Clarkson to open Business Center in Saranac Lake

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For more information, call Erin Draper at (315) 268-3995 or e-mail edraper@clarkson.edu

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August 6, 2010

By KIM SMITH DEDAM Staff Writer The Press Republican Fri Aug 06, 2010, 03:50 PM EDT

SARANAC LAKE -- A new resource center is opening here next month to help build small business.

And the introductory four-week course, held in two hours one night a week, is free.

Clarkson University is expanding its already successful Entrepreneurship Center to 141 River St., next to Lakeview Deli across from Lake Flower.

Program Associate Director Erin Draper said the new location will be called the Adirondack Business Center.

Clarkson staff renovated the space to include a conference room and business support services.

"In the building, we will have three work stations, two private offices and a conference room," Draper said.

"Those will also all be available for telecommuters to use as their office space. We'll have the ability for printing, copying and faxing, as well."

A fee for telecommuters and classroom rental will help make the center self-sustaining.

"In a recent survey, the Adirondack Initiative for Wired Work determined that the ability to network is both important and missing for telecommuters in the Adirondack Park," Draper said in a recent report. "Especially in an area that the Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages reports is increasingly becoming poorer and aging at a rate far exceeding that of the national average.

"The Village of Saranac Lake is a year-round destination located in the heart of the Adirondacks and has the added benefit of being served by the Adirondack Regional Airport, making it easy for telecommuters to travel back to their corporate offices as needed."

But the larger project goal is designed to deliver hands-on, practical knowledge to entrepreneurs and the region's small-business owners.

The first session of My Small Business 101 will be held in October and then run in a cycle, Draper said Friday.

The four classes cover thinking strategically, resource management, marketing management and financial management.

At the end of each class, entrepreneurs are asked to apply what they've learned to their business, using tools provided.

Clarkson professor Mark Compeau established the curriculum in 2004 as a national model to enhance local economic development by focusing on small business.

Entrepreneurs can expand from the introductory course.

"Once they graduate from that course, we open the flood gates," Draper said. "We have skills training courses in Quick Books, financial management, resource management, e-marketing, social marketing -- and other types of skills. From there, we offer student intern programs."

In under six years, the Entrepreneurship Center, located at Clarkson University, has reached some 370 small-business owners, Draper said.

"We've been tracking these folks since we started, and our two- and five-year survival rate is 86 percent."

It is a figure markedly above 51-percent national average two-year survival rate for small business.

"I think we've found a model that fits," Draper said. "It meets the educational needs of a rural community. It's very practical, hands-on knowledge."

The Adirondack Business Center hired a full time manager, Stephanie Donaldson from Lake Clear, who earned an MBA from Clarkson University in 1992.

Draper said early discussions with local business leaders heightened Clarkson's Entrepreneurship Center interest in the region.

"We're really looking forward to coming into the community. We're going to need to understand over time how to grow best to serve."

Saranac Lake Mayor Clyde Rabideau, himself a Clarkson graduate, is thrilled with the intent of the business support center.

"I met with the principals at the facility and was really impressed with what they are going to do. People can set up their small business and use their facilities -- what a great resource for a new business that wants to get up and running.

"I just think it's a winner for everybody involved, and it's a winner for Saranac Lake."

The Adirondack Business Center will open in early September.