New workbook helps entrepreneurs kick-start efforts

Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, January 12, 2022

The Big Bad Business Series is excited to announce the release of Business Building Blocks workbook for entrepreneurs to kick start their small business. 

The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council facilitates an arts Incubator as part of the Big Bad Business Series. Andrea Drummond the 2020-2021 VISTA for the YAC compiled recurring topics that emerging entrepreneurs have questions about.

Interviewing mentors, conducting research to available resources and applying her own experience owning a business Drummond created ten workbooks that will be free to the public. 

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These workbooks are carefully crafted to fit the needs of small business owners. The idea behind the workbooks was to have a free resource for entrepreneurs that can be referred back to in time of need.

VISTA provided the salary for Drummond to conduct the research while SouthArts and Mississippi Hills Heritage Alliance made it possible for the resources to be shared with other organizations. Knowing that several other local groups offer professional development services, Drummond thought that leveraging the work and sharing with the public would be of value to be able to refer back to. 

“As a small business owner myself, I thought about when I was first getting started. If I would have had a resource on paper to answer my ‘what is my next step’ question the process would have been much smoother. I hope by sharing these workbooks with my past experiences can be of use to someone who is trying to either start or expand their business.” – Andrea Drummond

The Business Building Block workbooks cover the topics of Beginning in Business, Writing a Business and Financial Plan, Securing Capital, Money Management, Building Your Brand, and Brand Management/ Marketing. With these topics being broad, each workbook is dedicated to answering all of the questions you might have combined with quotes from Drummond and other local entrepreneurs from their experiences in business. Catherine Smith is featured in Book One discussing the topic of “Is It Viable?”. The workbooks will be accessible to the public for free at www.oxfordarts.com.

With the release of the workbooks, The Big Bad Business Series will host monthly workshops with local businessmen and women to guide the public in starting their small businesses. The topics will coincide with topics featured in the workbooks to further every individual business. To know more about these events, sign up for the Big Bad Business Series newsletter by emailing yacvista@gmail.com.

 

The Business Building Block workbooks are sponsored by:

Mississippi Hills Heritage 

Yoknapatawpha Arts Council

South Arts 

Mississippi Arts Commission 

National Endowment for the Arts 

Visit Oxford

Origin Bank 

Visit Mississippi 

Oxford-Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation 

 

Wayne Andrews is chairman of The YAC and writes a weekly column for The Oxford Eagle.