By Rebecca Neyenhuis
A small-business conference at UVSC on Wednesday focused on educating that home businesses can be successful while allowing owners to spend time with their families.
UVSC and the Small Business Development Center sponsored a workshop called “Doing Business at Home.” Attendees came to find out how to start or maintain a successful businesses in their homes.
“I already work out of my home as a technical writer, but I don’t have my own business,” said Jeanne Carter, from Springville.
Carter said she hoped the conference would teach her some of the technical points of running a business.
A. Lynn Scoresby, a BYU professor in the Marriage, Family and Human Development Department and national expert on balancing work and family, kicked off the session with “Balancing Home and Business.”
Orem resident Stacy Burns said she enjoyed Scoresby’s address because he emphasized bringing family into the picture and finding balance.
After Scoresby’s remarks, the group broke up into smaller workshops. The workshops covered topics like consulting, defining direction, trends in home business, bookkeeping, expansion, Internet business, sales and marketing, creation and distribution of fine arts and crafts, and women in home-based business.
After the workshops, Warner Woodworth, a BYU professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy and expert on micro-finance, gave a closing address titled “Home-Based Businesses: A Model for the New Millennium?” He spoke about micro-financing programs that have allowed resident of third world countries to start their own businesses. He told attendees similar funds are available in Utah.
“This cannot just benefit you or your friends, but can end with you being a role model for these people,” Woodworth said.
Chuck Cozzens, the regional director of UVSC’s Small Business Development Center encouraged conference participants to network following the formal presentation. He said one of the most useful things home-based business owners can do is get to know each other and help each other out.
Rochelle Durkee, a mother of two from Provo, said she felt the conference was helpful. She is looking for more ways to employ her skills and make money while staying at home.
“I like just knowing there is a resource to get the things I don’t know how to do,” Durkee said.
Dan Ellsworth, a BYU senior international law student and president of the Provo-based Driven Business Solutions, taught conference attendees how to use the Internet and technology to facilitate business.
Ellsworth helped create an Internet Web site, Outsourcetohome.org, launched in conjunction with the “Doing Business at Home” workshop.
The site is designed to offer home-based services like accounting, graphic design, market research, Internet design and site maintenance, editing and proofreading, technical writing, secretarial services, paralegal work, custodial services and child care, to community businesses.
UVSC officials said they hoped this conference will be an annual event.
“Utah Valley State College is building a reputation for addressing issues and concerns unique to the people in Utah,” Scoresby said.
