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WCC Corner: Small Business Center offers Ice House entrepreneurship course


Jessica Griffin

The Wilson Community College Small Business Center places emphasis on entrepreneurship through helping launch startups and working with existing small businesses — and it’s all completely free. 

The SBC director provides high-quality, readily accessible education and training, counseling, referrals and information. There’s confidential one-to-one counseling, online webinars and seminars held primarily in the evenings. SBC events and one-on-one confidential business counseling sessions are not only completely free, but they’re also open to the public. 



Beginning on Feb. 21 and ending on April 18, the SBC will offer an Ice House entrepreneurship seminar series facilitated by the SBC director, Melissa Evans. 

“This course explores the entrepreneur mindset to ignite our ambition, engage our faculties to help us flourish with a business idea and go on to succeed,“ said Evans.  

Created by the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, “the course is inspired by the life story of  … Clifton Taulbert in the text ‘Who Owns the Ice House? Eight Life Lessons from an Unlikely Entrepreneur.’ The program combines more than 10 years of research with the firsthand experience drawn from a mix of successful ‘unlikely’ entrepreneurs. Drawing on these same eight life lessons, participants will understand underlying thoughts and processes that allows those with limited resources to identify, evaluate and transform new ideas into successful businesses,” according to the ELI Ice House Entrepreneurship Program description.

Consequently, the entrepreneurs who participants will study have all started their businesses with simple ideas and a few hundred dollars and grown them into fast-growing, multimillion-dollar businesses, despite significant personal challenges. 

While it is highly recommended to engage for all eight lessons, the course is open to those who wish to join at any time during the series. Participants will be challenged to put what they learn into practice — both inside and outside the classroom setting. 

Classroom space is limited. Please sign up early using this link: www.wilsoncc.edu/sbc. 

For more information on the WCC Small Business Center, visit www.wilsoncc.edu/sbc where you can register for confidential counseling or webinar events, or contact Jay Burbage, SBC administrative assistant, at jburbage@wilsoncc.edu or 252-246-1209, or Melissa Evans, SBC director, at msevans@wilsoncc.edu or 252-246-1232. At #WilsonCC, we make Wilson work.

Jessica Griffin is executive director of institutional advancement at Wilson Community College. She can be reached at jgriffin@wilsoncc.edu or 252-246-1271.