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…
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…
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The Time Is Now, Read Our New White Paper, “Entrepreneurial Mindset Imperative”
April 13, 2021
Download the White Paper Here Im-per-a-tive (Noun): An essential or urgent thing; of vital importance Life today is filled with imperatives. Everything seems urgent and critically important in vying for our attention daily. As such, when we sat down to write our new white paper, we did not decide to call it the Entrepreneurial Mindset Imperative lightly. Between the pandemic, political strife, social strain, and massive changes in education and the workplace, the world…
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Spreading the Power of Entrepreneurial Thinking Statewide in North Carolina
March 4, 2021
This piece was written by ELI contributor Sarah Williamson. She is working on interviewing some of our most accomplished partners and facilitators. Daisy Magnus-Aryitey doesn’t love public speaking, but you would never know it from her enthusiastic demeanor when she starts to talk about the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset. Magnus-Aryitey, an Ice House Facilitator, is the program director for the NC IDEA Foundation. The foundation fosters North Carolina’s economic development by supporting the entrepreneurial…
Read moreGary Schoeniger’s Commencement Address, Pierpont Community & Technical College, 2019
May 31, 2019
How Underdogs Win How do underdogs win? This is a question I’ve been pursuing for more than 25 years. How do those who have no particular advantage in life—those who may not be particularly brilliant or creative, those who may not come from privileged backgrounds, those who may not have advanced degrees—manage to rise above their circumstances to create meaningful and prosperous lives? My thought was that if I could somehow understand what makes…
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Cultivating Curiosity: The New Learning Imperative
May 30, 2019
Photo by Stephen Hickman on Unsplash Learn How to Think (and Act) Like an Entrepreneur Part 4/8 Among the most distinguishing characteristics I’ve noticed among entrepreneurs, is an unusual desire to learn. It’s not that they are great students in the traditional sense, (in fact, in many cases, it’s quite the opposite) yet they always seem to be engaged in learning, usually through non-formal and informal means. For example, they learn through observation and inquiry,…
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Risk Versus Reward: The Hidden Strategy of Unlikely Entrepreneurs
March 5, 2019
Photo by Jonathan Francis on Unsplash Learn How to Think (and Act) Like an Entrepreneur Part 3/8 I’ve spent the past two decades exploring the mindset and the methods of every day “unlikely” entrepreneurs—the underdogs and the misfits who somehow manage to transform a simple idea into a sustainable success. My initial thought was that if I could somehow deconstruct the mindset and the methods of these unlikely entrepreneurs, it could be useful – not only to aspiring…
Read moreTop 10+1 Ways A Fab Lab or Maker Space Can Benefit Your Community
February 1, 2019
Network Kansas partner and Ice House Facilitator Jim Correll recently published a blog enumerating the ways a maker space or fab lab can impact a community. Spoiler alert! One of them may or may not be the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program. Read Now
Read moreNew Year, New Mindset: How Public Libraries Can Support Economic Development in Their Communities
January 15, 2019
Ice House Facilitator Duncan Smith is the Chief Strategist for EBSCO Information Services, a pioneer in the library services industry. After attending certification training in Durham, NC, Duncan was inspired by the potential an entrepreneurial mindset could bring to communities and saw a unique way to engage stakeholders through their public libraries. Spurred on by his new passion, Duncan wrote a blog post illustrating how public libraries are perfectly suited for entrepreneurial learning and activity. Read Now
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