Want To Start Your Own Business? VGCC REAL Class Is Just For You

If you have wanted to start your own business and you have an idea but you don’t know where to begin, Vance-Granville Community College has a class coming up that may be just what you need.

Vance-Granville’s Small Business Center sponsors REAL (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning) classes to prepare persons for self-employment. The next REAL class will meet on Monday evenings, Feb. 7-April 11, from 6 to 9:30 in Room 7104 on VGCC’s main campus in Vance County.

Ann Jaeger of Henderson, who has owned and operated several successful small businesses, will be the REAL instructor.

The 10 class sessions will explore key issues necessary to start and operate a profitable business. Students will assess their self-employment potential, look at business plans and basic business structures, and do market research and feasibility studies for their proposed businesses. They will analyze competition, learn about

taxes and licenses, cash flow and numerous other functions that can make or break a small business.

This is an activity-based class that includes many practical applications of business principals, said Diane Finch, Small Business Center coordinator. Students will utilize the research and data they gather during the course to prepare a business plan.

There will be a $60 registration fee for the REAL course, and students will purchase a textbook. Space is limited, and interested persons should contact Diane Finch at (252) 738-3240 for more information and to pre-register.

Persons who have been laid off from a manufacturing job after January 2000 can have their registration fee and book paid for by the New Opportunities for Workers (NOW) program. An information session on this program and an introduction to the REAL course will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 19 in Room 7124.