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Since the start of the pandemic, the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship pivoted their model to continue to serve rural Colorado businesses in a virtual format. The impact of COVID on small businesses has only increased the value of these workshops during this economic and health crisis.

鈥淭he entrepreneurial mindset is needed now more than ever as we navigate this crisis. Demystifying the process of bringing an idea to market and scaling an organization鈥檚 impact is key to helping our rural economies,鈥� explains Deming鈥檚 Executive Director Erick Mueller.

Mueller expanded on this idea in a recent interview with KCRT Radio from Trinidad. Listen here.

Celebrating five years

The Demystifying Entrepreneurship: Rural Colorado Workshop Series (RCWS) takes a pragmatic approach to entrepreneurship using a highly interactive setting and flexible, scalable sessions. The result: Small businesses, start-ups and local governments in rural Colorado gain the tools they need to solve business and organizational challenges through an entrepreneurial mindset.

Supporting entrepreneurship and fostering economic development is at the core of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship鈥檚 mission. That鈥檚 why these workshops are now in their fifth year of helping local organizations across the heartland of our beautiful state.

Since March 2015, the workshops have been offered as a progressive, five-year series program. The first two years are dedicated to 鈥渄emystifying entrepreneurship鈥� for new businesses. The next two years center on 鈥渟tartup to scaleup,鈥� as the organizations grow. The final year focuses on 鈥渢ightening up鈥� business efficiencies for each participating organization.

In the workshops, two Deming faculty members lead participants through the business development process. They discuss how to discover new development opportunities that allow start-ups and existing organizations to pivot and meet changes in the marketplace鈥攓uite topical in light of the current economic challenges all business today is facing.

A change for the better

Frog Hollow Brooms, an artisan brooms maker in Weston, Colorado, is a prime example of a small rural business in need of a digital upgrade to scale up, especially following the pandemic鈥檚 cancellations of all art shows in her area鈥攖he bread and butter of her business sales.

Thanks to the Demystifying workshop and mentoring from Deming, Frog Hollow Brooms is in the process of revamping their primitive website and branching their online presence out to social media, a blog and online store. and scaling up their business.

鈥淚 appreciate your commitment to Southern Colorado and to all of us newbies. I am particularly grateful for your energetic enthusiasm for what you (and we) do!鈥�

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