off to a good start

a couple weeks ago, i stumbled across a really cool opportunity being offered through the city's Create Denver project and the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center (SBDC). the program is an intensive business education course called NxLevel with this particular session tailored toward creative entrepreneurs like myself.

for those unaware, Create Denver is an initiative of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs (DOCA) that "seeks to strengthen the health and vitality of Denver by supporting the growth and development of creative enterprises" in film, music, art, fashion and other artisitc endeavors. it's an amazing program involving many brilliant people who promote various advocacy initiatives and policy recommendations to the local powers-that-be on behalf of our creative community. good stuff, indeed.

the NxLeveL for Creative Entrepreneurs and Business Start-Ups is a 10-session, 30-hour course that addresses questions an entrepreneur needs to answer before starting a business venture. during the course, students will learn the skills to develop a business plan to test the feasibility of their business concepts.

despite not having a formal launch (yet), blue13 has been conducting business for several months. but my degree is in communications, so i figured some formal business education would do a wayward writer/artist some good. i read that Create Denver and the SBDC were offering scholarships to the program and i figured i had nothing to lose by applying for the assistance. well...


shortly after applying i heard back from the city with news that the SBDC wanted to award blue13 with one of the scholarship offers. not only would the center be helping with some of my tuition costs, but that the organization also wanted me to write about the entire experience. apparently the city of denver (rightfully) wants to promote these types of opportunities for start-up companies and would like to see fellow colorado communities embrace such initiatives.

eventually i was put in touch with Laura Grey, the location specialist for the state of colorado's office of film, television and media about blogging my way through NxLevel and introducing myself at their next staff meeting. the blog (hence the creation of the blue13 satellite) is going to be promoted through a handful of the city's creative/business newsletters and across their social media networks via something called bookface and a modern-day telegraph system known as twitter.

so like i said, we're off to a good start... if one were interested in getting an insider's perspective on the NxLevel business course, one could check back with the satellite each week to read what it's all about. just sayin'.

-mc