On a bicycle wheel the hub and spokes are critical components, though one is clearly more significant than the other. If one spoke breaks, the bike will still function, but if the hub fails, it’s all over. The ability for the wheel to spin is dependent on the hub. Continue reading
Tag Archives: success
MakerGirl Comes to the CBI!
Calling all 1st – 6th Grade Girls
A group of students from University of Illinois are touring the country this summer with MakerGirl Mobile with a mission to encourage young girls to become leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields through 3D printing. Roane State Community College’s Cumberland Business Incubator will be hosting the group on July 15th. Registration is limited to 20 girls from 1st through 6th grade. Continue reading
Helping Veteran Dreams Come True
Memorial Day, a time to honor all vets. Did you know that Cumberland County has one of the highest concentration of veterans in the 95 counties of Tennessee? Continue reading
Maker Space Volunteer Highlight: Paul Falk
Paul Falk worked for nearly 40 years with GE. He worked with the fabrication, design and packaging of high reliability electronics primarily for bio-medical and spacecraft applications. Most notable projects that Paul worked on include participation on spacecraft teams that were first to land on an asteroid, the first to orbit Mercury and a flyby of Pluto. If you saw the photos sent back to earth from Pluto, Paul played a part in developing the equipment! Continue reading
6 Secret Questions Successful Entrepreneurs Ask Themselves
Want to become a successful entrepreneur? My friend Joe Kapp suggests the following:
Change your mindset and start thinking like a successful entrepreneur by asking these six secret questions they ask themselves!
Based in part on research by Dr Saras Sarasvathy, a professor at the University of Virginia, the following common themes emerged after interviewing successful serial entrepreneurs of companies worth $200 million to $6.5 billion. This set of questions, adapted from her research, outline how budding entrepreneurs can use entrepreneurial thinking to increase the likelihood their new endeavor has the best possible chance for success. Continue reading
Altered Ego Design – A Maker Space Business
We are excited to have Christien Fontaine of Altered Ego Design creating his custom laser cut arts and automotive accessories at the CBI Maker Space. Christien owns the same Full Spectrum laser that we have in the Maker Space and has been making some of his creations and volunteering to help others learn what the laser can do. Continue reading
Your Invitation to Pitch Night
The Cumberland Business Incubator invites the community to attend the Crash Course MBA Accelerator Pitch Night, May 3rd at 6pm, Roane State Community College, 2569 Cook Road, Crossville. Presenting will be the participants completing the 15 week long Crash Course MBA program. Pitch Night is the final night of the program where the accelerator participants will share their ideas with the community, answer questions and accept feedback.
Participants in Pitch Night will include: Continue reading
Planning for What You Don’t Expect
Planning is difficult for any business. It takes time and intention – and knowing the results you want and how you’re going to get them. How often has one of your plans fallen by the wayside for unforeseen circumstances and pivoting meant starting over from scratch? If you’re like most business owners, that scenario is probably more true than not. So what can you do to reduce your vulnerability? How can you plan for the things you don’t expect?
The answer….you don’t, and yet, you do. Continue reading
How to Use Birdseed to Get Clients & Customers
I think it was a scene in a movie, but something made me think about how that scene related to getting clients and customers. Picture in your mind you are watching people in a park feeding the birds.
Children are chasing after the birds trying to catch them. Almost every child eventually starts to chase the birds. It was quite amusing because the birds always scattered away! Camera pans and now we’re watching the adults interacting with the birds and noticed something fascinating… Continue reading
Introvert Entrepreneurs’ Marketing
We all know that marketing and promotion is an essential part of business – but what if it takes you well beyond your comfort zone and seems to conflict with the essence of who you are? I found this article by Amanda Jesnoewski has some good pointers.
This is for the shy, humble and introverted entrepreneurs among us – the ones who would rather stay in their office than get out and network, and the ones who feel inauthentic and at times even arrogant when singing their praises. Continue reading