A three-night workshop highlighting the perils of entrepreneurship will be hosted by the Murray State Kentucky Small Business Development Center in Paducah beginning on March 30.

The workshop will also be held on April 2 and April 7, with a deadline to register set on March 30.

The Kentucky Small Business Development Center has been dedicated to providing small business owners with priceless consultation and training services to improve their businesses for more than 25 years.

There are 15 locations spread out across the commonwealth to serve as many small business owners as possible.

The Murray State Small Business Development Center located in downtown Murray.

The center serves multiple counties, including Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Marshall and McCracken counties.  The next closest center is located in Hopkinsville, Ky.

Chris Wooldridge, district director of Kentucky Small Business Development Center, said they provide entrepreneurs access to capital management expertise and growth strategies for startups, existing and struggling businesses throughout Kentucky.

Wooldridge is a Murray State graduate and joined the center in November 2009.

Workers at the center will also help small business owners write a business plan, an imperative tool for any entrepreneur.

A business plan is a guide for a business that includes the goals of the business and how the owner expects to meet those goals.

The center is in partnership with U.S. Small Business Administration.

The mission of the center is to strengthen Kentucky’s economy through the delivery of high-quality, in-depth and hands-on business consulting to existing and start-up businesses, according to the center’s website.

      The center helps at least 24 business owners monthly and 288 annually, making them well known for helping businesses with loans and students aspiring to be entrepreneurs. 

Wooldridge said there biggest success at the center is helping so many people with businesses and making it grow after their financial debt has increased.

He gave tips for starting and keeping up a small business.

“Never ignore your business. Be prepared to make changes. Flexibility is required in business operation and do not assume, because things can change,” he said.

Story by Maduewesi Nneka, Contributing writer