EDGE knowledge increases confidence and business
University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension’s NebraskaEDGE course gave her the incentive she needed to start Etched Impressions by Angie in Hartington.
“In my first year I made the exact same amount as I did working full time,” Peitz said.
EDGE — Enhancing, Developing and Growing Entrepreneurs — is a 40-hour course held over 11 weeks in various Nebraska locations. Since it began in 1993, about 2,400 people have taken the course to either learn how to start a business or improve their existing business, said Marilyn Schlake, EDGE coordinator.
The course helps prospective entrepreneurs learn how to work out the finances for a new business, determine if they have the skills needed to run the business and determine if the timing is right for the business.
“It’s a testing ground for them to test their ideas,” Schlake said. “It’s a soul-searching activity for them.”
Peitz took the course in Hartington in spring 2006 before launching her business.
“I always wanted to do it full time to stay home with my kids,” she said. “This gave me the courage to do it.”
She learned to put together a business plan, which allowed her to make the business work. So far she is finding clientele in northeast Nebraska and Iowa.
She even was commissioned last summer to etch the Nebraska state quarter into the glass doors of the private governor’s office in the Governor’s Mansion as a gift from Hartington in honor of three past governors from the community.
Peitz recommends anyone considering their own business to take the EDGE course. She said if she hadn’t taken it, “I’d still be working for somebody else.”
Molly McNeely, a Nebraska City dentist and 2001 graduate of the College of Dentistry at UNL, also took the EDGE course in spring 2006, a few months before opening her Molly McNeely DDS practice.
“The EDGE business plan was second to none,” McNeely said. “They really walk you through a step-by-step program to help you write a business plan. It’s just amazing.”
McNeely decided to take the course to make sure she had the business knowledge she needed before starting her practice.
“Opening your own business is eye opening,” she said. “I wanted to know as much as I could to prepare for the business side of things.”
In 2007, 169 people completed the EDGE course across Nebraska, Schlake said. Those 169 represented 75 existing businesses with annual sales of $24.1 million and 280 full-time jobs. The most recent survey on the program showed 71 percent of businesses taking the program increased business.
— Lori McGinnis
Schlake can be contacted at (402) 472-4138.
This article was originally published in the May 2008 Connect newsletter.
