Tips for Conveying Your Brand to the World
April 8, 2021
Many years ago, a young boy named Clifton Taulbert had a rare opportunity to go to a circus in Jackson, Mississippi. It was a two-man road trip, just the boy and his relative and mentor, Cleve Mormon. As Taulbert shares in the book Who Owns the Ice House? Eight Life Lessons from an Unlikely Entrepreneur, the two bought their tickets, found their seats near the front of the circus tent, and dug into hot,…
Read more
Ten Years of Unlikely Entrepreneurs
March 17, 2021
2021 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program! It’s been a decade filled with lightbulb moments as training participants started to understand entrepreneurship as the self-directed pursuit of opportunities to create value for others. There are many, many success stories of people who have empowered themselves by creating value for others. What’s especially remarkable is the diversity of those individuals. From high school students in Mexico to inmates in Mississippi, or college…
Read more
NetWork Kansas Builds Entrepreneurial Thinking Through E-Communities
February 23, 2021
All across Kansas, residents are taking a deep dive into entrepreneur-led development thanks to NetWork Kansas and its E-Commerce Programs. Over the past 14 years, 66 e-communities have been established in the state’s 105 counties, providing $21.5 million to businesses and leveraging an additional $99.2 million (via bank loans, owner down payments, resource partner loans, and more). In addition to financial assistance, e-communities have played a significant role in changing how people think about…
Read more
Go Before You Know: The Power of Learning Through Doing
February 18, 2021
The stories behind many large, established businesses—from Waste Management to Walmart—often start the same way. A young person, motivated by a good idea, pursues small, uncertain niche opportunities. They do so without much capital, research, industry experience, or contacts. How does this happen? How does an inexperienced, cash-strapped entrepreneur manage to transform an unrecognizable idea into a sustainable success? Hint: It isn’t a propensity for taking risks. Origins and Evolutions of New Business Researcher…
Read more
The Role of Curiosity in an Entrepreneurial Mindset
February 11, 2021
As children, all of us started life with a voracious appetite for knowledge. The more surprises we encountered in our everyday life, the more eager we were to figure out what was going on. But over time, we became less curious. According to author and psychologist Susan Engel, preschoolers between the ages of 3 and 5 will ask their parents between 25 and 50 questions per hour, yet they will ask less than two…
Read more