Small Business Survival: The Successes, The Hurdles, The Future

Over 60 Louisville-area entrepreneurs, civic and business leaders, and community and economic development professionals gathered Sept. 29 at the Nia Center for "Small Business Survival: The Successes, The Hurdles, The Future."

The forum featured keynote speaker Donna Salyers of Donna Salyers’ Fabulous-Furs and eight local small business owners. Salyers shared her stories of developing her faux fur business from one employee to a multi-channel company with $10 million in annual catalog sales.

The forum also included two panels. During the first, panelist Jozi Legner of Jozi Legner & Associates Inc., an engineering services support and human resources management company, spoke about the challenges and joys of owning a small business. Legner advised the audience, “You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been.”

The panel gave other advice, including:

• If you don’t think you can do something well, don’t do it.
• Find out which company is the absolute best in your industry.
• Build in safety factors that prevent you from failure.

The second panel established the basics that every business needs. This included knowing or having someone help you with financial management. Accounting, legal and human resources services are also essential for a business to grow, panelists said.

The workshop ended with a few inspirational messages for attendees:

• Follow your passion
• Believe it will happen.
• Do something everyday that moves you toward your goal.
• Never give up.