Deb Morang’s entrepreneurial journey follows a roadmap of stops, starts, detours, information areas, and an occasional scenic overview.

In 2004, when GH Bass shut down in Wilton, Morang traveled to the Wilton CareerCenter and first learned about Women, Work & Community.

Women, Work, and Community offers both one-on-one assistance and classes in four program areas – Building Your Career, Starting Your Own Business, Managing Your Money, and Becoming a Leader. All programs offered at Women, Work and Community’s 18 centers (www.womenworkandcommunity.org) across the state are free of charge to participants.

“I wanted to open a fun place, with delicious teas and lots of baked goods. I went to Augusta and took a 3-class training course from WWC called, ‘Basics of Starting Your Own Business’ and discovered just how many pies I’d have to bake to create a viable business. This really made me step back and think about my commitment and if I had the fortitude to pursue such a dream. Not really knowing what I wanted at the time, I found a job instead.”

When her new employer also had a round of layoffs, Deb signed up for the Maine Enterprise Option as part of her unemployment.

“As part of the MEO program you are required to take approved classes to move you forward in your new business. About the same time I was thinking about this entrepreneurial adventure, a friend of mine highly recommended that I take the WWC New Ventures class because it helped him to get his woodworking business off the ground,” recalled Morang.

New Ventures is a 12-week, one-day-a-week, business planning course. Topics covered include: the customer, competition, marketing, record keeping, taxes, financing, legal aspects, and more. At the end of the class, participants will have a completed business plan.

The outcome of Morang’s investment of time in New Ventures is Morang Connections. She’s happily combining wedding and event planning (like the recent Empower Lewiston “10 Years Making Change” celebration in Lewiston) with qualitative research. She’s learned about networking, has created a Web site, and joined the local chamber of commerce.

“New Ventures is awesome,” Morang said. “It touched on every aspect of business planning, from marketing and sales to taxes. The homework allowed us to really work at creating in-depth pieces of our plans and really prepared me to ask the right questions. I don’t know everything, but I know where to find help!”

Morang keeps in touch with several New Ventures classmates and her instructor, Shirley Hamilton. “The support, discussions and comments about ideas and planning really helped us all clarify our immediate and long-term goals,” she claimed. She added, “The instructors really care about your success and where you are at.”

Deb Morang can be reached at: Deb@MorangConnections.com. For more information about New Ventures and other Women, Work and Community classes and workshops, visit http://www.womenworkandcommunity.org or call 1-800-442-2092.

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