Issue date: 4/7/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Jordan Bryan [Click to enlarge]

Aggie business owners will have a series of seminars open to students interested in becoming involved in the business world.

Various owners such as Creed Ford, who owns Carino's Italian Grill, Rudy's Bar-B-Que and Ozona Grill and Bar, Brad Cason, founder of KirkLee Bikes, and Mike Kolar ,who is the executive vice president for Kolar Advertisement, will be there to guide students into success in the business world.

The seminars, entitled Start-up 101, will take place on three separate dates from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The first will be today, followed by seminars on April 14 and April 22 in the Donald L. Houston Building. The cost will be $10 per student. Refreshments and snacks will be available during breaks.

Michael Schramm, a senior economics major, attended his first seminar last year.

"I read about it in The Battalion last year and it sounded like such an opportunity," Schramm said.

Students are given the chance to establish friendships and networks with Aggie entrepreneurs.

"You meet really successful Aggies and they give you their life lessons and fundamentals as tools to use," Schramm said

Schramm said perhaps the most impressing thing about the seminars was the information he learned on how to seek out private investors and the resources small business services provide.

The purpose for the venture is to give Aggies the opportunity not just to meet and network with others, but to learn how to manage a possible business.

"These guys are voluntarily taking time out of their lives to teach other Aggies," Schramm said.

For anyone with questions or concerns regarding the possibility of a future business in the current state of the economy, they will have the opportunity to search out answers to these questions.

"They will talk about how to get started, the risks and the proper ways to go about starting a business, especially in the current state of the economy," Schramm said.

Cason, founder of KirkLee Bikes, attended A&M in 2004 for his MBA. Being an avid biker, he found time to mold bikes in his roommate's oven. Cason later took a job as a regional manager of Hilti tools. Cason eventually left his job and moved to Austin to pursue his dream of biking and building bikes.

KirkLee Bikes is one of the fastest-growing bicycle companies in high-end bicycles. Cason has an average price of $8,000 each bike.

More information
For more information go to www.bvsbdc.org or call (979) 260-5222.

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