Press Release
 5151 Pacific Ave. Stockton, CA 95207 |
Media Advisory For More Information Contact: Gillian Murphy Dir., Small Business Development Center (209) 954-5089 gmurphy@deltacollege.edu |
For Immediate Release,
10/30/09
Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour visits Delta College
(Stockton, CA)
The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour features successful entrepreneurs under the age of 30 and is coming to Delta College’s Atherton Auditorium, Nov. 10th, from 3:00pm-7:00pm. The event is free and open to public, but online registration is required. Online registration is open until the time of the event at: www.extremetour.org.
Created in 2006, the tour is part of a nation-wide effort to encourage people, especially young people, to start their own business. Small businesses, according to the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, employ just over half of U.S. workers.
“We need to generate jobs in the area,” Karren Peterson, Assistant Director of the Northeastern California Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at San Joaquin Delta College said. “And small business is the biggest job generator.”
The tour will feature three speakers:
Arel Moodie, who, while attending college, started and sold PlaceFinder.com, an internet site that helps students find off-campus housing, roommates and sublets at Binghamton University, New York; Jason Duff, who at age 18, became a real estate developer and started Community Storage and Properties as well as ComStor Outdoor, a billboard advertising business that operates throughout Ohio; and Adam Gries, who started and sold Social Dynamics, a social platform company that builds on Facebook and MySpace platforms. The event will also include workshops for participants to exchange business ideas and to network with other attendees.
“Some young people think they are going to have to work for someone else all their life and that is not the case,” Peterson said. “They could own their own business. The goal is to get young people interested in entrepreneurship as a career choice, rather than just get a job, work, get money and go home.”
The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour is designed to offer inspiration, motivation and practical advice when starting a business. Delta College’s SBDC provides planning, marketing workshops and counseling designed to aid in launching a business or for ongoing enterprises in the San Joaquin, Amador, Calaveras and Alpine County.
“We hope they will continue their interest by using our resources here at the Small Business Development Center and Delta College,” Peterson said. “One of Delta’s goals is to transition people into the workforce and business ownership is part of it.”
The Tour is presented by the California Community College Economic Workforce Development Program and will be visiting 18 community colleges throughout the state. Delta College is the 15th stop on the California tour.
“It’s an opportunity for San Joaquin County to participate in what is becoming a nation-wide movement for young people to get started in their own business” Peterson said.
According to the Extreme Tour site, the current recession may be the best time to start a business. “More than half the companies on the 2009 Fortune 500 list were launched during a recession or a bear market,” Michael Simmons, co-founder of the Extreme EntrepreneurshipTour, said. “Technology and globalization have made it very inexpensive to start a business. Now is the best time that there has ever been to become your own boss.”
Stockton has a history of business success as the birthplace of companies like Duraflame and California Cooler. And California, according to the Kauffman Index, is one of the six states that led the nation in entrepreneur activity in 2008.
“We need young people who are enthusiastic and want to make a difference,” adds Karren Peterson. “Business ownership is a way for young people to become their own boss, to pursue their passion and to change the world.”
Take that first step! Attend the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour at San Joaquin Delta College’s Atherton Auditorium, Nov. 10th, from 3:00pm-7:00pm. To register, visit: www.extremetour.org.
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