We are all busy at starting a new year. Local farmers are attending winter production meetings, shopping for supplies, and working in their shops to get their equipment ready for the fields. They have just experienced a rather difficult year because of early season freezes, extreme heat during the summer, and an entire year with very little rainfall. It is critical that they plan properly for the coming year.

Those of us with regular jobs with public or private businesses most likely have set some goal for the coming year, whether we have written them down or not. We plan to do things better than we did last year. We plan to be more effective and efficient than we were last year. And more than likely, we plan to do all this without working as hard as we did last year.

But there are a lot of people in this county, and throughout the nation, that have a strong desire to do just a little more than they have done in the past. These people may no longer wish to continue working the same job they have worked in the past. They may feel that there is more opportunity for them if they can better manage their destiny. They may feel they can better provide for their family by increasing their earning potential. They may simple wish to do something that is more rewarding than what they have been doing in the past.

These people are often referred to as entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are defined as people that dream up, organize, and operate a business while taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so. For those that have properly prepared themselves, the rewards are tremendous. But for those that are less prepared, or maybe less determined, the chances of failure are pretty good.

I am taking this opportunity to share my thoughts about entrepreneurship because I feel strongly that there are lots of opportunities in Robeson County for people to develop part-time or side-line businesses to increase their income. There are many in the county that will be determined enough to grow a small business enough so that it may become their sole source of income.

As I have mentioned before, there are tremendous opportunities for both individuals and existing businesses to develop businesses that provide products or services for tourists or those just traveling through our county. Not only will this increase the income of these individuals, it will create additional jobs in the county, increase the property tax base, and will increase the amount of sales tax collected. As a benefit, while doing this it will increase the quality of life for those that live in the county, and those that visit the county.

I recently reviewed some information from Yale University about entrepreneurship. The data in this article pointed out that the personal drive and determination to succeed is as strong as ever, and that the success rate of these entrepreneurs is pretty high.

The most common reason why people start their own business is that they do not want to work for someone else. They are independent. Almost 13 percent of our population is currently in the process of starting their own business.

We might think that entrepreneurship is rather new, that only in recent years have large numbers of people taken the initiative to start their own business. But this is not true. Today, 11.5 percent of households in the nation own their own business, as compared to 14 percent in 1983.

Most home business start with only one employee, invest about $25,000 of their own money to get the business going, and a third of them will have the business "up-and-running" within seven years. Of all the business in the nation over five years old, 46 percent of them are home-based.

If you have some entrepreneurship spirit and are interested to starting a new business, there is lots of help for you in this county. If this business is related to agriculture or tourism I suggest you start with my office, the Cooperative Extension Service. You may also seek assistance from Robeson Community College's Small Business Center and the Regional Center at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. There are many other public and private non-profit agencies that can provide assistance as well.

The most important thing is that you have an idea and that you have the determination. It's a new year and time for some new goals. Let's get started.

E-mail address: Everett_Davis@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 06/17/09