Lessons in Economic Recovery from Small-Town America
May 27, 2021
Around 100,000 businesses shut their doors in 2020. Two-thirds of small business owners say it was their most difficult year in business. Now that the worst of the COVID pandemic is behind us, organizations like the bipartisan Economic Innovation Group are watching closely for signs of how the recovery will play out. In their recent analysis of U.S. Census Small Business Pulse Survey data, EIG found that more than a third of businesses anticipate…
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Entrepreneurship Is Not a Destination, It Is a Journey with Patrick Hughes
May 25, 2021
Veteran and long-time entrepreneur Patrick L. Hughes Sr. joined us to discuss his life, the various businesses he has started, and his thoughts about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Throughout the conversation, Patrick shares his entrepreneurial roots growing up as the child of a sharecropper, his various companies and side hustles, all the way to his successful government consulting firm, Hughes Group LLC. Hughes is the winner of the National Minority…
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The Five Dimensions of an Entrepreneurial Mindset
May 18, 2021
Our brains receive millions of pieces of information every second. That’s why we often fall back on our mental default settings to make sense of the world around us. Imagine how little you would get done every day if you had to rediscover what pants are and how they work every time you got dressed. Our mindset keeps our brain from becoming overwhelmed. We have these sets of interrelated beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge about…
Read moreDeveloping an Entrepreneurial Mindset on the Path to Recovery
May 14, 2021
Judy Raper never saw herself as someone whose entrepreneurial mindset would make an impact on her community. She might have pointed to her younger sister, a CEO, as the mover and shaker in the family. Then Raper learned a new definition of entrepreneurship as the self-directed pursuit of opportunities to create value for others. She realized that by creating value for others, we empower ourselves. She realized that the Ice House training she…
Read moreGraduating as an Underdog Can Be a Good Thing
May 11, 2021
Students earning their college diplomas this year face a sea of uncertainty. While hiring predictions are up from where they were in 2020, they are still not back to pre-pandemic levels. Hands-on internships were (and still are) limited. Job searches and interviews are virtual. It’s enough to make a new college graduate feel like an underdog — and that can be a powerful secret weapon. Over the past 25 years, ELI Founder & CEO, Gary…
Read morePulling Students Off the Conveyor Belt Ride Through Life
May 6, 2021
Throughout the past eight years, Professor Lisa Banks has used the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program with more than 800 students at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan. They always come away from her courses with information they will use in their lives. Even if they discover that they’re not a good fit for a career running their own business. Banks herself has lived out the definition of entrepreneurship as the self-directed pursuit of opportunities to…
Read moreELI’s Top of Mind – April 2021
April 29, 2021
Top of Mind is ELI’s favorite entrepreneurial mindset studies, articles, papers, books, and talks. Now, check out this month’s selection! Read Here
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Five Ways an Entrepreneurial Mindset Addresses Interrupted Learning
April 28, 2021
Students who disengage from school tend to feel discouraged about their futures. They begin to lack hope. And without hope, they disengage further. This spiral impacts their academic performance, their learning, and their sense of self-direction. At The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, we’ve been concerned about this pattern for years—it’s one of the reasons that we’re so passionate about offering the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program to middle, high school, and college students. We believe that…
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The Five-Dollar Startup with Melissa Weed
April 21, 2021
Many people want to start their own businesses but end up hesitating because of a lack of funds. But a lot of entrepreneurs have proven that starting a self-funded business is still possible even without much capital. Our host Gary Schoeniger is joined by Melissa Weed, founder of Pittsburg, Kansas-based cleaning business Honey Does LLC. During their conversation, Gary and Melissa unpacked her journey towards being an entrepreneur, her relationship with education…
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