Jon Leasure had nowhere to go when he wanted to turn his ideas into something tangible.
“In my younger years, I fooled around in robotics,” said Leasure, who works for a family owned business in Crossville. “When you get to that point where there is something you need, and you can’t make it, then that’s problematic. With a 3-D printer, for example, I could have made a ton of things.” Continue reading
Cumberland Business Incubator receives $50,000 prize to create Tinker Space
The Cumberland Business Incubator, located on Roane State Community College’s Cumberland County campus, has received a $50,000 prize to create a space where entrepreneurs can turn their ideas into working prototypes.
The incubator was one of 50 organizations nationwide to receive a prize through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Growth Accelerator Fund competition. Continue reading
I visited Arkansas over the holiday weekend recently and picked up some interesting information from small business owners there. As we all know, new businesses face daunting odds: only half of all businesses launched annually will survive five years, and only one-third will survive past 10 years, according to the SBA. Arkansas has more than 241,000 small businesses, some quite successful. Business owners everywhere who succeed do more than build it and hope buyers will come. They stick to a written business plan vetted by a professional. They spend judiciously and reinvest in their business, and many effectively use the power of social media. Continue reading