to help the entrepreneurs make the connections they need to succeed in their businesses.

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Continue reading →

Pitching & Presenting

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GEW2013

It’s the season of presentations.  Global Entrepreneurship Week is November 18th through the 24th, just a short week away.  We hope you’ll join us for the Final Round of Fast Pitch at the CBI on November 22nd at 5:30pm to hear the business presentations – “Pitches” –  by local entrepreneurs.  Some of these entrepreneurs have been working on improving their presentation skills by participating in the workshops we have provided to help them get ready for the final round of Fast Pitch on the 22nd, in front of a public audience.  In additional to the CBI Fast Pitch, there are Start Up Weekends and 48 Hour Launch events around the globe as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week. These presentations matter.  On November 8th, Seth Godin posted a blog about presentations. Continue reading →

Where Are You When It Comes to Effort vs. Success?

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Every now and then it’s a good idea to take a step back from your day to day focus and take a look at where you are in terms of the success you’re trying to achieve. For business owners, the definition of Success is very personal, but usually it’s going to be measured by how much money and freedom your business generates for you.

“The road to success runs uphill.”  – Willie Davis

Mr. Davis makes a great point – you can’t achieve long term success without effort.  In a lot of things you do, your success is directly tied to the amount of effort you put into it.  The more effort you put in, the more success you’ll get. Continue reading →

3 Ways to Test How Well You Lead

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I speak with existing business owners every day and one of the things I hear often is that they have a “people problem” and it’s hurting their business…but there are always at least 2 sides to every story. Continue reading →

What Are CBI Bucks??

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fast pitch

CBI Bucks are your voting power at Fast Pitch.

CBI Bucks are only good on Friday November 22 from 5:30pm until the close of
voting at Fast Pitch.

Fast Pitch is part Shark Tank (but only the very best parts of the show) and
part American Idol.  As in Shark Tank, there will be businesses or
would-be businesses making their business pitch. As in American Idol, your vote
counts!  You vote with CBI Bucks. Continue reading →

There’s Nothing We Can Do…

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Just because you can’t do exactly what a customer asks doesn’t mean you can’t do something.

Let’s say someone was going to ride a 105 mile endurance bike race and the day before the ride their bike broke.  First they would freak out with the thought of four mountains and over 11,000 feet of climbing ahead of them and the months of training behind them.  Then they would hustle down to the local bike shop – your bike shop. Continue reading →