Service Corps Of Retired Executives

Things to do in St. Lucie County this week: July 11

Learn about loans

The Service Corps of Retired Executives, the St. Lucie County Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Development Center at Indian River State College will host a presentation titled "How to Start a Small Business" from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Fort Pierce Branch Library, 101 Melody Lane in downtown Fort Pierce. The workshop will cover lending for start-up and existing businesses. Admission is free and open to the public. To register, visit score308.com or call 772-340-1333.

Kids replay classic race

More than 60 local children will perform a musical version of "The Tortoise versus the Hare," the second presentation of the summer by the Missoula Children's Theatre Camps, at 7 p.m. Friday at the Sunrise Theatre, 117 S. Second St. in downtown Fort Pierce. The play is the culmination of a week-long camp in which children work with two professional actor/directors. Tickets are $10. For information, call 772-461-4775 or go to sunrisetheatre.com.

Reviving driving skills

An AARP Driver Safety Program will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Lakewood Park Branch Library, 7605 Santa Barbara Drive in the Lakewood Park neighborhood north of Fort Pierce. The program is designed to teach rules of the road, defensive driving techniques, how to operate a vehicle more safely in today's increasingly challenging driving environment and how to accommodate common age-related changes in vision, hearing and reaction time. Although the class is designed for older drivers, there is no age restriction. Registration is required because enrollment is limited. The cost for AARP members is $12, $14 for non-members. For information or to register, call 772-462-6870 or visit library.stlucieco.gov.

Bringing back the Rat Pack

Bob Hoose and Art Poco will present "Frank & Dean: Together Again," a musical tribute to legendary singers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Blake Library, 2351 S.E. Monterey Road in Stuart. Hoose (as Sinatra) and Poco (as Martin) capture the look, sound and style of the two Rat Pack-ers, signing many of their hits. The event is free; no tickets or reservations are needed. For information, call 772-221-1403 or visit the library website at library.martin.fl.us.

Roots reggae at SandBar

Julian "Ju Ju" Marley, a reggae artist and son of reggae legend Bob Marley, will perform Friday at Capt. Hiram's SandBar, 1606 Indian River Drive in Sebastian. Doors will open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance, $19 on the day of the show. For tickets and information, call 772-589-4345 or go to hirams.com.

From Paycheck to Pay Dirt: Blazing Your Own Trail As a Business ...

Eric Beverding had been a club auto-racing fan for years, thanks to his wife, Dacia Rivers, a lifelong race car enthusiast. Beverding was working in production at a boutique political advertising agency in Austin, Texas, when he and Rivers finally decided to place their bets on their hobby.

Although they knew they wanted to start a club sport track, they also knew they had to be sure that the area would support such a business.

“My wife’s family is in automotive retail, and they had customers telling them over and over that they were tired of driving and having to spend the night or spend a thousand dollars to go away for a weekend to a track to have fun in their cars,” Beverding says.

He looked at the radius of influence for the few club-based tracks in the area and found that the nearest one was still far enough away that it wouldn’t affect his location. He was right. He and Rivers opened Harris Hill Road (H2R) in June 2008 in nearby San Marcos, Texas.

It takes guts to leave a steady job with a big paycheck to launch an entirely new venture. Babson College entrepreneurship professor Dennis Ceru cautions that there are some solid best practices that should be followed before jumping ship from steady employment into uncertain waters.

“There are multiple steps in really assessing the markets and what customer-driven needs you’re trying to solve with your business,” Ceru says. “The determination of whether it’s a business or not revolves around your idea and revenue model. Can it be a sustainable business?”

Such an assessment becomes all the more challenging when the business is somewhat unusual and not at all related to your day job.

While Beverding was a racing hobbyist, he knew little about running a track. So he went into the field and talked to as many people as he could. And when he left his job at the ad agency he went to work part-time for his father-in-law in automotive retail. This allowed him to bring in some income as the track was being built, as well as to make contacts who might eventually become customers for his racetrack.

That kind of startup intelligence is available from a number of places–and is something that Sarah Prevette deals in daily. As founder of entrepreneur advice site Sprouter.com, Prevette is in the business of helping budding business owners find the information they need. On Sprouter, experts in marketing, finance, startup basics and other areas are available to answer questions free of charge, mostly as a way of giving back after achieving their own success, she says.

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